How do you market to 'Influencers'?

Why should one view customers and influencers any differently, especially with customers increasingly becoming more prominent influencers thanks to social media? The goals with both are to engage, inform, persuade and invite. To engage influencers, convince them that you understand their value and specific area or areas of focus. Then inform them by telling them something they didn't know, or something they did know but were looking at differently. Then persuade them that what you know complements what they know in potentially beneficial ways, then invite them to test out your assertions, about your knowledge and potential synergies between you and them. Establish some bona fides and common ground, then collaborate with them to find the mutual "wins."

As someone who's been tagged an "influencer" for more than three decades, I know that's the approach to which I've always responded most positively -- and with all due respect to Ms. Crown's earlier answer, I think influencers, including customers, partners and prospects, ALL want, need and deserve more "quality content" than they want anything like a typical "sales pitch!"

One of the best ways to gain influencer attention is to ask influencers for their opinions. Nothing is more flattering and it shows you value their thought leadership. Invite them to write a guest blog, review your book and write a testimonial, provide a quote in a news release, participate in a FOCUS Roundtable etc. Another great way to market to influencers is to read & comment on their blog posts ...regularly. Follow their tweets and retweet with thoughtful commentary -- Participate in their conversations online. Then take it off-line and invite them to meet you for coffee at a conference where they are speaking.

I find many companies are changing the classic Media Relations title to Influencer Relations. Why?

Because the voice of ordinary people has become enormously influential with the rise of social networks and blogs. Moreover, mainstream media's ownership of news and editorial content is eroding given the new "citizen journalists” that are emerging from the blogosphere.

So .. while this question could occupy a book on The New Influencer – I’ll focus on bloggers, since they were pioneers in this new model - and they have enormous impact on buying decisions. For example, there are a bunch of bloggers that focus on cloud computing. These guys have attracted a huge audience that doesn’t do anything until they consult the cloud blogs.

But marketing to these influencers is a whole other ball game. Bloggers don’t want marketing copy, they want insight, point-of-view and opinion. They expect you to be authentic. They want it to be personal .. and they can be flippant with marketers who violate this spirit by pitching something that has obviously been written for mass consumption.

It’s not unlike this very site. If I were to respond to this question with something like, “Read the body of Gartner research we have on this topic; if you don’t have access to our research, call me and I’ll put you in touch with one of our Account Executives”
That kind of response either would get deleted .. or worse, I’d get thrown off this site and lose my status as expert.

Bloggers for example, in a joint study by Edelman and Technorati said that one of the things that annoys them most is being a "marketing and public relations outlet for marketers." The marketers I talk to agree that a blogger would never want to think they are a bullet point on some CMO's marketing plan. While this seems a contradiction (after all, why else would you bother with these new influencers when you’re a marketer?) the sentiment behind the blogger response is important.

For example, influencers won't tolerate this...

"Employees love working at our company; we are the preferred place to work in our sector."

But they will tolerate ...

"We find work-life balance to be the overriding concern with employees in today's market. Our data also reveals people are happiest when they are engaged in challenging work. When people leave, it's rarely about money."

Now .. will influencers tolerate a classic call-to-action? Sure they will .. but again .. and ... ya gotta tread lightly... for example,

"I've been reading this discussion, and I agree that power consumption is always a concern in the data center now that it's become one of the biggest line items in the budget; our white paper on this topic is available for anyone who wants it. Go to (insert URL)

It’s almost similar to product placement. When you insert a product into a television show or movie, it has to support the storyline to be effective.

I create my centers of influence initially by helping them with their business problems and help them create more customers. After I've proven myself, then I ask them to endorse me to their client/customer base. It's never failed.

Ken
www.kenvarga.com

Influencers tend to consume a lot of metrics and content as they look to validate and verify their ideas and garner internal support. When marketing to them, I try to have a lot of independent facts and figures, combined with best practices, how to's and step-by-step documentation. Well-crafted white papers work well, as do content rich webinars and anything you can co-marketing with a respectable third-party analyst. Influencer materials have to be much more about quality content (education, training, enablement) and not about a sales pitch for a product or service.

IMHO, it's not about who you think Influencers are, it's who prospective buyers trust. Go ask them. Make it part of your buyer persona development.

