Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson

JMMB Group Jamaica

First Global Bank Limited 

Assistant Vice President - Marketing

Dehring Bunting & Golding Limited

Senior Manager - Marketing

I'm a marketing executive, with significant experience in marketing strategy; digital marketing; social media; marketing research; branding and marketing communications. I'm also a public speaker, podcaster and business communications coach. I believe that marketing can't be successful without, first, having strong employee engagement and brand advocacy. I have an MBA in Marketing from the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Tom Augenthaler

551 Media, LLC

Do Buyers think about Your Company when they are Ready to Make a Purchase?

At 551 Media LLC, we help you apply influencer marketing so you are well-positioned to capture market demand where intent already resides and build new demand by generating awareness in channels where your buyers are present.  

We help B2B companies with:

* Influencer Marketing Strategy, Design, and Execution
* Influencer Identification, Assessment, and Onboarding
* Influencer Metrics and Measurement
* Influencer Platforms and Tools
* Content Strategy, Design, Creation, and Implementation
* LinkedIn Profile Creation and Management
* Employee Advocacy
* Customer Advocacy
* Coaching and Corporate Training
* Speaker at Corporate Events

See our website for more: https://theinfluencemarketer.com

Founder and Principal Influencer Marketing Consultant

SAP Ariba

Developed and led effective and cost-efficient influencer marketing strategies and campaigns to increase brand affinity and ROI.

External B2B Influencer Marketing Lead

Ivy Worldwide, Inc

Led the B2B technology practice for Ivy Worldwide, a pioneering influencer marketing consultancy. 

•  Designed profitable influencer strategies for Fortune 500 brands and smaller businesses.

•  Developed and managed HP Enterprise’s social influencer initiative.  
    This dynamic program involved hosting events all over the world, virtual campaigns, straddled 
    multiple business units and assembled an influencer roster that continues to pay dividends eight 
    years after it was established in 2010.

•  Trained B2C and B2B corporate teams about influencer marketing and how to work with influencers.

•  Conceived and developed new products and services to meet client demand and extend the company's capabilities.

WHAT OTHERS SAY

"The campaigns I was a part of helped me develop new relationships that have continued to help me immensely. Better than that, he helped me grow in reach, and most importantly, in influence. It is with pride, that I attest to Tom’s marketing, influencer shepherding, and social media skills. I heartily recommend him without reservation."
- John Obeto II, CEO of LogikWorx

Director and B2B Practice Leader

Designed, directed and executed public relations and media relations activities to maximize awareness and drive customer consideration. Generated creative media plans for marketing to business press and trade outlets. 

Managed external press meetings to drive key messages about consumer notebook products. Used a consultative approach to identify internal product team needs, educate executives and product team, investigate solutions and manage expectations to ensure product announcement and media relations success.

Launched the pioneering initiative by HP to engage technology social media influencers by seeding them with the first consumer tablet PC produced by the company: the tx1000.  The program was an instant hit and generated far more online third-party interest and endorsement for the product than traditional methods.  

Doubled down on the release of the follow-on product, the tx2000 after collecting feedback from influencers about how to improve it.  HP incorporated many of those ideas.  Online content published by the influencers was more in-depth and focused on real-world use. They also became evangelists of the product – a dream come true -- and helped drive sales.

Worldwide Public Relations Manager

Hill & Knowlton

Directed public relations agency support team of seven dedicated PR professionals on-site for HP. 

> Designed and managed PR activities for both consumer and business laptop computer product lines.
 
>Generated creative ideas and executed media plans for business press, targeted trade publications and consumer press to drive key messages for laptop products, executive visibility, corporate positioning, community relations, product launches, crisis communications, press evaluations.  

>Coordinated PR product launch efforts with global marketing, advertising, product development, analyst relations and go-to-market teams.

Vice President

Weber Shandwick

Account Supervisor, Technology Practice Group

Golin/Harris

Account Supervisor, Media Relations Consultant

Founder @ 551 Media | B2B Influencer Marketing Consultant

AI has changed the B2B buyer forever.

