.png)
The global value of the influencer marketing market tripled in size between 2019 and 2023. Yet despite its massive popularity, both brands and influencers are still often unclear on how it works.
Influencers are unsure how to position themselves, attract the right brands and negotiate terms. Meanwhile, companies are also unsure how to negotiate those terms. They also don’t know how to find influencers who align with their goals or measure the ROI of their B2B influencer marketing strategies.
To help provide some clarity for both sides, we’ve enlisted the help of B2B influencer, Jamie Trull. She is a financial literacy coach and a profit strategist who has worked with a number of brands to create ongoing relationships for sponsored content and affiliate programs for her Instagram and YouTube channels.
Here’s how she feels both sides can work together for a win-win-win.
Why B2B companies need influencer marketing
How should you classify B2B influencer marketing? What bucket does it go in? Is it a thought leadership exercise? A lead generation campaign? A search engine optimization (SEO) activity? The right influencer relationship can actually help you with all three!
Having a trusted B2B influencer introduce your brand to their audience is one of the best ways to build your thought leadership. This is particularly important for B2B companies looking to get into niche markets. At the same time, an estimated 69 per cent of consumers trust influencer recommendations. This means the right person’s seal of approval could be a real lead gen boost for your brand. And influencer-created content helps your SEO by driving traffic to your site, creating engagement and helping you earn backlinks.
But it’s important to know that these things are only achieved when there is an authentic fit between the influencer, the brand and the audience.
“We really want successful long-term partnerships. Those are what have been the most profitable for our business and for our partners and it's been the best for our audience as well,” said Trull. “We are very audience-focused in terms of not just looking for win-win, but win-win-win.”
You might also like: B2B influencer marketing for SaaS in 2025.
What B2B influencers look for in partnerships
One cannot major in influencing in university (yet). As a result, most content creators have to learn as they go. This was certainly the case for Trull. She said that, even though she had a strong background in finance, she still had to learn how to negotiate in this unique space.
“I felt really out of my depth in it. I think some of that also comes with, you know, being a woman in finance as well,” said Trull.
“You kind of don't know what the market is. You're not really sure what you can charge. You're not really sure what people will pay. And so I think it was a lot of trial and error getting to this point.”
Those early days also taught her that authentic long-term partnerships are the best for everyone involved, which is why she found herself turning down opportunities that simply didn’t make sense for her brand. Trull says that a new influencer may receive downright laughable offers.
“There are just things that are so far outside of the realm of what we actually do. I have an audience that has a lot of women, so I think people see that and they're like, ‘Oh, anything that relates to women, we're gonna pitch her.’ So we always laugh when we get pitches for feminine hygiene products. I recently got one for adult toys. Not exactly in line with business finance.”
Finding the right influencers for B2B campaigns
How do you find the right influencer to represent your brand, expand your audience, and hopefully fill your sales funnel?
You need to look at their following, but not necessarily the numbers. Cristiano Ronaldo has 650 million Instagram followers, but he’s probably not going to help you promote a B2B SaaS. You need to consider who follows this person. Are these people in your ideal customer profile (ICP)? Is this creator trusted enough to influence purchase decisions?
There are several tools that can help you analyze a would-be influence’s audience to see if they’re right for your B2B influencer marketing strategies. For example, PartnerStack Marketplace can help you browse over 700 B2B influencers already actively using PartnerStack to market and sell SaaS.
Negotiating strategies for B2B influencer marketing
How much should you pay an influencer? How much should an influencer charge?
Googling or asking an AI chatbot those questions will give you responses ranging between $250 to $10K, which isn’t particularly helpful. Those numbers also don’t include factors such as long-term brand sponsorships, commissions or affiliate relationships, all of which can be advantageous for everyone involved.
What happens when you can’t come to an agreement on the price or terms? Trull says that too many brands put all of the onus on the creator to come up with alternate terms when negotiations reach a roadblock. She would much rather work with a brand that comes to the table with their own ideas and alternatives.
“I love companies that work with us. I love partners that are open if I come to them and say, ‘Hey, we would love to do a promo. What can we do for our audience?’ And that's really important to us. Because we can talk about this all we want, but we have to give our audience a reason to click our link.”
On the influencer side of things, new content creators or micro-influencers with smaller audiences may feel like they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating. They may be asked to justify their rates during a time when they’re still testing the market. In these situations, Trull says it can be invaluable to reach out to other creators.
“Something I recommend to other influencers and educators who make money in this way, talk to other people. I think that in the past, everything's been so siloed. And the only people that benefit from that, it's not us. So knowledge is power."
She recommends doing your homework as an influencer. “My rates went up when I started talking to other people who were doing this kind of sponsorship work and realizing that they were charging a heck of a lot more. In fact, a few of the men I talked to were charging a lot more with smaller audiences.”
See more: The power of micro-influencers in SaaS affiliate programs.
She also feels that the best win-win-wins happen when both sides have the same mission.
“Mission alignment. For us, that's really important. If you are a strong mission-driven business, tell us about why you’re doing what you're doing.”
“It’s important because we are such a mission-driven business. We look for that. Because that shows us this isn't just about profits. This isn't just about shareholders. This is about trying to do something big here, and we know why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
.jpg)
