Mumbai: As buyer expectations continue to evolve, a new study by LinkedIn reveals that Indian B2B marketers are under growing pressure to rethink traditional marketing approaches, with 84% saying brands need to reinvent how they engage audiences to remain relevant.
The findings come from LinkedIn’s 2026 Global B2B Marketing Outlook, which surveyed 1,299 B2B marketers and CMOs across the US, UK, France, Germany, and India, highlighting significant shifts in how businesses build trust and influence purchase decisions.
According to the research, nine in ten Indian B2B marketers believe buyers need to trust and know a brand before engaging, reflecting a wider move away from conventional marketing toward credibility-led communication.
The study also points to changing buyer demographics, with 71% of global B2B buyers now comprising Gen Z and Millennials, pushing CMOs to adapt to shifting technology trends, platform behaviours, and decision-making patterns.
LinkedIn’s findings indicate growing scepticism toward traditional brand-led messaging, with four in five Indian B2B marketers saying buyers are more sceptical of conventional marketing than before.
Increasingly, decision-makers are relying on trusted voices, peers, subject matter experts, and creators to evaluate brands. As a result, 90% of marketers in India say credibility matters more than polished brand communication, while 90% also expect to increase investment in creator and influencer marketing this year. More than 75% believe campaigns in 2026 are incomplete without creator partnerships.
At the same time, marketers are facing stronger accountability pressures. According to the report, 83% of B2B marketers report greater scrutiny from CFOs demanding measurable ROI, while globally, 31% of CMOs now justify marketing spend to senior leadership weekly, up from 23% a year ago.
To address these shifts, LinkedIn announced two new offerings designed to help marketers improve campaign effectiveness and strengthen creator-led engagement.
The company introduced Creator Marketplace, a new solution within Campaign Manager that centralises creator discovery, partnership management, and campaign amplification capabilities. The platform is designed to help brands identify trusted creators, discover organic and sponsored content opportunities, and extend campaigns using creator-led and premium video experiences.
Creator Marketplace also introduces monetisation and collaboration opportunities for creators by allowing them to showcase content, manage partnership preferences, and evaluate sponsorship opportunities directly.
Alongside this, LinkedIn launched BrandWorks, a dedicated strategic and creative services offering that combines expertise across brand strategy, content, creative production, and event activation to help marketers build stronger campaigns tailored to LinkedIn’s professional audience.
BrandWorks will support brands and agency partners with audience insights, creative development, creator collaborations, sponsorships, and campaign optimisation across the buyer journey.
Commenting on the findings and product announcements, Sachin Sharma, Director, Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn India, said, “How Indian professionals make B2B decisions has changed dramatically – they’re doing more research on their own, turning to people they trust, and even using AI tools to validate choices before they ever engage with a brand. That means marketers can’t rely on traditional playbooks anymore. Credibility, context, and relevance are what truly influence decisions now. What we’re focused on at LinkedIn is helping brands tap into trusted voices and build campaigns that feel authentic, not just promotional – whether that’s by enabling access to the right creator ecosystems or bringing strategy and storytelling together more effectively – as that’s what ultimately drives confidence, engagement, and results.”
LinkedIn stated that Creator Marketplace is currently in alpha, with creator discovery initially available for select brands and creators in North America and English-language content, while BrandWorks is now available globally for select managed customers.
Through these initiatives, LinkedIn aims to help B2B marketers adapt to changing buyer expectations by combining trusted voices, stronger creative execution, and measurable business outcomes.
