I love podcasts, so I was thrilled when my friend (and client) Heidi Sullivan invited me to be one of the first guests on Influence Pros, a new podcast from Convince & Convert. Even more exciting? I got to talk about one of my favorite topics: Business development.
How exactly do these two topics overlap, you might ask? For me, influencer/relationship marketing has always been fundamental for business development. To this day, I can still trace the majority of Geben’s business back to relationships that began online. This approach has led to Geben working with PR industry influencers like Deirdre Breakenridge, Jason Falls and Jay Baer … plus these people have turned out to be incredible referral sources.
If you have 30 minutes, take a listen to the full episode. In the meantime, here are a few key takeaways:
- Influencers don’t just live online. Those of us in the social media space often tend to think of influencers as online only, but if we’re being really smart PR pros, we should be thinking about how to include offline influencers too. They’re just as connected, just in a different way.
- Influencer campaigns need their own PR strategy. If you’re going to execute an influencer campaign, make sure there’s a promotional plan in place too. Instead of solely relying on influencers to spread the word, think strategically about how you can use your own channels to promote the campaign, too.
- “Influence” isn’t limited to network size. There’s a tendency to focus on “A-list” influencers with tons of followers. However, those people are getting pitched ALL the time and are often paid for their efforts. That means they won’t necessarily be as engaged as someone with a smaller, more tight-knit following. More important than network size are things like: Does this influencer have the *right* network? An engaged network? Do they have the ability to activate their audience to take action?
- Always have a clear call-to-action. Whether your desired outcome is new business leads or app downloads (or whatever else you’re working toward!), remember: Smart influencer marketing isn’t just getting people to talk about your product/service, it’s getting them to do so in a way that inspires action.
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Photo credit: Convince & Convert