Alexis Kestler
In an increasingly noisy and skeptical business landscape, B2B marketing leaders are finding it more difficult than ever to reach, engage and convert target accounts. Meanwhile, buyers are tuning out conventional ads and sales pitches in favor of transparent insights from impartial industry experts.
This environment is fueling rapid growth in B2B influencer marketing, expected to reach $20 billion by 2030 according to Forbes. Savvy brands are realizing that strategic partnerships with trusted niche experts can amplify messaging and accelerate pipelines like no other channel.
As a long time B2B marketing advisor, I’ve helped organizations across technology, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and financial services unlock explosive ROI from influencer initiatives.
This comprehensive guide will demonstrate why B2B influencer marketing needs to be central to your 2024 strategies and how to execute step-by-step for maximizing impact.
What Exactly is B2B Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing refers to leveraging endorsement and content created from independent industry experts to promote your brand, products or services. But adoption in B2B lagged behind the now common practice of brands partnering with celebrities, athletes and Instagram stars pushing products to consumers.
The tide has now shifted. According to Linqia research, 94% of B2B marketers plan to dedicate influencer marketing budget in 2023. And a majority are seeing quantifiable impact:
Data Source: Linqia State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report 2023
But what constitutes an influencer in B2B land? Rather than popularity and reach, the key attributes are:
Domain Expertise: Depth of knowledge in your industry categorized by niche (e.g. cybersecurity analysts)
Engaged Professional Audiences: Typically mid-small size groups actively tuned into their insights (e.g. manufacturing plant directors)
Creation of Educational Content: Ongoing content in forms of articles, analyses, podcasts, etc that helps other businesses stay informed and make decisions
While still a broad category, identifying and building relationships with relevant B2B voices for your space becomes the foundation for impactful campaigns.
Why B2B Brands Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Influencers
Experts predict almost 75% of B2B go-to-market budgets will flow to digital marketing within 5 years. An indicator of how dramatically buying behavior and decisions happen online now in the business world leveraging recommendations from impartial experts.
Here are 5 compelling trends demonstrating why now is the time for B2B brands to pursue influencer marketing or risk falling behind the curve:
1. Buyers Tuning Out Conventional Ads: did you know up to 91% of B2B audiences admitted to ignoring brand advertisements according to Statista? Contrast this to 92% willing to listen to an industry influencers perspective.
2. Restricted Organic Reach: Platform algorithm changes severely limit organic visibility for B2B branded posts. Influencers provide amplification into niche professional networks nearly impossible to penetrate otherwise.
3. Rising Use of Ad-Blockers: eMarketer found a 45% usage rate among B2B professionals rendering typical display ads and retargeting useless towards driving conversions with almost half your addressable market.
4. Premium on Authenticity: modern buyers have zero tolerance for overt sales and spin. Influencers share transparent hands-on perspective that resonates so much more.
5. Video & Podcast Explosion: binge-worthy content has become the medium of choice for B2B education and decision research. Tapping influencers already actively publishing to on-demand platforms solves your content gap.
Clearly organizations maintaining traditional promotional marketing mixes risk losing relevance, visibility and engagement with buyers reliance on influencer-driven content accelerating every year.
B2B Influencer Marketing: How It Actually Works
Now that we’ve covered why B2B influencer marketing must become an urgent priority, let’s explore how to systematically make it work:
Step 1: Define Goals & Budget
Just like any marketing initiative, the first step is quantifying what success looks like from both a metrics and budget standpoint:
Sample goals can include awareness lift, content engagement, inbound links, cost per lead, pipeline generated, etc. Establish KPIs upfront to track performance against.
Then set an initial budget based on cost per influencer and depth of relationships. $2500 – $10K+ per influencer partnership is typical depending on effort level.
Step 2: Identify & Vet Influencers
With goals lined up, get scientific around potential influencers able to impact them. Tap into these discovery methods:
- Tools: Software like Buzzsumo, Little Bird and Followerwonk identifies influencers by keywords, links, author authority
- Industry Lists: Awards, 30 under 30s and thought leadership rankings highlight rising and established voices
- Competitor Analysis: Which influencers already work with competing brands in your space?
- Conferences: Speaker rosters provide a shortlist to vet
- Content Consumption: Pay attention to authors and podcast guests your own team follows
Then vet shortlist across 4 key criteria:
- Topical Relevance: Content focus aligns to your solution positioning?
- Audience Resonance: Engagement metrics like comments, shares and subsribers indicates an active following
- Qualitative Alignment: Persona, voice and positioning jives with your brand image
- Logistical Factors: Post frequency, geographic reach, production quality, etc
I always recommend starting with a small handful of influencers during initial pilots to refine ideal partner attributes and campaigns that perform before scaling program.
Step 3: Structure Partnership Framework & Activation Plan
At this phase it becomes critical to outline the terms of engagement that provide value to both brand and influencer. Key elements tend to include:
- Content Production: Co-developing articles, analyses, videos that are exclusive for influencer channels
- Content Amplification: Organic and paid promotion into brand owned channels
- Disclosures: Confirm FTC endorsement compliance
- Licensing: Define usage rights for maximum content mileage
- Link Building: Placement of brand trackable links within content driving SEO value
- Hashtag Usage: For aggregating UGC and tracking campaign reach
- Affiliate Fees: Performance payments from conversions driven
Jointly map out an activation calendar across different platforms and use cases. Maintain a continuous pipeline of new co-created content intermixed with repurposing evergreen pieces for maximum ROI.
