When analyzing marketing strategies and opportunities, B2B (business to business) influencers might not immediately pop into your mind. As a business owner, you might know some influencers in your field and trust their opinion.
And that works for any niche; B2B influencers are those who can give great expert advice. How to use this expertise for your brand? Let’s find out.
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What are B2B influencers and how to find them?
So, who B2B influencers actually are? You might have seen them on LinkedIn, Instagram, or at conferences. Those are the people willing to share their knowledge and experience in a particular area.
B2B influencers usually have a strong personal brand and are easily recognized by businesses in the field. Having such an influencer as your ambassador is a sure way to get more recognition and loyalty. For example, they might use an email signature generator to mention your brand in every email they send, which is awesome.
How can you find and effectively communicate with B2B influencers that suit your business? There are several ways.
- Monitor your competitors
Firstly, it is useful to know what your competitors are up to. By monitoring their social media, you can always see the best practices and trends of the industry. And, of course, see whose opinion matters now. Often, companies repost B2B influencers to share news or invite them as speakers to their events.
- Research the best content in your niche
Where do you get all the business news? Do you follow some professional media? Do you know who dictates the new trends? It is crucial to be aware of your niche’s best content; in that way, your brand stays relevant, and you can easily find trust-worthy B2B influencers. Try to keep in mind those who pop up in your feed often: if you see these people, your potential clients do as well.
- Communicate with influencers primarily through email
Now, let’s suppose that you found a B2B influencer who you think can be a great fit. How do you reach out to them? You should realize that influencers receive hundreds of messages on Instagram or LinkedIn every day. So, a more reliable and, what’s more important, professional way to get in touch is to send an email to their collaboration or PR email address.
Remember to clearly state why you are writing and what your offer is. What is your company all about? How will the influencer benefit from this collaboration? You should also introduce yourself and state your position: are you the owner or a marketing manager? It matters.
To make your letter shorter and focus on the most important points, you can use an email signature generator to design your email footer. In this way, the influencer not only sees your name, position, and the company you represent but also contact information and a website. Don’t know how to make an effective signature? Here are some email signature examples to get inspired.
Growth of consumer engagement and sales
The first quite obvious benefit of working with B2B influencers is the raise of sales and new customers. There is no need to explain why influencers help you attract new customers: a personal recommendation from someone you trust is way more effective than ads, especially if it is an influencer who specializes in a specific field.
Even if at first sight the collaboration price might seem a bit too high for you, still consider it. The levels of engagement from such collaborations are way different than from ads, so most probably, your investment will be worth it.
Increasing brand awareness
Collaborating with influencers helps not only with direct sales but also general brand recognition. Surely, not everyone is immediately ready to purchase your product or service. But those who might not be interested in it now will still have your brand in the back of their heads. And there is a big chance that when needed, they will remember about the product their favorite influencer recommended.
A strong social media presence is simply a must these days. You can have a stylish website and your own Instagram or LinkedIn account, but how will the right people find you? Collaborating with B2B influencers makes your brand visible and easily discoverable.
Adding a human touch to the brand
Making a strong association between your business and a B2B influencer immediately adds a certain level of trust and reliability to your brand. Just a dry description might not always work. Yes, you can list all the product’s advantages and add some reviews, but having an influencer mentioning it and giving their own impressions creates a new level of connection.
Collaborating with influencers is also a way to add some context: for instance, you might ask the influencers to point out specific aspects of your brand. Maybe, they can say that they respect your social responsibility approach or how environmentally friendly your brand is.
Becoming closer to audience needs and pains
Sometimes, potential customers might not be aware of the value of a certain product. Yes, they can see all its benefits, but how will it be useful for them specifically? B2B influencers can show how your product helped address their needs and problems.
If your favorite influencer states that they finally found something that suits their request perfectly, you will probably be willing to try out the same product rather than start looking up some alternatives. And that’s how it works for pretty much everyone.
We follow influencers for a reason. Most likely, the information they present matters to us and is what we are interested in. That’s why integrating a certain product or brand into their blogs works well: people already care about a problem the influencers discuss.
Summing up
So, we introduced the benefits of collaborating with B2B influencers. Let’s agree, taking all of these into account, it’s worth a shot to try it out, isn’t it? While such a collaboration might be a bit costly in some cases, remember that you don’t always need to cooperate with top bloggers with millions of subscribers. Many influencers have smaller audiences yet tighter bonds with their followers and, as a result, higher trust levels.