Everything you need to know about modern consumers and how they make decisions
How the deinfluencer economy, media, politics and job market is forcing businesses to completely rethink their approach to marketing and sales...
In the last few years, we've seen a huge shift in consumer behaviour and it's directly changing how businesses go to market. The businesses paying attention to how buyer thinking is changing will be the ones that make it through the next decade.
Everyone keeps talking about artificial intelligence, and whilst yes, it's an important topic, I want us to really talk about how the economy, media, politics, and job market have impacted the everyday people you're trying to convince to buy your products or services.
First, we need to accept that every generation is now deeply fragmented. You can't target Gen Z with silly stereotypes because some are married with kids, while others are living their best lives on a yacht in Ibiza or Dubai.
Likewise with millennials, as we know, a lot of women want to live a childfree life, but even then, if you dig deeper into this, for some they aren't having children because they genuinely see freedom and joy in that decision, and for others it's because of financial, political, and environmental pressures.
Even that one group of childfree women is split into two separate segments.
So, what am I saying? A lot is happening right now and it's important to break it down, dissect, and see how to move forward.
This is part one of what I'm calling The Influence Report, not a very original name, really, and we're covering the death of authenticity, the deinfluencing economy, media decentralisation, and the rise of credibility-based marketing.
Media Decentralisation: The democratisation of expertise
The media is no longer owned by those of us with the credentials (sorry to those who spent so much money getting their NCTJ/BCTJ just to have an influencer invited to the same event as you).
But the reality is the journalism and media sector has grown and expanded so much, from podcasts, blogs, Substack, and social media, that your everyday accountant can now be SEEN as more of a finance journalist than the Wall Street Journal journalist in the newsroom…
I saw this shift firsthand recently at a journalism bursary interview I conducted. When asked where they wanted to work, 2/3 of the candidates said they wanted to build their own independent platforms and personal brands. When I was starting out, everyone would have said BBC or The New York Times. Now these aspiring journalists instinctively understand that direct audience relationships can be more valuable than institutional credentials.
This is huge!!
Another thing is for the first time ever, people making content on social media will earn more money from ads than TV channels, movie theatres, and news companies combined. The numbers right now show creator earnings will jump 20% this year, and by 2030, creators will make $376 billion globally that's more than double what they make today.
The line has been blurred, and whilst there are the pros to this dencentralisation, such as more people earning money from doing what they love (journalism is incredibly difficult to get into and still elitist), there are the downsides.
Performative expertise has taken over. Misinformation and, dare I say it, some truly ridiculous things are being published and called journalism.
And with all of that, what has happened is some consumers are confused about who to listen to. When people get their news and information from individual creators instead of regulated media outlets, we lose editorial standards, fact-checking, and accountability. Research shows that audiences now prefer content "focused around a particular topic or point of view" rather than balanced journalism. That means people are choosing information that confirms what they already believe, rather than challenging their perspectives.
Nuance is dead.
What This Means for Your Business
This shift creates massive implications for how you market and sell. Your customers are now getting their information from fragmented sources, which means they're arriving at your business with wildly different baseline knowledge and pre-existing beliefs. Some have been influenced by credible experts, others by performative content creators, and many by a confusing mix of both.
The decentralisation of media has led consumers to have very different personas":
Higher Research Barriers: Some consumers now spend way more time researching before making purchases because they don't trust any single source. They're cross-referencing multiple creators, reading reviews, checking testimonials and looking for validation from their peer networks. This extends your sales cycle and means you need more touchpoints to build trust.
Tribal Loyalty: Because people are choosing information that confirms their existing beliefs, they're developing stronger allegiances to specific creators and viewpoints. If you can align with the right thought leaders in your space, you gain access to highly engaged, loyal audiences. But if you're on the wrong side of their trusted sources, you're essentially invisible.
The Premium on Credibility: In this chaotic information market, businesses that can demonstrate genuine expertise and consistent results command premium pricing. Consumers will pay more for products and services from sources they trust, because trust has become the scarcest commodity in the market.
So you must be more consistent with your thought leadership. You must show your case studies and testimonials.
The reason why is because eventually, consumers will see right through the fake experts and will need to turn to the right people.
But if you're not publishing any thought leadership, they'll just go to the person that's most visible.
Employee-Generated Marketing
I had a conversation last month with a B2B founder that perfectly illustrates what most leaders are missing about employee-generated content. When I suggested employee-generated content training for his team, his response was: "I'm not interested. Most of my team would rather focus on doing their job than thinking about how to market themselves. I'll handle all the thought leadership myself."
