Hey welcome to this edition!
The 95/5 B2B playbook is now a classic in B2B Marketing.
But it can be a bit too theoretical when it comes to your day to day.
So in this edition I’ll share how to use the 95/5 Playbook for LinkedIn Growth
And more, specifically I will:
Break down the 95/5 playbook visually to make it crystal clear
Show you the content to create for the 95% passive buyers
Present the motions to distribute it based on your team
Help you turn content signals into warm outbound for the 5%.
Learn to create signature LinkedIn content (not AI slop) that positions you as an authority. Join me and 300 B2B experts for 4 live masterclasses over the course of 2 weeks:
Masterclass 1: The new LinkedIn algorithm rules (and how to adapt)
Masterclass 2: The best-performing content formats
Masterclass 3: The LinkedIn planning and creation workflow
Masterclass 4: How to sell on LinkedIn in 2026
After each session, you’ll get the edited recording, recap in a PDF, and an actionable checklist.
Join the Signature LinkedIn Masterclass
Join the Signature LinkedIn Masterclass
Let’s jump into today’s edition!
The 95/5 Playbook is a framework for organizing B2B marketing around a simple truth: at any given moment, only about 5% of your target market is actively in buying mode, while the other 95% are not ready to purchase. That said, they are still in “learning mode” and keeping up with their industry.
As a marketer (or founder), you need to take advantage of this situation by splitting your efforts into two synchronized motions: one that builds trust with the passive majority, and one that captures and converts the active minority.
Build demand for passive buyers (~95%): Use zero-click content (thought leadership, podcasts, long-form video) for discovery, and gated content (webinars, communities, industry reports) for deeper expertise. ~99% of your volume is zero-click; the 1% gated must be excellent.
Capture demand for active buyers (~5%): Use conversion content (case studies, white papers, solution demos) to turn audience into leads, and warm outbound (signal-led emails, ABM, daily social selling) to start conversations before they go elsewhere.
The two motions stay in sync, and everything ultimately funnels toward an optimized website, an active sales process, and a high-converting front-end offer.
B2B brands doing content in 2026 fail in one of two opposite ways: they either make content too dense and academic for social feeds (better suited to a blog or white paper), or they dumb it down into broad stories that lack the depth, POV, and actionable insight professionals actually want.
You need to organize content around one topic across three levels of complexity:
Level 1 - Accessible: Simple, clear, relatable content anyone in your field can grasp instantly.
Level 2 - Intermediate: More layered systems and tactics for readers ready to go deeper.
Level 3 - Advanced: Complex, proprietary frameworks and playbooks for a trusting audience.
Here are the 3 levels in an infographic:
One of the biggest content decisions you’ll make in 2026 is which content motion to build around. That single choice shapes your formats, workflows, planning, and budget. Each motion comes with its own bottleneck you'll have to solve.
There are four to choose from, and they can be stacked as you grow:
Founder-led: Your founder publishes everything (thought leadership, podcast, expert videos) and drives traffic to your offers. Bottleneck: extracting insights from the founder.
Team-led: A team of 5+ publishes across channels for a network effect (short videos, thought leadership, collab content). Bottleneck: organizing a team content factory.
Brand-led: You communicate as a company through brand channels (educational newsletter, case studies, expert videos). Bottleneck: creating formats engaging enough to break through.
Community-led: Your users create content for you (user content, collabs, live chats). Bottleneck: your product has to be good enough that people want to talk about it.
You can also combine motions for compounding effects: founder + brand for thought leadership, brand + team for brand influence, team + community for network effects. The natural path for an early-stage B2B company is to start founder-led, add brand-led, then layer in team-led.
Assuming content alone will generate leads is one of the most expensive mistakes. Warm outbound is what converts attention into 1:1 conversations and pipeline. So you should not wait for inbound to do the work.
Rule 1: Let content generate the signals first.
You only reach out to prospects who already engaged, so the message have more chance to land warm instead of getting ignored.
Zero-click content (podcasts, videos, thought leadership) produces social signals such asprofile visits, engagement, shares.
Gated content (webinars, reports, case studies) produces identified intent such as email signups, downloads, registrations.
Rule 2: Match the outreach to what they engaged with.
The signal tells you two things: who is paying attention and what they care about. Use both and adapt your outreach to the level of intent:
High-intent signals (gated downloads, webinar registrations, pricing or product page visits) get a direct message that references the exact resource and offers a next step, like a call or a relevant case study.
Low-intent signals (likes, comments, profile visits) get a softer touch first. Reply to their comment, start a conversation, or share a second piece of content before you pitch anything.
The rule is simple: the warmer and more specific the signal, the more direct your outreach. Map your messages to the signal instead of sending everyone the same sequence.
Alright, that’s how you can use the 95/5 playbook inside LinkedIn!
Join the Signature LinkedIn Masterclass
You get a complete update on what works on LinkedIn in 2026:
4 live masterclasses with me on GMeet (June 18, 23, 25, 30 at 2pm CEST / 8am ET)
Lifetime access to the full Content First System course (7 modules, 70+ video lessons)
The 2026 LinkedIn Algorithm Checklist
The 36 Signature format templates
The AI Slop vs Signature Swipe File (20+ side-by-side comparisons)
The Notion content planning dashboard
The Social Selling DM Playbook
Private Skool community access
[Click here to join the Signature LinkedIn Masterclass 2026]
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