A transformation is occurring within marketing.
Marketers are realizing that a single person's trusted advice and experience can be more valuable than that of many passive groups. Studies have shown that these key individuals, known in the marketing world as "influencers" reach over twice as many people through word of mouth as the average consumer.
It should come as no surprise then that marketers want to particularly target these influencers to increase their marketing efficiency. The question is how to do it. Many marketers attempt to lure these key individuals through beta testing, product invitations and samples.
Taking The Bait
According to a 2006 DoubleClick report on influencers, this market segment demonstrates a high-level of sophistication regarding the media and the advertising they consume. They enjoy being part of such programs and being able to learn about products in advance. Influencers are also more likely to want advertisers to target Internet ads to them based on their browsing behavior. They also like to give feedback to marketers regarding their ideas. This is evident in Starbucks recent campaign which attempts to solicit ideas from it’s user-base in an effort to "help shape it's future."
On the other hand, influencers are more likely to delete or clear their cookies and fast-forward through TV ads when using a digital video recorder than non-influencers. Simply stated, influencers are finely tuned into advertising, both positively and negatively.
Stay tuned for my next post on influencer behavior...Labels: demographic targeting, influencers, internet marketing, word of mouth
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