Welcome Barbara French

A belated welcome is due to Barbara French, who joined Influencer50's San Francisco office in August. Barbara is well-known in Analyst Relations circles through her Tekrati service and blog. She's already contributing a ton of brain power to our US operation, and is sharing this publicly via her new blog, Sway.

Please welcome Barbara to the fold, and check out her blog for new insights into the world of influence.

Evolving PR towards influencers

Seth reminds me that PR is a diminishing activity, in terms of its importance. The more enlightened PR firms accept that their business has been commoditised, with minimal opportunities for differentiation and fierce price competition. The question is, what do you do about it?

As ever, it’s a mindset change that’s required. Most start-up firms I know begin their marketing activities by recruiting a PR agency. Why? Because that’s what everyone else does.

Why not try to engage with the 50 most important people in your target market? Sure, some of these will be journalists, and you should definitely reach out to them. But you’ll probably find there are only a relative handful of them, which means you can treat them differently. Find out what they want to hear, what they’d find useful, what they’re interested in. Concentrate on being a resource for these most important journalists.

It means you don’t have to go chasing after the hundred other hacks that cover your space. Then use the time saved to focus on other influencer types, such as analysts, academics, consultants, bloggers, standards bodies and regulators.

The catch? It’s hard to determine which of the hundred journalists are really influential, by which I mean influential on decision makers. And it’s even harder to determine who else is influential, beyond journalists. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, or can’t, do it

From Analyst Relations to Influencer Relations

Duncan Chapple posts an interesting comment on the expansion of analyst relations (AR) departments to a wider Influencer Relations approach. He notes that in starting from an AR perspective firms may miss out key groups of influencers, or gather them together as “left-overs”, and subsequently treat them inappropriately. I agree.

I think AR (or PR for that matter) can be a good starting point to adopt an influencer model. AR is a defined function within most firms, and (importantly) has a line-item budget allocation. There is also an established body of good practice and plenty of discussion to keep AR fresh and top-of-mind.

If you’re coming at influencer from an AR starting point, then SAP’s model is a great archetype to follow. Don knows that his model will evolve over time, as indeed it has done already, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Redefining AR as a sub-division of Influencer Relations is a start, if for no other reason than it identifies the gaps to fill.

I do think, however, that the ‘Relations’ model (AR, PR, media relations, investor relations, influencer relations) is often seen as an end in itself. At a practical level, in most IT organisations there is little coherency between relations and any marketing or sales activity. Sure, an analyst may be wheeled out at a lead generation event, or quoted on a product website. But it’s hardly integrated marketing.

AR and PR firms complain that they’ve been pushing an influencer model for several years, but firms lack the budget or insight to implement such a shift.

Not true – firms are deploying influencer models, but they are mostly not starting from within the AR and PR functions. They are typically emerging from operational marketing functions. Why is this? It’s simply because marketing is increasingly ineffective through the use of traditional models. It’s hard to differentiate a message, even harder to get that message heard, and even if it is heard, you’re unlikely to be believed. Why? Because it’s you that’s delivering the message. Get an influencer to deliver the same message, and it’s more likely to be trusted.

More importantly, by understanding why customers don’t buy from you, and then mapping influencer-led messages onto those objections, you can create a portfolio of counter-arguments based on what influencers are saying. That’s Influencer Marketing.

Unsurprising, then, that most firms truly engaged in an Influencer model are coming less from an AR or PR start, and more from a marketing start.

Influencer Marketing, as we define it, is precisely aimed at growing sales. It does this through a process of influencer identification and engagement, leading to an embedding of influencer-led messages that support and enable sales.

Influencer relations may get you on a shortlist. Influencer Marketing will make sure you get the purchase order.

Analysts and their share of influence

For the record, I’ve never said that analysts are no longer influential. (Some of my best friends are analysts…) What I have said is that the share of influence has shifted away from analysts towards a plethora of other influential categories, some new (eg. bloggers) and some old (eg. consultants, regulators, academics). In fact, what’s most relevant is that it is now possible, using sophisticated search capability (plus a good deal of research diligence) to detect influence (if you know where to look and don’t prejudge the answer).

I’ve also stated, in the book and elsewhere, that analyst influence is often overstated. Analysts are influential, but they are not at the top of the influence hierarchy. Indeed, I don’t believe there is an influence hierarchy.

HP, and now SAP, confirm that view that analysts are just one of multiple groups of influencer. It’s interesting that Don at SAP detected this 18 months ago and reacted by establishing an Influencer Relations division. What’s surprising is that so few companies have followed this lead. But I know many are watching this trend closely.

Influencers are old hat

When I was at the CMO Council Summit in November there was a panellist that said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Influencers? We’ve been doing that for years. It’s old hat.”

