Influencer Marketing News and Tips

Inside Influence 9: Brian Solis from Salesforce on How B2B Influence Adds Value to Customers

Lee Odden on Nov 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

According to our research in the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, 74% of marketers surveyed believe that influencer marketing improves prospect and customer experience for B2B brands. If there’s one industry expert to tap on the topic of customer experience, I can think of few more qualified than the author of X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, Brian Solis.

As an 8 time best selling author, keynote speaker, analyst, futurist, digital anthropologist and Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, Brian is a longtime friend that I’ve been able to collaborate with numerous times on marketing topics.

Inside Influence 9: Brian Solis from Salesforce on How B2B Influence Adds Value to Customers

Inside Influence 8: Srijana Angdembey from Oracle on How Influence Creates Better B2B Customer Experiences

Lee Odden on Nov 23rd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Improving Customer Experience is one of the top priorities for B2B marketers today. With the challenges of real-world experiences from field marketing to in-person tradeshows all but gone, B2B marketers are focused on figuring out how to maximize digital experiences.

Working with influencers has proven to be an effective solution. In fact, 74% of marketers agree that influencer marketing improves customer and prospect experience with the brand according to the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report. But how are B2B brands working with influencers to create those experiences?

To find out, I reached out to Srijana Angdembey, Director of Social Media Marketing at Oracle for this 8th Episode of Inside Influence – Interviews with B2B Influencer Marketing Insiders. During our talk, we discussed:

Inside Influence 8: Srijana Angdembey from Oracle on How Influence Creates Better B2B Customer Experiences

14 Expert B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions for 2021

Lane Ellis on Nov 19th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

What will B2B influencer marketing look like in 2021, and where will it take B2B marketers and brands when a post-pandemic world eventually arrives?

To help answer these questions we’ve gathered top B2B influencer marketing insights from both industry experts and our own team, and present our look at their predictions for 2021.

Let’s jump right in and see how top B2B influencer marketing practitioners expect 2021 to change the way we do business, and why it will likely be a breakout year for building influence.

1 — Anti-Marketing and The Real vs. The Ideal

Ann Boyd
Vice President of Communications, Rubrik

14 Expert B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions for 2021

Inside Influence 7: Pierre-Loïc Assayag from Traackr on Influencer Marketing Technology

Lee Odden on Nov 16th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Scrow: A conjunction of “scale” and “grow”, which is a word I made up to talk about the value of technology when it comes to ramping up the impact of B2B influencer marketing during the latest Inside Influence show about what’s working and what’s not inside the world of B2B Influencer Marketing.

When B2B marketers think about how to “scrow” the success of their influencer marketing, they often start by looking beyond spreadsheets from transactional to more relationship driven influencer models. To support these efforts they often seek influencer marketing platforms.

Inside Influence 7: Pierre-Loïc Assayag from Traackr on Influencer Marketing Technology

7 Keys To Successful B2B Influencer Marketing #MPB2B

Lane Ellis on Nov 11th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, MarketingProfs B2B Forum

MarketingProfs educational content director Kerry O’Shea Gorgone kicked off an insightful #MPB2B Forum 2020 session with our CEO Lee Odden exploring B2B influencer marketing, “New Research: How to be Successful With Influencer Marketing.”

Lee began by explaining that when it comes to B2B influencer marketing, to create and maintain a successful program you’ve got to do the hard work and be smart about it, and set about to demystify some of the lesser-known aspects of B2B influencer marketing by sharing what he’s learned from having been deeply involved with the practice for the past eight years.

Let’s take a look at the new B2B influencer marketing research Lee explored in his insightful MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B 2020 session.

1 — Utilize Influencers to Rise Above Pandemic Uncertainties

7 Keys To Successful B2B Influencer Marketing #MPB2B

Inside Influence 6: Amisha Gandhi from SAP on the Power of Mutual Value in B2B Influencer Marketing

Lee Odden on Nov 9th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

The latest edition of Inside Influence: What’s working and what’s not inside the world of B2B Influencer Marketing, features B2B Influencer Marketing “OG”, Amisha Gandhi, VP Influencer Marketing & Communications at SAP. At TopRank Marketing, we’ve had the pleasure of working with Amisha for several years on a variety of influencer marketing programs from the launch of SAP Leonardo to developing a virtual reality experience featuring influencers for use at tradeshows.

In this 6th episode of Inside Influence, I talk with Amisha about the power of how creating mutual value between B2B brands and influencers drives returns across the customer lifecycle. Of course we also hit a few highlights of the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report.

In this 6th Episode of Inside Influence, we cover:

Inside Influence 6: Amisha Gandhi from SAP on the Power of Mutual Value in B2B Influencer Marketing

Adobe’s Rani Mani: 5 Tips For Creating Your B2B Influencer Marketing Love Affair #MPB2B

Lane Ellis on Nov 4th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, MarketingProfs B2B Forum

Rani Mani, head of global employee advocacy at Adobe* delivered an impassioned presentation filled to the brim with B2B influencer marketing insights, with a special focus on how the best influencer relationships are in essence not that different from successful personal relationships.

