3 Ways that Business Influencers Give You Better Marketing Results

As a commentator on all things marketing and innovation, I’m often asked why Business Influencers are necessary. “Shouldn't the product stand for itself?” they say. “Isn’t advertising all our company needs to get awareness and increase sales across all channels?”

Look people, this might have been the case back in the day when we had 4 television channels and everyone listened to radio, newspapers were selling like hotcakes, and the cost of production of a magazine meant there were precious few of them in the world.

You know. Before the internet.

But we are not living in those times anymore. It’s now nearly 30 years since the World Wide Web went commercial. And social media really got going around 20 years ago. Paid newspaper circulations have dropped off a cliff, and attention to free-to-air channels has been challenged by Netflix and other subscription services, most of which have limited or no advertising at all.

If you rely on advertising today, you had better be a local business and be doing massive billboard advertising. Because there’s basically no other way you’re going to be seen by the people who need to know about your company and its products.??

In an age where attention is being dragged all over the place from websites and social networks to podcasts and digital gaming, you need to be creating content, and you need that content to be seen.

But even with really interesting blog posts and some cool animation or videos about your company, unless you have an audience ready and willing to consume that content, you are shouting into the darkness. Even Google and Facebook ads are only going to go so far. You need to tap into the audiences of people who have already built a following through the sharing of useful content.

Influencers have been growing as part of company marketing strategies for decades now, too. In consumer markets it’s an established industry. Beautiful people sharing pics on Instagram or funny videos on TikTok, or brilliant podcasts on everything from cooking to technology are everywhere. But these are influencers for consumer products. Their approach really doesn’t work for companies selling products or services to other firms.

That’s where Business Influencers come in.??

There are three key ways that Business Influencers work, and are different from consumer influencers.

1. They help you communicate more effectively about your product

WHY IT WORKS: Business influencers have built followers because they know how to communicate in a manner that their audience will like. They can help you find ways to communicate about your brand and your products in a manner that actually works with their people. So take their advice on how to describe your products. You might be surprised by how quickly awareness and interest can change.?

DIFFERENCE FROM CONSUMER INFLUENCERS: Business influencers are not necessarily buyers of your product. They are commentators. They want to talk about your product and give their audience some context about where a product might be useful.?

And while they may or may not be beautiful people, they are not going to be sitting on a beach with a pretty view and with your brand in their hand. Their influence is meaningful, not vapid and cliched.?

2. They can talk to you about your content on social channels

WHY IT WORKS: When a business influencer talks to anyone, it’s seen by their followers. Your company can get a huge spike in awareness and following when a business influencer has a conversation with your company. Whether it's a conversation that happens on LinkedIn or twitter, or if it’s a more formal and detailed conversation on a podcast or video blog, it’s an incredibly valuable thing just to talk with business influencers.

Of course you don't want? to jump straight into advertising and begging influencers to promote your content. At least to begin with, it has to be a real conversation. But if you act like a human and show some respect, then it’s going to be better than a billboard in driving understanding of the value of your product.

DIFFERENCE FROM CONSUMER INFLUENCERS: This may sound a bit harsh, but there’s a lot of consumer influencers out there who really don’t care about the products they promote. They just want free stuff, or to be paid a lot to maintain their lifestyles.?

Business influencers are the opposite. It’s what they say, and not how they look that matters. So they are going to care about your product, and they will want to ask questions and understand use cases. It’s why their audiences love them. So talk to them.

3. They can promote your product

WHY IT WORKS: Once you’ve established a relationship with a Business Influencer, you’ve listened to how best to communicate about your product, and maybe had a couple of conversations with them (in public or in private), you can go down the pathway of exploring Business Influencer promotion.??

It works because it is targeted promotion. It’s not a billboard which is hitting the eyeballs of heaps of people who will never buy your product or services. It’s a niche audience that is interested in the commentary of the influencer and is more likely to include the decision makers who would actually buy your product.??

DIFFERENCE FROM CONSUMER INFLUENCERS: Well you know, there may be less of a difference between consumer and Business Influencers when it comes to promotion. Both will choose the best way to promote your product, and both will expect to see some compensation for their promotional activities. But again the issue is ensuring that the Business Influencer is relevant for the product offering. Where a consumer influencer might promote almost anything just to be paid, a Business Influencer is likely to tell you when your product doesn’t fit with their audience. In the end it comes down to providing useful information to their audiences. That’s the key difference between consumer and Business Influencers.?

If you want better marketing results, Business Influencers are going to get you the awareness, understanding and conversions that used to come from advertising. In an age of fragmented attention, there’s no better way to ensure your brand, product and content is going to get its 15 minutes of fame.?