I confess, the comment bugged me then. It still does. I was reminded of the comment when in Ghent a few weeks ago, while being interviewed by the Belgian press. Two of the journalists I spoke to suggested that companies have been doing influencer marketing for years.

I know what seeds the belief that considering influencers is well-established. It’s research like Overstreet and Katz & Lazarfield. It’s books like Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people. It’s Everett Rogers and the theory of diffusion of innovation. And so on.

There are two concerns I have in regarding influencers as old hat. First, if influencers are old hat, where are the influencer relations people? We have press relations and analysts relations. Whither influencer relations? In fact, influencer relations is just beginning to appear, in forward thinking companies like SAP and Wipro (check out the Wipro case study in the book).

Second, I actually think that influencers are old hat, insofar as they have always been there. Despite the talk about so-called “New Influencers” (bloggers and the like) it’s the “Old Influencers” that still dominate.

What’s new is the recognition that (a) we have a way of identifying them, and (b) we can then engage with them to improve marketing and sales.

That is very much "New hat".

Is the penny dropping for AR professionals?

Carter Lusher and Skip MacAskill two long-standing Analyst relations professionals, both ex-Gartner, now heading up AR at HP and Cisco respectively. I recently linked to Carter’s post on influence here.

Skip’s recent post on influence is important because he states a belief that “the traditional business models that analyst firms have employed for years will become less relevant within the next three to five years.”

He also thinks that the “traditional” firms won’t disappear completely, but they will be hard pressed by emerging information delivery models and processes – along with a new breed of alternative influencers – that are fast-moving and in-the moment.

Finally, Skip believes that “that the number of users that buy a product or invest in a technology off the back of a traditional Gartner, Forrester or Yankee report will significantly decrease over the next five years.”

These are important comments from the AR perspective, notably so because AR stands to lose as much as analyst firms. As Skip notes, “I don’t welcome that development with any type of mirth or glee – as an Analyst Relations guy, I’m quite interested in things like job security and my function’s own continued relevance – but I definitely sense a shift in the air.”

I think that the way forward for AR is for it to broaden out into a wider understanding of where influence is actually applied, beyond analysts to encompass consultants, academics, bloggers, procurement bodies, financial authorities, regulators, government agencies, consumer groups, and the rest of the influencer community.

The difficulty is, most vendors have no idea who really influences their customers and prospects, and wouldn’t have anything to say to them if they did know. That’s why I wrote a white paper on the subject a year ago, to shake vendors out of the “Analysts equal influence” mindset. It is still pertinent today.

The question for AR now is, do you take note of what senior AR pros are saying on the shake up of influence and act on it? Or ignore it and hope for the best?

More case studies - and an update on the book

Further to my initial announcement on case studies for the forthcoming book, I can reveal two more case study subjects. These are Wipro and Yahoo!, thus adding to Adobe and Palm (and more coming soon).

What is interesting about both Wipro and Yahoo (without giving too much away) is that they have established Influencer Relations departments or functions within their marketing operations. This trend is growing.

The book is complete in draft proof format, and is out for review by a select group of experts - I hope they like it. We also have a natty cover design. The book web site is under construction and should be up and running shortly. It's all coming together (finally).

Is this blog influential to AR professionals?

I'm intrigued to find this blog mentioned on ARmageddon, the Analyst Relations blog, in the context of Forrester's research into the blogs that AR pros read. Apparently (though I can't trace the source email) Forrester sent a list of blogs to its AR program subscribers asking which one they read. Tacked on at the end of the list is my humble offering.

I'm intrigued because I wouldn't position Infuse as an AR blog, though I do have some strong views on the analyst industry (having been an analyst for 12 years). This is a blog on Influencer Marketing (and I trust this isn't news to you).

Have I been included by mistake? Or by misunderstanding? Or by the interest from AR in Influencer Relations? I don't know.

Perhaps Forrester will let me know when they complete their research. Ta.

PR moves from awareness to influence

I noted with interest Chime’s results announcement on March 14th. Lord Bell, the group chief, says that, “We have no evidence that the growth won't continue through 2007...business continues to move from awareness to influence, which is good news for PR.”

There are two points worth comment. The first is that the PR industry (or Chime at least) recognises that awareness is insufficient – it’s influence that matters. Chime has tangible activity to back this up: for example, it owns Sunesis and Insight, which talk about influencer relations, and it owns Opinion Leader Research, which conducts influencer research for BT among others.

Does this mark the formal shift of PR into Influencer Relations? We’ll see. Though nearly all PR firms think influence stops at analysts and journalists.

