B2B procurement has evolved into a complex web of influence that extends far beyond the primary decision-makers. While sales teams focus on obvious buyers and technical experts, a significant portion of purchasing authority rests with professionals largely invisible to conventional marketing such as finance, operations, legal, compliance, and procurement.
The 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, conducted by Edelman and LinkedIn, surveyed nearly 2,000 management-level professionals across industries, spotlighting these “hidden buyers.” Despite not being primary users, these stakeholders wield significant influence over business purchases and yet they are often overlooked.
The Cost of Overlooking Hidden Buyers
Over 40% of B2B deals stall due to internal misalignment, according to Matt Dixon in ‘The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision’. This suggests that companies invest heavily in engaging target buyers but frequently neglect the broader constellation of internal influencers who can make or break a deal.
Understanding the distinction between these two groups is crucial for modern B2B purchasing dynamics. Target buyers are the functional users who possess direct, in-depth knowledge of specific products or services. They bring technical expertise about features, requirements, and implementation details to the purchase process and typically engage directly with vendors and sales teams throughout procurement.
Hidden buyers, by contrast, serve as final decision-makers representing functions that do not require detailed product knowledge. They usually work in finance, operations, legal, compliance, or procurement. Their role involves evaluating purchases from strategic, financial, or risk perspectives rather than technical functionality. Crucially, they often lack direct relationships with potential suppliers, making them difficult for traditional sales and marketing efforts to identify and engage.
Hidden buyers are not passive. The report shows that 63% spend over an hour weekly consuming industry insights, almost matching the 64% of target buyers. Additionally, 55% use thought leadership to inform vendor evaluations, nearly identical to target buyers at 56%. These stakeholders actively seek insights to understand business challenges and assess solutions.
Thought Leadership Opens Doors Where Sales Cannot
Hidden buyers are typically harder for sales teams to reach. According to the report, 71% of hidden buyers report little to no interaction with sales representatives. Unlike target buyers, they rarely take meetings or engage directly with sales teams, yet they hold significant influence over purchasing decisions.
By consistently delivering high-quality insights, companies can spark curiosity, demonstrate credibility, and create engagement where traditional outreach falls short. The content itself becomes a point of entry, dubbed a “Trojan horse” in the study, and it is one that opens doors to meaningful conversations. When executed strategically, thought leadership builds trust, frames the narrative, and positions the organisation as a partner capable of guiding complex business decisions.
‘Why do consultancies or tech firms lose deals they thought they’d win? Because they didn’t fully understand the internal dynamics of their customers. Hidden buyers were at play: people who were unknown — and possibly unknowable. Key influencers who don’t want to be sold to — who stopped the deal cold.‘
Anthony Marshall, Senior Research Director, IBM Institute for Business Value
Why Thought Leadership Works
For hidden buyers, thought leadership outperforms conventional marketing. The report shows that 71% agree it demonstrates vendor value more effectively than typical marketing, while 64% trust it more than product sheets. Thought leadership works because it engages decision-makers on a deeper, intellectual level. Hidden buyers rely on content not just to learn about products, but to understand the broader strategic implications of a purchase. They seek insights that challenge assumptions, illuminate opportunities, and help them navigate risk.
High-quality thought leadership demonstrates expertise, thoughtfulness, and perspective, creating a sense of credibility that transactional marketing cannot achieve. For organisations, this means influencing decisions even before a single meeting takes place. In essence, it transforms content from a marketing tool into a strategic lever that shapes perception, guides evaluation, and earns advocacy within the buyer group.
‘Our research shows that buying decisions are increasingly consensus efforts between the principal buyer and a hidden group of critical influencers. Unlike primary buyers, these hidden influencers are less likely to have any direct relationships with the provider. It is here that high-quality thought leadership plays a vital role in credentialing a professional services firm and differentiating it from the competitive mass.‘
Elisabeth S. Bolshaw, Global Content Strategist, EY
Amplifying Influence
Hidden buyers often look to C-suite guidance to validate strategic decisions, and when senior leaders engage with insightful content, it creates top-down momentum across the buying group. The study found that 41% of target decision-makers and 35% of hidden buyers report being encouraged by C-suite executives to consider specific vendors after engaging with thought leadership content.
High-quality thought leadership becomes a tool for influencing the agenda at the highest levels, ensuring that proposals gain credibility and traction before the first meeting even takes place.
Opportunities for Challenger Brands
Emerging or lesser-known brands often face the challenge of breaking through against well-established competitors. Thought leadership offers a strategic advantage: it allows these organisations to compete not on name recognition, but on the strength of ideas and insight.
53% of hidden and target buyers say thought leadership matters more than brand recognition when evaluating vendors. Furthermore, 79% of hidden buyers are more likely to champion proposals from organisations known for valuable content, even if those companies lack prominence.
By producing content that addresses the real challenges and priorities of hidden decision-makers, challenger brands can demonstrate expertise, build credibility, and earn influence within the buying group. Effective thought leadership positions a company as a trusted advisor, capable of guiding strategic decisions and illuminating new possibilities. In doing so, it transforms perception and fosters advocacy from stakeholders who may otherwise remain disengaged. Consistently delivering value through insights becomes a decisive differentiator, one that can level the playing field in even the most competitive markets.
Strategic Implications
Engaging hidden buyers requires a deliberate and strategic approach. Organisations must treat these stakeholders as core audiences from the outset, not as an afterthought. This means creating thought leadership that addresses their unique priorities, challenges, and decision-making criteria, while maintaining a consistent perspective across the buying group.
‘Producing content with a clear target audience that addresses specific problems is crucial. These hidden buyers are often responsible for implementing change and need actionable insights to guide their next steps. By delivering such insights, our content provides tangible value, equipping all decision-makers with the strategies they need for success.‘ Jeff Potter, Head of Advisory Insights, KPMG
At its most effective, thought leadership signals authority, inspires trust, and differentiates a brand in a crowded market. It ensures that when deals are evaluated, your organisation is seen not just as a vendor, but as a trusted partner capable of shaping outcomes and guiding strategic decisions.
Looking Forward
B2B purchasing is increasingly distributed. Organisations that engage hidden influencers through strategic thought leadership gain a competitive advantage, while those fixated only on obvious buyers risk stalled deals and missed opportunities.
Success in complex B2B sales requires addressing the full spectrum of internal influencers. Quality thought leadership can transform sceptical stakeholders into vocal advocates, helping organisations navigate a landscape where hidden buyers increasingly determine deal outcomes.