Trust has always mattered in B2B. But it is no longer just about reputation or brand. It is a mechanism for getting deals done.
Buying decisions are stalling. Not because products are weaker or value propositions unclear, but because buying groups cannot agree. The B2B Institute found that 40% of deals fail to progress due to a lack of consensus. Economic pressure, geopolitical tension and rapid technological change are making stakeholders more cautious and more divided. Businesses can generate demand, but converting it is becoming harder.
This is where trust takes on a new role. Not as a passive outcome of good marketing, but as something companies must actively build between stakeholders. In other words, trust needs brokers.
Fractured consensus
Traditional marketing assumes a relatively linear path: define a proposition, reach decision-makers, convert interest into sales. That model no longer holds.
Buying groups are larger and more fragmented. Internal stakeholders bring competing priorities. External audiences are skeptical of polished messaging. Many buyers prefer to avoid direct sales engagement altogether. In this environment, the challenge is not just persuasion. It is alignment.
Trust becomes the factor that allows different stakeholders to move forward together. Without it, decisions stall. With it, consensus becomes possible.
A clear, consistent and credible brand reduces perceived risk across a buying group. It gives stakeholders confidence not just in what a company sells, but in how it will behave. But brand alone is not enough.
Want to go deeper? Ask The Drum
From messaging to trust brokering
The Edelman Trust Barometer highlights a growing trend: insularity. People are retreating towards familiar views, sources and communities. The same dynamic is playing out inside organizations and across industries. For marketers, this creates a new mandate. Not just to communicate, but to convene.
Trust brokering is about bringing together stakeholders with different perspectives and helping them find enough common ground to act. It is less about driving agreement and more about enabling progress despite disagreement. That means moving beyond campaigns to sustained dialogue, creating platforms where stakeholders can engage rather than just consume and prioritizing credibility and transparency over polish.
This is not a rebrand of stakeholder marketing. It is a shift in responsibility. Marketing becomes an active participant in shaping the conditions for decision-making.
What trust brokering looks like in practice
Some companies are already operating this way.
DP World’s ‘Move to -15’ initiative challenged a long-standing convention in the frozen food supply chain. By demonstrating that goods could be transported safely at -15°C instead of -18°C, the company created a simple, shared goal with clear commercial and environmental benefits. Crucially, it open-sourced the research and built a consortium across competitors, suppliers and customers to accelerate adoption. The result was an 11% increase in trust for DP World and, more importantly, an industry galvanized into piloting a new standard.
Unilever Foundry takes a similar approach, bringing together startups, academics and partners to solve challenges in sustainable packaging and biotechnology. Tesla’s decision to open its electric vehicle patents reflects the same logic: expanding the ecosystem helps address shared barriers, like infrastructure, that would otherwise limit growth for everyone.
In each case, the company is not just telling a story. It is creating the conditions for collective progress.
Not every brand can play this role
Not every organization has the credibility to convene competitors or influence industry direction. Trust cannot be assumed. It has to be earned through consistent behavior, transparency and delivery.
Stakeholders are also quick to challenge initiatives that feel self-serving. If trust brokering is seen as a marketing tactic rather than a genuine attempt to solve shared problems, it will backfire. This raises an uncomfortable question for marketers: is your brand trusted enough to bring others with you?
The brands that will win
In a fragmented and uncertain market, the companies that succeed will not be those with the loudest voice. They will be the ones that reduce friction in decision-making.
For marketing leaders, that means investing in thought leadership with genuine utility, designing programs that unite stakeholders around shared challenges and measuring success in terms of progress and alignment, not just reach and leads.
Trust brokering turns trust from a long-term brand asset into a practical driver of growth. In B2B today, the advantage does not go to the company that says the most. It goes to the one that can bring the most people with it.
