By Lee Odden

Over the past few years aka “the Covid years” the role of influence in B2B marketing has grown significantly. Our 2022 research report, The State of B2B Influencer Marketing, reported that 85% of B2B marketers believe that interest in working with influencers in the coming 12 months will increase. On top of that, of the B2B marketers that do engage in influencer marketing programs, 86% consider their efforts successful.

There’s a lot to be optimistic about, especially in a business environment that requires B2B marketers to find every advantage they can to grow in a potentially down market.

The rising tide of influencer marketing popularity amongst B2B brands has also seen a shift towards a more diverse group of influencers. Now don’t get me wrong, the majority of influencers I’m seeing from B2B brands are still the usual suspects which doesn’t exactly represent 100% of the audiences brands are trying to reach. So there has been movement towards engaging more women and people of color as influencers in the B2B space.

At TopRank Marketing we’re doing our small part to shine a light on more diverse talent within the B2B marketing world and with this 13th edition of our Women Who Rock list, we’re highlighting a mix of women that are influential in various B2B industries. From rising stars to north stars, from Bay Area to Zurich, we have a sample of the fast growing segment of influencer talent B2B brands should be considering as partners in their marketing programs.

Ann Handley /in/annhandley/  @MarketingProfs
Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs
Ann is a speaker, author, and member of the LinkedIn Influencer program. She is the author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller on business writing, “Everybody Writes,” and the co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, “Content Rules”.
Talks about #content #contentmarketing #b2bmarketing #CavalierKingCharlesSpaniels 

Charlene Li /in/charleneli/  @charleneli
Chief Research Officer at PA Consulting, NY Times Bestselling Author
Charlene’s role is to catalyze transformation as an expert on disruption strategy and leadership by writing books, speaking, and advising companies and their leaders.
Talks about #disruption, #leadership, #futureofwork, #digitaldisruption, and #digitaltransformation

Duena Blomstrom /duenablomstrom/  @DuenaBlomstrom
Author, Keynote Speaker, CoFounder, Chief Product Officer at People Not Tech
London based Duena is the author of “Emotional Banking” and “People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age”. She is a doer, an entrepreneur, an industry influencer, a blogger with cutting edge opinion style, a writer for Forbes, an international keynote speaker and the creator of the Emotional Banking™ and Human Debt™ concepts.
Talks about #teams, #devops, #humandebt, #technology, and #psychologicalsafety 

Efi Pylarinou /in/efipylarinou/  @efipm
Founder of Pylarinou Advisory
Currently based in Zurich, Efi is a seasoned Wall Street professional and ex-academic who has become a Top Global Fintech and Thought Leader with a Ph.D. in Finance. She is also a prolific content creator, a Host, an Author, and a Speaker.
Talks about #fintech, #innovation, #digitalassets, and #artificialintelligence 

Cathy Hackl …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog

Author: Aaron