This Week in Marketing: How to Make Your Brand Influential

What makes a B2B brand influential? How do brands get elevated to the level of not just a provider of products and services, but a trusted institution that inspires loyalty (and even devotion)?

Thought leadership is definitely part of the equation, as we covered in last week’s roundup. But there are other important steps on the journey to building brand advocacy.

For this week’s roundup, we’re looking at strategies to make your brand influential to B2B buyers. You’ll find an inspiring case study from Hootsuite, new research on B2B influencer marketing and more.

Read on for the latest from the LinkedIn Collective and the web at large. 

What to Read

B2B Marketing Strategies: Get Famous (CMSWire): To capture the hearts and minds of your potential customers, awareness isn’t enough. As we’ve said before, you need to be famous. Jason Ball shares a compelling argument for the pursuit of fame through brand-building.

The Dish on Diversity and Belonging: Getting Personal with Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder (LinkedIn Collective):  When macroeconomic conditions started showing cracks, so too did DEI commitments from the corporate world. Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder shows us how to get our priorities back on track with three tips.

The Power of Inclusive Marketing in the Age of AI (LinkedIn Collective): AI has the potential to reduce human error and human bias—but only if the humans who use it do so responsibly. Shelley Zalis calls marketers to action, urging us to take on the responsibility for keeping marketing inclusive and not transferring human bias to AI models.

B2B Influencer Marketing: It’s Not Rocket Science (Adweek): This is an inspiring story from Hootsuite VP of Marketing Billy Jones. It illustrates how influencer marketing on LinkedIn can earn impressive results – millions of impressions and thousands of engagements – with the right strategy.

Majority of B2B marketers now investing in influencer marketing, says Ogilvy report (The Drum): A new global survey from Ogilvy finds that B2B influencer marketing is on the rise. Nearly half of respondents said influencers enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of their brands, and 40% have seen improved lead generation and sales from influencer efforts. 

6 SEO Content Mistakes, Myths, and Misunderstandings To Rethink This Year (CMI): SEO is always a moving target, and the latest algorithm updates have caused a major shakeup in Google’s search results. Kim Moutsos shares how you can adapt, including the role AI can play and why keywords aren’t the be-all end-all anymore.

What to Watch

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies for 2024  

Marketing Blender’s Dacia Coffey and Ramsey Sanchez share their actionable advice for improving your digital marketing in the year to come.

What to Know

Are you making influencers part of your B2B marketing strategy? According to the latest Ogilvy report, 75% of B2B marketers are actively employing the tactic, and 93% of these plan to increase their efforts in the future.

Make sure to follow the LinkedIn Collective for more insights.