B2B Visibility is no longer enough. Brands need to become inevitable.

LinkedIn’s latest report with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute reinforces that Mental and Physical Availability matter, but most B2B brands still struggle to put them into practice. The real takeaway is that growth comes from strategic clarity and owning the space you choose to compete in, not just showing up in more channels.

B2B marketing is finally catching up with something consumer brands have understood for decades: growth depends on being easy to think of and easy to buy. LinkedIn’s latest report, built with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, reinforces this through the lens of Mental and Physical Availability. It’s an important reminder, but also a sign of how fast expectations of B2B marketing are changing.

The core message is simple: If buyers don’t remember you, and they can’t find you when it counts, you don’t get chosen.

But while the report outlines what brands need - presence in the right places, prominence in competitive environments, and portfolio clarity - it stops short of addressing the real challenge. Most B2B organisations already know these ideas. There will undoubtedly be a nod of recognition from all marketers as they read report ‘Easy to Find: Being Where B2B Buying Happens’. The problem isn’t understanding them; it’s operationalising them. 

In complex sectors like the ones we work in, the barriers to growth are rarely about channels or campaign tactics. They are structural. Misaligned teams. Unclear propositions. Fragmented messaging. Product portfolios that reflect internal politics and reporting lines more than market need. Long buying cycles that punish inconsistency.

If visibility is weak, it’s usually a symptom, not the root cause. 

This is where our perspective on category strategy becomes critical. We agree with the LinkedIn Report: you don’t earn long-term Mental or Physical Availability by adding more messages or spreading budgets thinner. But our view goes further upstream from channel placement: you achieve it by making deliberate choices about where you should compete, how you create advantage and what you consistently reinforce over time. 

In other words: brands don’t grow by accident; they grow by claiming and owning the space that gives them strategic advantage. 

That means identifying the most fertile ground in the market, shaping your narrative around what your buyers truly value and building the clarity and consistency required to stay front of mind through long, multi-stakeholder buying cycles. When brands do this well, we see a shift: customers start echoing the positioning back. Competitors begin reacting to you, not the other way around. Your brand becomes the expected choice, not just a visible one. 

LinkedIn is right to shine a light on the importance of presence, prominence and portfolio discipline. But these are outcomes, not starting points. The real opportunity for B2B marketers is to step beyond channel-level optimisation and build the strategic foundation that makes the brand inevitable in the buying moment. 

Because in today’s markets, being seen isn’t enough.

Being remembered isn’t enough.

Growth comes when your brand becomes the one buyers feel disadvantaged not to engage with. 

That’s the real meaning of owning the space.