5 Top Tips When Using B2B Influencers to Increase Sales & Bookings

image

When it comes to influencer marketing, most people think that this strategy applies solely to B2C brands. However, influencer marketing is far more important for B2B than it is for B2C brands.

After all, the average purchase size in B2B typically dwarfs that in B2C, and the impact of referrals and word of mouth is more critical to the B2B communities success.

B2B influencers are just as effective if not more than B2C influencers. The type of content they provide is professionally creditable as their audience is made up of working professionals who follow suit to the tools and techniques they promote as thought leaders in their industry.

Maybe you have a campaign you want to promote or a product you’d like to introduce to the market. Why not use a B2B influencer to give your marketing a jumpstart. Today, I’ll show you five professional tips when using B2B influencers to increase sales and bookings.

1. Use Influencers for Affiliate Programs

If your company has an affiliate program, then invite B2B influencers to join and promote it. When you have influencers in your affiliate program, they can do the heavy lifting for you.

We know that there are tons of affiliate programs out there. However, so many people are apprehensive about joining affiliate programs because they might not earn them enough, have too many stipulations to earn, or might not be legal or creditable.

B2B influencers come with years of credibility, which instantly helps you to convince your target audience that your affiliate program is credible, profitable, and accountable.

For example, Youtube influencers like Aurelius Tjin are apart of Canva’s Affiliate program. Having certified creatives in the B2B industry, teaching them how to effectively use Canva to grow their business and share their affiliate group’s benefits expands Canva’s affiliate program’s reach.

2. Use B2B Influencers to Promote Your Product Launches

This tip comes as a no brainer but giving influencers exclusive access to your newly launched product boosts sales and product awareness.

Around 63% of survey respondents said they trust influencers more than what a brand says about itself. Using a B2B influencer helps your target audience trust the features and uses of your new product far more than you can advertise or say yourself.

Around 82% of U.S. consumers believe that influencers should disclose their history of personal use of a product or service.

If you have a new product coming out, use influencers to put out teasers as they get VIP access to your tool. Or you can use influencers to share the social media post of your product launch to help encourage others to do the same.

3. Use B2B Influencers to Host a Webinar

73% of B2B marketers say a webinar is the best way to generate high-quality leads.

Add that to the promising ROI that influencer marketing delivers, you’re sure to see a surge of sign-ups and attendees. For example, take a look at VaynerMedia partnering with B2B influencer Brad Anderson for promoting the #MarketingForTheNow summit.

4. Use B2B Influencers for Social Media Takeovers

A social media takeover is when brand partners with an individual to take over their social media for a specific time or day. They’ll share live updates via video or images. Instagram and Twitter takeovers are the most popular amongst brands, but mainly Instagram.

Social B found that B2B companies also realize the value of collaborating with influential experts on Instagram.

When it comes to B2B influencer marketing stats, it’s probably not a surprise that 93% of overall influencer marketing is happening on Instagram. Hootsuite does an IGTv takeover series called “Ask the Expert” where they invite influencers to answer questions that Hootsuite followers have about

5. Use B2B Influencers to Brainstorm and Create Content for You

Don’t just limit your interactions with an influencer to selling a product. They can offer far more insight than your use to seeing from the safety of your work desk.

Your influencer can take a look at what’s missing from your content marketing resources and connect you with other influencers or train staff if you need help executing the plan at hand.

They can even provide you with the content you might not have known your audience may have always needed. Inc regularly partners with influencers for content ideas and execution to help keep their marketing up to date, educational and entertaining.

P.S: You don’t have to put your B2B influencer front and center; sometimes, you can partner with B2B influencers to create new and exciting content your target audience will love.

5 Quick Tips When Working with a B2B Influencer

Now that we have an idea of what type of content your B2B influencer can provide to add credibility and attention to your product, here are some helpful tips you should consider before selecting your influencer

1. Start with B2B Influencer Outreach

B2B Influencer Strategyrelies on good networking and partnerships. Finding the right influencer can be hard. Media Mix found that 61% of marketers agree that it’s challenging to find the right influencers for a campaign.

So ensure that the influencer you’re researching has the following:

  • Shares your brand values and mission
  • Connects well with your current target audience
  • Has a history of a strong influence on their followers
  • Has a professional demeanor and work ethic

Once you found the influencer that fits the bill, it’s time to do outreach. Since you’re dealing with someone who works in the B2B industry, they won’t expect to see a brand message them in their busy dm like a fan.

Instead, find their website or official email so you can email your offer to show your influencer that you mean business. Here’s a detailed guide on How to Write the Perfect Influencer Outreach Email Template

2. Set Clear Goals and Objections

If you don’t set clear expectations when you’re communicating with your B2B influencer, you leave room for miscommunication, mistakes, and unwanted outcomes. To clearly state what your objectives and goals for this partnership are and project.

Try to be as concise as impossible. Merely saying that you want to increase sales is a bit too vague. Instead, add a number or percentage you want to see, whether in followers, views, sales, or an open email rate.

3. What Type of Content Will Be Created or Promoted

Don’t take it for granted that your B2B influencer will know what type of content you’d like them to produce. So create content guidelines ahead of time to help your influencer do their best work.

For example, if you need a video from your B2B influencer, let them know what exactly should (not) be in your video, including branding and which products to promote. You want your partnership to be as seamless as possible without any hiccups.

4. Create a Verbal or Legal Contract

Over the years, both influencers and brands need to take legal measures to protect themselves from both parties if fraud and unmet obligations become present.

It’s important that you protect your data and intellectual rights before moving any further with your influencer partnership. Simply sending an email might not be enough to cover you from legal repercussions that can come by using the wrong influencer or if your influencer decides not to follow through on your project.

Based on your project or requirements, you can decide what kind of contract(s) you should present to your influencer before beginning work. One of the most common contracts is an NDA contract.

The NDAs creates a safe space for allowing the exchange of that information by preventing the recipient of that information from exploiting it to the detriment of the disclosing party by placing restrictions on how that information may or may not be used.

NDAs are also used in the partnership agreement pre-outreach phase to prevent the influencer from releasing any potential unauthorized leaks to the public (and possibly competitors).

Feel free to check out Convince and Convert’s guide on the 9 Best Practices for Influencer Marketing Agreements.

5. Nurture Your B2B Influencer Partnership

After the project has been completed, you must thank and follow up with your B2B influencer. Influencers are bombarded with brands every day. Once you’ve gotten as far as completing a project or sale with them, it’s essential that you keep the relationship going for the future.

A good practice is to create a project that your influencer can be invited to every quarter. If you wait to reach out to your influencer over a long or extended time, they might be incited to work with another brand or competitor.

Summary

Keep in mind that as you work with influencers, it’s the quality of the content or results matter far more than the influencer’s followers on their profile. Over time as you start working with more and more B2B influencers, you’ll be able to get better results as you cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship for you both.

  1. Use Influencers for Affiliate Programs
  2. Use B2B Influencers to Promote Your Product Launches
  3. Use B2B Influencers to Host a Webinar
  4. Use B2B Influencers for Social Media Takeovers
  5. Use B2B Influencers to Brainstorm and Create Content for You

For more help on mastering influencer marketing, check out our top guides below:

amir

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *