How Noota Recruited 100+ B2B Influencers in 6 Months Without an Agency

Zero experience. Zero agency. 100+ brand ambassadors. Here's how Noota's CMO built a multi-country influencer program from scratch.

The Challenge

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"I didn't know anything about influencer marketing," Pauline admits. "At the beginning I was totally lost."

Noota (a copilot for meetings, rated 4.9/5 on both Trustpilot and G2.com) needed a scalable growth strategy. Their paid ads weren't delivering expected results, and with a lean team of 30 people in Paris, hiring an expensive agency wasn't ideal.

But six months later, Pauline had:

• Contacted 5,000+ influencers across France, Europe, and the US
• Recruited 100+ brand ambassadors
• Built coverage across 8+ industries (recruitment, consulting, banking, sales, accounting, management)
• Created authentic relationships that generate unpaid advocacy

Here's how she did it.

The Strategy: Platform Over Agency

Most CMOs would hire an agency. Pauline chose a platform instead, and her reasoning reveals strategic thinking that paid massive dividends.

Why Not an Agency?

"We like controlling it at the beginning to see if it can work," Pauline explains. "Since we started from zero, we wanted to make sure that this funnel could be efficient."

But the real advantage? Relationship ownership.

"At the end, it's human relationships and they are brand ambassadors. The closer you are to them, the more they will be proud to promote your brand, not only just with paid content but really in their daily life."

When you work through an agency:

• The agency owns the relationships
• Switching providers means starting over
• Authenticity suffers from the extra layer

When you build direct:

• Every relationship is an asset you own
• Influencers develop genuine connections with your team
• Advocacy extends beyond paid campaigns

"For six months I have more than 100 people promoting Noota, not only because I pay them but because I met them, because I have time to talk with them, because I'm a real person."

Why Manual Wasn't an Option

"If I was seeing it one by one, I think I would still be on it," Pauline says bluntly. "I reached more than 5,000 people, something that I could not have done at all outsourcing one by one."

The platform became her force multiplier: "Favikon was my colleague, honestly. I did it with only Favikon."

Three Phases to Success

Phase 1: Mass Discovery (May-June 2024)

Goal: Understand the landscape

Pauline started by testing at scale across multiple countries, industries, and influencer sizes.

"It was super easy for me to organize per country, per industry. I was able to do my list of influencers regarding different industries, regarding different countries, and then I was able to see what can work better or not."

This wasn't spray-and-pray. It was systematic testing to identify patterns.

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Phase 2: Data-Driven Refinement (July-August 2024)

Goal: Identify high-performers

With thousands of data points, Pauline shifted from volume to value.

"At the beginning you start with more than 100 influencers and then you only keep the ones you prefer to work with."

Her key metrics:

• Benchmark analysis: "When you see those influencers who work with B2B SaaS and we can see the amount of posts they did with this brand, I'm like, 'Okay, I'm sure this influencer is worth it.'"
• LinkedIn engagement rate: Critical for B2B success
• Authenticity scores: Identifying genuine influencers vs. inflated metrics
• EMV (Earned Media Value): "That was super easy to say, 'Okay, I paid this influencer this amount and I have this EMV.'"

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Phase 3: Relationship Building (September-November 2024)

Goal: Transform partnerships into advocacy

"I think I met more than 100 influencers, but I don't think I wasted my time because at the end people remember me, people remember Noota."

This investment created something money can't buy: genuine brand advocates.

"People promote Noota not only because we have a good tool, but also because of everything we represent and all the way we are used to working."

The B2B LinkedIn Advantage

While consumer brands fight for attention on Instagram, B2B companies have a goldmine on LinkedIn.

"We have the total profile of this person and we can see everything," Pauline explains about Favikon.

The depth of data is critical in B2B where:

• Audience quality beats quantity
• Professional credibility drives conversion
• Niche expertise matters

"I was really focusing on the LinkedIn rate to see the impression about that."

The Transparency Edge

An unexpected advantage: radical transparency.

