
Person-Based Marketing
May 8, 2026
All articles

Rikard Jonsson
Rikard Jonsson is Founder & CEO of Hey Sid and a five-time entrepreneur with a background in B2B SaaS, sales, and brand building. He believes B2B marketing is overcomplicated and writes about going back to basics: visibility, positioning, and consistent presence among the accounts that matter.
Best Influ2 Alternatives for Person-Based Advertising in 2026
TL;DR: Influ2 pioneered contact-level B2B advertising, letting marketers serve ads to specific named decision-makers and track engagement at the individual level. It is genuinely differentiated, with exceptional customer support (the most mentioned positive across 155+ G2 reviews) and precise targeting that competitors struggle to match.
But at a median contract of $60,000/year, with no self-serve pricing, no built-in contact database, and no outreach or content capabilities, many B2B teams need either a more complete solution or a more accessible entry point. These 7 alternatives offer different approaches to person-based advertising, from managed multi-channel services to enterprise ABM platforms to budget-friendly entry points.
What Influ2 Does Well
Influ2 deserves credit for creating the person-based advertising category. Before Influ2, B2B advertising meant targeting companies (via IP) or audience segments (via job title). Influ2 changed the equation by targeting named individuals.
Influ2's strengths:
Contact-level ad targeting - upload a list of specific individuals and serve ads directly to those people across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Google, Bing, Amazon, and display networks. Every impression reaches a named person, not an anonymous segment
Buyer journey mapping - ads map to stages (cold prospecting through closing and upsell), with transition conditions driven by CRM data and sales signals. Content changes as prospects progress
Contact-level intent - tracks which individual clicked an ad, not just which account. Sales teams see exactly who engaged, enabling prioritized follow-up with conversation context
Revenue impact reporting - ties ad engagement to pipeline created, progressed, and won. Proves ABM influence without relying on form fills
Sales-marketing alignment - the alignment dashboard shows which contacts both teams are engaging and where gaps exist. G2 reviewers specifically call this out as transformative for SDR workflows
Exceptional customer support - the most mentioned positive across 155+ G2 reviews. CSMs described as "an extension of your marketing org," not just vendor support
Privacy-first - uses first-party data without cookies, CCPA and GDPR compliant
Pricing: Custom. Vendr benchmark: median $60,000/year, range $34,600-$102,480. Unit economics: approximately $5 per engaged contact ("credit"). Platform fees plus ad spend rolled into one flat price based on target list size.
G2 Rating: 4.7/5 (155+ reviews). G2 Leader in Account-Based Advertising.
Why Teams Look for Influ2 Alternatives
1. Enterprise pricing with no self-serve tier. At $60K/year median (with some implementations exceeding $100K), Influ2 is built for teams with mature ABM budgets. No public pricing, no listed plans, and no self-serve sign-up creates a barrier for mid-market companies that need budget transparency during evaluation.
2. No built-in contact database. Influ2 targets contacts you provide. It does not include its own B2B database. You need a separate data provider (Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Clay) to build the target contact lists that Influ2 then serves ads to. At $5 per engaged credit, stale contacts waste real budget.
3. Display and social ads only. Influ2 runs display, LinkedIn, Meta, Google, and Bing ads. But it does not handle LinkedIn outreach, cold email, or content production. The gap between "prospect saw an ad" and "sales conversation" still requires separate tools and coordination.
4. No managed execution. Influ2 is a self-serve platform. Your team manages campaigns, creates ad creative, uploads target lists, and analyzes results. For 1-3 person marketing teams, this adds significant operational overhead on top of any other advertising and outreach tools you run.
5. Real-time reporting gaps. Multiple reviewers note that spending data is not available in real-time within the platform, requiring custom Looker Studio dashboards for full visibility. Industry benchmarking data is also absent, making it difficult to evaluate campaign performance against peers.
6. Creative production not included. You design and produce all ad creative. For teams without a designer or agency, this adds $2,000-$5,000/month in creative costs on top of the platform fee.
