B2B buyers increasingly trust people they already follow: practitioners, creators and the experts inside your own company. Brand channels still matter, and they work best when a credible person carries the message first. For most teams, the practical starting point is a few internal subject matter experts sharing real points of view, supported by paid distribution and measured by which target accounts engage.
Clay’s is great too.
How has B2B trust shifted over the years?
In my career I've watched the center of gravity move several times. Company websites and trade shows. Then blogs and gated downloads. Then social feeds. Now individual voices on LinkedIn, YouTube, newsletters and podcasts.
Each shift followed the same pattern: buyers went wherever they felt least sold to. That's worth remembering before you chase any single channel, including this one.
What does HubSpot's creator program show?
Max Nimmo of CreatorWorks laid out a detailed history worth reading. His telling: HubSpot grew out of Dharmesh Shah's blog, which drew more interest than its founders expected and inspired the term inbound marketing. Over time the company bought The Hustle and the My First Million podcast in 2021, launched a podcast network, and built what Nimmo describes as an in-house influencer agency. He reports more than 300 creators through the program since 2021, about 150 working with HubSpot now, and four media brands acquired.
One story stuck with me. A member of HubSpot's creator partnerships team cold-emailed a YouTube creator in November 2023 with no introduction. According to Nimmo, that email grew into 52 sponsored videos, 14 million views, and eventually an acquisition of the creator's company.
Nimmo frames this as HubSpot retiring "inbound" in favor of creators. I'd read it more gently: the company that taught a generation to publish its own content kept following its buyers' attention, and it did so long before it needed to.
How can a smaller team apply this without a media budget?
Start inside your own walls. One LinkedIn revenue framework I saved puts it plainly: the "everyone share this company post" approach has run its course. Instead it suggests:
Pick three to seven internal experts with strong points of view.
Give them talking points drawn from real market and sales insight.
Help them write in their own voice, which matters more than polish.
Track which target accounts view and engage with their content.
Let sales reference that content in conversations.
The same framework suggests boosting only the posts that already perform and building retargeting audiences from people who watched them.
I've seen the human version of this work. At Johnson Matthey I helped run an onsite podcast at industry events, alongside presentations and interviews, and I saw firsthand how well a real conversation with an expert holds a technical buyer's attention. At Monkey Wrench Brewing, community trust carried us when we became the first Georgia business to complete a revenue-sharing crowdfund through Honeycomb Credit.
Remember that you are also in the cheer-leading business.
How do you measure this so finance takes it seriously?
The same framework recommends tracking buying behavior over applause. Watch for people from target accounts viewing posts, repeat engagement from accounts already in your pipeline, and profile visits from your ideal buyers. Then compare deals that engaged with this content against those that didn't, on reply rates, time to first meeting and deal size.
Views are encouraging, sure. Movement inside target accounts is likely the best number to bring to the leadership meeting.
FAQ
Do we need to hire outside creators?
Not to start. Your own experts carry built-in credibility. Outside creators make more sense once you know which messages land and which audiences you need to reach beyond your network.
What if our experts don't want to post?
Commit to making it easier. Interview them for 12 minutes, draft from their words, and let them edit. Many people are comfortable once the blank page is gone.
Is LinkedIn the only channel for this?
For many B2B audiences it's a strong starting point. Podcasts, YouTube, newsletters and industry events can matter just as much, depending on where your buyers spend time.
Sources
Max Nimmo, CreatorWorks, LinkedIn post and infographic on HubSpot's creator program https://lnkd.in/p/epjsGZNH
LinkedIn post: framework for turning LinkedIn into a measurable revenue channel (author not captured)
Building a team of trusted voices?
If you're trying to help your own experts show up with more confidence, I'd enjoy comparing notes. I'm still learning from the people doing this well, and I'm glad to share what's worked for me. Find me on LinkedIn or read more on my About page. Let's talk.