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.

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 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.

Competitors as influencers

There’s a fascinating article by management guru Tom Peters on the role of competitiors in your marketing strategy – read the post here.

Peters notes that talking up your competitors helps grow the market. I also think that it enhances your credibility, by demonstrating your knowledge of the market. Ignoring or, worse, bad-mouthing the competition conveys your fear of the opposition.

Of course, competitors are influencers in your market. They talk to your prospects, influence their opinions, and shape the mindset of decision makers. Do you know what your competitiors are saying about you?

Influencer Marketing Primer 4 – Marketing to influencers

So you have a shiny new list of your market’s influencers? Now what?

It’s typical to find that, of the 50 or more influencers you identify that have real influence over your prospects, you don’t know more than 20. Which means that at least 60% of your influencers don’t know you either.

It’s time to do some Go-To-Influencer marketing.

Marketing to influencers should be straightforward, as long as you remember the golden rule:

*********Influencers don’t buy anything from you.**********

Influencers are not customers. There is no point in pitching your usual marketing bumf at influencers – they don’t care.

You must, instead, treat influencers in the same way as you would any other segment. You find out what they want, what their interests and motivations are, and what their interest is (professional or otherwise) in you.

Here are some steps you get you started:

• Segment your influencers into influencer types. You may also want a separate segment for VIIs – Very Important Influencers.
• Identify the most important segments – start here.
• Identify where you have relationships with influencers, and where you’re starting from scratch.
• Develop a series of messages, based on your firm’s positioning and product set, that appeals to each influencer type. Remember these need to be pertinent to the needs of the influencer, not pushing product features (because influencers don’t care).
• Develop a community of influencers. You can do this for a one-off event, such as a dinner, or for a product launch, or as a longer-lasting community effort. Whatever fits with your firm, market and product/service.
• Consider commissioning deep profiles of specific influencers that carry extra weight. These may be so-called super-influencers, that influence other influencers in the influence web.

Go-To-Influencer marketing is a necessary means to an end – that of turning the market towards your firm or products. But GTI has its own benefit of increasing your awareness amongst the most important people in the market. If you’ve done the work well, your influencers will be eager not only to talk to you, but to talk about you.

The next step is to give them something to say…

Influencer Marketing Primer 3 – Measuring influence

Robert Cialdini, in his excellent book Influence: Science and Practice, doesn’t actually define what influence is: the only omission in an otherwise worthy read. But for our purposes – understanding influence in the world of B2B marketing – Cialdini offers an interesting two-dimensional measure of influence:

• Is this individual truly an expert? Does the person have the credentials that make them an authoritative voice on the specific subject in question, and
• How truthful can we expect the individual to be? Does the person have some interest in the decision they are commenting on, or are they completely independent?

The first input distinguishes between influencers that have deep expertise in the subject domain, and those that have much less so. Expertise is, of course, relative and specific to the subject. I’d like to think I have some expertise in Single Malt Scotch Whisky, relative to the average person, and would be happy to exert some influence over Whisky purchases by friends and colleagues. But I’m no match for the professional palates of blenders, nor would I advise following my notions when investing in barrels of spirit maturing in casks. And I’m a complete ignoramus about wine, brandy and other tipples.

The second dimension cuts to the heart of a key issue in the advisory business – independence. When I worked at Ovum, we published an independence charter, to state clearly our practices when working with clients. We wouldn’t write commissioned white papers, nor were we allowed to own shares in companies we followed as analysts. At IDC, we also had strong principles of independence, but they resulted in quite different outcomes in practice from those at Ovum. It’s importance to determine what a firm means by independence – it may not be what you think it means.

The above criteria are useful, but not sufficient, when it comes to considering influence in a B2B context. They are, collectively, a measure of the quality of influence being exerted. Quality counts for little if the message is not heard. We require a measure of the frequency with which the individual applies their influence: the more an individual provides input to the market the more they are likely to be heard. This is straightforward to detect when the influencer communicates directly with the market (analysts or journalists, for example) but much harder when communications are made indirectly, via the media, conferences, private meetings, and so on. Nobody says measuring influence is easy!