Quick Comparison Table
Rank | Tool | Type | Targeting Level | Channels | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hey Sid | Managed person-level ABM | Person (named individuals) | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, display | ~$1,900/mo | Mid-sized B2B, ads + outreach + content |
2 | ContactLevel | Person-based display ads | Person (contact list) | Display network | Custom | Self-serve contact-level display |
3 | Primer | People-based audience building | Person (email matching) | LinkedIn, Meta (audience sync) | Custom | Audience building + syncing |
4 | Demandbase One | Enterprise ABM platform | Account (IP + intent) | Native B2B DSP | ~$18K+/yr | Full-suite enterprise ABM |
5 | 6sense | Enterprise ABM + AI | Account (IP + intent) | B2B DSP + CTV | ~$35K+/yr | Predictive intent + advertising |
6 | Metadata.io | B2B ad automation | Audience (MetaMatch) | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, Reddit | ~$60K+/yr | AI-driven ad optimization |
7 | Rollworks | Mid-market ABM ads | Account (IP) | Display, retargeting | ~$975/mo | Budget ABM advertising |
#1 Hey Sid - Best Managed Person-Level ABM (Ads + Outreach + Content)
Pricing: ~$1,900/month (managed service including ad spend, creative, outreach, content) Targeting: Person-level (named individuals via identity graph) Channels: LinkedIn, Meta, Google, programmatic display Best For: Mid-sized B2B companies needing the full pipeline workflow managed
Hey Sid and Influ2 share the same core belief: B2B ads should target specific named individuals, not anonymous audience segments. Both serve ads to decision-makers on your target list. But they diverge on everything after targeting.
What Hey Sid does that Influ2 does not:
Capability | Hey Sid | Influ2 |
|---|---|---|
Person-level ad targeting | Yes (identity graph matching) | Yes (contact-level matching) |
LinkedIn outreach | Yes (Precision Connect, automated) | No |
Thought leadership content | Yes (Authority Builder, weekly) | No |
Creative production | Included (5 variations, refreshed every 60 days) | Not included |
Contact enrichment | Included | Not included (bring your own data) |
Managed execution | Fully managed | Self-serve |
GDPR compliance | Built-in (EU-born) | CCPA and GDPR compliant |
Pricing | ~$1,900/mo all-in | ~$60K/yr ($5 per engaged credit) |
Why it ranks #1: Influ2 runs person-based ads. Hey Sid runs person-based ads AND coordinates LinkedIn outreach AND publishes thought leadership, all targeting the same individuals. The Influence Loop creates a compounding effect: a decision-maker sees your display ad (Always On), reads your CEO's LinkedIn post (Authority Builder), and receives a personalized connection request (Precision Connect), all within the same 60-90 day window. Influ2 handles one third of this equation. Hey Sid handles all three.
The pricing gap is significant. Hey Sid's all-in managed service (~$1,900/month including ad spend, creative, outreach, and content) costs approximately 60% less than Influ2's platform fee alone ($60K/year, before creative costs and supplementary data tools).
Results: 85% reduced ad spend (Mercuri International). 45+ meetings in 4 months (Devotion Ventures). 2.5x shorter sales cycles (Risk Ident).
Limitations: Not self-serve (managed model). No self-serve campaign dashboard with individual contact-level click tracking (Influ2's contact-level intent UI is a unique strength). Smaller platform than Influ2 (100+ customers vs. 180+ enterprises). Not designed for teams wanting direct platform control.
Explore Hey Sid: heysid.com/demo | heysid.com/how-it-works
#2 ContactLevel - Best Self-Serve Person-Based Display
Pricing: Custom (contact sales) Targeting: Person-level (contact list matching) Channels: Display network Best For: Teams wanting self-serve contact-level display as a direct Influ2 replacement
ContactLevel is the closest direct alternative to Influ2's core capability: targeting specific B2B decision-makers with display ads using contact list matching. It is purpose-built for person-based advertising.
What ContactLevel does: Person-level display advertising. Contact list matching. Engagement analytics. CRM integration. Account and contact-level reporting.
Strengths: True person-level targeting like Influ2. Purpose-built for B2B contact-level ads. Direct competitor with similar functionality.
Limitations: Display network only (no LinkedIn or Meta native ads). Custom pricing (not transparent). Newer platform with smaller market presence. No outreach, content, or creative production. Limited public reviews compared to Influ2.