My first reaction? He's protecting his team from the performance pressure of personal branding. My second reaction? He might be accidentally sabotaging their future career prospects while missing a massive business opportunity.
76% of people trust content shared by individuals (including employees) more than branded content because they've developed skepticism toward obvious advertisements, which is why employee-shared content generates roughly eight times more engagement on average compared to similar content shared by official brand channels.
What consumers are actually thinking:
"I don't trust the company's marketing team, but I trust their engineer explaining how the product actually works"
"This sales rep seems genuine because I've seen their expertise demonstrated consistently"
"I'm more likely to buy from a company where I know and respect the actual people behind the product"
The Business Impact
This shift is creatin competitive advantages for companies that understand it:
Shortened Sales Cycles: When prospects already know and trust your team members through their thought leadership, they enter sales conversations with pre-established credibility. My clients have reported that prospects familiar with employee expertise are more likely to enter sales conversations with higher trust and readiness to buy. But don't take my word for it...go check out the widely documented data!
Reduced Marketing Costs: Employee advocates can generate substantial increases in organic engagement, with some sources citing employees having 10-24x more social reach than brand channels. This creates organic reach that paid advertising can't match.
Premium Positioning: Businesses can charge higher prices when customers perceive them as having recognised experts rather than anonymous service providers. The expertise becomes part of the value proposition.
Your customers are now making purchasing decisions based on:
Whether they trust the actual people behind the company
The expertise demonstrated by individual team members
The consistency of knowledge sharing from the organisation
The accessibility of real experts during the sales process
Companies that don't adapt to this shift will find themselves competing on price alone, while those that embrace it can compete on expertise, relationship, and trust.
The consumer expectation has evolved: they want to buy from people they know and trust, not faceless corporations. Employee-generated content isn't just marketingm it's the new foundation of consumer confidence.
This is all based on what I've read, seen and spoken with people and my clients about, but if anyone else has any thoughts, please share.
The deinfluencer economy: When less becomes more
Moving on, there's the deinfluencer economy. I find this interesting because Marie Kondo told millions to throw away their stuff and then she launched a product line and she’s not the only one.
Welcome to the deinfluencer economy, where telling people to consume less has become the ultimate growth strategy. But this whole thing didn't come out of nowhere.
It all started because of the economy, luxury influencers, fakeness, and the job market.
Let's talk about the influencer space... as it's pretty obvious how the economy has influenced people to not want to buy more things.
The influencer marketing space has become impossibly crowded. Instagram alone hosts over 500,000 identifiable influencers, whilst TikTok sees roughly 1,000 new creators join daily. Traditional product endorsements have lost much of their power; audiences are weary of obvious advertisements.
The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that only 34% of consumers trust influencers, down from over 60% in 2020. The endless parade of unboxing videos, affiliate links, and "swipe up to buy" calls-to-action has created a massive authenticity deficit.
Consumers increasingly crave genuine connection, not another sales pitch. So, enter the deinfluencer: the creator who builds trust by explicitly rejecting the very system that made influencing possible.
Why is this important for you as a business to know?
Understanding why deinfluencer marketing works will help you know how to market to the consumer.
The era of paying celebrities to hold your product is ending. Instead, I believe in 10 years we'll be identifying subject matter experts in your field, the accountants, lawyers, consultants, and industry veterans who have real authority. These micro-experts may have smaller followings but their recommendations carry way more weight.
People now define themselves by what they don’t buy. In a post-abundance culture, restraint has become a status symbol. The minimalist aesthetic on Instagram isn't just about clean spaces, it's about signalling intelligence, virtue, and conscious choice (to them).
This flips the old model entirely. For decades, identity was built through acquisition, now it's built through rejection.
The solution?
Learn to embrace anti-consumption messaging whilst finding ways to position your products as the conscious choice….if it really is.
Create content that helps people determine if they truly need what you're selling. This counterintuitive approach builds trust and ensures that when people do buy, they're completely committed.
Move away from lifestyle content that shows the dream life your product enables. Instead, create content that teaches, informs, and genuinely helps your audience solve problems.
Educational content builds trust and positions your brand as a valuable resource, not just another vendor.
Modern consumers carry HUGE, and I mean huge, psychological burden about their consumption habits. Environmental anxiety, financial stress, and social comparison all contribute to purchase guilt. I’m not saying manipulate this but don’t be tone deaf, don’t lie about where your products are from because they WILL find out and just value transparent communication.
