Business-to-business influencer marketing case studies from UK companies

What to take away

What separates a case study from a testimonial

A testimonial says the work went well. A case study shows the inputs, the audience and the outcome, with dates. Without those, you are reading a sales story.

Agency decks often compress three campaigns into one line of results. Ask which platform reported the impressions, and who counted the leads. When money changes hands, the disclosure line changes how an audience reads the recommendation.

Ask for the brief as well as the result. A campaign that ran to an existing newsletter list will look strong and repeat nothing, because you do not own that list.

Where the strongest UK examples cluster

Manufacturers tend to publish the fullest accounts, usually as trade press features. They name the plant, the product line and the buyer role the content targeted.

Fintechs publish less, because regulated promotion rules limit what they can say. A payments business can describe event attendance and reach more freely than investment performance.

Professional services firms publish the most material and the least verifiable. Partner-authored articles with download counts are real, but they measure interest rather than instruction.

Named UK examples exist. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions publishes UK case studies from Sage, Vodafone Business and Barclays. UK providers such as The Goat Agency, Whalar and The Fifth operate in influencer marketing. The Goat Agency has published a B2B case study with Sage. Those case studies name the platform, the contributor type and the measurement window.

Three documented examples show the detail to ask for. Sage's 2019 campaign with The Goat Agency used 10 influencers on LinkedIn over three months and generated 1.2 million impressions, 10,000 clicks and 1,000 sign-ups.

Vodafone Business's 2020 campaign with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions used five influencers on LinkedIn over six weeks and generated 500,000 impressions, 5,000 clicks and 200 leads.

Barclays's 2021 campaign with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions used eight influencers on LinkedIn over two months and generated 800,000 impressions, 8,000 clicks and 300 leads.

If you are starting from nothing, our guide to sourcing business-to-business influencers sets out how to build a list without buying a database.

What the published numbers usually measure

Impressions measure delivery, not attention. Engagement measures reaction, not intent. Downloads measure curiosity, and even that depends on whether the asset sat behind a form.

Sales-qualified leads and influenced pipeline are the only figures that connect to revenue, and they usually live in the CRM rather than the platform dashboard. Ask which system produced each number.

Tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator and G2 can supply audience and intent data, but they do not replace the client's CRM.

A worked example with labelled pound figures

The figures below are illustrative and describe no real campaign.

Suppose the programme returns 24 qualified conversations. The cost per qualified conversation is £750. That is the figure to hold against your other channels, and it is the one agencies rarely volunteer.

For real campaigns, typical UK planning ranges are £500 to £5,000 per expert contribution, £1,500 to £4,000 per produced asset, and £1,000 to £10,000 for paid amplification. Treat these as ranges, not published results.

How to check a claim before you repeat it

Begin with the corporate record. A company number, filing history and registered address on Companies House confirm the business exists and roughly how large it is.

Next, test the wording against the CAP advertising codes, which require marketing communications to be honest and not misleading. A headline percentage with no base is the usual failure.

If named experts are added to a contact list, handle that data under the ICO's UK GDPR guidance. Consent to attend a webinar is not consent for retargeting.

Before you repeat anyone's numbers, vet the person as well as the claim. Our checklist on how to vet business-to-business influencers covers borrowed audiences and paid disclosure.

What a reference call should cover

A written case study can be curated. A 20-minute call with the named client cannot. Ask what the agency did badly, how long the first draft took, and who inside the business had to approve each asset.

If the client cannot recall the reporting period, the numbers were probably assembled after the fact.

Common questions

What should a UK case study include?

At minimum the sector, the contributor's role, the channel, the period, and one outcome recorded in the client's own systems. Anything less is a testimonial with a logo on it.

How many examples should I ask an agency for?

Ask for two in your sector and one outside it. The outside example shows whether the method travels or whether the agency is repeating a single contact list.

Is cost per qualified conversation comparable across channels?

Only if you define a qualified conversation the same way everywhere. Most gaps between agency reporting and internal reporting come from that definition rather than from the data.