So what we're finding now is that the trust element between the B2B technology company and the prospects and that out of market prospect specifically because obviously there's a certain amount who are you know ready to buy right now in market but the large majority are out of market and it's like what do we do with you know this is future pipeline these are future customers this is the future livelihood and revenue of the organization and that we need to speak with and build that trust with how does the b2b influencer marketing help them on that journey in terms of finding a new way to a new avenue or new channel to build that trust, which does, you know, in the end, significantly impact pipeline and revenue?

Yeah, it's a great question.

And actually, you alluded a lot to kind of AI there.

And I almost want to start it from that perspective because obviously anyone with a click of a button as we all know can make a blog can make any form of content but it's about that authentic lived experience and storytelling that is cutting through now and that's how brands should be seeking to build that trust and it's been well established people are increasingly trusting brands less and trusting people more But beyond that, in the realm of AI, how can you influence the actual net results of LLMs? And what we're seeing, we've actually done a bunch of our own research on this, is how trusted peer content is regularly the cited source, whether that's individual content creators, academics, experts, etc., or people that we would, from our perspective, define as some variation of influencer.

is influencing the net results that come through in those LLM results.

And to your point, people, when they're in market, their first thought is to go to an LLM, not to go and pick up the phone and call XYZ salesperson.

So it's more important than ever, just from a pure LLM perspective, to be getting peers, validating your research, your content, your brand on an ongoing long-term basis and not these flash-in-the-pan activations.

So like in your experiences, why do most B2B influencer marketing programs maybe fail and what are some of those kind of pitfalls?

So talk to us just a little bit about, like, why did you jump into this, and what was the market opportunity that you saw?

Yeah.

Because a- as I've said, I worked in this space for a long time.

I actually took a little bit of a step away from B2B Influencer, actually went to go and work at Ipsos for a brief period, because at the time that I was working in, in that space, B2B Influencer still felt quite immature.

There was still some brands that were really leading the charge, but lots of brands jumping on it, not really a roadmap to follow, uh, a lot of them expecting maybe more than they could a- hope to achieve from a small pilot.

'Cause ul- ultimately, the brands are investing big now.

They understand they could just dive sh- headfirst in, invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that wasn't really the case back then, which meant that it was very, very difficult to kind of get programs off the ground and, and flying and running consistently.

So maybe tell me a little bit more about, like, yeah, how do you think about account management and renewals and retention? What are the things that are important for you there?