Netprofile report: B2B leaders reveal – communications and marketing professionals offered a more strategic role in business 

Senior executives expect communications and marketing professionals to step into a significantly larger role in strategy development and business growth. The shift requires communications and marketing professionals to demonstrate new levels of confidence, initiative, and deliberate development of business acumen. Netprofile’s new Insight Track 2026 report gives communications and marketing leaders the keys to succeeding in an increasingly business-critical role. 

The Insight Track report published today by Netprofile examines the expectations of Northern European B2B executives for their companies’ communications and marketing functions over the next 12 months. The 2026 report is the third publication in the Insight Track series produced by the internationally award-winning consultancy. 

“Business leaders want to see communications and marketing play a bigger role than before,” says Juha Frey, MD of Netprofile, an agency specializing in communications and marketing for industrial and technology companies. “This ambition sets a direction and a goal for the entire profession. Communications and marketing must be able to bring their expertise into executive conversations earlier in the process, when strategy, products and services are still being shaped.” 

“The future winner in communications and marketing will be a business strategy-level advisor capable of connecting their insights to the company’s ability to generate results.” 

The invitation to the corner office is open 

Business leaders interviewed for the Insight Track 2026 report hold a remarkably consistent view of what will be expected from communications and marketing going forward. The core need is not about content, campaigns or channels but a deeper understanding of the business. 

A recurring theme in the interviews was frustration that the priorities driving communications and marketing are disconnected from the company’s strategic objectives. The result is a gap in which one function’s metrics can be in the green while another’s are in the red, even though both are part of the same business value stream. 

“It is worth emphasizing that executives are not dismissing communications or marketing. On the contrary, they see that the full potential of communications and marketing expertise is not being realized,” Frey notes. 

“The clear wish from executive leadership is to bring communications and marketing closer to the core of the business. There is demand and there is support. Closing the gap requires communications and marketing professionals to invest in understanding the business with the same determination they bring to developing their other professional skills.” 

The keys to success in communications and marketing 

The Netprofile Insight Track report distills key insights from executive interviews into actionable directions for strengthening the role of communications and marketing. The profession must actively build its readiness to participate in strategic business planning. Knowledge and perspective must be framed in ways that benefit the thinking of the entire leadership team. At the same time, communications must take a lead role in reputation management and crisis preparedness. 

A critical step is establishing goals and metrics for communications and marketing that connect directly to business performance. Campaign and activity metrics remain essential for tracking the efficiency of communications and marketing, but what interests the leadership team is, for example, the relationship between reputation metrics trends and gross margin development, as well as customer and employee churn. 

International agency leaders confirm the trend 

For the Insight Track 2026 report, Netprofile conducted 20 semi-structured thematic interviews with senior B2B executives across Northern Europe. The interviews were conducted between January 20 and March 19, 2026. Netprofile also invited three agency leaders from its international network to share their perspectives on the report’s key findings. 

Insight Track 2026 brings together the key findings and conclusions from the data gathered. The report is designed to help forward-looking communications and marketing professionals connect their work more closely to the heart of the business—and, in doing so, further raise the standing of the profession. 

An internationally award-winning consultancy behind the report 

The International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) recognized Netprofile as the world’s best mid-sized communications agency in November 2025. In the prestigious EMEA Sabre Awards 2026, Netprofile has been shortlisted as a finalist in no fewer than twelve categories. At the time of writing, Netprofile has already been named the winner in two IN2Sabre innovation categories. The EMEA Sabre Awards will be presented in London on May 21. 

Download the Insight Track 2026 report! 

More information:

Juha Frey 
juha@netprofile.fi  
+358 40 572 4674 

Jirimiko Oranen 
jiri@netprofile.fi 
+358 40 756 6655