Trust & Influence in B2B
Trust & Influence in B2B
Podcast Description
Trust is the biggest challenge facing B2B marketers today. Buyers have always been cynical, hard to reach and even harder to convince, and increasingly expect to be self-directed in their research. In other words, they only want to engage with you on their terms. As if that wasn't bad enough, media and content channels are fragmented whilst AI is opening the floodgates to a tidalwave of content of questionable quality and veracity. It all adds up to a crisis of trust in B2B.
In this podcast, I'll be interviewing innovative and inspirational marketers in the front line of addressing this challenge, providing deep insights into the context of this challenge, exploring new insights about its implications and looking at real world solutions and success stories.
We'll focus in particular on the topics of thought leadership and influencer marketing, but inevitably brand, advocacy and demand generation, and much, much more.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores topics such as thought leadership, influencer marketing, and brand advocacy, with episodes discussing real-world campaigns like Capgemini's 'Building Trust in Data' and Circana's insights on turning data into strategic conversations, as well as the findings of Edelman's Trust Barometer report
I’m Joel Harrison, founder of B2B Marketing.net (formerly B2B Marketing magazine) Propolis and the B2B Marketing Awards. It’s been my mission for the past 21 years to recognise, celebrate and evangelise for the amazing profession that is B2B marketing, which has evolved beyond that recognition in that time.
In this podcast, I’ll be exploring what I believe is the biggest challenge facing B2B marketers today: Trust.
Buyers have always been cynical, hard to reach and even harder to convince, and increasingly expect to be self-directed in their research. In other words, they only want to engage with you on their terms. As if that wasn’t bad enough, media and content channels are fragmented whilst AI is opening the floodgates to a tidalwave of content of questionable quality and veracity. It all adds up to a crisis of trust in B2B.
In this podcast, I’ll be interviewing innovative and inspirational marketers in the front line of addressing this challenge, providing deep insights into the context of this challenge, exploring new insights about its implications and looking at real world solutions and success stories.
I’ll be exploring this topic from every relevant angle and perspective, but I’m going to focus particularly on thought leadership, influencer marketing and advocacy as they have particular relevance to this challenge.
Nostalgia sells everything from trainers to TV reboots, yet it barely registers in B2B marketing. To find out why, Joel Harrison went through three years of B2B Marketing Awards entries in search of the exceptions, and invited Guy O’Brien, co-founder of B2B influencer marketing agency Custom Influence, into the studio to make sense of what he found.
➡️ Together they unpack five ways B2B brands are going retro, from Exel Composites retelling the Three Little Pigs to Allica Bank’s bowler hat, and ask why so few try it. Guy’s verdict is that nostalgia isn’t wrong for B2B, it’s just hard: target the wrong generation and you alienate the buyers coming through; lean too far into the joke and people remember the ad but not the brand. Joel adds a warning of his own about nostalgia that stirs the wrong memories. If you’re weighing a bolder creative idea, this conversation will help you judge when going retro will pay off.
What You’ll Learn
- Why nostalgia is everywhere in consumer marketing but rare in B2B, and why that comes down to difficulty rather than suitability.
- The five creative approaches B2B brands are using to go retro, with campaign examples from the B2B Marketing Awards.
- How to avoid alienating buyers from other generations as B2B buying groups get younger.
- Why the brand, not the nostalgic idea, has to be what people remember.
- How a nostalgic idea can build a community rather than a one-off moment.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction: where this conversation came from
01:52 – Guy O’Brien and Custom Influence
03:44 – Nostalgia and the humanisation of B2B
04:27 – Trend 1: Generational era cues (Just Group)
09:45 – Why nostalgia is so rare in B2B
11:25 – Trend 2: Childhood storytelling (Exel Composites)
17:16 – Trend 3: Retro media formats (Infoblox and 6sense)
22:45 – Trend 4: Period-specific aesthetics (Ecolab)
27:14 – Trend 5: Iconography of tradition (Allica Bank)
34:29 – The verdict: is nostalgia viable in B2B?
36:14 – When nostalgia backfires
40:47 – Where to find the campaigns
Follow Guy O’Brien
LinkedIn: [link]
Custom Influence: https://custominfluence.com/
Closing boilerplate
If you care about making B2B marketing more meaningful, useful, and memorable, this conversation is for you. It’s honest, reflective, and packed with takeaways that can help elevate your approach to creative and thought leadership, whether you’re a content creator, strategist, or brand leader.
🌐 Visit Joel Harrison’s website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡️ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/
💬 Would you take your B2B brand retro, or is nostalgia best left to consumer marketers? Let us know in the comments below.
🔔 Subscribe to the channel for weekly insights, interviews, and on-the-ground perspectives from the world of B2B marketing. https://youtube.com/@JoelHarrison-B2B?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Follow Joel Harrison and Trust & Influence in B2B across the web: LinkedIn ▶ https://linkedin.com/in/joelharrison/ Podcast ▶ https://trust-influence-in-b2b.captivate.fm/ Instagram ▶ https://instagram.com/joelharrisonb2b/
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