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.

Five years ago, a B2B organic strategy meant SEO. Today, it's about social channels. A company's organic presence is defined by what its CEO, employees, and users are posting on platforms like X and LinkedIn, making "building in public" and community engagement the new pillars of organic growth.

Businesses like jewelers mistakenly dismiss LinkedIn as purely for B2B. This is a flawed view because every professional on the platform is also a consumer ('a C'). This creates a significant, overlooked opportunity for direct-to-consumer sales in a less saturated environment.

The traditional B2B marketing mix of SEO, paid search, and content is no longer sufficient. Modern growth relies on activating word-of-mouth through a superior product, leveraging founder social presence for authenticity, and investing heavily in the creator economy (especially YouTube) to reach engaged B2B audiences.

FloQast's CMO credits his early career in B2C e-commerce for his success in B2B SaaS. The skills learned in driving direct conversions and understanding self-serve motions became a key differentiator as B2B marketing has increasingly adopted more consumer-centric tactics to engage human buyers.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands often excel at straightforward messaging and simple user journeys. B2B marketers should emulate this clarity. Complex B2B products often lead to jargon-filled copy and convoluted website flows, creating friction that a D2C mindset can help solve.

Over the last decade, many B2B media brands have disappeared, leaving a trust gap between buyers and sellers. B2B influencers are effectively filling this void. They act as the new intermediaries, providing the validation and proof points that buyers previously sought from industry publications.

Modern B2B buying isn't a linear path from a Google search to a demo. Buyers piece together their understanding from disparate, trusted sources like LinkedIn DMs, peer comments, and Slack communities. Marketing must meet them in these channels to be visible and earn trust.