B2B Marketing in Flux
Industry insights from your target audience
B2B in Flux is a podcast from the team at Somebody Digital, an award-winning global agency, exploring how modern B2B growth really works in an era shaped by AI, fragmentation, and constant change.
The show looks at how B2B companies create and execute strategy, how marketing and growth teams operate across complex systems, and how decisions are actually made and influenced inside organisations.
B2B in Flux is for experienced B2B marketers and leaders who want clearer thinking and a more honest view of what drives growth today.
This episode of B2B In Flux features a conversation with Kai Waehner, a global Field CTO at Confluent, exploring the realities of the B2B buying process and how marketers can effectively reach technical decision-makers.Kai and host John Wilkes cover topics that include:1. The Shift to Bottom-Up Buying: Technology adoption often starts with individual users (bottom-up) rather than executive mandates (top-down), frequently leading to ”shadow IT” that executives eventually need to strategize around.Targeting Beyond the C-Suite: While many marketers aim for the C-level, the most impactful research and evaluation often happen one or two levels below, such as with Heads of Architecture, Integration, or Analytics.2. Effective Content Strategies: Successful content should lead with industry-specific customer stories and business value rather than deep technical demos or generic marketing claims.The Role of AI in Research: AI agents and large language models (LLMs) are becoming complementary research tools for buyers, though human-led trust and verified customer proof points remain essential. 3. The Importance of Trust and Compliance: For large enterprises, technical evaluation is less about a ”feature battle” and more about a vendor's ability to execute securely within complex regulatory environments like GDPR.4. High-Value Networking: Small, high-quality industry roundtables where executives can discuss shared problems and competitor case studies are often more effective than mass-market lead generation.Kai Waehner is a global Field CTO, author, and frequent speaker who interacts with hundreds of enterprise customers annually to understand how technology fits into their broader architectures. He maintains a private blog with significant monthly readership and is active on LinkedIn and X.
About
B2B in Flux is a podcast from the team at Somebody Digital, an award-winning global agency, exploring how modern B2B growth really works in an era shaped by AI, fragmentation, and constant change.
The show looks at how B2B companies create and execute strategy, how marketing and growth teams operate across complex systems, and how decisions are actually made and influenced inside organisations.
B2B in Flux is for experienced B2B marketers and leaders who want clearer thinking and a more honest view of what drives growth today.
The Experts
John Wilkes and Cristiano Winckler are industry-leading experts in B2B marketing. Between collecting over 25 accolades over the past two years and speaking at global events like Brighton SEO and HeroConf, in their spare time, share their knowledge and interview B2B leaders on the B2B In Flux podcast.
B2B in Flux is a podcast from the team at Somebody Digital, an award-winning global agency, exploring how modern B2B growth really works in an era shaped by AI, fragmentation, and constant change.
The show looks at how B2B companies create and execute strategy, how marketing and growth teams operate across complex systems, and how decisions are actually made and influenced inside organisations.
B2B in Flux is for experienced B2B marketers and leaders who want clearer thinking and a more honest view of what drives growth today.
This episode of B2B In Flux features a conversation with Kai Waehner, a global Field CTO at Confluent, exploring the realities of the B2B buying process and how marketers can effectively reach technical decision-makers.Kai and host John Wilkes cover topics that include:1. The Shift to Bottom-Up Buying: Technology adoption often starts with individual users (bottom-up) rather than executive mandates (top-down), frequently leading to ”shadow IT” that executives eventually need to strategize around.Targeting Beyond the C-Suite: While many marketers aim for the C-level, the most impactful research and evaluation often happen one or two levels below, such as with Heads of Architecture, Integration, or Analytics.2. Effective Content Strategies: Successful content should lead with industry-specific customer stories and business value rather than deep technical demos or generic marketing claims.The Role of AI in Research: AI agents and large language models (LLMs) are becoming complementary research tools for buyers, though human-led trust and verified customer proof points remain essential. 3. The Importance of Trust and Compliance: For large enterprises, technical evaluation is less about a ”feature battle” and more about a vendor's ability to execute securely within complex regulatory environments like GDPR.4. High-Value Networking: Small, high-quality industry roundtables where executives can discuss shared problems and competitor case studies are often more effective than mass-market lead generation.Kai Waehner is a global Field CTO, author, and frequent speaker who interacts with hundreds of enterprise customers annually to understand how technology fits into their broader architectures. He maintains a private blog with significant monthly readership and is active on LinkedIn and X.
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