What We’re Reading: Week of May 26, 2025

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

The importance of authentic thought leadership

Thought leadership is a key cornerstone of every successful B2B business and an important tool in rising above the noise. Forbes outlines 20 reasons why it's so important, including its ability to show you understand your audience’s challenges, building authority by shaping industry conversations, and earning trust before the sales pitch begins.

Giving B2B buyers a reason to believe

Continuing the conversation about thought leadership, MarTech makes the case that B2B buyers don’t want to see a list of features but confidence, clarity, and a reason to believe. “A feature is a mechanism. It’s not the meaning,” the article reads. “Yet most product marketing treats features like value delivery systems when they’re not. They’re attributes, not arguments. And without context, they practically mean nothing.”

The state of B2B events

After a year of instability and uncertainty, a new study from Forrester shares insights from over 250 B2B event decision-makers on the state of B2B events. While it found that budgets across the board are tightening, smaller hosted events are taking priority, with 59% planning to host them over the next 12 months. Forrester has all the details.

Are you using hashtags correctly?

In 2025, the hashtag isn’t dead but it isn’t what it used to be either. Content Marketing Institute unpacks best practices for getting the most out of them on key social media platforms, and how (if used right) they can still unlock visibility, discoverability, and new audiences.