And if they are unsure, you should use Jeremiah's advice and create your own.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
@fearlesscomp

I think Michael has it exactly right. I am an influencer, even though we don't do competitive landscapes a la Gartner. I find myself in so many briefings where I ask the question "Is this really the way you try to sell your product to retailers?"

If they respond in the affirmative, we can actually help them improve their messaging and have a good and interesting conversation. If they say "Oh no...this is our 'analyst' deck" I usually just shake my head. Because that means it's going to be longer, more boring, and less relevant to those we are apparently influencing.

You need to ask a lot of questions and do your research. The Internet has made it easier for the average person to explore the options available to them for any product or service. As an example, I was looking for a digital converter yesterday. I started on google and ended up on Amazon. I looked for a reasonably priced item, bypassed all of the specs and went straight to the reviews. I read the worst reviews 1st and then several of the best. I felt comfortable with the product and will buy it today.

One of the best ways to market to influencers is to create them as Joe/Jeremiah states. Produce a quality product and have systems in place to garner quality and informative reviews that are searchable on the Internet.

For Direct Sales, it is important to identify who will be involved in the decision making process. Ask questions, not only to the buyer, but also to the end users. Be likelable. Be an expert on your product and how it solves the real problems facing it's users.

I like exhibiting at conferences that 'influencers' would attend. Since they are making the 'big picture' decisions, conferences that cater to that type of crowd tend to be the most productive. Speaking at these types of events and presenting yourself as an expert in your field helps attract their attention as well. Having written and published a book in your area of expertise is a big plus. You want them coming to you!

I also like talking on industry specific blogs, and in LinkedIn groups that these 'influencers' might be watching and reading.

In the US healthcare IT market, Federal government regulatory agencies have an enormous influence. There are four major routes for presenting ideas to them: questions and presentations to Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees, public comment in response to specific topics, public comment in response to Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs), and lobbying. Secondary routes include participation in industry associations such as HIMSS and the Electronic Health Records Association (EHRA), that, in turn, use the major routes. Volunteer time contributed to standards development bodies, such as Health Level Seven (HL7) and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), has had significant influence on the final shape of Federal rules as well.

Chris:

First off, good luck with the roundtable! I'm a consultant, and I'd define influencers as those that I can 1) build a strategic relationship with; 2) those that refer business to me; and/or 3) those that I network closely with.

I'd say there are several tiers of influencers in my world. Those that I hold very close to me, like my accountant, business coach, accountability partner. Then there's those that I look to build strategic partnerships with. And there's those that refer business to me, or I refer business to. And there's also existing and past clients.

I market to them the same way I market to the rest of my audience - through networking in person, through social media, and through e-blasts. In addition, sometimes I'll send more targeted messages just to them. And then I look to meet/speak with at least 2 influencers a week to stay in front of them, continue to educate them, and find out what I can do for them.

I hope this helps.

I tend to look at "influencers" as people who potentially will be affected by the product or service I am offering. I map out the sphere of influence of "my" customer and begin a drip marketing campaign to the so called influencers. I accomplish this during interviews of the customer. Simply ask the questions and they will answer.

The goal is to remove as much of the natural resistance to change as possible by educating the influencers about your product/service and the positive impacts they will have on their business and their personal situation.

Building a knowledge base and a ground swell of support for your offerings is essential. With the advent of social media sites, it is easy and cost effective to deliver specific "value added" content to people's desktops.

A steady stream of supportive content that causes dialog and a little "buzz" in the client organization can really help to close the business.

Also, let's not forget building personal relationships with as many of the influencers as possible. Social media sites work for some people but not for all. Some people still prefer the face-to-face personal relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed and entirely agree with Richard Fouts' observations. I hasten to add that by my lights, the things he points out that differentiate "influencers" from "analysts" closely harmonize with things buyers and users tend to care more about than, say, vendors or even traditional analysts. And as Richard's reference to product placement points out, the best influencers I've encountered want credible, effective and relevant "storylines" from those attempting to market to or influence them, whether what's being "marketed" is a product, an idea or a point of view. Which in my experience is precisely what buyers and users want and have always wanted from vendors and influencers.

Thanks, Richard! (I thought about referring to a recent blog post here, but didn't want to cheapen the discussion...)
;-)

Ah, Michael .. .refer away. I bet your blog post is really good based on what you've contributed to this site. We all want calls-to-action .. and we know you would never stoop to shameless promotion -)