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.