Best for: Teams that want Influ2's person-level display targeting with potentially different pricing or ad network coverage.
#3 Primer - Best People-Based Audience Building
Pricing: Custom (contact sales) Targeting: Person-level (email matching for audience sync) Channels: LinkedIn, Meta (audience syncing, not campaign management) Best For: Teams that want to build person-based audiences and sync them to ad platforms
Primer helps B2B teams build audiences of specific people and sync them to ad platforms. Like Clay Ads, it is an audience-building tool rather than a campaign management platform. You bring the contacts, Primer enriches and matches them, and the synced audiences appear in your LinkedIn Campaign Manager or Meta Ads Manager for you to run campaigns against.
What Primer does better than Influ2: Audience-building focus with enrichment and matching. Potentially more accessible than Influ2's enterprise pricing. Marketing-team-friendly interface without ABM platform complexity. Works within your existing LinkedIn and Meta campaign workflows.
Limitations: Does not manage campaigns (you run ads in native platforms). No campaign-level analytics beyond what LinkedIn/Meta provide natively. No outreach, content, or creative. No contact-level intent tracking. Limited public information on pricing and features.
Best for: Teams that want person-based audience targeting on LinkedIn and Meta without committing to a full ABM advertising platform.
#4 Demandbase One - Best Full-Suite Enterprise ABM
Pricing: $18K-$300K+/year G2 Rating: 4.4/5 (1,916 reviews) Targeting: Account-level (IP + intent data) Channels: Native B2B DSP (display, video, CTV) Best For: Enterprises wanting unified ABM advertising + intent + intelligence
Demandbase is the broadest ABM platform on the market: native B2B DSP (no minimum ad spend), 2T+ intent signals/month, website personalization, sales intelligence, and Buying Group Insights AI. Where Influ2 specializes in contact-level ads, Demandbase provides the full ABM infrastructure.
What Demandbase does better than Influ2: Broader ABM suite (intent + ads + personalization + sales intelligence). Native B2B DSP with no minimum ad spend. 2T+ intent signals/month for account prioritization. Website personalization for target accounts. Buying Group Insights AI identifies key stakeholders. Leader in 38 G2 Winter 2025 Reports.
Key trade-off: Demandbase targets at the account level (IP-based), not at the contact level. Influ2's person-level precision is genuinely superior for reaching specific named individuals. Demandbase reaches "people at Company X," while Influ2 reaches "Jane Smith, VP Marketing, at Company X."
Limitations: Account-level targeting (not person-level by default). $50K-$200K+ for most implementations. 3-6 month implementation. No outreach or content production. Requires dedicated ABM operations.
Best for: Enterprise teams that need a full ABM infrastructure where advertising is one module among intent data, sales intelligence, and website personalization.
#5 6sense Revenue AI - Best Predictive Intent + Advertising
Pricing: $35K-$300K+/year G2 Rating: 4.1/5 (2,195 reviews) Targeting: Account-level (AI-predicted buying stage) Channels: B2B DSP (display + CTV) Best For: Enterprise ABM teams wanting predictive intelligence plus advertising
6sense predicts which accounts are in-market using 500B+ intent signals, then activates programmatic and CTV advertising against those accounts. Where Influ2 tells you who saw your ad, 6sense tells you who is researching your category before you run an ad.
What 6sense does better than Influ2: Predictive buying stage identification (Influ2 does not have third-party intent). CTV advertising (90%+ completion rates). Revenue forecasting. RevvyAI agentic automation. Broader intelligence beyond advertising.
Key trade-off: 6sense targets accounts, not named contacts. The intent intelligence is powerful, but ad delivery is less precise than Influ2's contact-level approach.
Limitations: Enterprise pricing ($35K-$300K+). Account-level targeting. Steep learning curve. No outreach or content. Requires separate email/LinkedIn tools.
Best for: Enterprise ABM teams with dedicated RevOps that want to know who is in-market and then advertise to those accounts programmatically.
