Two audiences. One post.
Every good B2B post is heard by two rooms at once — the buyer you're aiming at, and a wider audience of peers, hidden buyers, and investors quietly deciding what to think of you.
The buyer is not alone
delman and LinkedIn's B2B Thought Leadership research keeps landing on the same two facts. At any moment, roughly 95% of your buyers are out-of-market — not shopping. And when they finally do decide, the decision runs through a widening cast of "hidden buyers": procurement, finance, security, an executive sponsor, a skeptical peer down the hall.
Your post never lands in front of one person. It lands in front of a buyer and the room around them. Thought leadership's job is to shape how that room thinks about you long before a sales rep walks in.
Primary vs. secondary audience
The move isn't to write for "everyone." It's to name the two audiences you're actually writing for — and let the primary one lead.
- Primary audience — the person you want to nod, save, or comment first. Every hook, example, and CTA is calibrated to them.
- Secondary audience — the people who will still read, forward, or hire you if the primary post lands. They don't need their own post. They need to overhear yours.
How each B2B role should think about it
B2B Sales
- Primary: The economic buyer and day-to-day user in your target accounts — the person whose name will be on the deal.
- Secondary: The 'hidden buyers' who influence quietly: internal champions, procurement, finance, security, and peers the buyer forwards your post to.
Write for the buyer sitting in a live evaluation. Give your champion something they can paste into Slack when the CFO pushes back.
B2B Marketing
- Primary: The same ICP buyer sales is chasing — so content compounds pipeline, not just impressions.
- Secondary: Marketing peers exploring HOW the category is being marketed — demand-gen leaders, content leads, category analysts.
Teach the WHAT and WHY of the category. Keep the HOW you execute (channels, spend, campaign structure) for private conversations.
B2B Founder
- Primary: Other founders and operators in the same stage and space — peers who will engage, share, and repost.
- Secondary: Prospective customers, hires, and investors watching the build — deciding whether to lean in.
Narrate direction, not the playbook. Share what you're exploring and why, so the right people opt in early — without handing competitors your tactics.
“The battle for B2B influence is won before sales walks in.”
The founder's extra rule
Founders have the widest secondary audience — customers, hires, investors, other founders — and the highest risk of leaking. The rule: narrate direction, not the playbook. Share the bet, the decision, the thing a customer just said, the mistake you paid for. Skip the growth tactic that took you six months to figure out. Your competitors read too.
SelloWise writes for both audiences by default
Pick your mode once — Sales, Marketing, or Founder — and the AI drafts every post with your primary and secondary audience already in mind. No form to fill out per post.