Seventy-eight Percent of B2B CMOs Say Brands Need to Reinvent to Stay Relevant: LinkedIn

LinkedIn announces Creator Marketplace and BrandWorks to help brands find the right creators and co-create high impact campaigns built for the platform

As B2B brands compete to earn trust and attention from buyers, CMOs are feeling the pressure to rethink how they show up with audiences. New global research from LinkedIn shows 78% of CMOs say brands need to reinvent how they engage to stay relevant, and 9 in 10 say buyers must trust and know a brand before they’re willing to engage.

LinkedIn’s 2026 Global B2B Marketing Outlook that surveyed 1,299 B2B marketers and CMOs around the world, spotlights the urgency for change required for brands to reach and influence buyers. With 71% B2B buyers being discerning Gen Z or Millennials, CMOs say their top challenge is keeping pace with changes in technology, platforms and buyer behavior. 

Without creator partnerships, marketing campaigns are incomplete

Reaching and influencing today's B2B buyers requires both credible expertise and content that stands out, and traditional marketing alone no longer delivers on these objectives. Three in four B2B CMOs say buyers are more sceptical of traditional marketing than they were in the past. 

A further 89% agree that credibility now matters more than polished brand messaging, with buyers increasingly turning to peer voices, trusted experts and creators over brand-produced content. 

This shift from polish to authenticity is reshaping B2B marketing and the vast majority (87%) of B2B CMOs plan to increase investment in creator and influencer marketing this year, with nearly three in four believing that in 2026 campaigns are incomplete without creator partnerships.

Andrea Rule, Director, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, said:

“What we're seeing globally is playing out just as sharply here in Australia. Buyers won’t engage with brands they don’t know or trust, and the old playbook of polished messages no longer cuts through.

Aussie buyers want authentic, credible voices and peer recommendations before they commit, and the brands winning attention are the ones partnering with trusted creators and showing up authentically. 

Solutions like Creator Marketplace and BrandWorks are designed to help Aussie brands close this gap – giving them a direct line to trusted industry voices and the expert creative support needed to build high-impact campaigns that drive real ROI.” 

CMOs need to prioritise strong creatives that deliver measurable impact

More than ever, CMOs are expected to prove that marketing investment is driving outcomes, from brand consideration and buyer engagement to pipeline and revenue impact. Indeed, 83% report increased scrutiny from CFOs demanding proven ROI across campaigns, and 31% say they have to justify spend to senior leaders weekly, up from 23% a year ago.

Yet proving ROI remains the sticking point in B2B environments. The majority of respondents say inaccurate targeting has direct revenue, growth, or ROI consequences, ranging from repeated mis-targeting damaging trust or brand credibility, inefficient campaigns, and wasted ad spend and reduced ROI.

To stay competitive, brands need to prioritise content that is creatively strong but also contextual and built to perform across every stage of the buyer journey.

LinkedIn announces Creator Marketplace and BrandWorks to help brands find the right creators and co-create high impact campaigns built for the platform

Over the past two years, LinkedIn has introduced new ways for brands and creators to connect and grow together, including BrandLink, Top Voices 360, and Advice Sessions.

But creator discovery remains a key challenge, and the biggest hurdle for brands considering creator campaigns is finding credible, relevant voices. 

In response, today, LinkedIn is launching Creator Marketplace - bringing LinkedIn’s creator ecosystem into one place so brands can find and partner with trusted voices at scale, and creators can turn influence into real opportunity.

Available within Campaign Manager, Creator Marketplace centralizes discovery, insights, and partnership tools so brands can:

• Find credible creators who influence buying decisions

• Identify organic and sponsored creator content featuring their brand, then amplify with Thought Leader Ads

• Extend campaigns with premium publisher video content

Creator Marketplace also unlocks new ways for creators to grow their business, secure partnerships, and monetize their expertise. Once creators opt-in to share their information with brands, they get full control over how they collaborate.

They can: 

• Get discovered by leading brands by putting their profile and content directly in front of brands

• Showcase their best work to stand out to the right partnerships

• Choose how brands reach them by setting their preferred email to stay in control of every partnership conversation

• Seamlessly evaluate incoming partnership requests and approve how your sponsored content is used

As brands compete for attention and trust, they need content built for a decision-maker audience on LinkedIn. That’s why LinkedIn is launching BrandWorks—a team of experts across brand, creative, content, and events that delivers hands-on strategy and creative support to help B2B marketers create higher-performing content on LinkedIn.

Through offerings ranging from brand strategy to creative production, BrandWorks collaborates with brands and their agency partners to:

• Leverage LinkedIn insights to shape everything from creative messaging to go-to-market.

• Co-create branded content and creative campaigns that resonate with professional audiences on LinkedIn 

• Adapt creative specifically for the LinkedIn feed to improve performance across the buyer journey

• Connect creative to high-impact opportunities such as creator collaborations, sponsorships, events, and more 

BrandWorks is already delivering results for customers like SAP and Webflow by helping them turn strong creative into higher-performing campaigns that reach the right audiences and deliver measurable impact.

Availability

Creator Marketplace is currently in alpha, with creator discovery available for select brands and creators in North America and English-only content. BrandWorks is currently available globally for select managed customers.