Bernard Marr, 49, who has degrees in business, engineering, and information technology, is interested in topics such as artificial intelligence and digital transformation. In his online videos about the future of technology and business strategy, the gray-haired consultant and author usually wears a black suit jacket and black T-shirt to offer his take on top industry trends with a calm, instructive delivery. It’s not your typical influencer performance.
And yet 2 million people follow Marr on social media, and he’s attracted big brands looking to drive sales by partnering on his posts, including International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Alphabet’s Google. “It’s always been companies coming to me saying, ‘Do you want to work together? We’ve got these interesting stories to share, and you’ve got an audience,’” says Marr, whose social media content creation takes up a third of his working hours and contributes as much as half of his income.
Marr is part of a small but growing segment of the marketing world known as business-to-business influencing. Most people are familiar with the army of young influencers making viral videos on TikTok and Instagram for brands looking to reach consumers, predominantly in beauty, fashion, travel, and food, but also in finance and pets. Now, enterprise businesses that sell to other companies are tapping into the trend by working with influencers like Marr. “These conversations are happening anyways, right?” says Rahul Titus, global head of influence at WPP Plc’s Ogilvy agency. “You might not be starting or instigating these conversations, but your buyers are on Reddit and LinkedIn and all these social media platforms.”