Rani explained how she’s come to have a love affair with influencer marketing, and shared the process she uses to help turn mere social media heavyweights into long-term and deeply-engaged Adobe advocates — a plan than can be implemented by any brand willing to put in the time, effort, and especially the passion that Rani and her team have.

Adobe’s Rani Mani: 5 Tips For Creating Your B2B Influencer Marketing Love Affair #MPB2B

Inside Influence 5: Jen Holtvluwer from Spiron on Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing

Lee Odden on Nov 2nd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

When we conducted our research for the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, we found what the most successful B2B marketers have in common. They:

Have a Documented Influencer Marketing Strategy
Engage in Always-On Influencer Engagement
Have a Centralized Influencer Program
Use Software to Identify Influencers
Rely on Experts and Analysts
Use Blogs as Content Platforms
Create Interactive Content with Influencers

Learning from those who are already successful in a fast growing discipline is what the Inside Influence: What’s working and what’s not inside the world of B2B Influencer Marketing show is all about.

Inside Influence 5: Jen Holtvluwer from Spiron on Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing

The State of B2B Influence Marketing – Top 10 Insights for 2021

Lane Ellis on Oct 26th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

What does the state of B2B influencer marketing look like now and in the future? How can B2B brands start a successful influencer program? Why is it more important than ever to approach B2B influencer marketing with an always-on influencer strategy?

Many of these questions are answered in the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report and yet we all know the complexity and opportunity combination of influencer marketing requires further exploration. Luckily Jason Falls connected with our CEO Lee Odden for a podcast interview to explore the answers to these questions and more, along with his most recent B2B influencer marketing insight.

After listening to the podcast, I’ve pulled out 10 of the most compelling insights about the state of B2B influencer marketing to help inspire your success in 2021 and beyond.

The State of B2B Influence Marketing – Top 10 Insights for 2021

How To Move From A Pilot B2B Influencer Marketing Program to Always-On Success

Nick Nelson on Oct 20th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

It sure is a good thing that the internet turns off at 10:00 PM every night, and doesn’t flip back on until 8:00 in the morning. And thankfully, business buyers completely tune out after they finish work, which is always at 5 o’clock sharp in this world of reliable and universally consistent routine.

Marketers and brands would really have their hands full if these things weren’t true.

Wait, what’s that? None of them are remotely true?

Welcome to the World of Always-On

There is no off-switch. The internet is open for business 24 hours a day. Buyers and decision makers are engaging with content in unpredictable patterns, thrown further askew by the pandemic-driven disruption of workday archetypes. An increasingly lengthy and complex buyer’s journey challenges B2B marketing strategies to be more versatile, agile, and perpetually present than ever before.

How To Move From A Pilot B2B Influencer Marketing Program to Always-On Success

Inside Influence 4: Janine Wegner from Dell on Thought Leadership and Influencer Relations

Lee Odden on Oct 19th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Today marks the 4th installment of the Inside B2B Influence series: What’s working and what’s not inside the world of B2B Influencer Marketing. I want to thank everyone who has viewed the interviews, made comments and shared with their networks. This week we’re continuing our search to explore the world of B2B influencer marketing with insights from the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report.

Episode 4 of Inside B2B Influence features guest insider, Janine Wegner, Global Thought Leadership Program and Activation Manager at Dell Technologies who our agency TopRank Marketing has the pleasure of working with on influencer content marketing programs like The Zettabyte World – Securing our Data-Rich Future.

Janine and I were able to dig into a topic that I think represents a huge opportunity for influencer integration: the intersection of thought leadership.

Inside Influence 4: Janine Wegner from Dell on Thought Leadership and Influencer Relations

Inside Influence 3: Ursula Ringham from SAP on Influencer Marketing Operations

Lee Odden on Oct 12th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Welcome to the 3rd episode of Inside B2B Influence: What’s working and what’s not inside the world of B2B Influencer Marketing. Each week we feature an interview with a B2B marketing insider on all things influence and a deeper dive into the insights found in the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report.

In this 3rd episode of Inside Influence you are in for a treat: A discussion with the force of nature and client of TopRank Marketing that is Ursula Ringham, Head of Global Influencer Marketing at SAP.

Ursula leads the Global Influencer Marketing team at SAP in collaboration with the entire SAP product portfolio to create innovative content with trusted external voices to build brand awareness and create pipeline. She is also an accomplished storyteller, author, creator, influencer marketer, digital innovator, social media maven, champion of girls education, and self described “outdoor sports freak”.

Inside Influence 3: Ursula Ringham from SAP on Influencer Marketing Operations