Influencer Marketing

by Duncan Brown, Nick Hayes

Influencer Marketing is the most important new approach to marketing in a decade for those professionals at the leading edge of purchasing decision making. It shows that key decision makers in all major markets operate within communities of influencers- because major decisions are too complex and risky to taken in isolation.

The ‘ecosystems’ this creates are full of these critically important people, whose impact on purchasing decisions is both pivotal and misunderstood. This new book demonstrates that-

• As mass media impact wanes so the role of influencers grows - marketers need to know why and how to use this knowledge

• The impact of blogs, wikis and other social media is that they enable new influencers to emerge, and disperse traditional sources of influence.

• Large and small businesses worldwide pour billions of pounds each year into influencing what they think are their influencers. This book shows you that most of that money is being spent on the wrong people, leaving the real influencers all too often untouched.

• Influencers do not do the buying, are not obvious, cannot be bought, and start off neutral - which is why their potential to affect sales is so great

• Influencers are not all equal - they can be assessed, ranked and prioritised to be used effectively

• Influencers can be influenced – the question is how to get to them to generate market awareness, leads and address sales barriers

Influencer marketing is closely related to the relentless rise and success of word of mouth (WOM) and relationship marketing, and is now established as one of the armoury of new techniques professionals must use. For all those involved in marketing and sales this book will be an essential analysis of how to identify who has influence, how they apply it, and how you can turn it to your advantage.

250 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2007

Reviews

[Dmitry]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

There is a chronic lack of marketing innovation in the technology industry. Compare your core message with that of your competitors’. Your product is easy-to-use, fast, leading-edge, proven, customisable, flexible, scalable and available in mauve.
<…>
You’re selling something, which means you’re biased. Prospects may like your message but they want to hear it from someone they trust.

Начало у книги было многообещающим, но очень скоро авторы скатились в банальности и обычный здравый смысл. Понятно, что похвала (реклама) продукта со стороны незаинтересованной стороны и даже эксперта крайне важна и эффективна (не зря в Интернете, а до этого в журналах, было столько различных рейтингов и отзывов пользователей). Однако комплексного подхода в книге нет. Обо всем, о чём пишут авторы, можно додумать самостоятельно просто наблюдая за тем, как устроен современный бизнес. Самого главного в книге нет, т.е. нет комплексного подхода.

There is a chronic lack of marketing innovation in the technology industry. Compare your core message with that of your competitors’. Your product is easy-to-use, fast, leading-edge, proven, customisable, flexible, scalable and available in mauve.
<…>
You’re selling something, which means you’re biased. Prospects may like your message but they want to hear it from someone they trust.

The beginning of the book was promising, but very soon, the authors slipped into platitudes and common sense. It is clear that praise (advertising) of a product by a disinterested party or even an expert is important and effective (there was a reason why there were so many different ratings and user reviews on the internet and before that in magazines). However, there is no comprehensive approach in the book. Everything that the authors write about, you can think about on your own simply by observing how modern business works. The most important thing is not in the book, i.e., there is no comprehensive approach.

[Jeffrey]

In this Duncan Brown and Rick Hayes help define the need to influence the influencers. The fact is, decision makers do not operate in a vacuum. Perhaps as much if not more effort should be on targeting individuals who are thought leaders in target ecosystems. They attempt to help you understand the dynamics of influence in your markets and not so much on how to exert the necessary influence. But understandind why influence is created is a necessary first step.