Marketing Strategy for B2B – Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been around for a while, however, has often been seen as a B2C tactic; leading to its slow acceptance in B2B circles. While B2C companies were flourishing through the help of mega-influencers, B2Bs have been skewed towards more traditional ways of marketing. But, this is changing.
Research suggests that 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals over a business advertisement. With the price of paid advertisements (Google ads/ social media ads) on the rise, influencer marketing is becoming important for B2B companies when considering cost-effectiveness. Note that 91% of B2B transactions are influenced by word of mouth, and the impact of referrals is crucial to the success of the business.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing uses influencing personalities or leaders to drive a business message to the larger market. This marketing strategy allows your business to hire or pay influencers to promote your product or service to the target market. This tactic goes hand in hand with content marketing, especially in this digital era. Content is everything, and to achieve success in influencer marketing you’ll need to create content to engage with the influencers you’re aiming to get on board.
Benefits of B2B Influencer Marketing
Influencers offer a unique point of view to your business that resonates with your target audience. This marketing strategy will not only promote your content but will also provide you with valuable networks and professional contacts. Here are some key benefits:
Develop credibility for your organization
You might be offering a unique product or service that makes you stand out from your competitors but it is hard for prospective clients to understand what you do due to the complexity of B2B products and services. Hence, business decision-making teams often face difficult purchasing choices. Businesses are likely to purchase from businesses that are logic-driven and authentic. Having credibility to your organization through influencers adds value to your business.
Fresh Content Opportunities
There is no doubt that content is hard to maintain. Many business leaders find it difficult to produce content relevant to their industry and market. With influencers at work, your company will have relatable content to share and stimulate engagement. By sharing influencer content you tend to build a relationship with your target audience.
Reach a new and relevant audience
The goal of influencer marketing is to reach a wide audience. This can be a good marketing tactic for businesses looking to acquire new customers. It can be difficult for businesses to generate leads. Influencers build a pathway for businesses to reach out to other businesses and build meaningful connections.
Build your B2B Influencer Marketing Campaign
With all this knowledge in place, here are a few tips on how to create your B2B marketing campaign.
- Work with micro-and nano- influencers
People are aware that high-profile influencers and celebrities make millions of dollars in promotion and produce invaluable endorsement. In this case, micro-and nano- influencers are beneficial. It not only helps you connect faster to prospective clients and generate leads but is also cost-effective.
- Create a buyer persona
Conduct market research to understand your buyers. Create a persona resonating with your target audience. Through this, you’ll be able to choose your influencer more wisely. If you don’t find the right influencer, you are unlikely to reach the right business audience.
- Educate – Tell a story
Customers are attracted to content that tells a story or provides value. Companies should focus on content, tell your business history, your company values, resonate with your target customer. Encourage your influencer you work with to promote your product or service through a story or experience.
- Track your campaign success
Produce metrics relating to reach, sales, and product or service awareness to measure and analyze the success of your influencer marketing campaign. This will allow you to see where you need to improve and amend your campaign accordingly.
Influencer marketing can be difficult to implement for B2B companies as compared to B2C companies. But it is seen that B2B companies can also benefit from practicing influencer marketing.
Need help from a marketing consultant with your B2B marketing or lead generation. Robotic Marketer can help your business with Marketing Strategies based on market research, including an in-depth analysis of competitors. Our marketing consultants will ensure that you will receive the best marketing strategy available in the world today.