"With agencies, since you are working with humans, they can hide whatever they want. With this tool, the influencer cannot control anything. They are on the same page, and this is something I really appreciate because it's 100% objective."

This benefits both parties:

• For Noota: Clear visibility into real engagement, verified demographics, past performance
• For influencers: Objective metrics prove value, fair evaluation, direct brand communication

"It's just me judging and it's just me choosing whoever I want to work with."

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What the Platform Couldn't Do

Pauline is honest about the challenges:

"At the beginning I was super slow in all the things that we have to manage without an agency (the content, the brief, all of that). I needed to create all the content, all the briefs, everything they needed to know."

But she understood the trade-off: "I was losing time on the stuff that I can't do with Favikon. Apart from that, I've been two times faster thanks to Favikon, for sure."

The time invested in creating quality briefs built Noota's direct relationships (relationships that became company assets, not agency assets).

How Noota Serves Multiple Industries

Understanding Noota's versatility explains why influencer diversity mattered:

Noota: The #1 AI Copilot "100% automatic, 0% manual work"

Use cases across:

• Recruitment: Automated interviews, structured reports, seamless ATS integration
• Consulting: AI-powered transcriptions, summaries, automated client reports
• Banking & Insurance: Compliant documentation and screening
• Accounting: Structured records with AI-powered transcripts
• Sales: Meeting summaries, automated follow-ups, CRM-ready insights
• Management: Full visibility with performance analytics

"We can work with all the different verticals. That was super easy for me to do my list of influencers regarding different industries."

This versatility required different influencer types, messaging, and metrics across verticals (flexibility an agency's playbook couldn't match).

The Results: Beyond Paid Promotions

The Numbers:

• 5,000+ influencers contacted
• 100+ active brand ambassadors
• 8+ industries covered
• Multi-country presence (France, Europe, US)
• Zero prior experience
• Zero agency involvement

The Outcomes That Matter More:

✓ Unpaid advocacy: Influencers mention Noota organically
✓ Long-term relationships: Ambassadors stay engaged beyond campaigns
✓ Referral networks: Influencers introduce Noota professionally
✓ Content co-creation: Partners collaborate beyond sponsored posts
✓ Feedback loops: Product insights from user communities

"We create relationships. It's way different than doing ads. I really love influencer marketing because it's human-to-human, and I think it's way more powerful to have your product being recommended by someone, even though it's a paid collaboration, but at the end it's way more than that."

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Platform vs. Agency: Decision Framework

Choose a Platform When You:

✓ Want to own relationships long-term
✓ Can invest time in building connections
✓ Want to develop internal expertise
✓ Need flexibility across geographies/verticals
✓ Value transparent, objective data
✓ Are validating the channel from scratch

Choose an Agency When You:

✓ Need immediate execution without learning curve
✓ Lack internal resources completely
✓ Running short-term campaigns
✓ Need extensive creative services

The Bottom Line

Pauline's journey proves that the least experienced person can build the most effective program with the right tools, courage to learn, and commitment to genuine relationships.

The Formula:

• Platform as force multiplier
• Mass testing → data-driven refinement
• Relationships over transactions
• Long-term thinking with short-term metrics

"Without that tool, I don't think I would have done a good strategy as I did, for real."

The tools exist. The playbook is proven. The channel works for B2B.

The only question: Are you ready to build relationships at scale?

About Noota

Noota is the #1 AI copilot that keeps teams present with 100% automatic, 0% manual work. Serving recruitment, consulting, banking, accounting, sales, and management teams.

Ratings: 4.9/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Trustpilot & G2.com)
Trusted by: Cegid, HelloWork, Mentor, Adecco, Capgemini
HQ: Paris, France
Website: noota.io

About Pauline Audebeau

CMO & Partnership Manager at Noota
Built Noota's influencer program from zero experience to 100+ ambassadors in 6 months.
Based in: Paris, Île-de-France, France

Ready to build your B2B influencer program? Start with the right platform, commit to genuine relationships, and take action today.

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