Trust & Influence in B2B

Here's an uncomfortable idea for any B2B business competing for a high-value deal: your biggest competitor may not be a better business. It may simply be one that's easier to believe. That's the starting point for the second year of the Trust Advantage research from Emmett & Churchman, which surveyed 200 senior technology decision-makers and sat down with 19 CEOs making real, high-stakes buying decisions. The finding: capable businesses lose deals constantly, not for lack of capability, but because of what the research calls the commercial credibility gap, the distance between what a business can deliver and what a buyer can see, believe and defend. Joel is joined by Lorraine Emmett, founder and managing director of Emmett & Churchman and the lead author of the research, to unpack why 45% of senior buyers say they've ruled out a supplier for failing to prove its credibility, and what leadership teams can do to close the gap in their own business. Download the 'Trust Advantage' report here:…

Why AI makes human experiences more valuable, not less, with Claire Ellis of JPC ABM was supposed to be about relationships. As AI makes targeting and personalisation cheap and abundant, the thing ABM was meant to build in the first place, trust with the people who actually decide, has become the real differentiator. Nowhere is that more acute than in ABM's biggest deals, where a single account can be worth millions and keeping it can matter even more than winning it. ➡️ Joel Harrison is joined by Claire Ellis, Managing Director of JPC, to unpack experiential ABM: human moments designed to move specific stakeholders, rather than events that simply fill rooms. Claire explains why buyers are now using AI to form preferences early and out of sight, why so much supplier activity is noise rather than relationship progress, and how to work out who really carries the room. She shares how BT moved from infrastructure provider to strategic partner with Translink, where organisations should deliberately keep human…

Everyone's talking about buyer group marketing. Far fewer are doing it well, and most organisations have no reliable way of knowing how mature their approach really is. For this sponsored episode, Joel Harrison is joined by Greg Salmon, CEO of Pretzl, and Jeff Lowe, Pretzl's go-to-market advisor and a former CMO and Chief Commercial Officer at SMART Technologies, to unpack the 2026 Buyer Group Index. Produced in association with the ANA and research firm NewtonX, the Index surveyed 200 senior go-to-market leaders and measured 28 practices against commercial outcomes, from pipeline velocity to time to market. ➡️ Greg explains why so much of what passes for buyer group marketing is persona-based nurture under a new name, why the single score of the MQL is so comforting and so misleading, and how to reach the hidden influencers and build trust with people a vendor may never meet. He also warns that AI can scale bad assumptions as easily as good ones. Jeff draws on his years client-side to argue that separate…

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…

The winning vendor is usually already on the buyer's shortlist before a single sales conversation happens, and increasingly, it isn't a salesperson or a website that put them there. It's a large language model, quietly checking what real people are already saying about you. John Rockhold, VP of Market Engagement at Spotlight, joins Joel Harrison to unpack Influence Orchestration, Spotlight's new research into how buying preference now forms in AI answer engines, peer communities and analyst conversations, long before a deal ever reaches a pipeline. John's team interviewed 23 leaders who build and measure B2B influence, reviewed 27 published studies of buyer behaviour, and analysed millions of AI engine answers and citations across B2B technology categories. The conversation also draws on Spotlight Summit, the event John's team ran in Kansas City the week this episode was recorded, where Joel spoke alongside Bijou Barry, Megan Burns and other voices shaping this shift. What you'll learn Why buyer preference…

Every B2B vendor now has an AI story. Michelle Huff, Chief Marketing Officer at Alteryx, argues that's exactly the problem: when everyone makes the same promise, positioning around AI stops being a differentiator and becomes table stakes. Michelle brings more than 25 years leading marketing and go-to-market strategy at Oracle, Salesforce and UserTesting to the question of how a 25-year-old analytics brand earns its place in the AI era without sliding into hype. Joel and Michelle talk through how Alteryx replaces claims with proof – a 760,000-member user community, customer stories, and a framework (Visible, Understandable, Repeatable, Auditable) for what makes an automated decision trustworthy. Michelle also unpacks a strikingly simple way to think about handing judgment to AI: treat it like onboarding a new hire, earning autonomy step by step rather than switching it on and walking away. What you'll learn Why positioning around AI is now table stakes rather than a differentiator – and what to do about it…

Iron Mountain is nearly 75 years old, built on physical records storage, and structured as a real estate investment trust — known for most of its history for warehouses and shredding trucks, not brand campaigns. Then Karen Feldman arrived as the company's first-ever Chief Marketing Officer. Karen joins Joel Harrison to explain what it actually means to become a legacy business's first CMO when marketing already exists, just without a seat at the top table — and the trust-building playbook that got her there. We cover the brand health study that reshaped her budget priorities, the McLaren Racing partnership that mirrors Iron Mountain's own value proposition, how AI is reshaping B2B search behaviour, and her advice for any marketing leader walking into a legacy business. If you find this valuable, please subscribe and leave a rating or review — it really helps other B2B marketers find the show. Guest Karen Feldman, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Iron Mountain Karen Feldman is SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at…

