Influencer Marketing & Growth @ lempire (Taplio + lemlist) | Exploring how B2B influencers help SaaS companies drive growth

Alex Llull

I've worked with 200+ creators. Only about 10% get rebooked.

Here's what separates them from the rest:

→ They send a recap without being asked

Post links, key metrics, screenshots. All in one message.

Most creators post and disappear. The ones who make it easy for me to report back to my team go to the top of my list.

→ They offer a discount for round two

"Hey, if you want to lock in another collab, I'll do 15% off."

This might seem counterintuitive. But for creators building a business, consistent work beats one-off payments. And brands appreciate your commitment.

→ They reply within 24-48 hours

Many creators ghost after a collab ends. That's one of the fastest ways to get blacklisted.

Be communicative. And if you can't, just say so. That alone builds trust.

→ They pitch before I do

"Want to turn this into a series?" or "I have an idea for a follow-up."

Brands value proactivity. It shows you're invested beyond just the current project.

→ They're honest when things underperform

One creator told me: "Hey, this one flopped. Here's why I think it happened, and here's what I'd do differently."

That message made me want to work with them more, not less.

Most creators don't do any of this. Which is exactly why you should.

Partnerships @ Perspective | Building B2B creator, influencer and partner programs that drive revenue

→ Found a creator on our niche
→ Paid for one sponsored video (flat fee)
→ Offered affiliate commission on top (he didn't ask for it)
→ Video did really well, signups came in
→ A few converted to paid customers
→ He started seeing passive income hit his account

Then, without us reaching out for a new one, he made 3 more videos about Perspective.

On his own, with no ask, brief or second payment from our side.

Why? Two things:

- He loved the tool and thought it was valuable for his audience
- He saw the potential to own this niche before others did (smart creator)

Once I noticed he was doing that, I reached out. Now we're plotting how to 10x his impact together.

Here's the thing most brands get wrong:

They pay a flat fee. Creator posts. Done. Transaction over.

But flat fee only pays for their time. It doesn't keep them around.

That's why we always offer affiliate compensation on top, even when creators don't ask for it.

Yes, the affiliate cuts into margins on video one. But it almost guarantees videos 2, 3, 4 without extra spend.

It's a retention strategy (if you have a good product).

How do you structure your creator deals? 🤝

AJ Eckstein

Sales Strategy Analyst ($XXB Tech/Media Client)

Founder @ Creator Match 🧩 Scaling Creator Marketing for B2B, SaaS, & AI Brands | Fast Company Journalist | LinkedIn Learning Instructor (150K+ students) | TEDx & Keynote Speaker

Founder @ Creator Match 🧩 #1 tech-enabled agency building & scaling Creator programs for B2B/SaaS/AI Brands.

We are trusted by the world’s most innovative tech Brands (i.e. Anthropic/Claude, Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Teachable, Wix, beehiiv, BetterHelp, Framer, and more), as well as the most influential B2B Creators.

[Creator Match Services]
→ Tech-enabled brand-side agency (done-for-you service): We run some of the largest and most creative B2B  Creator campaigns in the world, handling end-to-end strategy to execution.

[Our Story]
This journey started as a LinkedIn Creator struggling to monetize. I was laughed at in creator communities as no one took LinkedIn seriously. But I realized I wasn’t alone as I found a community of underserved, underpaid, and underappreciated LinkedIn Creators just like me (and maybe just like YOU).

So I did what any rational person would do. 

I quit my comfortable Fortune 500 management consulting job to go all-in on solving this pain point! And then Creator Match was born!

I’m on a mission to help Brands crush results with innovative campaigns and get B2B Creators PAID!

**For Brands/Agencies/Creators 👉 Get matched at creatormatch.com**

Outside of being a busy Founder, I also:
📰 Write for Fast Company (work/life section)
🎤 Speak at events/conferences around the world
🚀 Launched 3 LinkedIn Learning Courses (150,000+ learners)
🌎 Travel and explore: surfing, snowboarding, mountain biking
🥇 Compete in endurance sports (Marathons, Ultramarathons, Triathlons)

Follow me for daily content on being a young founder (building in public), LinkedIn growth and monetization tips, brand deals, B2B creator/influencer marketing strategies, and more.

Message me if you’d like to chat about Creator Match (Brands & Creators), speaking at your event/conference, and sponsorship opportunities.

Founder

- We are the go-to career platform to knock out the competition and advance past the final round interview.
- Learn from Recruiters, Hiring Managers, and Career Experts.

AJ Eckstein 🧩

last year I attended SXSW with 1 team member... this year, 10 more 🤯 

And I'm speaking at 3 events while I'm here. 
1 official. 2 unofficial. All about B2B creator marketing.

The official session: "How B2B Creators Are Driving the Next $100M Wave"

B2B creators are quietly building the next $100M wave in the creator economy. These "professional creators" aren't chasing trends. They're trusted experts turning LinkedIn, newsletters, and podcasts into engines for influence and revenue.

