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How Does B2B Influencer Marketing Actually Work?
By Alex White
Would you pay Justin Bieber to create a video about your company’s SaaS offering? How about contracting Kim Kardashian to produce an Instagram Reel summarizing the highlights of your latest whitepaper? Strategically, it simply makes no sense for enterprise brands to engage with these consumer-friendly faces.
While B2C (business to consumer) marketing and B2B (business to business) marketing share a similar name, the types of influencer programs offered under these categories vary, and the tactical approach couldn’t be more different.
B2B influencer marketing, a strategy of partnering with influential figures in the industry to boost your brand’s reach and credibility, is more prevalent than you think. Perhaps you’re familiar with this campaign by monday.com. Or for a more recent example, take a look at TopRank Marketing’s 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: Elevate & Ignite, a resource fueled by today’s top thought leaders, featuring expert insights and eye-opening statistics like this one: 94% of marketers believe influencer marketing is a successful strategy for B2B marketing.
We know B2B influencer marketing works, but you still may be wondering: how exactly does it… work? Let’s take a look at what goes into crafting an influencer marketing campaign from start to finish.
Step 1: Choosing an influencer marketing program
What type of influencer marketing program is right for your brand: campaign-based or always-on?
Campaign-based: A one-off campaign featuring professional influencers and prospects, while still including customers, industry experts, and niche experts.
- Use cases: You have an in-person event and want to tap into new audiences and drive registrations. You want to test influencers marketing for the first time. Options include, but are not limited to: featuring influencer quotes in an ebook or leveraging an influencer’s audience to drive event registrations.
Always-on: An influencer program with consistent engagement and campaigns.
- Use case: You want to leverage influencers to create evergreen content, supporting product launches and ongoing initiatives.
Both options have their merits; however, our research concluded that marketers who utilized always-on programs saw 10%+ increases in key areas like sales revenue, brand reputation, and brand advocacy over those using a campaign-based approach.
As our own co-founder Lee Odden said, “Engage an influencer for a campaign and they are your friend for the day. Help someone become more influential and they’re your friend for life.”
While there are many things to consider when trying to figure out which program is right for your brand, it usually comes down to two: bandwidth and budget.
Step 2: Conducting a competitive audit
Every successful influencer marketing program begins with a competitive audit. This is where we utilize a combination of SEO and SEM tools, influencer marketing and social media platforms, along with manual searches to identify competitors and uncover …read more
Source:: Top Rank Blog
