How to Do B2B Influencer Marketing
What creator marketing means in 2026 + the tools to scale it
If this post is any good, it will be a testament to everything I’ve written below! 😛 I opted to partner with Passionfroot on this post because of their genuine expertise and innovation in the space. Their UX is a delight to use and they are the partner I would hands-down recommend for B2B brands adding creator marketing to their GTM strategy. I met Passionfroot’s CEO, Jen Phan, during Tech Week in NYC last year, and we teamed up to bring you a deep-dive on how to build this motion at your company. Let us know what you think!
Speaking of, I’m so excited for more IRL this year. If you’re in the Bay Area, I’m co-hosting a hang for friends of On Brand at Tallboy in Oakland on February 26. RVSP on Partiful—I’d love to meet you there! 🌭🍸🧢
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Turns out I’ve been in the influencer marketing game for a long time. It was part of my humble beginnings as a social media intern at Redbubble, the print-on-demand/funny sticker marketplace. Within a couple of months of joining my boss and I (team of 2, hello) were pioneering some of the first influencer programs in the space. Everything ran on Google Sheets, email, and Instagram DMs. We eventually worked with a handful of very early talent agencies. The infrastructure didn’t exist yet—so we built it ourselves, one creator relationship at a time.
(Bookfluencers were our breakthrough—if you want a taste of what influencer marketing actually looked like in 2016, here you go.)
Fast-forward to today. I work at Later, where I’ve seen how the social media scheduling tool (Latergramme! The very same I used 10 years ago) and pioneer of the link in bio has completely transformed into one of the biggest B2C influencer marketing platforms, working with major consumer brands like Walgreens, Pottery Barn, and MacKenzie-Childs. We’ve been part of the creator economy’s explosion into existence, from scrappy DM campaigns to enterprise-grade infrastructure.
The biggest thing that’s changed is how inevitable creator-led GTM is becoming; how much of a hard requirement it is to standing out. Traditional channels keep fragmenting. Attention is harder to buy, trust is the scarcest resource. Creators have both.
The exciting part (for someone who’s spent most of her career in B2B) is that the same maturation happening in B2C is now happening in B2B. The infrastructure gap that kept B2B teams stuck with the 2016 playbook is finally closing. I recently talked with Jen Phan, CEO of Passionfroot, about how B2B brands should approach creator marketing—and what they’re building right now to make it scalable.
On a good day I have mixed feelings about social media. Most social platforms design for addiction, not value, and more and more research show us scrolling is… not awesome for your mental health. But for the creator economy I will stan, because it means paying people, not platforms. It diverts advertising dollars into the pockets of many diverse individual creators just making a living like you and me.
So this is a highly tactical post: What you need to know to officially bring creator marketing into your B2B GTM playbook. And not like, thinking about trying it, sometime…in H2…but like, getting started this week. Let’s go!
How B2B creator marketing is different from B2C
Great B2B marketing borrows a lot from B2C, but in this case, the core dynamic is different. As Jen puts it: B2B creator marketing is trust + education, not entertainment + impulse.
“In B2B, influence is often credibility with a niche audience—devs, designers, RevOps, security, founders—not mass reach,” she told me. “A creator with 10,000 highly engaged newsletter subscribers can be more impactful than one with a much larger but less focused following.”
The content that works reflects this. Deep dives, demos, frameworks, and “how I actually do X” content tend to outperform glossy brand promos. Distribution surfaces shift too. LinkedIn, newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube carry more weight than short-form viral formats. (Try as LinkedIn might to make short-form video happen… we’re just not there yet.)
You know that B2B buying decisions are slower, usually involve multiple stakeholders (sometimes including clearing legal and financial hurdles), which makes them “higher risk” than buying a new toothpaste. Creators help build conviction over time, not force quick purchases. They bring deep expertise in areas like cybersecurity, AI workflows, automation, and productivity (just ask Notion, who’s had one of the best creator programs in the game). Their value comes from authority and trust, not inflated follower counts.
Where most B2B brands mess up
I asked Jen about the biggest mistake she sees brands make: using creators as ad space instead of partners.