NPS has survived more obituaries than almost any other metric in B2B marketing — and it's still standing. Bain & Co.'s newest research doesn't try to kill it off again; it argues the real predictor of B2B growth is something else entirely: whether a vendor makes a buyer's 'day one' shortlist, the mental list formed before anyone picks up the phone. Tony Larks, a B2B marketing leader with over 20 years of experience spanning sales, enterprise technology and zero-to-one startup builds, read that research and asked the obvious next question — could you estimate your shortlist position without ever surveying a buyer? ➡️ Tony walks Joel through the AI prompt he built to do exactly that — scoring companies against Bain’s five-part framework using nothing but public signals: analyst coverage from the likes of Gartner and Forrester, peer review sites such as G2, forums including Reddit, and even employee sentiment on Glassdoor. He shares the story of an NPS score skewed by SMB customers who’d rather pay a compliance…

Most B2B marketing leaders aren't short on expertise — they're short on the confidence and the practised skill to be visible with it, whether that's in the room with their own board or out in public. Archana Dhankar, VP Marketing EMEA at Proofpoint, TEDx speaker and LinkedIn Top Voice, joins Joel Harrison to unpack what it actually takes to build that visibility, internally and externally, and turn it into real influence. ➡️ She breaks down the practical mechanics of building influence: a 2:1 ratio for balancing self-promotion against value-added content, a three-stage framework for knowing when visibility has become influence (likes, saves, and inbound interest), and why trust compounds differently on a public platform than it does inside your own organisation. She's also candid about the cost — the professional accountability, the late nights, the posts that flop despite your best instincts — and closes with practical advice for reluctant leaders and junior marketers on where to start. What you'll learn…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Jason Miller, who leads content and marketing at V7 Labs and previously held senior content marketing roles at LinkedIn, Marketo and ActiveCampaign. Before B2B, Jason spent a decade in the music industry — touring with bands, working artist development, and photographing rock's biggest names — and he's never really left it behind. Together, they explore why the safe, by-the-numbers approach so many B2B marketers default to is quietly the riskiest choice of all, and what a career spent between the tour bus and the marketing plan has taught him about actually earning an audience's attention. ➡️ Jason holds nothing back. He explains why the music industry never called its fans “leads,” and how that community mindset shaped his approach at Marketo, where the entire strategy handed down from Marketo co-founder and CMO Jon Miller was simply “get people to like us.” He unpacks why viral, one-hit-wonder campaigns — from Old Spice…

Most leadership advice pushes you toward a familiar template: decisive, diplomatic, endlessly composed. It's meant to build trust. Often it does the opposite – because trust depends on people actually knowing who you are, not the version of you assembled to fit expectations. In this episode of Trust & Influence in B2B, Joel Harrison is joined by Karl Van den Bergh, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Illumio, the breach containment company. Karl has spent more than 25 years leading go-to-market teams at global technology companies, including CMO roles at Gigamon and DataStax, and now writes regularly on authenticity and what it means to be human at work. Together they unpack why being yourself is a trust strategy rather than a soft skill, how to tell real authenticity apart from the performative kind, and why Karl believes AI raises the value of human, relational marketing rather than eroding it. In this episode: Why most leadership advice pushes conformity rather than authenticity, and what gets lost in…

Why is employee advocacy so often mistaken for a content strategy? Rida Oyebade, Senior Social Media Manager at Workday, explains why handing employees “ready-made content” isn’t enough — advocacy only works when it still sounds like the person sharing it, not the brand behind them. In this episode of Trust & Influence in B2B, host Joel Harrison talks to Rida Oyebade about employee advocacy — the discipline of turning colleagues into credible, willing voices for the brand. Rida traces her own path into advocacy, breaks down the different tiers of an advocacy programme, and is candid about what she’s learned building one from scratch at Workday: why participation has to stay genuinely optional, why no programme survives without real buy-in from leadership, and why the whole discipline is really about borrowed trust rather than borrowed content. In this episode Why brand-originated content is losing ground to individual voices in B2B Why handing employees ready-made content isn’t the same as earning their…