They don’t wait for your sales team. They self-educate, run comparisons, and stress-test vendors with AI before you even know they’re in-market. They build workflows, gather insights, and consult peers and independent voices to validate every step. By the time they talk to you, their shortlist is already set.

At the same time, trust in vendors is eroding. Fewer than one in three buyers trust what companies say. They believe peers, analysts, and independent voices far more than branded content or sales outreach.

That makes trust the only real currency left in B2B. And if you’re not showing up in the places where that trust is being built: blogs, podcasts, LinkedIn, Slack groups, private communities, you’re invisible.

That’s where I come in.

What I Do

I design systems of trust that overcome skepticism and accelerate growth. Not one-off influencer campaigns or scattershot plays. Systems that put your brand into the conversations buyers are already having and the content they’re already consuming.

Here’s how I build them:

1: Influencer Intelligence: Pinpoint and vet the independent authorities your buyers actually trust: removing fraud, fluff, and noise.

2: Strategic Alignment: Architect programs mapped to GTM priorities and the AI-shaped buyer journey, so influence isn’t a side play, it’s a growth driver.

3: Authority Content: Co-create long-form, credible content that educates, shapes decisions, and continues working long after it’s published.

4: Relentless Amplification: Repurpose and scale influencer content into every channel buyers use: LinkedIn, X, Slack groups, events, so your authority is inescapable.

Who I Work With

Series B+ B2B SaaS companies ready to stop chasing attention and start owning credibility in their markets.

Why It Matters

Others sell influencer campaigns. I engineer trust systems for the AI-powered buyer. That means your voice and your value enter the conversation before the first sales call even happens.

That’s why growth leaders and CMOs work with me when the stakes are high, trust is in free fall, and credibility is the only real differentiator left.

Do Buyers think about Your Brand when they are Ready to Buy?

At 551 Media LLC, we help you apply influencer marketing so you are well-positioned to capture market demand where intent already resides and build new demand by generating awareness in channels where your buyers are present.  

We help B2B companies with:

* Influencer Marketing Strategy, Design, and Execution
* Influencer Identification, Assessment, and Onboarding
* Influencer Metrics and Measurement
* Influencer Platforms and Tools
* Content Strategy, Design, Creation, and Implementation
* LinkedIn Profile Creation and Management
* Employee Advocacy
* Customer Advocacy
* Coaching and Corporate Training
* Speaker at Corporate Events

See our website for more: https://theinfluencemarketer.com

How did Lovable, Fyxer AI, Gamma, and other AI-native startups grow so darn fast?

Simple: B2B Influencer Marketing. (Yup, it's a thing now)

If you’re a B2B marketer or a tech founder and you still aren’t leaning into this, you’re sitting on one of the biggest opportunities of 2026.

Over the past few months, the Influencer Strategists team spoke with the people who are actually moving the industry forward:

Kristen Sesto
Raf McDonnell
Frankie Dakin
Ryan Prior
 … and many more (including moi).

Across the interviews, one pattern kept appearing:

B2B influencer marketing has quietly become one of the most effective growth strategies in the tech industry.

Last year, almost no one was talking about it.
 
This year, it’s being whispered about in all the right places.

Tomorrow, January 20, we’re revealing our number one major prediction for 2026 in a live session exclusively for members of Influencer Strategists.

If you want to understand the plays Lovable, Gamma, Fyxer AI, and other breakout companies are using, and how you can replicate them, you won’t want to miss this.

See you tomorrow.

#b2b #influencermarketing #influencer

B2B Influence Strategist | Designing Systems of Trust That Overcome Buyer Skepticism and Accelerate Growth

Trusted community for the worlds top influencer marketers.

How did Lovable, Fyxer AI, Gamma and other AI tech startups grow so DAMN fast? 

B2B Influencer Marketing. 

If you are a B2B marketer, or a founder in tech space, and you are not doing this, you have a HUGE opportunity right now. 