#6 Metadata.io - Best AI-Driven Ad Optimization
Pricing: ~$60K+/year platform + $20K+/mo ad spend G2 Rating: 4.6/5 (298 reviews) Targeting: Audience segments (MetaMatch identity graph, 1.5B+ profiles) Channels: LinkedIn, Meta, Google, Reddit Best For: Teams spending $20K+/month on B2B ads wanting autonomous optimization
Metadata automates B2B ad campaigns with AI-driven audience building, multivariate experimentation, and CRM-connected optimization. MetaMatch enables B2B audience targeting on consumer channels (Facebook, Instagram) that native tools struggle with. Where Influ2 targets named contacts, Metadata builds and optimizes audience segments at scale.
What Metadata does better than Influ2: AI-driven multivariate experimentation at scale. CRM-connected optimization (optimizes to pipeline, not clicks). LinkedIn and Reddit campaign management (Influ2 does not manage LinkedIn natively). MetaMatch identity graph for B2B targeting on consumer channels.
Key trade-off: Metadata targets audience segments, not named individuals. Influ2's contact-level precision produces zero wasted impressions. Metadata's AI optimization produces more efficient audience-level campaigns.
Limitations: $60K+/year platform + $20K+/month ad spend recommended. No contact-level targeting. No outreach or content. Steep learning curve.
Best for: Enterprise demand gen teams spending $20K+/month on paid media who want AI to automate experimentation and optimization.
#7 Rollworks - Best Budget Account-Based Advertising
Pricing: ~$975/month G2 Rating: 3.9/5 Targeting: Account-level (IP-based) Channels: Display advertising, retargeting Best For: Teams testing account-based advertising before committing to enterprise pricing
Rollworks offers the most accessible entry point for account-based display advertising. It reaches target accounts through IP matching and provides retargeting, account scoring, and machine learning audience expansion at a fraction of Influ2's cost.
What Rollworks does better than Influ2: 60x lower cost ($975/mo vs. $60K/yr). No enterprise commitment. Machine learning audience expansion. Good for testing ABM before investing in enterprise platforms.
Key trade-off: Account-level targeting (IP-based) vs. Influ2's contact-level precision. Rollworks reaches "people at Company X." Influ2 reaches "Jane Smith."
Limitations: Account-level only (not person-level). Display ads only. Limited intent data. Reporting limitations. Less sophisticated than enterprise platforms.
Best for: Mid-market B2B teams testing account-based advertising at an accessible price before scaling to person-level tools.
Feature Comparison Table
Feature | Hey Sid | Influ2 | ContactLevel | Demandbase | 6sense | Metadata |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Targeting level | Person (identity graph) | Person (contact list) | Person (contact list) | Account (IP) | Account (IP + AI) | Audience (MetaMatch) |
Ad channels | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, display | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, Bing, Amazon, display | Display | Native B2B DSP | B2B DSP + CTV | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, Reddit |
Contact-level intent | Engagement signals | Yes (click-level per contact) | Basic | Account-level | Account-level (predicted) | No |
LinkedIn outreach | Yes (Precision Connect) | No | No | No | No | No |
Content/thought leadership | Yes (Authority Builder) | No | No | No | No | No |
Creative included | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Contact database | Enrichment included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
Buyer journey mapping | Via Influence Loop | Yes (stage-based ads) | No | Limited | Limited | No |
Revenue attribution | Account-level reporting | Contact-level attribution | Basic | Account-level | Account-level | CRM-connected |
Managed execution | Fully managed | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
Starting price | ~$1,900/mo | ~$60K/yr | Custom | ~$18K/yr | ~$35K/yr | ~$60K/yr |
Decision Framework
Your Situation | Best Alternative | Why |
|---|---|---|
Need ads + outreach + content managed as one service | Hey Sid | Full pipeline engine, 60% lower cost than Influ2 |
Want self-serve contact-level display ads | ContactLevel | Closest direct Influ2 replacement |
Want person-based audiences synced to LinkedIn/Meta | Primer | Audience building without platform complexity |
Need full ABM suite (ads + intent + personalization) | Demandbase | Broadest enterprise ABM platform |
Need predictive intent + CTV advertising | 6sense | Best AI for in-market prediction |
Spending $20K+/mo, want AI ad optimization | Metadata.io | Best experimentation engine |
Testing ABM on a budget, account-level is fine | Rollworks | Account-based ads from $975/mo |
Want contact-level precision with great support | Stay with Influ2 | Category leader for contact-level ads |
The Person-Based Advertising Landscape in 2026
Influ2 created a category that is now expanding. The landscape has split into three tiers:
Tier 1: Pure contact-level targeting (Influ2, ContactLevel, Hey Sid) - ads reach specific named individuals. Zero wasted impressions. The highest precision available in B2B advertising. Premium pricing reflects the targeting quality.