In this special edition of Trust & Influence in B2B, Joel Harrison is joined by Fiona McKenzie of Marketbridge to make sense of Cannes Lions 2026. Fresh from five days of multi-stream content, installations and fringe events, they let the dust settle and distil what actually matters for B2B marketers – viewed through a growth lens, not creativity for its own sake. They unpack why B2B is visibly on the rise at Cannes, the tension between creativity and commercial measurement, and the CFO buy-in conversation (brand as future cashflow). They dig into three important releases from the week: the FT's work on trust (including the finding that 82% trust a source more when it challenges than when it agrees), Bloomberg on reputation pulling weight across the full funnel, and Bain & Co.'s new model positioned as a rival to NPS, scoring a buyer's likelihood to choose you before any deal is on the table. The conversation moves through the B2B Lions winner – an obscure Swedish ball-bearing company using tidal energy in…

Most of the conversations that decide a B2B deal happen in a room you'll never be in. Buyers swap recommendations, compare notes and build their shortlists in spaces marketers can neither see nor measure – and by the time you're in contention, the decision is often half made. In this episode of Trust & Influence in B2B, Joel Harrison is joined by Lottie O'Donoghue, strategy director at Velo, a specialist B2B agency built on recommendation. Lottie has led marketing client-side in scale-up SaaS and run ABM at Accenture, and now shapes recommendation strategies for Velo's clients across technology, industrial and professional services. Together they unpack why becoming the recommended choice has shifted from a nice-to-have to a commercial imperative, the real difference between being known and being recommended, and the trust signals that quietly compound into advocacy. In this episode: Why the recommended choice now matters more than the visible one The trust signals that accumulate into recommendation, and…