This panel brings together leading voices from both sides of the ecosystem (brand and creator) to explore how creators are transforming B2B go-to-market strategies, reshaping brand trust, and unlocking new ways to drive growth in high-consideration industries.

I will be moderating a panel with:
→ Fiona Turko (influencer marketing at Gamma, ex-Zapier)
→ Will McTighe (Founder & LinkedIn Creator, 440,000 followers)
→ Dedrick Boyington-Warmack (influencer marketing at Gusto, ex-Fiverr)

Btw this is the ONLY official B2B session at SXSW!!

+ I'll also be speaking at 2 other events, Creator Gold and B2B Haus.

Come join us: https://lnkd.in/g9fER-8u

PS - We're also hosting our FIRST EVER company offsite the same week of SXSW. Renting a villa with 3 houses that fits 26 ppl. 2 pools. Movie theater.

Lmk if you need the list to the most exclusive events of sxsw ;)

Dust off the boots, we're heading to austin!! 🤠 

***
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

Creator Marketing for Tech Brands | Founder @ Creator Match 🧩 | Fast Company Journalist | LinkedIn Learning Instructor (200K+ students) | TEDx & Keynote Speaker

Dear Pod Creators,

This is the 4th call this week with a brand running a LinkedIn creator campaign that explicitly said "no pod creators."

Let that sink in.

If you're in a content mill where everyone comments "great post" on demand, if you use automated commenting via AI/bots, if you have 100 comments in 1 minute of posting...

You're not building an audience. You're building a facade.

And brands are starting to notice.

It's no longer about reach.
It's about the RIGHT reach.

Engagement that comes from real people who actually care about what you say is worth 10x a thousand fake comments.

So yes, brands are now reviewing comment quality when doing creator sourcing.

💬 Are you building real influence - or just the appearance of it?

***
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

Notion was the first real "hell YES" we got for this crazy LinkedIn Creator Marketing concept...

And I still think about how different everything would look if that yes never came.

Our first pitch was embarrassingly simple — find a handful of B2B Creators to share "How I use Notion to scale my business." 

Creator Match 🧩 barely existed. I was figuring it out in real time.

But one person took a chance on us anyway: Danielle Ito

Danielle runs influencer marketing at one of the most creative companies on the planet — and she's the kind of person who responds to Slack messages at 10 PM, speaks on stages all over the world, cares deeply about creators and partners, and somehow laughs at my terrible dad jokes on KO calls.

I'm supposed to call her a client. But she's really just a good friend.

Because of her early bet on us, we:
→ Literally broke the algorithm with the "Notion Faces" campaign
→ Paid out millions of $$ to LinkedIn Creators
→ Built something I genuinely couldn't have imagined a year before

I still think about December in Argentina 🇦🇷 — reviewing 55 Creator drafts with Danielle and Tara Knight 🧩 over Christmas week — not knowing we were about to launch what became the largest Creator campaign in LinkedIn history.

A year later, I'm still grateful for that first yes.

The ones who bet on you early? You don't forget them.

P.S. Danielle is building out her dream team at Notion and is hiring an Influencer Marketing Manager. If you know someone who'd thrive in this role, send them here → https://lnkd.in/giVcT8eb

Trust me - It's not every day that one of the best companies out there (with the best team) is hiring for their influencer team!! Go apply :)

🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

apologies in advance if your marketing/social team calls in "sick" today...

Creator Match 🧩 hosted our 3rd Marketer's Dinner of the year, this time in the best city in the world (Austin, Texas) 🤠 .

Marketers from Miro, Expedia Group, ManyChat, Airtable, and GoDaddy joined.

But this one was different. Not because Sarah Gav ordered a mushroom margarita with smoke and cotton candy, or that we celebrated Danielle Stapleton's birthday with 5 sparklers and s'more desserts...

But we ditched the rectangular tables and imported a round table into "The Guest House" in downtown Austin, because some conversations deserve to feel like a council of chaos.

We kicked things off with one question: "What's your craziest hot take on creator marketing right now?" 

And oh, they delivered:
🤖 Creator content will be an AI search play (AEO) over CPM/conversion play
🔧 AI/productivity creators are getting too $$ - brands should source creators in unexpected creator categories to find arbitrage (ie. welding creators)
📹 YouTube is about to be THE channel for tech brands
🤝 Long-term creator partnerships > one off posts
🎥 EGC will have a major moment (even outside just LinkedIn)
🎪 IRL brand trips are coming for B2B the same way they took over B2C TikTok
🎤 More tech companies will host their own single-day conferences (ie. ManyChat's Instagram Summit and Miro's Canvas)
🏈 The Mr. Beast x Salesforce Super Bowl spot was "bad" — but crushed its actual goal of pulling Gen Alpha away from Discord and into Slack

Some things were said that will never leave that room 👀

But my favorite part? Everyone was exchanging numbers, talking about having each other over for lunch at the office, wanting to jump on podcast episodes together, chatting co-branding opportunities, nerding out about AI and creator strategy, and so much more.

That's exactly why we do this.

