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

Is your marketing department dealing with a trust problem?

“When a team spends more hours describing its work than doing it, the measure worth taking is different: how much trust is missing between marketing and leadership, and what it costs every month to compensate for it.” That’s the take from Fast Company, that says marketing's reporting can become a trust issue that turns into work about work intended for internal teams that need convincing, rather than actually moving buyers closer to a decision. 

For us, this shouts of misalignment. While reports can be beneficial in proving certain theories or directing future efforts, it's important to align on what success looks like, block out the noise, and work towards it as a unified team. 

Turning customer success into a growth channel

Most B2B companies invest time and money into getting new leads but MarketingProfs makes the case that they may not be doing enough when it comes to generating high-conversion growth opportunities with existing relationships. As well as outlining why businesses may be overlooking that opportunity, it offers a guide to turning customer success into a growth channel.

It’s worth noting that in 2026, with AI search able to scrape together anything and everything about your business, customer feedback, reviews, ratings, and real buyer stories are more important than ever. If a customer has something to say about your business online, there's a good chance it's popping up in AI search results.  

The current state of B2B businesses

With the year well into its second half, Forrester has published a report analyzing how B2B marketing leaders are feeling about their businesses and professions. As well as finding that economic uncertainty is a baseline they’re working with, 48% said that marketing’s contribution to their company’s strategic direction had increased.

What’s also interesting is that 51% feel that marketing’s contribution to their business is underestimated. Forrester talks about connecting priorities and investments more directly to business outcomes that matter most, and that’s something we echo. 

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