• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 6 hours ago

Even the most isolated email teams are hearing faint whispers about the role of influencers. Indeed, many are being called on to help drive the programs, for CEOs know that thought leadership can help their firms get onto buyer shortlists.  

There is good reason for this feeling: 93% of firms with influencer programs say they’re effective, although only 46% call them very effective, according to a new study from TopRank Marketing and Ascend2: “The 2027 B2B Influencer And Creator Marketing Report.” 

What’s more, 92% of marketers feel at least somewhat confident when arguing for higher influencer budgets. 

How do they measure success? The most common metrics are:

• Engagement—48% 
• ROI—46% 
• Reach/views—45%
• Revenue attribution—33% 
• Pipeline influenced—25%

What gets reported to the C Suite is roughly in line with this: 

• Brand awareness—54% 
• Engagement—47%
• Revenue attribution—34%
• Pipeline—22% 

You can see that engagement even tops ROI and other dollar-based measurements. But even the engagement rate is relatively unimportant when evaluating creators (a word that seems to mean the same thing as “influencers”). The people who hire them want to see: 

• Trustworthiness and credibility with their audience—46% 
• Relevance of their audience to our target market—40% 
• Subject matter expertise and domain authority—31%
• Engagement rate—31%
• Size of audience or network—30% 
• Values alignment with our brand—29%

What role does email play? 

Established companies have integrated their email, paid media and events. But best-in-class marketers have gone beyond that to include feeds, ABM, sales, SEO and AI search.

And email supports other critical activities. “B2B influencer marketing isn't just about social media anymore,” says Todd Lebo, CEO of Ascend2. “Email lets you bring trusted industry voices directly to engaged audiences.” 

Lebo continues that the Ascend2 and TopRank Marketing research found that “38% of the most effective B2B influencer programs invest in newsletters, compared to 25% of other programs. For email marketers, the opportunity is to move beyond promotional messages and incorporate credible experts, original insights, and content that builds trust throughout the buying journey.” 

Aside from newsletters, other popular content formats are podcasts (37% of firms have very effective programs) and research reports (35%).

All this is line with a shift in buyer search behavior. The study cites third-party industry research showing that: 

• 51% of buyers are starting their research with an AI chatbot more than Google. 
• 43.% of B2B firms appear in early-stage questions inside AI environments (That's where you want to be). 
• 89% of citations for unbranded prompts appear from third-party sources, and not from brand-owned content.
• The respondents agree that always on influencer programs work better than campaigns. And it pays to have full documentation of everything. Here's how leading B2B brand marketers describe their influencer work: 
• Strategy is fully documented—73%
• Uses on always-on strategy—72% 
• Integrates with paid amplification—53% 
• Uses purpose-built influencer platform—52% 
• Integrates with AI search optimization—49%
• Partners with journalists as creators—34% 
• Fully dedicated influencer team—15% 

TopRank Marketing partnered with research firm Ascend2. The latter surveyed 424 respondents who now run an influencer marketing program or are building or planning one in the nexy 12 months. The survey, which was conducted from mid-May to mid-June,  targeted B2B professionals in manager-level roles or above at US firms with 100 or more employees. In addition, interviews were conducted with B2B practitioners.