Step 4: Track Performance & Optimize
With a structured influencer program up and running, the final step lies in performance measurement to guide strategy:
- Audience Reach: Post impressions and cumulative campaign views
- Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, clicks signal resonance
- Awareness Lift: Brand search trends and recall surveys
- Content Funnel: Blog subscribers, downloads and email signups
- Pipeline Impact: Code links and UTM trackers to attribute opportunities
- Revenue Attribution: Direct sales driven from affiliate links and codes
Continually assess metrics by partner, content type and promotion medium – doubling down on what moves the needle while pruning ineffective elements. This optimization mindset is what evolves program maturity.
Now that we’ve covered a 360 degree perspective spanning what B2B influencer marketing is, why it’s critical to B2B success and how to systematize programs – let’s look at real-world examples demonstrating impact…
B2B Influencer Marketing Campaign Examples Showing Quantifiable Results
The rise of B2B influencer marketing might seem like an overnight trend but smart brands have recognized and reaped its power for years.
Here are 5 brand case studies across diverse sectors that clearly validate ROI:
1. Microsoft + National Geographic Photographers
Goals: Expand awareness of STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math) education initiatives targeting young women
Strategy: Tapped 13 adventure NatGeo Instagram photographers @CoryRichards @Jimmy_Chin @ChrisBurkard etc to produce photojournalistic docuseries focused on historical women pioneers in science and space exploration. #MakeWhatsNext
Impact: Garnered 5.1M+ video views across influencer accounts. NatGeo brand halo accelerated messaging reach into aspirational younger females.
2. Hunter Douglas + Blogger Outreach
Goals: Increase brand familiarization and favorability around their architectural window covering products
Strategy: Created “Style Your Windows” sweepstakes for design bloggers to feature window treatment solutions for chance to get their own dream window makeover.
Impact: 34 blog posts over 8 weeks from relevant interior design bloggers to precisely targeted persona. 3.6x benchmark click traffic to Hunter Douglas.
3. Oracle + LinkedIn Thought Leaders
Goals: Generate leads across multiple enterprise software solution areas
Strategy: Recruited LinkedIn creators and subject experts to publish weekly educational articles featuring practical Oracle product integration advice for their sophisticated IT professional followers.
Impact: 73 pieces over 90 days aggregating 100K+ reads. 5X more conversions vs traditional LinkedIn content. Pipeline lift across marketing automation, CX and HCM categories.
4. Deloitte + Industry Analysts
Goals: Motivate IT decision makers to consider Deloitte consulting over large competitors
Strategy: Commissioned Forrester, Gartner and IDC analysts to publish comparative assessment reports on Deloitte’s forward-thinking artificial intelligence and cloud capabilities.
Impact: Syndicated report links/assets enabled sales teams to substantiate Claims and differentiate Deloitte’s sophistication during RFPs. Directly credited for 500K+ pipeline increase.
5. 3M + Construction Bloggers
Goals: Promote adoption of new eco-friendly building materials among architects
Strategy: Sent product samples to leading architecture and contractor bloggers for reviews plus sponsored guest posting.
Impact: 1.8M organic impressions. Links and UGC added domain authority driving SEO wins. Sales teams leveraged posts as collateral for client meetings.
Hopefully these B2B influencer marketing examples across major brands like Microsoft, Oracle and 3M illustrate creative strategies tailored to precise goals that enabled each to exceed objectives.
Now let’s tackle some common questions regarding extracting maximum value from B2B influencers…
FAQs: Your Top B2B Influencer Marketing Questions Answered
Q: What does an effective B2B influencer partnership entail?
A: The best relationships center around a value exchange. B2B influencers seek insider access, content ideas, affiliate economics or simply amplification in return for awareness-building. Structure win-wins.
Q: Where can I find relevant B2B influencers to work with?
A: Tap into authority algorithms from Buzzstream, Little Bird and Followerwonk identifying topic experts by links and engagement. Mine speaker databases. Notice who analysts mention. Ask customers!
Q: How much do I budget to work with a B2B influencer?
A: Depending on content created and promotion involved, cost per influencer partnership averages $2500 – $10K+. Big names can demand over $100K. Start testing efficiently before big bets.
Q: What results can I actually expect from B2B influencers?
A: Data shows B2B influencers consistently outperform conventional channels driving awareness, content engagement and yes even revenue. But pick compatible voices, structure programs for ROI and track diligently.
Q: How do I make a B2B influencer activation systematic and scalable?
A: Marketing technology like Creator Software, Upfluence, Traackr, AspireIQ and more streamline discovery, relationship management, content collaboration plus performance analytics – enabling B2B brands to scale one-to-many.
I hope this guide served as a needle-moving playbook for elevating B2B marketing and sales objectives through strategic influencer partnerships. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if my team or I can offer tactical advice tailored to your specific customer goals. The time for B2B influencer marketing is now!
