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The Age of Influence in B2B Marketing

NYTW 2026

As part of Clarity's New York Tech Week breakfast briefing, we brought together a room of B2B tech leaders to explore what the age of influence in B2B marketing looks like in practice – from Reddit communities and executive visibility to AI search and GEO.

Across the conversation, a few themes kept resurfacing:

The B2B buyer is a whole person, not a job title. They are scrolling Reddit on a Sunday, listening to podcasts on the commute, and skimming LinkedIn between meetings. Winning brands plan for rest, motion and work – not just a gated white paper at the desk.
AI is the new navigation layer, not the decision-maker. Large language models get buyers to an answer faster, but humans still click into sources, look for real stories and peer validation, and reward brands that show up consistently and transparently.
Influence comes from humans, not logos. The most effective B2B storytelling now flows through executive voices, internal experts and communities. Authenticity beats volume every time – one sharp, honest post from a leader will outperform a month of generic status updates.

For B2B CMOs under pressure to do more with less, the cost of standing still is now greater than the cost of experimenting. Influence is becoming an asset class: the brands that invest in trust, clarity and consistency today will be the ones that surface in AI results, peer threads and boardroom shortlists tomorrow.

If you are rethinking how your brand shows up across this new influence landscape, our team is always happy to compare notes and share what we are seeing across B2B tech.

A huge thank you to our panellists for bringing the age of influence to life: