- Influ2 is the first person-based advertising platform for B2B.
- This approach is created for companies that target decision-makers and leaders.
- The platform allows its users to see if and how a particular person engaged in their ads online (Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, Google Ads).
The Ukrainian startup with headquarters in California uses machine learning technology to deliver ads to selected decision-makers and track their engagement and interest on the individual level. The company, which was ranked top-3 in CEE Scaleup Challenge, helps rebirth the advertising ecosystem by showing relevant ads to relevant people.
Influ2 believes that “Relevant ads are not hated”.
It’s called a person-based marketing (PBM) platform.
The company addresses the flaws associated with account-based marketing (ABM), where the wrong buyers are targeted with repetitive, irrelevant ads. Influ2 claims to re-envision the concept of the customer journey to help marketers build direct relationships with individuals who influence marketing budgets and strategies.
Dmitri Lisitski, CEO at Influ2
‘We deliver it mainly to B2B customers who struggle with advertising the most because everything that happens in B2B is connected to personal communication. Sales, marketing, etc.’ Dmitri Lisitski, CEO and Co-founder of Influ2 told ITKeyMedia.
Person-based marketing connects a brand with a human, not a target group or device.
Traditional marketing is talking to target audiences, Account-based marketing (ABM) is talking to accounts, while PBM talks to the person.
- In PBM you can start by putting together a wishlist of real people you want to build relationships with. These are your decision-makers, stakeholders, or potential investors.
- Once you have the list, you can use an Influ2 platform to start an interaction with those people by delivering ads via social networks and online media. You can use any creatives to engage your prospects – ads, blog articles, website sections, social media posts.
- The platform shows you the detailed engagement of every person from your wishlist (clicks, time spent on the post, etc.). Once a person from the list is engaged you can decide on how you want to carry on the conversation.
Having the data, Influ2 customers make a decision on how to act on that information. ‘It’s easier to reach out to people when they already know about your company; you know that they were interested. This is the most amazing thing. You also know what banner attracted that person and what was said on that banner, so you are aware of what was particularly interesting to this specific stakeholder,’ Dmitri Lisitski explained to us.
Personalization
According to Influ2 CEO, personalization is not about your ability to connect with a specific person but about making your information relevant. That’s their main focus. You can slice your target audience based on the function. For instance, you can show different content to people who work in marketing and HR.
‘It’s more about connecting to their needs, interests, functions. For us, personalization means understanding the engagement of the person. If you know that some person is interested in what you are saying, then this is a key moment to reach out to them’.
Influ2 enables its customers to identify sales-ready targets with behavioral scoring. The company measures your ad’s impact on every person you are targeting and converts into a target score so you can identify qualified leads with the highest priority.
If the person clicks on your ad two times, then spends over 120 seconds at your landing page and returns to your website two times within one week, that is a strong signal the person is interested and willing to talk. Influ2 tracks these engagements and translates them into a behavioral score so their customers can act on it.
You know the name of the person, their contact details, the company they worked at, their position in this company, right after they interacted with your content. So your further interaction with the prospect is 100% personalized.
What about data protection?
Influ2 buys data about the online activity of those from your wishlist. Yes, this is legal. According to Dmitri Lisitski, for the company, it’s easier to grow in the US, where since 1992 the business of selling/buying data has been much more developed. In terms of the law, it’s way more important how these data will be used afterward – you definitely cannot reveal it publicly name-by-name.
The platform’s solutions are suitable for businesses with a long transaction cycle in which you need first build a trusting relationship with the client, and then convert all this into successful sales closings.
Pricing model
Normally the Ukrainian startup enters into annual contracts with its customers. Pricing depends on the client’s needs, and also on the scale of the target audience. It starts from $2.5 per target person.
Currently, Influ2 cooperates with about 50 customers, most of which prefer to keep confidentiality.
COVID-19 burst the startup’s growth
With more companies migrating online, Influ2 grew up by 40% in March. Today, the company is profitable so they don’t need investors to “feed the staff”. The startup plans to go for the A investing round to enhance further development in about 6 months. We will keep you posted.
‘Person-based marketing approach is much more effective than email marketing or cold calls. The bad thing about emails is that people usually read them when they are at work. And great things about PBM, they often come across your posts / articles / banners when they relax. And this is a great moment to remind them about your product,’ concluded Dmitri Lisitski, Influ2 CEO and Co-founder.
|
You can schedule the demo right here. |
