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The Rise Of B2B Creator Management How The Wishly Group Is Transforming LinkedIn's Creator Economy

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The Rise Of B2B Creator Management: How The Wishly Group Is Transforming LinkedIn’s Creator Economy

The Rise Of B2B Creator Management: How The Wishly Group Is Transforming LinkedIn's Creator Economy

“If you’re not even thinking about influencer campaigns to shift people’s mindset and speed up your sales cycles, something is missing in your strategy. You can’t be an effective marketer if you’re not innovating or finding new ways to connect with audiences,” says Aneesh Lal, founder of The Wishly Group, a creator management agency that has generated over $2 million in creator deals in just 12 months.

Aneesh, a former Pinterest and Coca-Cola sales professional, and his company are focused on LinkedIn’s B2B creator partnerships. The Wishly Group represents 25 of LinkedIn’s top B2B creators, managing everything from brand partnerships to digital product launches while maintaining a 90% client renewal rate.

From Insight to Innovation: The Wishly Group’s Origins

The concept for Wishly emerged when Aneesh recognized an opportunity while working with LinkedIn creator Kevin “KD” Dorsey. “KD has a newsletter, a podcast, and a LinkedIn following. ‘If you bundle this together, that’s worth something to brands,'” Aneesh recalls telling Dorsey. This observation led to his first creator partnership and laid the groundwork for The Wishly Group.

The business grew organically. “I had some fractional CRO type of engagements while I was at Pinterest and just side hustle clients,” Aneesh explains. “And it got to a point where those two clients said, ‘Hey Aneesh, we wish we had more of your time.’ One thing led to another, and when KD started telling people about me, things started changing. All these influencers talk to each other. They’re all friends.”

The company now operates as a management solution. “We’re essentially operators across the board,” Aneesh explains. “Many creators have digital products, courses, and communities that they want to launch and operate, and they don’t know how. My team comes in and fulfills those needs.”

Excellence in Creator Management

Aneesh notes The Wishly Group’s success stems from its commitment to maximizing creator value. “I want my creators to get as much income as they possibly can with the least amount of time and effort possible,” he states, adding that this approach resonates particularly well with B2B creators, who often bring substantial professional experience.

“When you’re looking at B2B creators, they’re usually professionals. They’re subject matter experts in their field,” Aneesh emphasizes. “They’re the ones who have worked some amazing jobs and done some big things. They just expect a different degree of professionalism when you’re dealing with them. I have nothing against the influencers on other channels, but the amount of business sophistication this group has is why they are the best creators to work with.”

The 3C Model for Creator Selection

Wishly employs a strategic framework when evaluating potential creators:

  1. Credibility: In B2B, authentic expertise is non-negotiable, Aneesh stresses. Having spent years in enterprise sales himself, he quickly distinguishes between surface-level knowledge and genuine experience. “I’ve personally closed over $50 million in sales for some of the biggest brands and companies in the world… I can tell if this is a copy and paste from John Barrows and KD or if there’s depth to it.”
  2. Character: With brand deals often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the integrity and professionalism of creators become crucial factors. Aneesh thoroughly vets potential creators’ reputations and motivations: “Are you a person with an abundance mindset versus a transactional one? Are you here just for the money? I’m about to put you in front of million and billion-dollar brands. I can’t have somebody inappropriate at conferences representing a brand that’s now trusting me.”
  3. Charisma: While B2B content may be more professionally focused than other platforms, the ability to engage and build an audience remains essential. Aneesh looks for creators who can adapt to various content formats: “I’m not saying you have to be able to dance like they do on TikTok, but do you have the ability to garner attention? Video is the future of LinkedIn influencers.”

LinkedIn’s Professional Content Evolution

Aneesh explains how LinkedIn’s transformation has created new opportunities. 

“When you look at LinkedIn five years ago, brands probably weren’t looking at LinkedIn as much because it was originally a job-hunting platform,” he explains. “Today, fast forward five years, LinkedIn has transformed into a social network where the keeners of their companies are on the platform just learning from each other. This group of people on LinkedIn are the top earners at their company. If they have the title, they’re also the buyers of technology.”