Lead generation is the discipline B2B marketing relies on most and trusts least. In this episode of Trust & Influence in B2B, Robin Caller, founder and CEO of Leadscale, explains why, and what it would take to fix it. Most people in B2B know that a good share of the leads changing hands every day are of questionable quality. Few will say so on the record. Robin is an exception. He calls it "a tolerable level of mischief", a grey zone the whole industry has quietly learned to live with, and in conversation with host Joel Harrison he explains why it persists, why he refuses to call it fraud, and how transparency could begin to put it right. A note before you listen: Robin speaks freely, and not everyone in the industry will agree with all of it. That's rather the point. In this episode: – Why lead generation has been B2B's least-trusted discipline for 20 years – What "a tolerable level of mischief" really means, and why it isn't fraud – The "blind faith" model and the hierarchy of transparency – Why marketers…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Tom Rudnai, Founder of Demand Genius and author of the Dark AI study — a research project that analyzed hundreds of AI prompt clusters across major B2B categories to map where brands are truly winning and losing influence. Tom's central finding is as counterintuitive as it is urgent: the more boldly a brand claims to be the best, the more likely AI is to quietly sideline it during the buyer conversations that shape outcomes. So where is influence actually earned in an AI-led world — and what should B2B marketers be doing differently? ➡️ Tom cuts through the noise with sharp, data-grounded thinking on why AI is not a search channel — and why treating it like one is one of the most costly mistakes in B2B marketing today. He introduces the "Dark AI" concept: the 84% of buyer conversations where no brand gets cited, yet where the problem framing, requirements, and shortlist criteria are already being quietly formed. He unpacks…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Professor Laura Chamberlain, Professor of Marketing at the University of Warwick and Founder of Think Talk Thrive. They tackle one of the most pressing questions in the profession right now: Do we still need junior marketers—and if so, what do we owe them? As AI absorbs entry-level tasks and graduate vacancies continue to shrink, is marketing quietly destroying its own talent pipeline? ➡️ Laura draws on years of teaching across every level of the profession—from undergraduates to C-suite executives—to challenge the notion that AI can simply replace junior roles. She makes a compelling case that young professionals bring far more than cheap labour: native AI fluency, cultural proximity, fresh thinking, and an eagerness that senior hires can't replicate. She and Joel explore how the erosion of mentorship, rising imposter phenomenon among 18–25-year-olds, and the compression of entry-level roles are creating a long-horizon…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Kate Hassler, Group Director of Brand and Comms at Access Group—a $9 billion global B2B software company serving 160,000 customers across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. While headlines scream of AI-driven redundancies at tech giants, Access Group took the opposite approach: hiring more people, running company-wide hackathons, and building a culture where AI is simply business as usual. So what does a genuinely human-led AI transformation actually look like from the inside? ➡️ Kate walks through every stage of Access Group's journey—from pockets of shadow AI usage and no formal governance, to enterprise Claude licenses with custom brand skills built in. She reveals the story behind the now-legendary "AI bus" metaphor that united 9,000 employees around a single, simple idea, and explains how structured playtime - not mandates - turned the biggest sceptics into the most vocal champions. She digs into why Access chose to…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Tejal Patel, Independent Marketing Consultant and former marketing leader at Cisco, Microsoft, and Nokia. Together, they examine how B2B technology marketing is changing as AI reshapes content creation and digital channels become more saturated than ever. Using exclusive insights from B2B Marketing Awards data, they reveal four emerging trends that are helping leading brands stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. ➡️ Tejal explains why marketers are moving beyond traditional buyer personas and investing more heavily in developers, practitioners, employees, and advocates who influence purchasing decisions from within. The conversation explores the growing importance of employee advocacy, experiential marketing, proof-of-concept campaigns, and highly targeted direct mail programs that cut through digital noise. They also discuss why trust, authenticity, and human experiences are becoming more valuable competitive…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Brian Macreadie, Head of Marketing at Addleshaw Goddard, one of the UK's most creatively ambitious international law firms. Brian reveals how his team did something no legal firm had ever done before—becoming the first-ever official legal partner of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show—and built a full-funnel campaign around it called Flourish in the City. Could flowers, billboards, and a garden at Chelsea really deliver 350% ROI and 40 new clients in under a year? ➡️ With over 30 years of B2B marketing experience across telecoms, media, and legal, Brian doesn't just talk about creativity—he proves it pays. He breaks down the strategic thinking behind Flourish in the City: why a noisy, content-saturated legal market demanded something radically different, and how a single emotionally resonant idea can anchor an entire integrated campaign. From 19 digital billboards at Bank and London Bridge, to handing flowers to city commuters, to…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Maureen Blandford, Founder of Serendipitas and co-author of the Diginomica Enterprise Data Health Study. Together, they expose one of B2B marketing's most uncomfortable truths: that senior leaders across major enterprises don't actually trust their own data—even when they say they do. Could the data powering your most critical business decisions be far less reliable than anyone is willing to admit out loud? ➡️ Maureen draws on nearly twelve years as a B2B tech CMO and frank conversations with eighteen senior practitioners—CEOs, CDOs, and commercial leaders—to unpack the dangerous gap between stated and behavioral trust in enterprise data. She introduces the "verification tax," where organisations are burning 30 to 70% of professional time simply assembling and reconciling data rather than analysing it. They dig into why 94% of organisations still have siloed data despite years of integration projects, why legacy MarTech was…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Angela Tangas, CEO of Oliver, part of the Brandtech Group—the original pioneers of the in-house agency model. Together, they tackle one of the most urgent questions facing B2B marketing leaders right now: how do you move beyond AI experimentation and drive genuine, scalable transformation? And is the operating model you choose as important as the technology itself? ➡️ Angela draws on her experience working with eight of the world's ten largest advertisers across forty-eight countries to deliver a frank, practical, and genuinely eye-opening conversation. She explains why 2025 became the year of "pilot purgatory" for so many organisations—and what separates the brands that broke through from those that didn't. She unpacks the layered pressures on B2B marketing teams today, from longer deal cycles and more decision-makers to the commoditisation of AI-generated content, and makes the case for why volume without effectiveness is…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Nick Eades, Chief Strategy Officer at Freemarket and one of B2B marketing's most experienced senior leaders, having served as CMO five times across PE-backed, publicly quoted, and VC-funded businesses at companies including IBM, Dell, BT, and Fujitsu. Together, they explore one of the most consequential shifts reshaping the marketing profession: the rise of private equity ownership in B2B — and what it demands of marketers operating inside it. Could the high-pressure, outcome-driven discipline of PE-backed marketing actually be making all of B2B better? ➡️ Nick holds nothing back. He dismantles the cult of MQLs — sharing real-world cases where marketing leaders were measuring leads that never converted to revenue — and argues that closed-won SQLs sourced by the GTM function is the only metric that truly counts. He introduces his operating mantra of "evidence builds confidence," explains why he talks about reputation and…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Alastair Hussain, Chief Strategy Officer at TMP (The Marketing Practice), a specialist B2B marketing agency. Together, they confront one of the most pressing realities in B2B marketing today: the chaos most marketers are experiencing isn't a streak of bad luck—it's the symptom of operating models that have fundamentally broken down. Is coherence the cure, and what does it actually take to build it from the inside out? ➡️ Alastair draws on TMP's Cost of Chaos Report—research spanning over a thousand B2B marketers and tech buyers—to map out the "chaos cascade": how macro forces like geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological change filter down into fragmented teams, stalled deals, and burned-out marketers. He argues that the instinct to move faster or pile on more technology doesn't fix chaos—it accelerates it. The real answer is coherence: aligning brand, messaging, product, and strategy so every…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Skip Fidura, Fractional CMO, Non-Executive Director, and Board Advisor with over 20 years of experience across B2B and B2C marketing on the client, agency, and provider sides. The fractional CMO model is having a moment—but is it a real structural shift in marketing leadership, or just a buzzword that's been marketered up? And what does its rapid rise reveal about how organizations truly value marketing? ➡️ Skip has been working fractionally since before it was fashionable, and he doesn't hold back. He breaks down the real distinctions between a fractional CMO, a consultant, and a contractor—and why getting that wrong can cost organizations dearly. He explores the cost and structural forces driving the fractional trend, from cash-strapped scale-ups to founders seeking an exit strategy. Skip also addresses the harder truths: how marketing's long-standing failure to speak the language of finance has made it easier for…

