B2B buyers often select their preferred supplier long before the actual presentation takes place. When a sales team meets with individuals such as a bank's CTO, a retail store's managing director, or a business owner, the question of trust is usually already settled. The meeting merely confirms this decision, rarely changing it.
Forbes highlighted this point in its list of the world's most influential CMOs for 2026, published in June. While a leader who is published daily and dominates industry press may be noticeable, it does not always mean they are influential.
Visibility and influence are different concepts. Many B2B technology brands operating in South Africa still measure their activity based on frequency of appearance. However, their buyers evaluate something else: whether they know and trust that name beforehand.
The research firm 6sense conducted a survey of nearly 4,000 B2B buyers for its 2025 Buyer Experience study. On average, buyers only first contact a seller when progression through the buying process reaches 61%. In 77% of cases, they purchased from a supplier they had already ranked first.
Much of this early research now begins with the use of artificial intelligence tools that provide answers even before anyone picks up the phone. Thus, conviction happens months before the product demonstration. It is formed through articles buyers read, events they attend, and names that appear in the right places.
Therefore, advertising and expert analysis serve completely different functions. Advertising demands attention, whereas expert analysis placed on a platform the buyer already trusts confirms what they are already inclined to believe. One interrupts; the other wins consent.
The 2024 Edelman and LinkedIn study, conducted among 3,500 B2B decision-makers, confirms this. Nearly three-quarters (73%) stated that thought leadership is a more reliable basis for assessing a company's competence than its marketing materials.
The Circle of Influence is Small
Senior executives in South Africa listen to a limited circle of voices. If your brand is absent from this circle when a decision needs to be made, you start behind, no matter how good your product is.
On the TechCentral portal, 78% of readers are senior executives or managers, and 36% are managing directors, CEOs, or business owners. Over 60% read it weekly or daily. In the TechCentral 2025 survey among 572 readers, 57.7% named it the most reliable publication on technology in South Africa, compared to 20.3% for the nearest competitor. Furthermore, 58% rated it four or five out of five for professional awareness and decision-making.
It is not just about subscriber numbers—it is about the environment where decisions are made.
What Influence Looks Like in Practice
Three factors distinguish influence from noise:
- Consistency: A single sponsored article does not build trust. It is important to appear consistently. Technology leaders recognize brands that appear between launches, not just during them.
- Platform: The placement of the material is as important as its content. The same 800 words carry more weight next to journalism the reader already trusts than on a corporate blog. And since more buyers begin their research using AI tools, the sources these tools rely on are also important.
- Content: Thought leadership works because it provides value before it starts asking for anything. One reader who described themselves as a senior executive stated directly in the survey: 'What the technology can do is not as important to me as what impact it can have on my business and my clients.' As soon as the material starts looking like a presentation, it stops working. I realize the irony of writing this in an article with our name, so I will keep the next part short.
How Publishared Fits into the Picture
We help brands secure a place in ongoing conversations, in the media that senior executives read, and in the spaces where they meet. When done well, the sales team never starts from scratch. By the time the CTO picks up the phone, the name is already familiar.
If your brand needs to earn trust before the presentation, rather than just being visible during it, this is a conversation worth having.
Michelle Losco is the CEO of Publishared, which collaborates with IT technology suppliers and distributors in South Africa on thought leadership, account-based marketing, and events. Disclosure: Publishared is the parent company of NewsCentral Media, publisher of TechCentral. This article is sponsored content provided by Publishared.
