What is a lead?

Marketing is often measured by counting the leads it creates. Many see this as a primary role of marketing – to feed the pipeline. The trouble is that it becomes an end in itself, rather than the means to a sale. So we count leads as the output of marketing – it follows that we classify anything we can as a lead, in order for it to count towards the total.

That’s basically why we use direct mail and other broadcast techniques in marketing. High volume outbound activities generate high volumes of inbound enquiries, which count as leads. Don’t they?

Such leads are often not much more than a name and phone number. They may be responses to a free offer or white paper, in which case they may not even be expressions of interest in you (just expressions of interest in your subject – not the same thing at all).

If you’re measuring marketing by counting leads it’s mandatory that you also measure leads-to-sales ratio. Together they measure the efficiency (number of leads) and the effectiveness (consequent sales) of marketing.

What typically then happens is that the number of leads diminishes, as you get better in passing on to sales those leads which have a higher likelihood of turning into revenue. You need to warn sales, and your senior management team, that this will happen, as otherwise they may hit the panic button. Recalibration of marketing measurement is required.

The Book – update, case studies and reviews

The Book is imminent, which in publishing terms means two weeks or so. It’s due on the 3rd December in the UK, and 14th January in the US. Don’t ask why…

The book’s available for pre-order on various amazon sites. Because of the Christmas rush, we won’t be doing much in the way of formal promo until January, though I am discussing some of the book’s main themes at the CMO Summit next week, as an exclusive(!). I’m also at the Word of Mouth Marketing Forum in January.

One of the main features of the book is the use of case studies. We have twelve of them, and I’ve previously announced that Wipro, Adobe, Palm and Yahoo! are among them. I can now divulge that IBM and Nortel will also be included, along with several firms that declined to be identified for competitive reasons. More details on all the case studies is available here.

Finally, we’re delighted to have had the book reviewed by a dozen or so CMOs and other notables. The book reviews are posted here, and will also feature on the book cover. We’re really chuffed that so many took the time to read the draft and provide comments. Nick and I are indebted.

Influencer marketing in a nutshell

I sometimes get asked what Influencer Marketing is, in 30 seconds or less. Try this for starters.

In fact, replace “analyst” with “influencer” and you’re very close. If you also replace “customer” with “influencer” you’re there.

(Credit where it’s due – the whole, original, post is here)

Daft question #2 – Can we mail our influencers?

One of the things Influencer50 does for clients when researching their influencers is provide contact details of the top 50. It’s so that the client, or us if commissioned, can develop an outreach program. It’s difficult information to collect as some influencers are much more protective about their direct contact information – switchboard numbers are insufficient.

I was bemused one day by a client’s question that asked “do we own the list of contact details?” What do you mean “own the list”? I was flummoxed. Then the penny dropped – the client was thinking direct mail.

These influencers are the top 50 most important people in influencing your target market. And you want to send them direct mail – oh boy.

Outreach to influencers is like buying a birthday present for a spouse:

• It’s got to be wrapped up nicely, showing obvious care and attention.
• It’s got to be personalised, and suited for the specific needs/wants of the recipient. How would your spouse feel if you gave everyone the same present?
• It’s got to be planned and delivered on time – too early and it’s suspicious, too late and you’re dead meat.

Most importantly, you’ve got to know the recipient well. Now, most of us can’t hope to know our influencers as well as we know our spouses. But you should do your research to have some idea of what is important to each influencer. The last thing to do is to treat influencers as you do everyone else.

And don’t ever, ever take them for granted…

Daft question #1 – Who owns the influencer?

My commercial director Scott sent me a link to this post by Pete Blackshaw. Pete is a founder member of WOMMA, of which Influencer50 is a member. So Pete must know what he’s talking about, at least in a B2C context.

But the question – Who owns the influencer? Oh, please. This is so 1990s. I remember endless (and pointless) debates about who owns the customer and various organisations getting upset because their partner firms claimed customer ownership. Completely pointless, because NOBODY OWNS THE CUSTOMER. Customers are fickle and are as able and likely to change suppliers as change their underwear. Especially these days, when your competitors are one click away.

So, here we are again, ten years later. Same question, even more pointless debate, and the same answer:

NOBODY OWNS THE INFLUENCER

What a crazy concept. True influencers have their influence largely because they are not affiliated to anyone. In fact, the more someone tries to “own” them, the less influential they become. That’s why rent-a-quote analysts lack substantial influence – they’re paid for (“owned”) by a vendor to endorse a product or position.

