My old boss told me influencer marketing was a waste of money for our B2B company

Back in 2021, I worked at a small software firm in Austin, and my boss was dead set against paying influencers. He said nobody in business buys stuff from a TikTok personality. I pushed back and convinced him to let me try a $500 trial with a niche industry YouTuber. That single video got us 12 qualified leads and a $8,000 deal in the first month. After that, he let me run a full campaign with three more creators, and we hit a 5x return in 90 days. Has anyone else had to fight their leadership to try something new like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

nguyen.angela14h ago

Think you're a bit off on the timeline. The $8,000 deal in the first month from a $500 trial sounds unlikely for a B2B software sale. Most B2B deals take at least 3-6 months to close, especially from cold inbound leads. The ROI might be real but those numbers probably got mixed up with pipeline value or something.

the_hayden13h ago

You know, I used to think exactly like that. I was convinced B2B sales cycles were always this long drawn out thing, especially for something like a cold lead. But then I saw a friend's company pull off something similar in their second month with a smaller trial. It was for a niche tool that solved a really specific, painful problem for small businesses. The $500 trial actually got them in the door fast because the risk was so low, and the conversion from trial to full deal happened in like 3 weeks because the product basically sold itself once they tried it. So yeah, that comment about the timeline being off... it made me go back and look at their data again, and I think it's more common than we give credit for if the product has a really short "aha moment." Still feels a little crazy, but I get it now.

xena_bailey1811h ago

Honestly that bit about a short aha moment really clicks for me, I used to be skeptical too.