How to Find and Engage B2B Influencers, From a B2B Brand
In influencer marketing, and certainly in marketing overall, there are generally two types of focus. The one we talk about more often is consumer marketing, also know as business-to-consumer or B2C. Then there’s business-to-business, or B2B. B2B brands sell software, equipment or services to businesses, sometimes for price tags far too high for an individual purchase. So think of complex IT systems, office equipment, construction machinery or even professional services like legal, accounting, human resources or even marketing agencies. B2B sales cycles are longer … sometimes in excess of 12- to 18-months. So there’s a lot more for a brand to do to attract prospects, build relationships and trust, educate the prospect about the product and ultimately get them to commit sometimes significant corporate dollars to pay for it. That relationship building and trust is key. And for many B2B brands, that’s where influencers come in. But not Instagrammers and TikTok-ers, per say. B2B influencers are those that have deep knowledge and trust in very specific communities. They’re often academics, industry analysts, executives, researchers and more. Often, their influence can’t be measured by their number of online followers. As such, B2B influencer marketing is often more difficult. Justin Levy is the director of social media and influencer marketing for Demandbase. It is a company that provides software to manage the account-based experience. So think of CRM software that also ties your content marketing into the sales process. It keeps your database of prospective customers, a record of all the times and ways you’ve communicated with them, where they are in the sales process, and what content you should serve them next to move them along to purchase. Justin spent several years at Citrix managing the GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar social and influencer connections, so he has a lot of experience building B2B influencer relations. We caught up with Justin to talk about how he finds influencers for his B2B efforts, what kind of engagements he and the Demandbase team engage them for, and then how his company uses content in an innovative approach to meet the prospect and other stakeholders where they are in the process. He gives us good insight into how a B2B brand works and thinks of influencers. I’m sure the conversation will inform and inspire you, even if your focus is more B2C. This episode of Winfluence is presented by Tagger. It is a complete influencer marketing solution. You can find out more for yourself at jason.online/tagger. In this episode, we visit with Alexandra Walsh from 3 Day Blinds, a premium window treatment brand, about how she uses Tagger. To start building your own experiences with my influencer marketing software of choice, go to jason.online/tagger today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices