Welcome to What We're Reading, a weekly rundown of news stories, marketing columns, and B2B industry news that caught our eye.

B2B marketing’s purpose problem

While 96% of B2B marketing leaders see their role as a primary driver of business growth, almost half of marketing leaders (47%) believe their peers see their role as a function that supports sales requests, promotes news, and executes launches.

The research from Forrester shares that the disconnect isn’t just a perception problem but highlights an issue that B2B businesses have never truly defined the role of its marketing department.

It’s exactly this reason that our process starts with deep research, to get to the heart of a brand, really understand the product, and what does (and doesn’t) resonate with your customers. Once you have that, you’ll have a better idea of where marketing fits and how it can be shaped to drive true value across your entire organization.

Some interesting email insights

In an age of AI content creation and getting as much on feeds as possible, email has become a constant, consistent channel in its own right. Content Marketing Institute unpacks some interesting stats from a recent Mailchimp report that outline what subscribers want and how you can deliver.

What stood out to us were the stats around trust. The study shares that 45% of consumers are more likely to hand over information when they see customer reviews and testimonials and 40% when they can see clear privacy policies. Especially in email, when customer data has been exchanged for value, it’s more important than ever to get trust right.

A new LinkedIn playbook

As the most important social media channel for closing B2B sales, LinkedIn’s worth getting right. Here, Inc. offers a playbook to help executives stand out from the crowd.

As well as talking about working to become a trusted source of perspective, it mentions the importance of engagement as much as publishing, which is something we stand behind.

It’s easy to log on, post, and log off, but the best thought leaders are those that engage with others. As Inc. says, "some of the most valuable visibility on LinkedIn comes from participating in conversations that already exist.”

Got a purpose problem that needs solving?

We understand that marketing is more than promotion and sales support. If it’s done right, and is correctly connected to other moving parts, marketing is the foundation every business needs to hit the ground running with a smarter, more streamlined strategy. See how we do that, and work to connect it to every other part of your business.