Tier 2: Audience-level B2B targeting (Metadata, Demandbase, 6sense) - ads reach audience segments or account-level groups. Better than consumer-style targeting, but includes some waste. More features beyond advertising (intent, analytics, intelligence).
Tier 3: Account-level targeting (Rollworks, standard LinkedIn Ads) - ads reach companies via IP matching or job-title segments. Broadest reach, most waste. Most accessible pricing.
The trend line is clear: B2B advertising is moving toward Tier 1. The companies generating the most pipeline per ad dollar are the ones targeting named individuals, not anonymous segments. Hey Sid and Influ2 sit at this frontier. The difference: Influ2 gives you the ad platform. Hey Sid gives you the ad platform plus outreach plus content as one managed system.
FAQ
How much does Influ2 cost?
Vendr benchmark data puts the median Influ2 contract at $60,000/year, with a range of $34,600-$102,480 depending on list size and ad volume. Unit economics work out to approximately $5 per engaged contact ("credit"). Platform fees and ad spend are bundled into one flat price. Influ2 does not publish public pricing. Hey Sid starts at ~$1,900/month all-in.
Is Hey Sid better than Influ2?
They serve different needs. Hey Sid is better for mid-sized B2B teams (1-3 marketers) that need managed execution of ads, outreach, and content as one coordinated system. Influ2 is better for enterprise teams with dedicated ad ops who want the most precise self-serve contact-level advertising platform with detailed click-level intent tracking. Hey Sid delivers broader pipeline capability at a lower price. Influ2 delivers deeper contact-level ad analytics at an enterprise price.
What makes person-based advertising different from account-based advertising?
Account-based advertising targets companies (via IP address matching). Everyone at the company sees the ad, from the CEO to the intern. Person-based advertising targets specific named individuals (via identity graph or contact list matching). Only the people on your target list see the ad. Person-based produces zero wasted impressions but requires a contact list. Account-based reaches broader company awareness but includes non-decision-maker waste.
Does Influ2 include a contact database?
No. Influ2 targets contacts you provide via CRM sync, CSV upload, or another data provider. You need a separate data tool (Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Clay) to build and maintain your target contact lists. Hey Sid includes contact enrichment as part of its managed service.
Can I use Influ2 and Hey Sid together?
Possible but unusual. Influ2 provides detailed self-serve contact-level intent data (which individual clicked which ad). Hey Sid provides managed multi-channel execution (ads + outreach + content). A team could use Influ2 for contact-level intent tracking alongside Hey Sid for multi-channel execution. However, the overlapping ad targeting capabilities make running both at full capacity redundant for most budgets.
Sources
ZoomInfo Pipeline, "Influ2 Review 2026: Features, Pricing & Best Alternative"
Prospeo, "Influ2 Pricing, Reviews, Pros & Cons 2026" ($60K median, $5/credit)
G2, "Influ2 Reviews" (4.7/5, 155+ reviews)
Gartner Peer Insights, "Influ2 Reviews & Ratings 2026"
TrustRadius, "Influ2 Reviews & Ratings 2026"
Capterra, "Influ2 Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026"
Software Advice, "Influ2 Software Reviews, Demo & Pricing 2026"
Dimmo.ai, "Influ2 Review 2026: Pricing, Features & Video Demo"
Influ2, "6 Best Account-Based Advertising Platforms in 2026" (influ2.com/compare)
Vendr, "Influ2 Pricing Benchmark Data" ($34,600-$102,480 range)
Hey Sid, "How It Works" (heysid.com/how-it-works)
Hey Sid, "Always On" (heysid.com/always-on)
Hey Sid, "Case Studies" (heysid.com/case)
Related: Best Metadata.io Alternatives | Best Demandbase Alternatives | B2B Advertising Guide | Account-Based Marketing Tools | Hey Sid Resources