The second point is the assertion that the news is good for PR. Actually, I think it’s very bad news for PR. PR is an industry measured in “air cover” – broad coverage measured in column inches. Influence is measured in impact on sales. The two are at complete ends of the targeted communications spectrum.

If you were a small vendor with limited budget, would you spend your meagre market budget on unfocused coverage in any trade title that will carry your copy? Or would you spend it on knowing who is directly influencing your target market, and then getting those influencers to carry your message?

I believe that the PR wave is heading for a crash. It’s good news for vendors, but not for PR firms.

An influencer model we want to avoid at all costs…

Not that I read the Sunday papers often, but serendipity had it that I dipped into the Independent on Sunday at the weekend. A political lobby agency, Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA), has compiled a report on Gordon Brown’s “inner circle” – Mr Brown is widely held to be the next Prime Minister (and despite us both hailing from Fife is no relation of mine…).

Anyway, the lobbyist has compiled a list of the close influencers surrounding Mr Brown. Fair enough. They are selling this list to firms that might want to understand the community of influencers in the next government. Again fair enough.

BPPA is now selling time with specific influencers in the inner circle. Firms can pay a fee to attend a dinner at which influencers are present. It turns out that the influencers, mostly current politicians with high aspirations, didn’t know dinner attendees were paying. One notable influencer, Stephen Timms, declined to attend on find out he was being “sold on”.

It’s fascinating to see the influencer model at work in the world of politics. The value of the information and insight into the prospective future government is clearly worth having. But at what price? Lack of transparency is unethical and usually counter-productive. Which politician will now risk attending a dinner arranged by BPPA. My guess is that BPPA has severely damaged its chances of getting influencers anywhere near a dinner table, much less charging firms for them to attend.

Of course, in the commercial world, influencers are entitled to charge a fee for providing their advice. But their influence diminishes if they don’t declare this at the time.

On Edelman’s trust barometer

Every year Edelman PR commissions a survey of opinion leaders in 18 countries, measuring the degree of trust they have in business, government, media and NGOs.

As in other polls and lists, it’s interesting but not very useful to most firms targeting specific segments. You wouldn’t want to bet your marketing strategy on this study.

What is very significant, though, is that this poll acknowledges the influence of peers, “average employees” and “people like me.” It’s not just the elite that influencer. As David Brain, president and CEO, Edelman Europe, says:

“The growing trust in ‘people like me’ and average employees means that companies must design their communications as much on the horizontal or the peer-to-peer axis as on the vertical or top-down axis. CEOs should continue to talk with elites, such as investors and regulators, but also provide critical information to employees and enthusiastic consumers who spur the peer-to-peer discussion. Third parties with credentials, like academics and physicians, are also critical.”

It’s significant not because of what it says – it basically echoes the point of this blog and of Influencer50’s business model – but of who says it. Edelman is one of the world’s big PR firms and as such is clearly trying to get its head around the impact on its business of reaching out to new and diverse communities, while not incurring the wrath of the blogosphere. It’s had a couple of crises already (Walmart, Microsoft), but at least it’s trying.

Blogger Relations as an extension of PR

It had to happen. PR blog The World’s Leading reports that Prompt Communications has launched a Blogger Relations practice, alongside its traditional PR activities. I doubt they’ll be the last.

Blogging is causing headaches in the worlds of PR and AR, not necessarily because they threaten the status quo, but because neither knows how to handle them. In many ways, blogging just highlights the debate between PR and specialist AR functions. There are important and fundamental differences between PR and AR. Now Blogger Relations (BR?!) seems to create another set of tensions. Some bloggers are analysts, some are journalists, some are, well, just folk.

There are a couple of ways BR may evolve.

We may see the emergence of what ARmageddon called Influencer Relations (InfR), where all influencers are managed under a cohesive programme. BR just becomes subsumed into InfR.

My main problem with the idea of InfR is that it stops at “relations”. I prefer the holistic concept of Influencer Marketing, because it makes tangible acknowledge of, and contribution to, the bottom line. AR and PR have always struggled to measure their value in hard cash.

The other evolution path for BR is for us to realise that blogging is just a medium. True, the medium allows huge reach for previously unknown people, but same applied to ecommerce web sites 10 years ago. In our categorisation of influencer types we use the term “blogger” only in rare cases and as a last resort. Charlene Li blogs, but she’s a Forrester analyst. Seth Godin blogs, but he’s an author and speaker. Heather Green blogs, but she’s a journalist. And so on.

One final thing: on-line dialogue, including blogging, accounts for only 6% of communication. Face-to-face accounts for 77%. So before we swoon over the power of blogs, shouldn’t we be setting up practices that deal with Face-to-Face Relations?

I know some people that would benefit from such knowledge ;-)