Why are deinfluencers able to convince consumers to buy from them EVEN though they convinced them to stop buying stuff?
Deinfluencers offer permission to stop, a message that feels like therapy, not marketing. Following deinfluencers allows consumers to feel morally superior to "mindless consumers." This psychological reward creates strong loyalty to creators who validate their restraint.
When deinfluencers do recommend products, the scarcity of their recommendations increases their perceived value. A product endorsed by someone who tells people not to buy things carries more weight than traditional influencer endorsements.
By positioning themselves as the antidote to overconsumption, deinfluencers have created a new form of influence that's potentially more powerful than traditional product endorsements.
Ironically….my next point is the death of authenticity, the rise of credibility
The deinfluencer economy isn't going away, it's just getting started. As economic pressures grow and consumers become increasingly sceptical of traditional advertising, the creators who can authentically tell people not to buy things will become the most trusted voices in commerce.
But here's the shift: authenticity is eventually going to die sooner than you think, and credibility will be in.
Authenticity was about this rare rawness, relatability, and vulnerability. It was about showing your messy morning routine, sharing your struggles, and building parasocial relationships through perceived genuineness. The authentic influencer was your relatable friend who happened to have great taste and a discount code.
Credibility is about track record, expertise, and verified results. It's about demonstrating competence through measurable outcomes. The credible creator is the professional who can prove their knowledge through their work, their client results, and their industry recognition.
The word "authenticity" has become so overused and performative that it's lost all meaning.
Every brand claims to be authentic, ever influencer shares their "authentic" morning routine and every product launch is about "staying true to our authentic values." The term has been used by marketers to the point where it could signal nothing except an attempt to manipulate.
What consumers crave now is credibility, proof of expertise, track record, and genuine results, rather than JUST relatability and vulnerability.
They want evidence-based trust, not emotion-based connection.
So, we're shifting from vibes-based trust to evidence-based trust.
Audiences are tired of being sold to by people who are just like them.
They want to be guided by people who are better than them, more knowledgeable, more experienced, more skilled.
This represents a fundamental change in how influence works. Instead of "I'm just like you, so trust me," the new model is "I know more than you, so learn from me."
It's a return to expertise-based authority, but distributed through social media rather than traditional institutions.
The implications are massive. Businesses that understand this shift will build influence through demonstrated competence rather than manufactured relatability.
They'll invest in proving their expertise rather than performing their authenticity.
This isn't about being cold or corporate, it's about being genuinely valuable.
The most successful voices in the next decade will be those who can combine human warmth with professional competence, personal story with proven results.
Part 2 pending.
When I first started Influence Capital I focused largely on helping CEOs with thought leadership and brand strategy but it has since grown into three main services that directly focuses on helping leaders and their teams teams communicate their brilliance in a way that drives business outcomes.
Whether it's for sales, visibility, recruiting, or investment, I help them show up online and offline with credibility.
But a huge part of helping leaders communicate effectively means really understanding what their existing (and ideal) audience actually wants and how consumer behaviour has shifted. You can't develop compelling messaging if you don't know how your audience thinks and makes decisions.
This is why trend reporting has become such an important part of my consultancy, I need to understand these consumer changes to make my workshops and thought leadership strategies actually work.
And businesses need to understand these shifts before their competitors do, not after they've already lost market share.
My services:
Workshops & Training: I help early- to mid-career professionals and seasoned executives develop the skills to sell more effectively and articulate their value with confidence. I run high-impact sessions focused on personal branding, strategic communication, and sales storytelling that converts because often the problem isn't the product, it's the messaging.
End-to-end thought leadership strategy includes 1:1 discovery sessions, brand narrative development, tone of voice guides, and platform strategy across LinkedIn, Substack, press, and speaking engagements. The goal is positioning leaders as credible experts who can demonstrate genuine expertise rather than manufactured authenticity.
Trend reporting has become crucial because businesses need to spot early signals from media, social platforms, and cultural shifts before their competitors do. I help clients understand 'so what?' and 'now what?' through strategic commentary and application outlining how trends could affect their communications, product strategy, brand positioning, and market approach.
Each service addresses the core challenge: consumers will be demanding more credibility not just relatability and businesses need to demonstrate genuine expertise and stay ahead of changing consumer expectations.
Find my portfolio and services here:
Find me on LinkedIn here:
Super insightful!