Don't Sleep on B2B Influencers (Literally or Figuratively)
Here are four places to find them
Hi! 👋
Welcome to the 14 NFL players who ran over a camera guy this weekend. This is the B2B Bite - your portal into a realm where marketing helps PE-backed companies win new business instead of just making decks look pretty.
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Don't sleep on influencers. Every industry has them.
Doesn't matter how 'traditional' your space is - construction, waste management, life sciences, etc.
They are out there. You just need to know where to look.
Here are four places to start:
> Communities. Every B2B industry has trade events - either physical or virtual. Look at the conference agenda for a curated list of potential influencers to reach out to.
> Social Media. There are 830m people on LinkedIn. Odds are good some of them work in your sector. Start with your customers - who are they following? Where are the common patterns? These are the folks you want to partner with.
> Editorial. Most industries have sector-specific analyst shops that may also double up as trade journals. Analysts/reporters have established credibility and also make great content partners.
> Current Customers. The OG B2B influencer. Especially in high ACV industries ($1m+) knowing that a peer has found success with a vendor previously can help win a prospect over.
Ultimately what matters is that the influencer has credibility (note - reach is largely unimportant), shares your POV and is active in a defined community.
❤️ Some articles I’ve recently read and loved:
The Difference Between Product Marketing and Service Marketing
What I Learned From Developing Branding for Airbnb, Dropbox and Thumbtack
Did you know I’m a professionally trained thespian?
I hated monologues during my three years of drama study. All eyes on me? No thank-you. So let’s make this a dialogue. What kind of things do you want to talk about?
Drop me an email with your burning questions on how to win in B2B
🎙️ Every week, I sit down with a kick-ass B2B marketer to discuss how they are changing the game around winning new business. Here’s the most recent interview.
🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨
How a Roofing Specialist Grew Its TikTok Following by 300% in Eight Weeks
Quick one before we get into the usual pleasantries…
This interview is a bit different to other episodes of B2B Better.
More guests, more narrative, more music. More… quality (in my humble opinion)
It would mean the world if you could share your feedback on whether you prefer the new format. Just send me an email.
Listen here:
You can listen on any other podcast directory too.
(Seriously - I’m everywhere. (ooOOoo)
In this episode, I sit down with VILPE - a speciality roofing ventilation equipment manufacturer based out of Finland.
We talked about exhibiting at expensive trade shows, how to not send rubbish cold emails and... just kidding. We spoke about TikTok.
Why? Because they have built a following of 80,000 followers in under 12 months. And it's starting to yield some awe-inspiring business results.
This is a story of rejecting the status quo in how to win new business even in traditional industries.
We covered:
What are the three core principles of building a successful TikTok strategy?
How did VILPE jump from 20k to 80k followers in eight weeks?
What business results have they seen? (hint - they have never had more job applications)