Agentic AI is one of the most talked-about developments in B2B right now — but most marketers haven't yet asked the question that matters most: what happens to buyer trust when an AI agent starts acting on their behalf? In this episode, Joel Harrison speaks with Andy Johnson, founder and director of client strategy at HUT3, one of the most respected ABM agencies in B2B and one of the earliest adopters of agentic AI in the industry. Andy and his team haven't just been watching this technology evolve — they've been actively building with it for the past three years. Andy makes a case that will surprise many listeners: that agentic AI, done properly, isn't a threat to buyer trust — it's one of the most powerful ways to build it. But get it wrong, and you're not just making a single mistake. You're scaling bad decisions fast, across your entire account base. In this episode you'll learn: What agentic AI actually means in plain language — and why it represents a genuine step change, not just another AI product…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Robyn Hartley, Managing Director at Paper Kite Media. Drawing on a rigorous analysis of B2B Marketing Awards entries, they expose the uncomfortable truth behind employee advocacy: most brands are deploying it as content distribution, not genuine advocacy. And the data suggests they're missing a significant commercial opportunity as a result. Is your advocacy program building real trust—or just adding noise? ➡️ Robyn and Joel explore why LinkedIn dominates employee advocacy (and why that concentration carries risk), why 70% of campaigns are triggered by brand moments rather than deployed always-on, and why measurement still stops at impressions even in commercially rigorous campaigns. They make the case for "inside-out" sequencing—activating employees internally before any external spend—and discuss how thought leader advocacy is increasingly powering ABM and demand gen strategies, not just brand activity. Robyn's…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Phil Treagus-Evans, Co-founder and CEO at Giraffe Social. Phil discusses his 2025 book, "Human First Marketing," which provides a framework for putting people back at the center of marketing strategy during a time of AI-generated content saturation. They explore why marketing has drifted away from human connection and how to rebuild trust in a cynical B2B landscape. 💬 Can your brand survive the "AI slop" era by being more human, or will you get lost in the machine-gunned noise? ➡️Phil argues that the trust deficit in marketing stems from an obsession with data-driven optimization that treats customers like spreadsheets rather than real people. He breaks down the three essential levers of human-first marketing—Audience, Team, and Personal Brand—showing how leveraging employee advocacy and authentic leadership can outperform any corporate facade. Phil also shares why the AI revolution actually makes humanity a "superpower"…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Kristen Esto, Founder of Customer Influence, a specialist influencer and creator marketing agency. They explore what the data actually tells us about how influencer marketing works in B2B—and what it reveals often runs completely counter to conventional wisdom. Could the most powerful tool in modern B2B marketing be the one you're not using yet? ➡️ Drawing on an AI-assisted analysis of over a thousand award entries from the B2B Marketing Awards and Elevation Awards (2024–2025), Joel and Kristen walk through five key trends shaping B2B influencer marketing today. Kristen—who brings more than a decade of paid media and data experience to her three years as a creator marketing specialist—shares why niche trade influencers consistently beat high-reach celebrities, why loosening brand control actually drives better performance, and how leading brands are connecting influencer activity directly to ABM platforms and pipeline. They…

