5 B2B Influencer Marketing Strategies You Should Try
By: Shane Barker
Tags: B2b Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Content Marketing, Social Media, Marketing

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Companies of all sizes are turning to influencer marketing. A HubSpot study suggested that by 2020, influencer marketing spend will hit an all-time high of $8 billion. This includes even B2B companies.

A survey by Marketing Charts revealed that B2B companies considered influencer marketing as one of their top four tactics in 2019.

Image via Marketing Charts

Even though B2B companies realize the importance of collaborating with influential experts, finding the right strategy suitable for their brands is their biggest challenge. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to B2B influencer marketing.

Every successful B2B influencer marketing campaign has a story of its own. That’s because every campaign is unique in so many ways that you need to have your own strategy.

That said, you can definitely borrow ideas from some of the most successful B2B influencer marketing campaigns so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel again.

Here are five influencer marketing strategies that can help you to achieve your marketing goals:

1. Collaborate with Industry Experts for Content Creation

The best brand ambassador for your B2B company is someone who has established themselves as a subject matter expert. They are typically thinkers, leaders, and innovators leading engaging conversations through research, expert opinions, and user guides.

Dell Technologies launched a podcast hosted by influencers featuring conversations with technology visionaries. The interesting thing about this program is that Dell is able to develop strong relationships with industry influencers.

This not only opens up a variety of content collaboration opportunities, but also turns them into strong brand advocates for the company.

Image via Dell Technologies

You can find influencers for your business on forums or platforms specific to your industry. They can be bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, or avid users of any other platform that helps them connect with their target audience. In any case, they should be someone your ideal customers look to for solutions.

Since they are already active in the space your industry operates, they can use their content to suggest your products as solutions to your target audience. When followers observe influencers supporting a brand over a long period, it appears more authentic and genuine to them.

2. Grow Your Email List With Contests and Giveaways

Partnering with influencers to organize a contest makes for a perfect strategy to build buzz and gain exposure to new audiences.

An influencer can either take the lead to host the contest (sponsored by you) or they can join hands to promote the contest that you have hosted. Either way, make the entry requirements fun to further encourage audience engagement.

Cisco generated thousands of leads and development ideas through their Innovation Grand Challenge. The contest aimed to engage an audience comprised of enthusiasts and creators.

Image via Twitter

You can use contests as an opportunity to grow your email marketing list, drive newsletter signups, and increase social media following. Make it an entry requirement to follow the brand’s social media account and/or sign up to an email newsletter.

3. Ongoing Promotion through Influencer Affiliate Programs

Combining affiliate marketing with influencer marketing helps you enjoy the benefits of both worlds. It’s also easier to scale and easier to measure. To run an affiliate program, create an agreement that is mutually beneficial to both the brand and the influencer. In an affiliate program, the influencer earns a commission for each sale attributed to them.

ConvertKit paid $105,000 in affiliate commission in December 2017 alone to Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income, a blogging influencer.

With that kind of commission, it’s easy to guess how well the affiliate program generated sales for ConvertKit even with just one influencer. Just imagine the sales figures from all influencers combined.

Industry bloggers and thought leaders are the perfect people for a B2B affiliate program. They are already creating plenty of content day in and day out, solving problems your target audience faces.

Your products and services can be solutions to many of those problems. When they naturally and genuinely mention your product as a possible solution, it instantly builds trust among the target audience.

4. Organize Brand Experience Events to Build Buzz

Events are an excellent way to engage a group of influencers with your brand, all at the same time and in the same place. It offers an opportunity to expand coverage and brand exposure.

Since influencers constantly participate in new events, make sure yours is unique, fun, and exciting. Choose influencers who have an audience that is a good fit for your brand and generate a good engagement rate through their content. This will ensure that you spread the word about your brand naturally.

There are multiple influencer networks such as Influence.co, which allows you to access a huge database of niche influencers across multiple verticals. You can use this network to quickly find influencers based on your target audience.

Nothing is more enticing than the thought of visiting a warm and sunny destination during the dead cold winter season. Knowing this fact, JetBlue organized an experiential event to promote their direct flights from New York to Palm Springs.

The airline company placed six-foot by six-foot ice blocks that included summer accessories. To claim the prize, a person had to chip away at the ice.

Image via EventMarketer

Make sure the brand experience events offer plenty of photo opportunities with fun decor and good lighting arrangements. This will make the influencers want to share their event experience on their favorite social media platform which can help build buzz about your brand.

5. Turn Your Clients into Influencers

B2B clients love to associate with other big brands or companies whose products they are actively using. This builds an incredible trust and brand value among their target audience.

Okta, an identity and device management company created an entire section on their website dedicated to case studies, interviews, and videos from their clients.

When prospective B2B clients see for themselves how a product is helping other businesses, it builds trust and reduces the time taken to make a buying decision.

Image via Okta

Takeaways

B2B marketing success is not just a one-and-done “sales” effort but also regular interactions with industry influencers. With the right approach in B2B influencer marketing, you can co-create engaging content to build credibility for your brand.

Your marketing campaign will only be successful when it resonates with your audience.

It’s time to humanize your B2B product via influencer marketing.

What are your plans to execute B2B influencer marketing? Let us know in the comments.