It shows up in predictable ways. Pushing overly scripted briefs that don’t sound like the creator. Picking creators based on follower count instead of audience-fit and trust. Optimizing for “a post” instead of designing a campaign that compounds—multiple touches, multiple formats, a clear message arc.
“The best B2B programs are built around creator POV + distribution,” Jen said. “Not broadcast media buys.”
This tracks with what I’ve seen work at Later on the B2C side. The only way to multiply your brand clout is by treating creators like media partners who understand their audience better than anyone else. Give creative freedom within strategic guardrails. That’s why longer-term partnerships often outperform what I call “pay per view”—the focus is on building relationships, not treating creators as media inventory you rent by the post.
How to actually measure ROI
B2B ROI is real. But you have to measure it like a GTM motion, not a single-channel ad.
Passionfroot recommends a layered approach:
Leading indicators: reach, engagement quality, profile visits, clicks, newsletter signups, demo page visits
Mid-funnel: retargeting performance, conversion rate uplift on landing pages, sales conversations influenced
Lagging indicators: pipeline influenced, revenue attribution, CAC payback
“The key is setting expectations correctly,” Jen explained. “Creators often create category education + trust, which improves conversion across channels, not just a last-click metric.” Preach—this is how measuring brand marketing works.
This is where a lot of teams get tripped up. They expect creator marketing to behave like paid search or display ads. But creators aren’t the last click—they’re often the first trust signal that makes every subsequent touchpoint more effective.
What AI should (and shouldn't) do
Now things get interesting! Both Later and Passionfroot are betting on AI to scale creator programs. But we’re very clear on where the line is.
AI should remove operational friction:
Finding creators and reaching out
Writing briefs
Day-to-day campaign management
Checking the numbers
But the core stays human:
Telling a brand story
Managing relationships
Choosing the core narrative and POV
Creative direction and taste
Passionfroot launched today their new AI Agent Zest. “Zest changes the starting point,” Jen told me. “Instead of ‘let’s sponsor a few creators and see,’ it becomes ‘here’s our goal, ICP, and budget—build the right creator motion for this.’” The AI can generate a full campaign plan in minutes—including creator suggestions, budget breakdowns, and estimated reach. So brands can go from idea to launch in days instead of weeks. (You could try to do this in Claude or Gemini but you’d be missing so much context it wouldn’t be actionable.)
This mirrors what we’re seeing with Later EdgeAI on the enterprise/B2C side. AI isn’t making the creative calls, but it is making everything else easier so teams can focus on those decisions.
Your B2B creator playbook
These are the patterns Passionfroot sees from looking at the most successful campaigns out of thousands run over the last few years. Translation: if you’re starting a B2B creator program, this is what matters:
Authority beats audience size. Niche creators with trusted audiences often outperform bigger names in B2B. A developer with 5,000 followers who ships code every day may matter more to your audience than a generic tech influencer with 100K followers. Check their engagement quality, not just their follower count.
Campaigns stall in ops, not strategy. The failure point is usually outreach, follow-ups, deadlines, and clarity. Not the initial idea. Most teams have good instincts about which creators make sense. They just can’t execute at scale (this is where a good platform comes in).
The pyramid approach works. Mix large creators for credibility, mid-tier for reach, and micro for authenticity. You need all three layers. The large creators open doors. The mid-tier creators drive volume. The micro creators drive trust.
Different channels serve different goals. There’s a spectrum from brand awareness to traffic. Larger creators and broad creators on LinkedIn and X drive awareness. Smaller, niche creators in newsletters and YouTube drive qualified traffic.
Clear asks win. You need crisp deliverables and outcome-driven briefs (no vague “post about us” pls).
Multi-surface creator programs—LinkedIn + newsletter + YouTube/podcast—outperform single-post buys. One touchpoint builds awareness. Three touchpoints build trust. (Five touchpoints might just = consideration.)
Learning loops are the unlock. Treat every campaign as input to the next plan. Which formats worked? Which creator types drove results? What messaging resonated? Every campaign teaches you something.