Marketing is often described as a profession that welcomes everyone. The reality is rather different. Entry still depends too heavily on who you know, which school you attended, and whether marketing even appeared on your radar as a viable career path. For many people — particularly those from non-traditional or underrepresented backgrounds — the door into our profession remains firmly closed. In this episode, Joel is joined by Martin Troughton, chairman of the Marketing Skills Trust — a charity established in part through a legacy from Professor Derek Holder, founder of the IDM, specifically to help the next generation access marketing as a career. Martin brings a rare dual perspective: co-founder of Harrison Troughton Wunderman, one of the UK's most awarded direct marketing agencies, and a subsequent fifteen years on the client side. That breadth shapes a conversation that is frank, personal, and at times quietly powerful. They discuss: Why marketing remains a predominantly white, middle-class profession —…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Andrew Mildren, MD of Edelman Business Marketing for EMEA, to dig into the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer — based on nearly 34,000 responses across 28 countries. The headline finding is sobering: 70% of people globally now hold what Edelman calls an insular trust mindset, retreating into familiar circles and becoming reluctant to trust those who hold different views or values. And yet, businesses have held the title of most trusted institution since 2021. So what's driving this contradiction — and what must B2B marketers do about it? ➡️ Andrew brings Edelman's 26 years of trust expertise to the table and offers both clear diagnosis and practical direction. He explains the concept of "trust brokering" — where businesses act not as side-takers, but as facilitators bridging divided groups — and highlights examples from Microsoft and IKEA doing this credibly. He breaks down why insularity is no longer just a societal issue but a…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Jon Watton, Fractional CMO and experienced B2B tech marketing leader, and Tom Howe from Jefferson Group, to explore one of the most pressing issues facing the industry: the future of B2B marketing roles, team structures, and organizational trust. Marketing headcounts are shrinking, recruitment has stalled, and the rules of the job market have fundamentally shifted. So is this a crisis — or simply a long overdue correction? ➡️ Jon and Tom bring two sharply different perspectives — one from inside the market navigating it as a senior marketer, the other from a front-row seat in hiring across B2B. Together, they dig into the post-COVID hiring hangover, the intense pressure to deliver short-term results at the expense of long-term strategy, and how AI is reshaping both what marketing teams look like and what's expected of them. They also explore why fractional leadership is emerging as a new model of trust, the growing danger…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Katy Howell, Founder and CEO of Immediate Future, a social media agency she has led since 2004. Together, they tackle one of B2B marketing's most persistent blind spots: the difference between thought leaders, influencers, and advocates — and what happens when brands get it wrong. Are you unknowingly leaving your most powerful trust-building channels completely unused? ➡️ Katy brings deep, practical experience in influencer strategy and pulls no punches. She and Joel explore why B2B marketers default to treating influence like a media buy — focused on reach and clicks — rather than asking how each persona actually shapes buyer decisions and builds lasting credibility. Joel also introduces his new B2B Matrix of Influence, built from analysis of over a thousand B2B marketing awards entries, mapping five distinct trust personas and how they should be deployed. They dig into why customer advocates are used in just 11% of…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Rob Mitchell, Co-Founder of Exhibit-B and former CEO of FT Longitude. Together, they explore how thought leadership is undergoing a dramatic transformation, evolving from a traditional top-of-funnel brand-building tool into a dynamic, full-funnel marketing discipline. Is thought leadership finally delivering the commercial value B2B marketers have been waiting for? ➡️ Rob brings over 20 years of expertise in thought leadership. Based on Joel's analysis of hundreds of B2B Marketing Awards entries, they unpack five critical trends: the data foundation gap revealing most campaigns lack robust research, the surge in sales integration with over 53% now including sales enablement, the format revolution with documentary content doubling while audio declines, the untapped potential of interactive content, and the distribution shift from broadcast to direct channels. They discuss why synthetic data isn't ready, how to commercialize…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Adam Sharp, CEO and Co-founder of Clever Touch, Robert Nicholson, Digital Marketing Director at Robert Walters, and Alec Weeks from Clever Touch. Together, they tackle one of B2B marketing's most persistent challenges: MarTech integration. Despite years of investment and countless vendor promises, only 14% of marketing technology systems are properly integrated, and a staggering 60% of MarTech capability goes entirely unused. But why does integration remain so stubbornly difficult, and what's really holding organizations back? ➡️The guests bring unique perspectives from both consulting and practitioner sides. Adam chairs the Mosaic MarTech Think Tank, which convenes senior marketing technology practitioners to explore real-world challenges. Robert has scaled Robert Walters' marketing operations from a team of three to 40+ globally. What emerges from their conversation is a crucial insight: integration isn't primarily a…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Maria Winn, Chief Marketing Officer at Mitie, the UK's leading facilities management company. They explore how Mitie transformed from a -10 NPS to +63 NPS through authentic brand purpose. What does it take to make purpose resonate with 70,000 employees and drive real trust? ➡️ Maria shares the journey of developing "Better Places, Thriving Communities"—a purpose that needed to work for everyone from frontline cleaners to AI engineers. She reveals why they involved hundreds of employees early, how they balanced internal embedding with external launch, and why letting go of legacy language was their biggest challenge. They discuss the purpose-trust connection in service businesses, why marketing-HR alignment is critical, and the compelling data: organizations with well-embraced purposes have 39% higher revenues. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Trust in B2B Marketing 02:14 - Maria Winn's Journey to Mitie 05:37 - Why Brand…

B2B marketing faces a growing trust and attention crisis as buyers are overwhelmed by content and AI-driven noise. Hosted by Joel Harrison, a long-time B2B advocate and founder of B2B Marketing Magazine, the podcast focuses on how trust and influence are truly built in modern B2B. Through conversations with CMOs, founders, analysts, and practitioners, it delivers practical, real-world insights on earning buyer trust, the evolving role of thought leadership and influencers, and how brands can be chosen—not just noticed—to drive growth.

