If you’re in a business-to-business market, here’s a trend worth sitting with: for three consecutive years, the single most influential factor in B2B buying decisions has been whether a buyer feels safe signing a contract. Not price, product features or even the quality of the sales relationship. According to dentsu’s B2B Superpowers Index 5.0, the largest ongoing study of B2B buying behavior globally, “I feel safe signing a contract with them” has held the top spot through economic uncertainty, AI disruption and a shifting competitive environment.
That kind of consistency underscores that trust is the foundation for everything else in B2B marketing. And right now, how and where that trust is built is changing faster than most organizations are adapting.
The Buying Decision Is Happening Before You’re Involved
Today’s buyers are doing the majority of their initial evaluation independently, forming strong opinions long before they reach out to a prospective vendor or partner. As conversational AI tools and social media-driven search continue to change how people discover and evaluate options, meeting your buyers at every step of a now highly fragmented, digital-first buying journey is more important than ever.
Your brand’s first impression rarely comes from a direct conversation anymore. It comes from what someone finds when they search for you, what peers say about you or what they already know and feel about your reputation. If your brand isn’t visible and credible during that early research phase, you may never make the list at all.
Trust Still Wins, Yet Buyer Needs Have Become More Specific
The 2025 Superpowers Index 5.0 data adds an important nuance to the trust aspect. For several years running, personal decision drivers like feeling safe, values alignment and emotional confidence had been steadily growing in influence over professional drivers like pricing and product reliability.
In 2024, personal drivers outweighed professional ones for the first time. In 2025, this shifted back slightly, with buyers striking a balance: trust and values alignment still matter enormously, but in a tighter economic environment, buyers are simultaneously demanding proof of dependability, seamless integration and reliability.
The report notes that two of the biggest movers in the top decision driver rankings were “integrates smoothly with our processes and operations” (which jumped from 18th to 2nd) and “approachable and transparent in their dealings with us” (which moved from 21st to 7th).
What this means practically is that trust is necessary; however, it’s no longer sufficient. Buyers want to feel safe choosing you, and they want evidence that you will deliver without friction once they do. That combination of emotional confidence backed by operational credibility is what winning brands are building toward.
The commercial stakes attached to getting this right are concrete. The Superpowers Index 5.0 data shows that a 10-point improvement in overall brand experience correlates with a 14% increase in the dollar value of each opportunity. Brands rated as providing an excellent buyer experience close business 31% faster than those rated as merely good. And companies that perform well across the 10 most important decision drivers see sales cycles that are on average 37% shorter. This shows that trust is more than a brand concept; it’s a revenue driver with measurable results.
The Power of Reputation and Word-of-Mouth
One of the more counterintuitive findings in the 2025 Superpowers Index is what’s happening with established suppliers. Even as buyers are considering 13% more brands than they were in 2024, they are less likely to actually switch. The rate at which existing suppliers lose their accounts dropped 7% compared to the prior year.
What that tells us is that buyers are doing more research, but they are also more risk-averse. When you’re already the trusted, established option, this works in your favor. When you’re trying to break in, it works against you. The brands on the outside that make it on the list tend to be the ones that already feel known and credible from prior exposure, not the ones presenting themselves for the first time.
This is especially true in rural and regional markets, where relationship capital has always been the currency of business. Buyers in these communities often value companies they recognize, see involved locally and hear about through trusted peers. The Superpowers Index data confirms that word-of-mouth is the second-most-cited reason for buyers to begin a new supplier search, with 32% citing conversations with other professionals as what prompted them to look for an alternative.
Research from Forrester backs this up: 82% of B2B buyers say coworkers and management are their most trusted sources, followed by current vendors at 79%. Independent experts and industry peers range from 66% to 72% in trust levels. Reputation travels, and it travels through people.
Why Trust Is an Integrated Marketing Problem
Trust is cumulative, built across repeated exposures in multiple places, not delivered in a single campaign or channel. A consistent digital presence and a quality website build credibility during early research. Traditional media like radio, print and outdoor support familiarity over time in ways that digital alone cannot replicate. Public relations strengthens reputation through third-party credibility. Content (videos, articles, case studies, etc.) reinforces expertise and perspective. Each of these efforts supports the others when they are aligned.
The Superpowers Index data on what makes buyers feel safe choosing a brand points to three underlying qualities: brand reputation (a reassuring track record), brand reach (credentials that are easy to vouch for with colleagues) and brand advocacy (positive reviews and peer recommendations). All of these elements require consistent presence across multiple touchpoints over time.
When those efforts are aligned and clearly convey customer value, they create a compounding impression. When they’re disconnected because the website says one thing, the sales materials say another and the social presence goes quiet for months, trust erodes. Buyers notice inconsistency even when they cannot articulate it. It makes a company feel less reliable, less established and less safe to choose.
This is where an integrated marketing approach is a powerful competitive advantage. Companies that show up clearly and consistently across the channels their buyers use are building an impression that works before any formal sales conversation begins, and that impression is often the one that determines whether they make it on the consideration list.
The Real Cost of Being Unknown
The cost of being unfamiliar to your target audience rarely shows up as a lost deal you can point to. It shows up as deals that never started, as prospects who narrowed their options before your name was ever seriously considered or as buyers who defaulted to a more familiar competitor because switching to someone unknown felt like too much risk in an uncertain environment.
Companies that have not invested in brand visibility often find themselves under more price pressure, too. When trust is not established, buyers need another reason to choose you, and cost often becomes the default differentiating factor. That dynamic is difficult to break out of without addressing the underlying visibility problem first.
Building Trust Is a Long-Term Investment
Trust can’t be produced on demand. It’s the result of showing up consistently, communicating clearly and delivering on your reputation over time. Once established, it becomes one of the most durable competitive advantages a business can have.
The research is clear on what that investment looks like in practice: brands that do this well close bigger deals faster and retain clients more effectively. These outcomes are a measurable growth strategy, and it starts with a decision to invest in being known before you need to be chosen.
If your business needs a stronger marketing strategy built on trust and visibility, reach out to us to get the conversation started.
Sources
https://www.dentsu.com/uk/en/solutions/b2b/superpowers
https://www.forrester.com/blogs/b2b-buyers-rate-their-most-trusted-information-sources/