If you're an in-house marketer, you can't exactly cold-call another marketing team for a strategy chat. That's where we come in. 

As a brand-side agency, it's our job to be the glue between brands. To create the room where those conversations can actually happen.

And we're going to keep building that room all over the world (as we've done these dinners in LA, SF, NYC, London and more).

PS - I was able to convince Ido Mart (CMO of ManyChat) to be his plus one for his C-suite offsite next week in Napa 🍷 

Tag someone who needs to be at the next one 👇  

The CM world tour continues: LA tomorrow, Thailand Saturday 🌎

***
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

this company staged a fake parade with a band, gave away a Porsche 911, and hosted a boxing match in a park... all for a product launch??

Yep - it's as WILD as it sounds.

Every company is raising millions (if not billions), and launching another AI product. Brands are only able to stand out from the noise with unique marketing campaigns.

Enter the era of "stunt marketing". 

Wispr Flow, the AI-powered dictation app, just launched on Android, opening the door to 4 billion new users. And they didn't announce it with a press release. They took over the streets of San Francisco with something to remember...

The Porsche challenge
→ They put a $250k car on the line for anyone who could make their voice AI produce a single mistake. When your product survives that, you don't need a press release.

The Apple Store stunt
→ A brass band, a boxing match between an Apple-branded fighter and a Wispr Flow-branded fighter, and signs roasting Siri, all on Apple's doorstep. Positioning doesn't get more literal than that. And it's so easy to remember.

The viral loop
→ The CEO shared in his announcement post that he's giving away 6 months of Wispr Flow Pro for free if you like/repost/comment. Every person who wanted the deal became a distributor of the launch.

The deeper lesson: most tech launches fail not because the product is bad, but because they treat launch as an "announcement" rather than a "moment."

💬 What did you think of this wild launch?

Honored that Creator Match 🧩 could support this campaign launch, including flying out our very own YouTube Strategy Lead Joshua Gabay 🧩 to be boots on the ground in SF to activate even more creators, and helping run LinkedIn and YouTube campaigns. 

And big congrats to the Wispr team like Tanay Victoria Daniel Arpit Das on a killer campaign launch!

***
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

a logo means nothing, until it stands for something...

The goal was never just to build a brand. It was a badge people are proud to carry.

Funny thing is on the outside Creator Match 🧩 is "just an agency."

But ask anyone in our world and they'll tell you it's something different.

We built something that didn't exist. Nobody had made it their mission to help creators monetize on LinkedIn and in B2B spaces. Nobody was helping Tech brands run creator marketing. 

So we did. Call it a "match" made in heaven lol.

1.5 years later - hundreds of creators, millions $$$ paid out, many incredible brand campaigns run, and a community so strong it's dangerous.

And there's NOTHING better feeling than getting a Creator their FIRST brand deal, showing them that it's possible.

The green puzzle piece 🧩 is how we show up online. And we're building it into something people want to be part of, not just work with.

We get tons of DMs from candidates who want to join to add the emoji to their linkedin headline lol.

Like the beehiiv bee 🐝. People don't add that to their LinkedIn because they have to. They do it because they're proud to be in the ecosystem.

Your logo is just art unless it has a mission behind it. Build something bigger, and focus on the impact.

💬 What other logos make you feel something?

S/o these awesome comments on Emily Huffer 🧩's job announcement post!

***
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

Creators below: Alina Franzman Yanni Pappas Sophie Miller Enara Roy

the ripple effects of what you build don't always find their way back to you... 

Sometimes they do, and when they do, you remember why the LinkedIn Creator Community is like nothing else.

We hit 10,000 followers on our LinkedIn company page for Creator Match 🧩 this week, and while that might sound like a vanity metric, what followed was anything but.

A creator (Sharon J.) slid into our DMs with a gift (see below) and a message I'll never forget:

***
"I’ve been following Creator Match for a while, but last year something really personal shifted for me when you were part of the The Wishly Group Creator Scholarship. Winning that scholarship genuinely changed my life as a creator. I’ve actually been documenting my before and after since that moment.

You probably don’t see the ripple effects of that decision every day, but it meant everything to me.

After winning, I had a session with Tara Knight 🧩. Her advice pushed me to post more, something I was honestly overthinking for months. That one push created momentum I didn’t have before. I’m so grateful.

When I saw Creator Match hit 10K+ organically on LinkedIn, I had to create something. It just felt right. I built a small interactive piece using Canva and Figma, nothing official, just a tribute from a creator who really believes in what you’re building. Thank you for building something that truly supports creators."

***
I'm sharing this because this biz has been hard. Really hard. Growing pains. No sleep. Too much travel. Wayyyy too much coffee. Living out of a suitcase for weeks at a time. A team that's grown to nearly 30 people, which is incredible...  but high stress to make this work for them

There are days you wonder if you're getting it right. If the pace is sustainable. If it's all adding up to something worth fighting for.

Then a message like this lands in your inbox.
And you remember it is. Keep building. 

Show up for your community, and they will return the favor ;) 

-
🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

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