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and Engagio, and one of the most influential figures in modern B2B marketing. Jon literally helped create the demand generation playbook that defined an entire era of marketing automation—and now, he's here to explain why that same playbook might be fundamentally broken. What happens when the very systems you helped build no longer reflect how buyers actually make decisions? ➡️ Jon brings a rare combination of technical rigor (he studied physics before pivoting to marketing) and decades of hands-on experience building category-defining companies. He doesn't just critique the old model—he unpacks why MQLs, linear funnels, and attribution models were always a bit simplistic, and why they've become completely disconnected from today's complex, non-linear buying reality. This conversation digs into the chaos theory of B2B buying, the rising importance of brand over demand, and why trust has…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Robert Heldt, CEO of AIM B2B, a B2B marketing and PR agency specializing in helping Western companies navigate the Japanese and South Korean markets. With 17 years of experience in Japan and a new office opening in South Korea in early 2025, Robert brings invaluable insights into two of Asia's most sophisticated yet distinctly different economies. Together, they tackle a critical question: Why do so many Western B2B companies fail when they treat Japan, Korea, and the broader Asian market as one homogeneous opportunity—and what does it really take to succeed? ➡️ Robert reveals the stark differences between Japan's relationship-first, risk-averse business culture and South Korea's fast-paced, digitally-driven marketplace. He explains how trust operates fundamentally differently in these markets, why your global marketing strategy won't land without deep localization, and the cultural missteps that can kill momentum before…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Paul Collier, CMO at Funnel Fuel and a serial B2B marketing leader who's worked with Fortune 50 tech companies. They unpack the FT's landmark "Bridging the Trust Gap" report, which reveals that companies measuring trust are three times more likely to report stronger profits—yet only 22% actually do. Can B2B advertisers afford to ignore trust when planning their media strategies? ➡️ Paul brings hard-won client-side experience to the conversation, sharing his own wake-up call when his digital advertising spend flatlined without explanation. Together, they explore the five pillars of B2B trust (reliability, human competence, data security, ethics, and integrity), why trust gaps exist across industries, and how AI is rapidly reshaping the advertising landscape. They also tackle platform opacity, the balance between trusted media and social channels, and practical steps marketers can take to demand transparency from their…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Daniel Mohacek, Founder and CEO at Truth Engine, a company building technology to detect fake reviews at scale. Daniel has spent 25 years in digital marketing, including time at Yahoo in its early days and involvement with SwiftKey, the predictive text keyboard acquired by Microsoft. But it was an unexpected discovery a few years ago that set him down a completely different path—while trying to turn around a struggling B2B website business, he uncovered a coordinated attack of fake negative reviews that traditional marketing playbooks simply don't address. What happens when your company's reputation is being systematically destroyed by fake reviews, and the advice you receive about fighting back raises serious ethical and legal questions? ➡️ Daniel reveals the sobering truth about review manipulation across platforms we all rely on—from Trustpilot and G2 to Google and Glassdoor. The scale of the problem is far greater than…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Carla Johnson, a globally recognized marketing and innovation strategist, speaker, and author of Rethink Innovation. Carla has helped some of the world's top B2B brands—from Emerson and Dell to Intel—reimagine how they inspire creativity, tell authentic stories, and earn lasting trust. What does it really take to build trust in an era where buyers believe peers and employees more than brand advertising, and how can B2B organizations unlock creativity when risk aversion still dominates? ➡️ Carla doesn't hold back. He reveals why trust is the hidden currency that powers innovation, why consistency matters more than perfection, and how storytelling transforms credibility into real influence. They explore how brand values must translate into employee freedom, why thought leadership requires taking the heat along with the glory, and what AI means for the future of authentic marketing. From the importance of making people…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Felicia Asiedu, European Marketing Director at Cvent, a global leader in event technology. Together, they explore a critical shift happening in B2B marketing right now: the move from treating events as one-off tactical activities to embracing them as a strategic growth driver. With digital content overload reaching peak levels and buyers craving more tangible, trust-building interactions, could events be the missing piece in your go-to-market strategy? ➡️ Felicia brings a refreshingly honest perspective shaped by seven years at Cvent and a front-row seat to how the best B2B organizations are rethinking their event programs. She unpacks the concept of Event-Led Growth (ELG)—a framework that connects every event, from flagship conferences to intimate dinners, back to measurable business outcomes. You'll hear why 79% of companies using an ELG approach hit their revenue goals every quarter, how events can accelerate sales…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Teresa Allan, Managing Partner at Magnus Consulting, to explore a striking disconnect in B2B leadership: only 9% of commercial leaders feel highly confident about hitting their 2026 growth targets, yet over half of their organizations are aggressively pursuing growth. Teresa shares insights from Magnus Consulting's new GTM Confidence Index report, revealing that this confidence gap isn't just an internal problem—it's a trust issue that buyers can sense. Leaders who are confident in their current quarter's pipeline are nine times more likely to feel confident about the year ahead, and those with integrated tech stacks are five times more confident than those with fragmented systems. ➡ Throughout the conversation, Joel and Teresa unpack the five systemic gaps holding organizations back—from sales and marketing silos (where misalignment drops confidence to zero) to the mid-market "messy middle" where complexity outpaces…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Kate Mackie, Partner at EY and author of "B2B Marketing Fundamentals." Kate has over 20 years of experience leading global marketing initiatives across both agency and client-side roles. She's a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and was named one of the UK's 2023 most influential marketers. In this conversation, they explore a critical question: Is trust just a soft concept, or is it the strategic foundation that drives real B2B growth? ➡Kate makes a compelling case that the brand isn't fluffy—it's essential. She explains how trust connects brand, reputation, relationships, and revenue, and why consistency matters more than perfection. They discuss how reputation starts inside organizations with employee advocacy, how AI and data can either build or break customer confidence, and why leaders need to create psychological safety for teams to innovate. Kate also shares practical advice for early-career marketers,…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Clive Armitage, CEO of Pretzl, to discuss one of the most significant transformations in the B2B agency landscape. Clive shares the inside story of how five established Next 15-owned agencies—Agent3, Together, Velocity Partners, PAN Communications, and This is Distillery—came together to form Pretzl, a 300+ person global agency built from the ground up with AI at its core. ➡ Clive challenges the notion that this is simply a consolidation play, positioning Pretzl instead as a fundamental reimagining of how B2B marketing agencies can serve clients in an AI-driven era. He explains how the catalyst wasn't just market pressure, but a collective recognition among agency leaders that the traditional funnel-based approach to B2B marketing has stopped delivering results. The conversation explores how Pretzl's proprietary AI platform, Journey Lab, aims to industrialize buyer journey mapping at scale—something that was previously…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Eddie O'Brien, Senior Director of Global Customer Insight at Sage. Together, they explore the transformative shift happening in market research and customer insight—moving beyond generative AI into the world of agentic intelligence, where AI doesn't just answer questions but actively collects data, analyzes it, and makes autonomous decisions in real time. ➡ Eddie challenges the narrative that AI will replace human insight professionals, arguing instead for a powerful partnership where AI handles the "explicit" data while humans focus on the "implicit"—the unsaid emotional needs and behavioral nuances that create true competitive advantage. He shares how Sage is already using AI to compress three-month research projects into hours, while maintaining quality through side-by-side testing of traditional methods against AI-powered approaches. The conversation covers practical use cases including how agentic AI is revolutionizing…

