We’ve all heard about influencers and creators. The current moment even has a name: the creator economy. In short, it’s an influencers’ world now. But until now, their relevance has been almost exclusive to consumer brands.

It makes sense. Both influencers and creators have large followings. Selling a straightforward product to an influencer’s audience gives you a good chance of driving qualified traffic to your website. Hopefully, that equates to revenue.

And the strategy bears out in the real world. Most of today’s brands (59%) set aside some budget for content marketing. And 75% of them planned on dedicating a significant amount to creators in 2022.

But why is the creator and influencer economy relegated to DTC strategies? In an evolving world, maybe it’s time SaaS companies start paying attention.

Why
Influencers & Creators Matter to B2B

One of the best ways we’ve learned to build a B2B audience is through list swaps. The strategy is simple: two businesses do a webinar together, build a guest list, and at the end of the program, share the list. The core idea is to access other businesses’ audiences to help grow our own.

But here’s the key: audience acquisition isn’t just about swapping. It’s about building a community. Your goal shouldn’t be to sign people up and immediately monetize them. Your goal should be to generate a following of genuine fans who care about your thought leadership.

Influencers can be essential to this strategy.

Influencers and creators didn’t acquire their audiences by accident, after all. They found their audience because they’re great at creating content, too. They know how to break through the attention economy. They know the algorithms. They know how to resonate with audiences and generate awareness in rented channels like social media. They have skills like repurposing content. And they can leverage these skills time and again.

Creating content, after all, is hard. It’s labor-intensive. It takes a huge toll on already-overtaxed content marketing teams.

But leveraging influencers and creators won’t only help you produce more content. It will help you produce different content. The byline on this content won’t be from your team. It will be from the influencer who usually has a trusted following online.

This does nothing but add more credibility to your media brand.

The Three Types of Creators/Influencers Relevant to B2B

Generally speaking, there are three types of creators or influencers relevant to SaaS companies:

The Evangelist is a subject matter expert who adds value to the relationship with a brand. Think what Guy Kawasaki is to Canva and Scott Brinker to HubSpot. If you’ve been in B2B long enough, you know many companies who bring in experts like these. Evangelists can be spectacular assets to any media operations. In addition to their production throughput, they’ve already established trust with the marketplace.

They may not have worked at your company and acquired your specific expertise. But at this point in their careers, they’re often masterful storytellers. They’re capable of bringing time-tested principles to thought leadership that will lend your brand instant credibility.

The Savvy Operator isn’t someone who has to be a full-time influencer. Not by any stretch. They’re gainfully employed at a company already they just happen to be good at sharing their learnings on social media.

This is the type of person you’ll see at podcasts and event stages. They’ve got a PPT in the can because their subject matter expertise has gained their respect far and wide. For most Savvy Operators, their influence is a big part of what they do. But it’s not necessarily their primary career focus.

Savvy Operators make great partners to brands because of this reach. Hosting them at your podcast, having them speak at your event, bringing them on to contribute content on your owned media platform it all gives you access to an audience you didn’t have before.

In-House Creators don’t have a substantial followership. They may not even necessarily have expertise in their field yet. But they do possess one important skill.

They’re damn good at creating.

I won’t make any Gen Z assumptions though the thought did cross my mind in-house creators can be junior practitioners on your team. They’ve grown up on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. They live and breathe these worlds, which brings a level of creative execution that no one else at your company might have.

These folks may also be great on camera or behind the mic. Don’t overlook these talents as you expand your media scope.

Managing PR as Part of a B2B Media Strategy

One quick note on company spokespeople. Your PR team may have requested a "bench" of spokespeople who need media training your CEO and other key executives. And this makes sense. There’s plenty of merit to having your executives out in front of the market.

After all, people don’t just buy what you do. They buy why you do it. According to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, 58% of respondents will buy or advocate for brands based on that brand’s beliefs and values. And 80% will invest based on beliefs and values.

But this doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. You also need people producing content for your brand who are good with cameras and microphones. Some companies strike gold with key spokespeople who are already great on camera. But if you haven’t struck gold, an influencer strategy is a great way to augment your team and achieve the same results.

How to Engage
Influencers & Creators

There are three essential ways to engage influencers and creators on your B2B company’s behalf:

• Free. Many influencers especially "savvy operators" will participate in media collaborations for the sake of building their own audience. This is how you get prominent people to appear on podcasts, for example. If you already have an audience platform to stand on, there are some opportunities for free collaborations here.

• Paid. You can compensate influencers and creators to build content on your behalf. Think “evangelists” here the people who actively monetize their expertise and follow online.

• Hired. Many SaaS companies are simply hiring in-house creators. You can hire influencers on a contract basis, but having a regular contributor helps you build a system out of your company’s editorial strategy, which leads to consistency over time.

Want more trust and authority in your domain? Don’t ignore the rise of influencers and creators, even if you’re in B2B. Influencers have more sway than DTC brands. If you don’t learn it first-hand, one of your competitors may eventually teach you.

Anthony Kennada | About the Author

Founder and CEO, AudiencePlus

Prior to founding AudiencePlus, Anthony served as the CMO of incredible companies like Hopin and Front. He was the founding CMO of Gainsight where he and his team are credited with creating the Customer Success category -- a novel business imperative, profession and software category that helps subscription companies grow sustainably by becoming customer obsessed. By focusing on human first community building, content marketing, live events and creative activations, they developed a new playbook for B2B marketing that built the Gainsight brand and fueled the company’s growth from $0 to $100M+ ARR, and eventual acquisition by Vista Equity at a $1.1B valuation. You can follow him here.