The only value I can see coming out of asking “Who owns the influencer” is the shock – similar to being hit in the face with a spade – of realising that, more than likely, the influencer owns you! Or at least access to your market (which amounts to the same thing).

Treat your influencers not as peasants on your land but as royalty, to whom you need to pay dues.

Handling detractors – What Ovum and IDC illustrate about Influencer Marketing

Last week I posted some thoughts on the current fortunes of my previous employers, Ovum and IDC. Both posts expressed my concern at their present situation and questioned their future direction, though for different reasons. The feedback I got from the firms, and from the wider community, illustrate some interesting aspects of influence. In particular, what should you do when a blogger (in this case, me) creates a negative view of your firm?

I should say at this point that I consider myself as an influencer in neither of the two firms. As a former employee, most recently from IDC, I guess I have some insight into the firms’ inner workings. But I doubt I’m affecting purchase decisions in a big way.

Anyway, this post documents the reaction from Ovum. I have to say I was surprised that Anthony contact li’l ol’ me, but flattered was I that he took the considerable time. Unfortunately his response, which I published in full with Anthony’s consent, was received by the wider community with more negativity, most notably by Richard Holway. Now Richard is an influencer – did Anthony’s response spark an otherwise sleeping discontent amongst Richard and his followers?

In contrast, I’ve heard not a peep out of IDC. Have they read my post? Maybe not. Do they care? Probably not.

There are three strategies to deal with a so-called detractor. You can (1) try to convert them, (2) surround them with other (more positive) influencers, thereby neutralising them, or (3) you can ignore them. Ovum is attempting strategy #1. IDC is practising #3 (by default or design).

Microsoft’s Blue Monster gig with Hugh McLeod is an example of #2, where MS are attempting to engage with its influencer (and wider) community to address the tide of negativity towards it. Smart move, executed creatively.

How would you handle a detractor?

Influencer Marketing Primer 6 – Marketing with influencers

I’m really excited about this post, because it’s the one post I wanted to write all along. Marketing with influencers is the main event in the Influencer Marketing show – top billing. It’s where you see lead generation improve, conversion rates rise and sales increase.

There is a trick, though, that I need to let you in on. It is that you have to align 100% with the sales process, to the extent that your salesforce will be the most important source of input to your marketing efforts. It’s a trick because this should be true for all your marketing efforts, not just Influencer Marketing. But without input from sales, Influencer Marketing will never deliver the results you need.

So, the sequence of logic for marketing with influencers is this:

• Determine the reasons why prospect’s don’t buy from you. These reasons are called sales objections.
• Define a counter-argument for each sales objection.
• Map each counter-argument to an influencer, such that the counter-argument is (or could be) advocated by that influencer.
• Create influencer-led collateral that specifically addresses each objection.

Hey presto – you’ve got an answer to each sales objection, and it’s an answer which has substantial credibility (because it’s from an influencer, and not from you).

The key points of this process are:

1. You need to know why people don’t buy from you. The salesforce is the custodian of this information, so you need to tap this resource. Sometimes it’s easy – they just know. Other times thy don’t know, or they think it’s price (hint: it’s almost never price). In these cases, there are ways of eliciting the information, either from the salesforce or directly from the market.
2. Arguments against sales objections are credible only if communicated by someone independent. A counter-argument conveyed by you doesn’t work because “you would say that, wouldn’t you.” Influencers, by definition, are more credible.
3. Counter-arguments are specific to the objection. In other words, the counter argument “Gartner says we’re a top-right player in its Magic Quadrant” works only if applied to the objection “We don’t think you’re a major player” but not if the objection is “We don’t perceive a need for your product.” This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often an objection is countered by an irrelevant response.

The power of the approach is that it directly links influencers to sales objections, arming the salesforce with specific collateral. If you get it right, the inevitable consequence is better leads, improved conversion rates and higher sales.

Now, I can hear you scream “If it’s that easy, why is it not done this way now?” Good question, two good answers:

Firstly, sales and marketing typically don’t talk to each other. Read Philip Kotler’s article “Ending the war between sales and marketing” in the Harvard Business Review for insight into why this situation exists.

Secondly, it only works if you use influencers to counter sales objections. And most firms don’t know who their influencers are.

