diff --git a/exporters/ostream/include/opentelemetry/exporters/ostream/common_utils.h b/exporters/ostream/include/opentelemetry/exporters/ostream/common_utils.h
index cfebfe8fce..6712e6a9da 100644
--- a/exporters/ostream/include/opentelemetry/exporters/ostream/common_utils.h
+++ b/exporters/ostream/include/opentelemetry/exporters/ostream/common_utils.h
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ class OwnedAttributeValueVisitor
 
 #endif
 
-void print_value(const opentelemetry::sdk::common::OwnedAttributeValue &value, std::ostream &sout)
+inline void print_value(const opentelemetry::sdk::common::OwnedAttributeValue &value,
+                        std::ostream &sout)
 {
 #if __cplusplus < 201402L
   opentelemetry::nostd::visit(OwnedAttributeValueVisitor(sout), value);