Do B2B decision-makers still buy under the influence of advertising?

Every day, a B2B decision-maker is submerged in ads, sales pitches, and cold calls. In the end, they only remember a handful of them... and believe almost none of them.

So here's the question: does advertising still drive buying decisions among business leaders, or does it merely fill impression metrics?

What you will find in this article

• Advertising hasn't disappeared, but it no longer calls the shots.
• How B2B decision-makers really make buying decisions in 2026.
• The real role of advertising today: awareness, not conversion.
• B2B influence: a more human form of advertising.
• Should we stop advertising?

Advertising hasn't disappeared, but it no longer calls the shots

Let's start with a striking statistic: 82% of B2B buyers trust their colleagues and internal management, while 71% trust the opinions of independent third parties. Meanwhile, messages from suppliers don't even appear in the ranking of sources considered reliable.

The problem isn't that advertising has become "bad." It's that it has become invisible.

Drowned out by banners, sponsored posts, and email campaigns, the decision-maker's brain has learned to filter out these interruptions by reflex. Advertising continues to take up space.

But taking up space and influencing the decision are two very different things.

How B2B decision-makers really make buying decisions in 2026

To understand where your budget should go, you need to look at how purchasing decisions are actually made today.

They make up their minds before they even talk to you

85% have largely established their purchase requirements before reaching out to sellers. Better yet: 94% of buying teams have already narrowed down their shortlist before the first interaction, and the top-ranked supplier wins the contract in about 80% of cases.

In other words, the battle is fought up front, during that invisible phase when the decision-maker is doing their own research.

If your brand isn't on their mind at that point, no last-minute advertising will make up for it.

They trust their peers more than your ads

According to Forrester, more than 90% of decision-makers rank a recommendation from an industry peer as the most influential factor in choosing a vendor, while salespeople are the least trusted source in the eyes of B2B buyers, with only 29% trust.

The message here is crystal clear: what you say about yourself hardly matters. What others say about you matters a great deal.

The purchasing committee has expanded

According to Forrester, a B2B purchasing decision now involves, on average, 13 internal stakeholders and 9 external influencers. Generative AI has become the starting point for research, but it often provides incomplete answers that buyers then verify... with humans.

When faced with this complexity, top-down advertising alone has no chance of convincing such a diverse group.

The real role of advertising today: awareness, not conversion

Should we therefore abandon advertising completely? The answer is no, because its purpose has simply changed.

This is what the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute summarizes as the "95-5 rule": at any given moment, only about 5% of your potential buyers are actually in the buying phase. The rest won't take action for months, sometimes years. The role of advertising is no longer to convert that 95% today, but to imprint your brand in their memory for the day they do take action.

And that's exactly what the market confirms: brand awareness is once again the number one priority for B2B marketing departments in 2026. A brand must be recognized well before the call for proposals — that's the whole point of a content strategy designed to last.

Advertising, then, serves to make you known. But being known is no longer enough to be chosen. To be chosen, you have to be trusted.

B2B influence: a more human form of advertising

If decision-makers no longer trust brands but do trust people, the conclusion is obvious: you need to convey your message through credible human voices. That is the very definition of B2B influence on LinkedIn.

A well-known creator explaining why your solution has changed their daily life, an industry expert breaking down your approach, an executive embodying your vision: these are all examples of content that gets past the "ad blocker" because it doesn't feel like an ad.

A significant bonus: this type of content blends naturally into the news feed, without the production costs or media budget of a traditional advertising campaign — and continues to circulate long after the campaign ends.

Influencer marketing isn't the enemy of advertising. It's a version of advertising that has reclaimed what traditional advertising has lost: trust.

Should we stop advertising?

No, but we need to reorchestrate it.

So the right question isn't "advertising or no advertising," but "what is advertising for?"

The approach that works in 2026 combines both: influence builds trust and authenticity, while advertising amplifies and extends the memory of this credible content. We no longer sponsor a slogan; we sponsor the words of a person whom the audience already trusts.

So do B2B decision-makers still make purchases influenced by advertising? Not because of advertising alone. They make purchases driven by trust, and advertising is effective only when it supports that trust rather than replacing it.

Get started with B2B influence

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Want to see this approach in action? Browse our B2B influence case studies.

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