Influencer Marketing is:

‘the on-line marketing of expertise through influential individuals with an audience matched to the target profiles of the adviser.’

Every community has gatekeepers. Those individuals who can provide access to target clients. For many advisers, e.g. financial planners, this traditionally consisted of word-of-mouth referrals from existing clients, and referrals from Centres of Influence, such as accountants.

The Internet and social media networks have created a new generation of referral sources called ‘influencers’. These gatekeepers use on-line social interaction to influence their audience, e.g. a Mention, Comment, Endorsement, and sharing of the content of others. Their audience consists of individuals who are following the influencer by various means:

1. Being a Fan on Facebook
2. Following them on Twitter
3. Connecting with them on LinkedIn
4. Subscribing to their YouTube Channel
5. Following their blog Posts
6. Liking them on Facebook, etc.

Influencers specialise on topics of interest to their audience and are expert commentators and thought leaders. Some influencers are celebrities, who use their profile to promote products or causes. Influencer Marketing is different to search results, which are based on the algorithms used by the search engines and not the actions of influencers.

There are 2 approaches for an adviser to use Influencer Marketing:

1. Work with third party influencers to recruit new clients and expand the reach of the practice’s marketing presence.
2. Develop their on-line presence and personal brand to become an influencer in their chosen areas of expertise.

The objective with third parties is to establish relationships with influencers so they share the adviser’s educational content and provide social proof that endorses the adviser. This reach gains the attention of prospective clients and referral sources who have no relationship with the practice.

Advisers can become influencers by creating their own on-line audiences. Social media networks, such as LinkedIn and YouTube, publish and host content that positions the adviser as an expert on topics that can be found by clients and influencers through Internet and social media search engines.

The more content advisers have across multiple platforms, the more opportunities to be found by prospects and new referral sources. All networks relevant to target clients are used for Education Based Marketing campaigns to maximise reach in engaging clients, and accessing prospects and referral sources.

The next blog post on Education Based Marketing details the approach to be used in being positioned as a provider of organic content for influencers, and developing the adviser as an influencer.

Note: this information is based on my free PDF download Financial Planner's Marketing Blueprint - available from this website.