Paid, Owned, Earned.. Where Do B2B Influencers Fit? | E111 with Will Beech and Chris Peters

B2B influencer marketing is having a moment… but most teams are still treating it like a vibes-based experiment. 😅
 In this episode, we take a different angle: B2B influencers as a paid media channel, and what changes when you treat it like a proper media buy.

We’re joined by Will and Chris from Moon at Dawn to break down paid, owned, and earned media, where influencers sit across all three, and how to measure impact without pretending a single post is going to “drive pipeline” on its own.

Marketing confessions included:

•  Chris dropped an uncomfortable truth bomb to a client at 3pm on a Friday 
•  Will accidentally copied an influencer into a brutal client feedback email thread (nightmare fuel) 

We get into:
 ✅ Paid vs owned vs earned, and why influencer sits across all three
 ✅ Why “pay-to-play” is only the starting point (collaboration beats basic promotion)
 ✅ The real problem with influencer selection: too much gut feel, not enough data
 ✅ Moneyball for influencers: choosing creators based on outcomes, not hype
 ✅ New measurement thinking: “resonance” and depth of impact with hard-to-reach ICPs
 ✅ How to make influencer work in B2B with paid distribution, not just organic reach
 ✅ When celebrity speakers work (and when they’re just expensive entertainment)
 ✅ How to start small: plug influencers into what you are already doing and test messaging pillars
 ✅ Beyond LinkedIn: why YouTube and Substack matter, plus LLM discoverability and citations
 ✅ Marketing gossip: talent agencies slowing deals, and LinkedIn building a creator marketplace

If you’ve been told to “just work with a few influencers” but nobody can explain how to measure it, budget it, or scale it… this episode will save you a lot of pain.

Like, subscribe, and drop your biggest B2B influencer question in the comments.

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