Inside Influence 12: Paul Dobson from Citrix on The Secret Sauce of B2B Influence: Authenticity

As with most marketing, there is no silver bullet to B2B influencer marketing but there are some essential best practices and strategies that have been proven time and time again. To uncover that secret sauce of working with B2B influencers, Episode 12 of the Inside Influence Show features Paul Dobson, Senior Director, Social and Influencer Marketing at Citrix.

In addition to a few highlights from the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing report, we discussed Paul’s experience working with influencers at Citrix as well as:

Where influencer marketing fits in the mix at Citrix
Tips on being great at influencer marketing for a B2B technology brand
Influencer Marketing vs. Influencer Relations
The impact of influencer marketing on customer experience
Advice on starting an influencer marketing program at a B2B brand
How to get executive buy-in to an influencer marketing program
How to decide which influencers to work with
Examples of influencer engagement
Opportunities to grow influence with B2B brand executives
How agencies can be most helpful to B2B brands with influencer marketing
Predictions of influencer marketing in 2021

See the full video interview of Inside Influence Episode 12 with Paul Dobson here:

Below is a highlight transcription of our discussion.

Tell us about your role at Citrix and where influencer marketing fits?

Paul: I’ve been on quite a journey through Citrix. I started off in the PR side of things. So, to some extent I’ve always been working with with influencers. The media, then went into analyst relations, so the Gartners and Forresters of the world and now social and influencer influencer marketing as well. I really enjoy this aspect of my role and, you know, sitting in corporate communications means getting good exposure to a range of influencers that have gotten me here in my career. Being head of social media means that I also have a lot closer ties to the marketing organization and how we execute that. So it’s really the best of both worlds as far as I’m concerned.

Influencer marketing is an interesting split sometimes between PR and comms or marketing. You seem to be in a sweet spot.

Paul: Absolutely. So it’s kind of interesting the way that we’re approaching marketing, et cetera now is we’re really evolving it somewhat. The barriers between the teams are starting to break down a little bit more effectively. We’re really forming pods and tiger teams around certain campaigns and projects. It helps to be able to understand what’s going on elsewhere and it is a real sweet spot because obviously the influence has come from many pools, not just a traditional B2B influencers.

In the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, you were named as one of the top 20 influencer marketing professionals. What does it take to be at the top of your game when it comes to B2B marketing? With influencer marketing?

Paul: It’s an interesting question because I think as far as influencers are …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog