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Updated on May 8th, 2022
Most people associate influencer marketing with B2C brands, as the first image that comes to mind is an informer selling a skincare product on Instagram or something similar.
But B2B influencer marketing can be as effective as B2C influencer marketing, if you do it right.
According to research by TopRank Marketing, 74% of B2B marketers believe influencer marketing improves the experience a prospect has with a brand.
And 63% agree that marketing can be more effective if it includes B2B influencer marketing.
Some of the top benefits of working with influencers as a B2B business include:
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased lead generation
- Improved brand reputation
- Increased brand advocacy
- Higher sales
Here is the sad part.
Despite these benefits, 40% of B2B marketers do not invest in B2B influencer marketing. These marketers feel they lack the right skills to execute it successfully.
If you’re also wondering how to use B2B influencer marketing for your business, how to succeed, and how to get the most out of your campaign, we’re here to guide you.
In this post, you’ll learn five ways to use B2B influencer marketing to your advantage.
5 Tips to Increase Sales With a Successful B2B Influencer Marketing Program
Here are 5 ways to help you generate more leads and increase sales with an effective B2B influencer marketing strategy.
1. Use Influencers to Make Your Product Easier to Understand
Use a B2B influencer marketing strategy to show potential customers how to get the most benefits from using your product or service.
You can do that by having influencers create educational content around your product or service.
Some advantages of using an influencer to train potential customers are:
- Their audience already trusts their word. They’ll take any recommendation from the influencer as genuine
- The influencer knows how to communicate with their audience in a language that they can understand
- They know the correct level of technical word terms to use in their informative content
For this strategy to work, it’s important to give the influencers some creative freedom.
Trust that influencers know what kind of content works for their audience and what doesn’t.
But do educate them about your product as much as possible so they completely understand everything there is to know about it.
2. Work with Relevant Micro-Influencers for B2B Influencer Marketing
Although it’s businesses that buy your products or services, it’s people who make the purchase decision.
You need to work with an influencer who can put in the work to explain the benefits of your product in a language that resonates with these decision-makers.
And micro-influencers are the right choice for an effective B2B influencer marketing strategy.
See how Myleik Teele promotes American Express to business owners like her.
Micro-influencers may have fewer followers than macro-influencers and mega-influencers but they have higher engagement rates and a more targeted audience.
It’s also easier for micro-influencers to have back-and-forth conversations with their audience. They can discuss the benefits of your product, challenges, and so on.
Such conversations can be hard for an influencer with millions of followers to have.
These conversations make micro-influencers build a closer relationship with their audience and give them more influence over their audience’s buying decisions.
3. Invest in a Long-Term B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy
B2B sales cycles tend to be longer than B2C sales cycles. This is because:
- The products or services are usually more complex
- Higher costs are involved
- They involve long-term commitments
- More decision-makers are involved
For these reasons, a one-time influencer campaign may create brand awareness and attract traffic to your website, but the business may not be ready to make a purchase immediately.
To boost sales, you need to make B2B influencer marketing part of your ongoing digital marketing strategy.
It’ll create a good rapport with the influencers you work with and result in successful long-term collaborations.
They’ll have more time to understand your business and offerings better, leading to high-quality content generation that’ll lead to continuous growth in sales.
4. Ask Influencers to Create Testimonials
Use testimonials in your B2B influencer marketing strategy to provide your potential customers with social proof.
Testimonials are one of the most effective tactics to boost your conversions. And they get even more effective when they’re from a trusted influencer in your niche.
A testimonial from the right influencer can give your leads the extra push they need to convert.
Ask the influencer you’re working with to write an honest review about their experience using your product or service.
If possible, ask them to make a video testimonial.
People trust video testimonials more than text. Research shows that 77% of people have bought a product or service after watching a brand’s testimonial video.
A video captures the subtle facial expressions and tone variations of an individual. This adds authenticity to the video.
It also puts a face to your business, which humanizes your brand.
If your influencer is a business owner, they can address:
- ● What their business does
- ● The problems they faced before they started using your product
- ● What makes your product or service a good fit for them
- ● The best thing about your product or service
- ● How their business uses your product or service
- ● Why they’re recommending your business to other business owners or marketers
Share this testimonial on your landing pages and service pages along with your social media platforms.
5. Collaborate with Influencers on Different Types of Videos
B2B influencer marketing shouldn’t end with an influencer sharing a post with their followers. Ask the influencer to create different types of videos for your business.
Video is dominating the marketing arena, and an overwhelming number of businesses are using it in their marketing strategy.
According to Wyzol, 92% of marketers consider videos to be important to their marketing strategy.
For instance, you can conduct an in-person video interview with an influencer and post it on your website. Or ask them to create a step-by-step tutorial on how to use your product.
Ready to Launch Your B2B Influencer Marketing Campaign?
It takes more effort to convince a business to spend thousands and millions of dollars to buy your goods than convincing an individual to spend a few hundred dollars.
Luckily, when properly executed, B2B influencer marketing can help you achieve your sales targets and grow your B2B business.
The right micro-influencers can help you spread the word about your business and prove to businesses that your products can provide the solution they seek. And this leads to more sales.
So, what are you waiting for?
Get started with your B2B influencer marketing strategy right now. All the best!
About Gaurav Sharma
Gaurav Sharma is the founder and CEO of Attrock, a results-driven digital marketing company. Grew an agency from 5-figure to 7-figure revenue in just two years | 10X leads | 2.8X conversions | 300K organic monthly traffic. He also contributes to top publications like HuffPost, Adweek, Business 2 Community, TechCrunch, and more.
- How to Boost Your B2B Sales using Influencer Marketing – May 5, 2022
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