Paid influencers aren’t just promoting food, fashion, cosmetics, and wellness products. They’re also making their mark in B2B industries like logistics and technology.
Take Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, who runs Let’s Talk Supply Chain and uses podcasts, live shows, and blogging to promote the supply chain industry. Or Evan Kirstel, who has 68,000 followers, a TV show, and podcasts, and describes himself as a “TechInfluencer.”
For B2B marketers, these creators offer access to specialized audiences through trusted industry voices — an attractive way to reach buyers.
How B2B influencing is structured
Paid influencers have their own B2B talent representatives. I talked with Patrick Zielinski, who runs a B2B talent management firm called The Drive Agency. He says company leaders increasingly recognize their employees as valuable spokespeople for their firm’s products and services.
Some companies include influencing in job descriptions and recruit employees who already have large social media followings. These staffers are expected to promote the firm’s interests to their followers.
Some employees become so influential in promoting their companies that their earnings from advertising, speaking, and other influencer-related activities outstrip their salaries. In such situations, these employee influencers may consider going out on their own.
An agency like Drive can help influencers find new gigs and manage the process. In determining whether to take on a client, Zielinski said he looks for businesspeople determined to take their influence to the next level.
“It’s not just follower count or engagement,” he said. “Every creator is a business. I assess their potential the same way a venture capitalist does. Are they ambitious? Receptive to feedback? Will this be a good fit?”
Revenue sources for B2B influencing
Typical revenue sources for B2B influencers include:
- Brand partnerships.
- Writing a book.
- Publishing a newsletter.
- Developing online courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning.
- Launching their own physical or digital products.
- Public speaking.
If a B2B influencer works with an agent, the agent’s terms are typically commission-based, ranging from 10% to 20%.
The key to success as a B2B influencer
Zielinski advised businesspeople considering this route to think like creators. That means:
- Post consistently.
- Identify one platform where you’re comfortable as your launchpad (for example, LinkedIn).
- Diversify to one or two other platforms (for example, Instagram) with video content.
“Most business executives think of posting as a hobby, a creative outlet,” explained Zielinski. “But you can actually turn it into a career. Pay attention to the signals. Are brands coming to you? That’s a clear indicator of your potential.”
Case study: How an influencer built a business
Megan Lieu, a client of The Drive Agency, developed into an influencer over the last five years. A data scientist in the Washington, D.C. area, she began sharing stories on her professional journey and career advice on LinkedIn.
As Lieu expanded her reach to other platforms like Instagram and YouTube, B2B companies began reaching out to her. “It happened mostly by accident,” she says.
Her offerings include a creator cohort program on LinkedIn, a newsletter, and brand deals, which represent Lieu’s biggest revenue source. To promote her offerings, she posts daily on social media and runs free webinars.
Lieu credits Drive with developing and negotiating valuable brand deals for her. She shares an example:
“I recently did a campaign with the company behind my newsletter platform, Kit, and we filmed a whole commercial in NYC to promote a new feature they were launching that I genuinely love!”
Lieu advises that building a creator business in B2B is best done with the help of others. “There are so many talented operators in the space who can help you grow your business,” she explains.
“So, learning how to hire and manage contractors, employees, assistants, etc. is a super important skill, especially if you want to build your business beyond just brand deals.”
What’s working in B2B influencer marketing
New research from Ascend2 and Top Rank Marketing shows that influencer marketing is growing and changing rapidly in B2B.
Traditionally, influencing was primarily for industry analysts and prominent executives. According to the study, 43% of the most effective B2B influencer marketing programs partner with entertaining creators, nearly double the rate for traditional influencer types.
These creators are media savvy. They know how to tell stories and engage audiences. Their skills are paying off: Creators are most likely (51%) to receive performance-based compensation, compared with traditional arrangements like speaking opportunities or product usage deals.
For B2B marketers, adoption of influencer marketing is inescapable. 83% are actively pursuing programs for their companies, and there’s still plenty of growth to come as buying behavior shifts and marketers look to reach buyers at the earliest stages of their process. AI search visibility is also paramount.
According to the research, the most valued qualities in a creator are trust and credibility. Next come relevance to the marketer’s target audience, subject matter expertise, and domain authority.
B2B creators are most likely to be content creators with large B2B or professional audiences, customer advocates, or independent consultants. “Always on” programs are nearly twice as desirable (42%) to marketer clients as one-off campaign-based programs (24%).
This opens a new direction for marketers and professionals in their fields. Is there a creator inside you waiting to find an audience? The time is right.