And I’ll tack on my own—use AI to scale ops, not replace strategy. AI is getting better at handling discovery, outreach, and campaign management with oversight. Keep your strategists on narrative, relationships, and creative direction.
B2B creator marketing: 3 approaches to try
Let’s wrap up and round this out with three different approaches you might want to steal from B2B brands you know:
1. Surround-sound at launch
Replit’s Agent 3 launch
When Replit launched their autonomous app-building agent, they activated 250+ creators across every platform—X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, newsletters—for a synchronized 7-day blitz. 10M reach, 100K engagement (source).
This worked because one creator posting about your launch disappears into the void feed. 250 creators posting over 7 days creates a surround-sound effect that’s hard to ignore. Your ICP sees it in their newsletter, on their LinkedIn feed, in a YouTube video, and on X. By the third touchpoint, they’re paying attention.
Coordination and concentration matter more than volume. (Volume can help, but the lesson isn’t “go find 250 creators.”) A concentrated launch with 20 aligned creators will outperform 20 scattered posts over 3 months. It’s the same principle you should apply to any brand campaign—don’t just buy reach, create a moment.
2. The always-on playbook
Gamma
Gamma needed to stand out in a crowded AI market and drive efficient PLG (product-led growth) by educating users on how Gamma replaces traditional slides and docs.
They found AI enthusiasts, productivity nerds, solopreneurs with B2B audiences and then doubled down on repeat partnerships with top performers. This was their foundation for an “always-on” creator program centered on carousels and visual walkthroughs, “Gamma vs. legacy tool” comparisons, and tactical educational posts.
The strategic shift was to treat creator marketing like you’d treat content marketing or paid search—as infrastructure, not as campaigns. You have a roster of creators who work. You have content formats that perform. You have a production rhythm. You optimize continuously.
One-off campaigns teach you nothing. Always-on programs create learning loops. You figure out which creator types work, which content formats resonate, which messages drive clicks. Then you scale what works and cut what doesn’t. This only works if you’re running continuously. In one quarter last year, this got them over 1M impressions, $112 CPM (vs. typical LinkedIn CPMs of $150-300), positive ROAS, and a top post that hit 223K views on LinkedIn (source).
3. Creators as educators / depth over breadth
Attio
Attio went for depth over breadth. They didn’t spray and pray with 100 micro-creators doing lightweight posts. They went deep with the right 10-15 creators doing substantial content—2,000-word newsletter features, detailed video walkthroughs, multi-post series. Once Attio had its initial roster of B2B creators, they ran deep educational content like “Tool of the Week” newsletter features, long-form breakdowns like “How to Disrupt a Giant Incumbent,” supporting social posts.
Creator marketing became one of their top 2 growth channels (competing with product-led growth). 1M+ impressions, 90% reduction in time spent finding creators, and higher lead quality than paid channels (source).
One great-fit creator doing deep content beats ten “eh”-fit creators doing surface-level posts. Again, in B2B, you’re not optimizing for impressions. You’re optimizing for “does my ICP now understand why this product matters?”
Start small, but start intentionally
I asked Jen for parting advice for the B2B marketing team starting from zero: “Start small, but start intentionally.”
Pick one concrete objective—launch, category education, top-of-funnel. Choose creators based on audience trust and relevance, not follower count. Give creators room to write in their voice, but be crisp on deliverables. Run a simple pilot with 10-15 creators, then double down on what works. Make it repeatable with templates, process, and a system for managing campaigns.
Most importantly: treat it like a real GTM channel, not a one-off experiment.
If you’re wondering—this is still good advice for B2C creator marketing. You need to commit to learning. Run small tests, measure everything you can, iterate quickly, and scale what works. Don’t expect perfection on the first campaign. But expect to get better every quarter.
Passionfroot’s Zest launches today. If you’re ready to move beyond spreadsheets and have some fun, it’s worth checking out. 🍊
Thanks for reading.
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timing of this is just so perfect, thanks for sharing 🙏 sad to miss the upcoming 'friends of on brand' lil' reunion but i do hope to be part of the next one! onwards ✌️