Influencer marketing is now firmly planted in the B2B world, judging by the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Report, a study from TopRank Marketing, conducted by Ascend2.
Of the professionals surveyed, 94% think influencer marketing is a good strategy for B2B.
And its use is growing: 85% now include it in their marketing mix, versus 34% in 2020.
Moreover, 39% describe influencer marketing as adding the most to the success of their overall marketing programs. Only social media is higher, at 48%.
But don’t think it’s easy. Only 34% described their influencer marketing strategy as extremely effective. The challenges include:
advertisement
advertisement
Still, there are great benefits. Very effective users describe them as:
Who qualifies as an influencer? Marketers in the basic stage say that would be customers (56%), professional influencers (28%) and prospects (18%).
For those in the moderate stage, the influencers tend to be customers (62%), professional influencers (45%) and prospects (31%).
B2B brands seek these qualities in influencers:
Want some hints on how to proceed? These are the habits of highly successful influencer marketers:
Ascend2 surveyed 425 marketing decision makers from the management level or higher in July and August 2023.