What we learnt from our first B2B supplier marketing event
On Thursday 30th April, Electric Cat proudly hosted our first ever event for fellow B2B marketers in the events industry.
While marketing, events and even event marketing all have their defined place, the niche field of B2B marketing for suppliers is far less recognised. We rarely get the opportunity to come together as a sector, learn from one another, discuss what’s working, and connect with our peers. Until now.
We hosted 25 amazing marketers from the industry, picked their brains, shared some secrets, and left feeling totally inspired. Through our discussions about personal branding, PR, changing social platforms, and the unique challenges for marketers in 2026, some clear themes emerged.
Here are all the best bits for anyone who missed it…
Humanise, humanise, humanise
With the influx of AI content and tools we’re encountering all the time, it’s perhaps unsurprising that humanise was the word of the day.
Almost everything we discussed led back to this point: we all want to feel that what we consume, who we follow, and those we work with have a touch of realness about them. Many of our attendees felt fed up with AI content, and frustrated by the unrealistic expectations placed on them to integrate AI tools where they’re not always needed. The goal of 2026: humanise!
The top tips from our panelists on achieving this:
➡️ Centre people - feature your SLT, crews, and teams behind the scenes. Not only does this add a human touch to your marketing, but introduces prospect clients to the people they would work with directly
➡️ Lead with values - are you passionate about sustainability? A believer in radical transparency? Or someone who credits their productivity to their pre-work gym routine? What you feel strongly about will lead you to people who relate. It adds depth, authenticity, and makes you memorable.
➡️ Variety - you can be a thought leader, while being a person with stories, habits, fears and silly on-site selfies. Remember, you can show both sides.
🧠 Something to ponder: can AI and authenticity co-exist? We’d love to hear your thoughts…
Personal branding has never been more important
It goes back to everyone’s favourite marketing adage: people buy from people.
Creating a strong, recognisable personal brand is one of the greatest assets you can give yourself. It allows you to stand out in a saturated industry, adds a human face to your business and, crucially, shortens sales funnels. When your ICPs feel like they know you and can build trust in your skills, they are several steps closer to enquiring about your services.
If 2026 is the year of your personal brand, remember:
➡️ Know your ICP - get really clear about the intended audience of your content and how this may differ from your business’s ICPs. It also helps to outline your personal goals to guide your efforts.
➡️ Specificity is key - what groups are your ICPs in? What events do they attend? What publications do they read? What questions are they asking? Then begin tailoring your output to align.
➡️ Get yourself on a podcast - they’re a great platform to showcase your expertise. Find one that suits you at matchmaker.fm
➡️ What about YOU? - when it comes to personal branding, marketers often forget to follow their own advice. Your brand as a marketer can be important leverage down the line. Don’t neglect it.
Lead with connection, not sales
It’s easy to lose sight of the importance of genuine connection, especially with KPIs to hit. But there’s no shortcut to building a relationship, and “pitch slapping” potential clients rarely leads to positive outcomes…
Instead:
➡️ Meaningful interactions - spend the first 15 minutes of every day interacting meaningfully with your peers, clients and prospects on LinkedIn. (No, we don’t mean commenting ‘Love this 😍’ a few times. Thoughtful, intentional comments please!)
➡️ Supplier → Partner - start thinking of your client relationships as partnerships. A genuine, symbiotic relationship builds essential trust, which is particularly valuable for marketers needing quotes or case studies from these same clients in future...
➡️ Connect with EVERYONE - no really. Just do it!
Not every platform is your platform
The era of posting on every single social platform available is over. It’s time to get picky.
Lots of our attendees (including our EC team!) admitted we spend lots of time curating content for platforms that simply aren’t performing. So we’re cutting them loose. We pledged to delete our company Instagram, and several attendees did the same across Facebook, X and YouTube.
Join us by:
➡️ Being honest - data is your friend here. Let’s figure out where your ICPs really operate, and which platforms are achieving real results.
➡️ Saying goodbye - if it’s not serving you, your goals, or your potential clients, let it go.
💡 For personal brands, remember that consistency is the most important thing. Pick the platform you can realistically stick to above all else.
New measures of impact / ROI
Vanity metrics are DEAD 🪦
More and more, marketing teams need to be able to justify their activities and spend in ROI terms. While personal branding, PR and marketing can all be slow burns, your strategy needs to be informed by robust data.
Start by:
➡️ Deciding on measurement systems - whatever you’re tracking, find a metric that serves your aims, and stick to this.
➡️ DIY - if an existing framework isn’t an option, create your own! We heard from Premier Events, who have created an internal system to accurately track the success of paid ads, and internally, have devised scoring systems to measure the impact of client press releases.
B2B marketing in 2026
As always, marketing is evolving quickly, and it’s great to hear from other B2B suppliers to understand the shared challenges and opportunities we’re experiencing. Our biggest takeaway from the day’s sessions was the desire for humanness and authenticity. In content, strategies, relationships, sales pipelines. Across every touchpoint, we’re craving what feels honest.
If you need support navigating the supplier marketing world, or injecting some human touch to your content, the Electric Cat team is on hand to help! Drop an email to hello@electriccat.co to arrange a chat 💌
