B2B Marketing Blog

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

10 Expert Pointers To Create Better B2B Content With Authentic Influence

Lane Ellis on Nov 18th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

How does authentic content help drive better customer experience?

And how does influence help optimize B2B content marketing performance?

Both of these are important questions for today’s B2B marketers heading into the uncertainty of 2021, where we face falling organic social reach and declining brand trust. To help guide the way we have gathered together the answers to these key questions and eight others.

Our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden explored the topics of authentic content and how influence can optimize content marketing performance during virtual presentations for the ContentTECH Summit and the IABC MN Convergence Summit, and we’ll share some of the top take-aways from his insight-filled sessions.

Let’s dig right in and look at Lee’s 10 pointers to create better B2B content with authentic influence in our age of the new normal.

10 Expert Pointers To Create Better B2B Content With Authentic Influence

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

B2B Marketing News: B2B Buying Disconnect Study, Google’s SERP Video Carousels, B2B Event ROI Data, & Instagram’s New Story Reactions

Lane Ellis on Nov 13th, 2020
Online Marketing News

How Can You Improve Your B2B Virtual Event’s ROI?
47.6 percent of B2B professionals see post-virtual-event audience engagement as having the top return-on-investment (ROI) potential, followed by some 36 percent who said that making the virtual format more dynamic and interactive was a priority, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

Adweek Survey Finds 40% of Brands Might Seek New Agencies in 2021
75 percent of marketers have been satisfied with how agencies have handled the global health crisis, while a third performed better than expected during the pandemic — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released Adweek Intelligence survey data. Adweek

B2B Marketing News: B2B Buying Disconnect Study, Google’s SERP Video Carousels, B2B Event ROI Data, & Instagram’s New Story Reactions

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

Incredible Content Marketing: 6 Tips for Infusing Credibility into B2B Content

Nick Nelson on Nov 10th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

One of my favorite moments from The Simpsons is when the hilariously incompetent physician Dr. Nick burns down a building by mishandling a clearly marked chemical tank, and then exclaims, “Inflammable means flammable?! What a country!”

via GIPHY

“Incredible” is a word that can spark similar cognitive dissonance for marketers. Sure, it might technically be defined as “impossible to believe,” but if your content isn’t credible, would anyone describe it as incredible?

Quite the opposite. In this business, incredible means credible. So let’s explore the cornerstones of creating credible, and thus truly incredible, content marketing.

Incredible Content Marketing: 6 Tips for Infusing Credibility into B2B Content

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

B2B Marketing News: B2B Content Marketing Credibility Study, LinkedIn’s New Company Engagement Report, Global Social Trends & Microsoft’s Free UX Tool

Lane Ellis on Nov 6th, 2020
Online Marketing News

Both B2B Marketers and Buyers Increasingly Sold on Conversational Marketing
B2B marketing professionals have found email, online live chat, social media, and chatbots have all seen increased usage in 2020, while phone and video call use has fallen by more than 10 percent, according to recently-released B2B buyer communication survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts

B2B Tech Firms Cut Marketing Budgets Due To Pandemic: Study
Despite an overall drop in marketing spending due to the global health crisis, budgeting for digital and content marketing are the most likely to see increased spending, while some 60 percent of B2B technology firm executives say that their key performance indicators (KPIs) haven’t undergone change. MediaPost

B2B Marketing News: B2B Content Marketing Credibility Study, LinkedIn’s New Company Engagement Report, Global Social Trends & Microsoft’s Free UX Tool

LinkedIn’s Ty Heath: 3 Enduring B2B Marketing Trends #MPB2B

Lane Ellis on Nov 5th, 2020
B2B Marketing, MarketingProfs B2B Forum

While MarketingProfs B2B Forum’s Ann Handley was introducing Ty Heath, director of market engagement at The B2B Institute at LinkedIn*, for her keynote, “Evolve your Strategy: 3 Mega Marketing Trends to Outperform Your Competition,” she shared that one of the advantages of holding the event virtually for the first time was that you could be three places at once by being able to watch all sessions once the conference concludes.

2020 marked Ty’s third year speaking at #MPB2B, and her first keynoting the event, and for the occasion Ann shared her hand-drawn portrait of Ty.

LinkedIn’s Ty Heath: 3 Enduring B2B Marketing Trends #MPB2B

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

10 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2020 #MPB2B

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

MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2020 will be the center of the B2B marketing world this week, as many of the world’s leading B2B marketers gather virtually on November 4 – 5 to learn and exchange the industry’s latest research and insight.

This year’s first-ever virtual edition offer a vast array speakers and sessions relating to all areas of B2B marketing, and while we’ve already shared our handy list of “25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B,” we also want to provide you with a list of some of the sessions that we’re most looking forward to this week during #MPB2B.

Here are 10 sessions that stand out to us as must-see presentations as we head towards 2021 and beyond.

10 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2020 #MPB2B

25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B

Lane Ellis on Nov 3rd, 2020
B2B Marketing

Each year MarketingProfs B2B Forum is filled to the brim with the latest insightful B2B marketing tactics and strategies presented by a powerhouse lineup of exceptional speakers, and this year is no different aside from the virtual element the pandemic has necessitated.

MPB2B will take place November 4 – 5, 2020 and features a stellar group of B2B marketing professionals the programming team at MPB2B has carefully assembled, in a new virtual format designed to bring you all the freshest industry knowledge without any of the screen fatigue.

Just who are the experts that MPB2B has carefully chosen for this year’s event?

To help B2B marketing professionals learn more and connect with the experts and influential speakers at this year’s event, we’ve sorted through the master list of presenters to identify 25 of the top B2B marketing social influencers to follow and learn from in 2021 and beyond.

25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B