SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Traackr, the world’s leading provider of Influencer Relationship Management software, today released a new white paper that closely examines the rise of influencer marketing in B2B technology organizations. The paper draws on interviews with 10 marketing experts who have built influencer marketing programs at organizations including Microsoft, IBM, Samsung and others; as well as, previously unreleased technology industry data extracted from Traackr’s “Influence 2.0: The Future of Influencer Marketing” research report published in January 2017.
Traackr partnered with Mark Schaefer, a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and, author to co-write the white paper, which investigates why business technology firms have been slow to adopt influencer marketing, why it’s become an area of strategic importance for marketing departments; and, identifies six paradigm shifts emerging in organizations with established influencer marketing programs.
“Every time I’m in a room with CMOs from B2B technology organizations, the conversation inevitably turns to influencer marketing,” says Schaefer. “In this paper, we wanted to go deep into the unique opportunities and challenges faced by organizations that seek to reimagine what it means to market technology in our fragmented, ad-blocked, yet connected and social world."
“Given the interest and early successes in B2B influencer marketing, we wanted to understand why we see such a disconnect between perceived strategic importance and implementation,” says Kirk Crenshaw, CMO, Traackr.
"The answer we found in interviewing experienced practitioners, is that influencer marketing requires a fundamental shift in the marketing department—rethinking how to go to market, acquiring new skills, reconfiguring how to measure, and learning to relinquish, at least partial, control of the message.”
Experts Stress Importance of Long-Term Relationship Building Over Short-Sighted Endorsements
A major theme throughout the paper is trust as leaders seek to work with impartial subject matter experts and avoid short-sighted endorsements. This trend is reflected not only in the minds, but also the wallets of marketers as evidence by The Future of Influencer Marketing report.
Brands that have mature programs spend 7 times more than laggers, and where they spend signals a focus on relationship building and process optimizations. Specifically, organizations with advanced influencer marketing programs spend, proportionally, 18% more on technology and 23% more on consulting/services compared to companies at the experimental phase. Notably, mature programs focus much less on influencer compensation, spending 45% less proportional to laggers.
Collectively illustrated by the 10 experts consulted for the paper, the six industry trends that are shaping the practice of B2B influencer marketing are the:
- Emergence of micro-influencers and their role vis-a-vis macro-influencers
- Necessity to lead with purpose over promotion
- Importance of expert voices and their relationship with brand voice
- Transition from campaign-driven activities to “always on” engagement
- Demolition of silos in favor of cross-functional collaboration
- Evolution of measurement from reach to outcomes
Each of the six trends are explained in The Rise of Influencer Marketing in B2B Technology Organizations, which is available for free download at www.traackr.com.
About Traackr
Traackr’s SaaS platform powers leading influencer programs for B2B and B2C global enterprises such as L'Oréal, The Coca Cola Company, Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, SAP, Orange, USAA, Merck, Roche and Capital One. Traackr is an international company with offices in San Francisco, Boston, New York, Paris and London, conducting business in 11 languages and customers in 38 countries.