One success story Aneesh shares involves creator John Barrows and Otter.ai. Their collaborative “Meeting Mastery Guide” achieved notable results: “They got over 1,000 downloads in almost 72 hours  It was like madness,” he says. “They have renewed with John for a year.”

Expanding to D2C Opportunities

For 2025, The Wishly Group aims to bring more consumer brands to LinkedIn. “Where were the pet brands  when [Wishly’s creator] Jen Allen-Knuth raised $10,000 for a pet shelter in Chicago on her birthday in 48 hours?” Aneesh questions.

“Many of my B2B creators want deals with D2C brands,” Aneesh explains. “The B2B brands, they’re here, they’re playing. Our big objective this year, at the request of those creators, is to get United Airlines here for all these traveling salespeople. How do we get Chewy here because of all the work-from-home pet stories we see on LinkedIn?”

The opportunity extends to lifestyle brands. “What kind of clothes do you wear as a work-from-home professional? Why is Lululemon not here for all the men’s clothing line?” Aneesh asks. “I just hit my five-year mark, President’s Club. I bought myself this nice watch. This is where the gap is. You can easily go to B2B influencers who all these people look up to and become a part of their lifestyle.”

Aneesh believes LinkedIn’s audience represents a unique combination of professional achievement and purchasing power. “All their followers – think about it – all the keeners who are following someone for sales and marketing advice, they’re the ones who work hard at their companies. This is where they’re spending their time,” he explains. “People want to know who the person behind the professional is. Believe it or not, I see everyone’s messages. Those are the conversations happening now.”

Sustainable Growth Strategy

The Wishly Group maintains high standards while expanding. Despite a waitlist of 20 creators, Aneesh prioritizes existing relationships: “We will not [add creators] until every single one of our creators has at least 80% of their deal capacity filled. Everybody has to eat because they’ve given us their trust.”

“95% of my creators have a newsletter, podcast, or a different channel available to our brands,” Aneesh notes. “We bundle these things together to go deeper with the creator’s audience. We do the newsletters, we do the monthly social posts. We build co-authored assets; we do fireside chats. I even have creators who get on the phone call with customers for the brands.”

The Rise Of B2B Creator Management: How The Wishly Group Is Transforming LinkedIn's Creator Economy

Strategic Vision for the Future

The Wishly Group has outlined three key priorities:

“Number one, I want to get more D2C brands on LinkedIn,” Aneesh explains. “We’ve had some amazing meetings with lots of great D2C folks. It’s just educating them and getting over those [misconceptions]. Even the best marketers in the world still think LinkedIn’s a job-hunting website.”

“Number two, doing what I can to speak and even podcast stages to educate for the category,” he continues. “We are a Category Leader on LinkedIn. Our responsibility with that is to grow the category. That means I will talk to people outside of LinkedIn, ready to do that.”

The third initiative focuses on product development. “I want to shape up the non-brand deal part of our business,” Aneesh shares. “We’re good on the brand deals; we’re good at that. You want to launch a community, boom. I’ve got a quick engine where we’re close to it, but that’s somewhere I want to focus.”

For brands considering B2B creator partnerships, Aneesh emphasizes market positioning: “Like any industry, there are top performers and top creators. They still have the leverage no matter how many players are involved,” he explains. “If you are a first mover brand and need to secure impressions and activation relationships, scoop up the talent because they will only work with one person in the category. It’s a defensive play. Even if you don’t believe in all activations we’re good; we’re with the number one talent. You want to stay number one. You have to protect certain channels.”

Cecilia Carloni, Interview Manager at Influence Weekly and writer for NetInfluencer. Coming from beautiful Argentina, Ceci has spent years chatting with big names in the influencer world, making friends and learning insider info along the way. When she’s not deep in interviews or writing, she's enjoying life with her two daughters. Ceci’s stories give a peek behind the curtain of influencer life, sharing the real and interesting tales from her many conversations with movers and shakers in the space.

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