We spoke to the thought leaders in the space about the tactics they used. 
Kristen Sesto
Tom Augenthaler
Raf McDonnell
Frankie Dakin
Ryan Prior

and many more... 

For the past 4 years i have done the benchmark reports on influencer marketing, and this topic hasnt been covered in any of them due to almost none of the surveys indicating a trend. This year, IS VERY DIFFERENT. Everybody is speaking about B2B Influencer Marketing.

On the 20th we will reveal our first major trend on a livestream for our members at Influencer Strategists

Trust isn't a feeling in B2B. It's an evaluation.

In my latest issue of Trust Signals, I break down how buyers actually form trust in 2026, and why it's becoming the new deciding factor in complex deals.

The short version:

Buyers aren't looking for big brand promises. They're looking for people who understand their world well enough to reduce risk.

The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer makes this clear: trust is flowing toward practitioners, peers, and subject-matter experts, and away from institutional messaging.

If you want to understand how trust really works, how it forms, how it accelerates decisions, and why integration risk now overshadows brand reputation, this issue goes deep.

Read the full breakdown here:

#trust #marketing #influence #B2B

In the last edition, I explained that trust is becoming a defining competitive advantage in 2026. This time, I want to go deeper into how trust actual

Open article: The Mechanics of Trust: How Buyers Actually Decide Who They Believe by Tom Augenthaler • 3 min read

The Mechanics of Trust: How Buyers Actually Decide Who They Believe

Roy Atkinson asked me to join him on his Reach Your Due Point podcast to talk about B2B influence ... not the kind with ring lights and hashtags, but the kind that moves markets. 😊

We unpacked how I went from traditional PR to helping brands cut through the noise by partnering with real experts, people buyers actually listen to.

We covered a lot of ground:

• How influence in B2B is rooted in expertise and authority, not popularity.

• Why the best “influencers” often have small social followings but big reputations inside their niche.

• The early days at HP when I started experimenting with industry bloggers — before “influencer marketing” was even a term.

• How those experiments grew into always-on programs that still drive business today.

• And what’s next — including the rise of virtual influencers and AI-augmented thought leadership.

For me, this conversation came full circle.

What started as a pivot from Wall Street to PR to influence has become a philosophy: trust travels faster through people than through logos.

#influencer #PR #trust #marketing

The birth of "influencers" was really around subject matter expertise, not perfect faces. Hear from Tom Augenthaler on the Reach Your Do Point® podcast:

Open video: Content and Influence – Tom Augenthaler on youtu.be

Content and Influence – Tom Augenthaler

Everyone’s talking about AI, but that’s not the real story.

The real story is trust.

After a year of rushing to plug generative AI into everything, a lot of companies are realizing the same thing: the experiments were interesting, but they didn’t move the needle.

2026 will be the correction year — when leaders stop chasing novelty and start proving what works.

Forrester’s data backs it up:

• Ungoverned AI will cost companies over $10 billion next year.
• Human expertise will outperform automation when it comes to buyer trust.
• Proof of success will outrank brand reputation as the top buying driver.

That’s the shift.

B2B is moving from amplification to evidence.
From speed to clarity.
From hype to credibility.

The winners next year won’t be the loudest or the flashiest.
 
They’ll be the ones who can prove it.
Trust is the new competitive advantage.

And this is exactly what I’ll be exploring in my new newsletter, Trust Signals — how credibility, proof, and influence drive real growth in modern B2B.

Forrester’s new predictions for 2026 make one thing clear: the next wave in B2B isn’t about more tech or more tools. It’s about trust. After a year of

Open article: In 2026, Trust Becomes the New Competitive Advantage by Tom Augenthaler • 4 min read

In 2026, Trust Becomes the New Competitive Advantage

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Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson

Tom Augenthaler

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The Battle

Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson

Tom Augenthaler

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tom Augenthaler's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreTom Augenthaler's LinkedIn Performance