Based on the podcast transcript, here's the revised episode description: Episode Description In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Stuart Giddings, CEO and co-founder of Beettoo, a new generation B2B agency built on flexible talent models and partnership ecosystems. With two decades at the forefront of B2B marketing and agency transformation, Stuart brings a refreshingly candid perspective on why the traditional agency model is broken—and what's emerging in its place. Can agencies remain trusted partners while radically rethinking how they're structured, staffed, and priced? ➡️ Stuart doesn't hold back. He argues that the conventional B2B agency has become commoditized—reduced to admin resource rather than strategic partner—and that the path forward requires embracing agility, flexible resourcing, and outcome-based value over headcount-based growth. Drawing from insights shared at a recent B2B Marketing Leaders Roundtable, they explore how agencies are…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Giuseppe Caltabiano, Senior Director of Marketing at AVK. Together, they explore the fascinating journey of how AVK transformed from a niche data center energy provider into a bold, memorable brand that's breaking conventions in the B2B space. How do you make power solutions for data centers exciting and human? Can coloring books and billboards really work in technical B2B marketing? ➡️ Giuseppe brings a unique perspective as both a practitioner and academic, combining rigorous marketing theory with creative execution. He shares the compelling story behind AVK's unconventional brand refresh—from creating coloring books that position the company as playful and approachable, to installing bold billboards in unexpected locations. You'll discover why storytelling is fundamental to B2B success (backed by neuroscience), how AVK leveraged employee stories to build authentic brand narratives, and why breaking with industry…

In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Dan Shaw, CEO at Funnel Fuel. Together, they tackle one of the most overlooked yet critical aspects of Account-Based Marketing: account selection. While ABM has become a cornerstone strategy for B2B marketers, the foundational "A" in ABM is often neglected—leading to campaigns built on outdated data, misaligned objectives, and ultimately, broken trust between sales and marketing teams. So how do you get account selection right when it can make or break your entire ABM program? ➡️ Dan brings a refreshingly transparent perspective on what's actually going wrong in the ABM space and, more importantly, how to fix it. He challenges the industry's default position of promising 100% coverage rates and reveals why even the cleanest account lists can be nearly impossible to target with precision. From companies that no longer exist appearing on target lists to the fundamental disconnect between sales and marketing in defining those…