One final thing: it’s possible to create influencer-led collateral that doesn’t tie into specific sales objections, but adds to the generic marketing mix of “stuff.” This is okay as far as it goes, and in fact it’s where we started when we first put our SFERE process together. But the approach is far more effective when aligned with sales objections, so I strongly recommend you take this extra step.

Influencer Marketing Primer 5 – Marketing through influencers

Marketing through influencers is where Influencer Marketing gets really interesting. The first thing to say is that I am NOT talking about paying stooges to say what you tell them to say. Any idiot can do that, it carries no influence, and usually is counter-productive.

Marketing through influencers is about enabling influencers to talk about you to prospects. Immediately the affinity with WOMM should be apparent. Obvious tasks include delivering content to influencers, so they have sufficient information to digest and pass on. We covered much of this in Marketing to influencers.

So what about the less obvious stuff? This is where Influencer Marketing departs from traditional command-and-control marketing. I’m asking you to deviate from the textbooks and accept that you’re going to have to let someone else take control.

You must add value to the influencer’s agenda. Here’s what you have to do :

Firstly create a series of marketing messages that align with the influencers’ agenda. That is, messages that they will want to pass on, not those that you want communicated. Influencers don’t care about you – they care about themselves. So make it easy for them. Warning: it may not come easy to you! For starters, you’ll have to know what influencers are interested in.

Secondly, create support material for influencers. Example: recently I was trying to get access to a specific firm, with little success. I found an influencer with a great relationship with the firm, and with a scheduled meeting. I found out what the influencer was planning to tell them. I then created one chart which drove home a key point the influencer wanted to make. It so happened that the one chart also reinforced Influencer50’s proposition. Result: we win a deal based on one chart that someone else presented (enabled, of course, by a load of work in identifying and marketing to the right influencer).

Thirdly, align your existing collateral with your influencers’ agenda. This may just be a mapping of your existing collateral to their propositions. Or you may have to redraft your collateral. But realise that it’s they that have the influence, and for good reason. Listen to influencers – they want to influence you too.

Marketing through influencers is all about giving them something to say that they want to say. Providing a story isn’t enough – it’s got to be part of their story too.

Paying for influence – don’t do it!

I’m surprised that this issue is up for debate. Yet Joel Spolsky, a credible blogger on software markets, relates his thoughts on being offered a free laptop in return for reviewing Microsoft’s Vista.

My surprise is doubled when I read that Robert Scoble, a blog hero of mine, endorses the practice. Notwithstanding Scoble is these days a MS employee, he often takes a position contrary to the corporate thought police. But not this time – Scoble thinks paying reviewers (in kind) is okay.

Scoble seems to think it’s purely an ethical issue, and that if you disclose the bribe you’re off the hook.

Not so. Influence isn’t just about ethics. It’s about credibility. How credible is a reviewer if it’s known they’ve been given a freebie worth several hundred pounds? Or that they were flown, expenses paid, to Seattle?

It’s really, really tempting, with a huge marketing budget at your disposal, to spend it on this type of stunt. “If you can, you should” as the advert goes. It’s this sort of act that gets marketing a bad name. Resist, please.

I also have a more general concern, and that is that bloggers’ influence (at least in the US) is rated higher than it actually is. Some bloggers do have influence, but not many and only in certain markets. Has Microsoft any sense of who the truly influential bloggers are, and why?

I thought not…

Paying for endorsements is an oxymoron

Last Wednesday I ran a webinar on Influencer Marketing. During the Q&A one attendee asked me if he could “enhance” the positive effect of influencers by paying them to say nice things. My answer was unequivocal – Don’t do it!

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t pay for influence, but I think the best one is common sense. If you pay an influencer to say something, their influence diminishes immediately because they are no longer independent.

It turns out that synchronicity was at work, because the FTC in the US just ruled that word-of-mouth marketers must reveal if they’ve paid an endorser (as reported in The Washington Post).

It’s important to distinguish between paying an Influencer to say something (invalid), and paying them to state their opinion (valid). Otherwise the business models for consulting, industry analysis and many other activities would fall apart.

Unfortunately, there are those firms and individuals that do take money specifically to present vendors in a positive light. But these tend to be the less influential players in the market.

Better to try to influence influencers through relationship building and persuasion, rather than by paying to put words in their mouth.