It is also important to measure the accessibility of the influence’s opinion to the market: if the individual’s message is being ignored or disregarded then they are less likely to exert influence. Journalists, authors and analysts score highly here. Independent consultants, academics and purchasing groups are typically less accessible (with the usual caveat for exceptions).

Blogging is an excellent example of this measure at work. Frequency of posts is an early indicator of influence, but the number of links to a blogger over time is a more reliable measure.

Perhaps the most important criterion in measuring influence is the proximity of the influencer to the decision process. After all, we are measuring the degree of influence over B2B decision makers. Does the influencer have the ear of decision makers, either directly (as in the case of consultants) or via other indirect channels?

Influencer50 has defined four criteria that map to the measures discussed above:

• Market Reach – the number of people an individual has the ability to connect with. This it measures accessibility of the influencer.
• Quality of Impact – the esteem in which an individual’s view and opinions are held. This measure incorporates both credibility and independence of the influencer.
• Frequency of Impact – the number of opportunities an individual has to influence buying decisions.
• Closeness to Decision – how near an individual is to the decision-maker. This does not necessarily mean physical proximity – it can be online or indirect via some other channel. Whatever, great advice or insight has little influence if it is not heard by a decision-maker.

At Influencer50 we score each measure as a percentage, and we provide results in an unweighted manner. Our clients can apply their own weightings, as we provide results in an Excel format (as well as a written report and workshop presentation).

Measuring influence is an inexact science, and it requires experience and judgement. Results are always subjective to some degree, which is why we deliver scores that are relative. There are no absolutes in influence.

We’re continuing to review our criteria, based on changes in the market. For example, what impact does the Marketing 2.0 agenda have? How is blogging changing influence?

I’ll post any changes to our criteria as we release them. Meantime, I’m interested to receive any feedback on our current criteria.

Influencer Marketing Primer 2 – Who are your influencers?

Influencer Marketing is the practice of marketing to, through and with influencers. This definition begs an immediate question – who are my influencers?

Influencers are people whose actions or opinions have an effect on someone else. In the context of B2B marketing (the focus of this blog) we are specifically interested in those individuals that impact on the buying decisions of firms.

Influencers include a variety of types. Journalists and analysts are probably the better known categories. But influencer types also include systems integrators, consultants, academics, authors, management gurus, purchasing co-operatives, regulators, government executives, standards setters, resellers, lobbyists, environmental activities and bloggers. And probably other types we haven’t mentioned.

The only reliable way (as far as we know) of identifying your influencers is to conduct an in-depth market research exercise. In other words, in order to establish who influences a community of decision makers, you’ve got to ask those decision makers. It is therefore critical to understand exactly what community you’re looking at. This is all to do with market segmentation.

For example, the set of influencers for the retail banking segment is different to that for the local government segment. There may be overlaps, but unless you do the research you’ll never know whether the overlap is 10% or 90%.

Ideally, you should narrow the segment even further. If you’re selling VoIP you’ll have different influencers to those if you’re selling ERP applications. If you are a multi-product firm, you’ll have a different set of influencers for each product, in each industry sector, each country, and so on. Segmentation is a dark art, and you’ll know what makes sense for your market. If you go too niche you’ll find that the target market is too small to make the research exercise worthwhile.

So, you conduct your research and arrive at a bunch of names. What then? The next step, and an even darker art, is ranking in order of importance. There’s no point in treating all influencers the same – some influencers are more influential than others.

More coming in Influencer Marketing Primer 3 – Ranking influence

Influencer Marketing Primer 1 – Why Influencer Marketing?

Influencers are important because they affect decisions made by your prospect customers.

Influencer Marketing is therefore important because you can use influencers to improve your marketing to prospects.

Influencer Marketing is about identifying and ranking influencers. It is about marketing to those influencers, so that they know who you are and what you do. It’s about marketing through influencers, so they create market awareness for you. And it’s about marketing with influencers, applying their influence directly to your prospects.

Influencer Marketing is about creating qualified leads, leads that are influenced in your favour. And it’s about addressing objections to sales, by creating influencer-led collateral for your sales people.

Influencer Marketing is about making your business more successful.