For technical B2B products, the influencer's role is not to be a salesperson or demo the product. Their value lies in building credibility and top-of-funnel interest with their trusted audience. The company is then responsible for nurturing those leads with product-specific details.

Instead of relying on generic databases, the most effective way to find relevant B2B influencers is to go to the source. Ask your existing customers which newsletters they read, podcasts they listen to, and experts they follow to build a highly targeted list of potential partners.

Many B2B marketers dismiss influencer marketing after trying ineffective, one-off posts—a tactic long abandoned by successful B2C brands. They fail to commit to long-term partnerships and experimental approaches, leading to poor results and the false conclusion that the channel doesn't work for B2B.

The effectiveness of large-scale influencer marketing is waning as audiences recognize inauthentic paid promotions. A better strategy is to identify smaller creators, or 'trust brokers,' with high engagement and genuine community trust. Focus on building real, long-term, mutually beneficial relationships rather than transactional one-off posts.

Instead of spending big on trendy mega-influencers, Gamma found success by scaling relationships with thousands of micro-influencers in niche, high-trust "echo chambers" like education. These smaller, authentic voices spread like wildfire within their communities, driving more effective growth.

Forcing brand messaging on an influencer leads to inauthentic content that fails to resonate. A better approach is to educate them on your product and collaborate on an angle that aligns with their established voice and topics. Authenticity drives distribution and engagement, making the partnership more effective than a boilerplate promotion.

Influencers aren't a monolith. Choose partners based on specific goals by bucketing them into four types: "Practitioner Experts" for deep niche authority, "Cultural Amplifiers" for broad trust, "Community Connectors" for targeted reach, and "Attention Drivers" for top-of-funnel awareness.

To secure a critical partnership with Beyond Meat after another deal collapsed, Emma Hernan didn't use traditional channels. She systematically reached out to every account Beyond Meat followed on social media, correctly assuming this network contained employees or close connections, and successfully landed the deal.

A common mistake is running short-term influencer "pilots" with a transactional mindset (money for posts). In B2B, you are buying long-term trust, not immediate reach. This requires building genuine relationships and ensuring influencers actually use and believe in your product, advocating for it organically.