Introduction: Why Become an Industry Influencer?

Influence is a powerful tool in business and in life. Founding Father John Hancock rose to prominence during the American Revolution because of his influence as a successful businessman. He was asked to contribute ideas for the formation of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important political documents in the history of the United States. Here is what he had to say about influence:

“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.”

When people perceive you as having credibility and expertise in a given field, your opinion and recommendations gain vital credibility. Your ideas and the content you create, whether delivered through audio, video, text, or another form of media, is quickly shared and taken to heart. Most importantly, people respect your experience and trust your knowledge.

When influential people like the President of the United States speak, their target audience hangs onto every word. The audience recognizes that there is significant value in what the influencer has to share, and that there are positive rewards for following his or her advice. 

That is the power of influence: to affect behavior because of the reputation you have earned as a reliable leader and problem-solving specialist in a particular field, someone who always has his or her followers’ best interestsat heart.

What is Influence Marketing?

Marketing through influence is more important now than ever to the success of your business. A 2014 McKinsey study showed that word-of-mouth from happy customers generated twice as many sales than paid advertising. Those customers also delivered a 37% higher retention rate.

This is because the balance of power between customers and companies has changed. The overabundance of marketing messages has caused many people to become wary when they sense a sales pitch is being delivered. However, those people hold great value. Though they dislike direct marketing, they respect their friends’ opinions on products and services, and look upon them as influencers. Therefore, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase following a friend’s recommendation.

That is what influence marketing is all about: developing a reputation for expertise and credibility in a particular market, while growing that reputation through strong relationships with your target audience.

It’s about connecting with your prospects. Influential businesspeople can communicate effectively within their marketplace. They understand the psychological side of marketing, the power to influence someone’s behaviors and beliefs about purchasing.

What Are the Benefits of Influence Marketing?

The benefits of effective influence marketing can be global or personal. It depends simply on what effect you’re trying to produce or what action you’re trying to get your market to take. Influencers can quickly and easily expand the reach of their brand when their opinions and ideas are trusted.

For example, you can use your influence to increase traffic flow to your website, sell more products, attract advertisers, or build a massive online following that attracts joint venture opportunities and media attention.

One of the best ways to receive all of those benefits is to become a social influencer. This allows you to springboard off your reputation in a community, while building your credibility and working towards your business goals.

What Is a Social Influencer?

Have you ever been to a party and noticed there was one individual who everyone gravitated towards? That person was a social influencer because he or she had developed and refined social skills that were attractive in a party setting. That is what you want to become in your industry.

Whether you realize it or not, the decisions you make on a daily basis are influenced in some way. This is especially true where social media is concerned. People flock to social networks for a feeling of belonging. Once there, their actions and beliefs are influenced by those perceived as leaders in the group.

Pick some form of social media that is relevant and advantageous to your market and begin working on building your influence there. That is all social influence is: the power to affect the decisions and actions of others in some social setting, through your identity as a knowledgeable and trustworthy expert in your field. Your expert status can be actual or simply perceived by your audience.

How Do You Become an Influencer?

Influencing behavior of any kind begins with building strong relationships. Your target prospects must enjoy and benefit from the relationship they have with you before they will allow you to impact their decisions.

This means you absolutely must be seen as someone who is not only knowledgeable in a particular field, but also a person who acts with integrity and honesty at all times. You should also specialize in one area, rather than trying to dominate a large market. It is a quicker and easier path to influence when you target a smaller, definable niche.

Influencers are also visible. Your face, your name, and your company’s brand must all be “out there” at all times. Build a confident and dependable picture of you and your company, and you will more effectively create loyalty and trust in your followers. People are generally drawn towards those individuals and organizations that show confidence and self-assurance.

To become influential, you must also understand that your market is always changing. Learn to be proactive rather than reacting to change. Realize that becoming an influencer in your market requires taking whatever steps are necessary to becoming successful in your particular field.

What You Will Learn

Before you get started, know that this is not an overnight process. Influence achieved quickly is lost just as quickly. Reliable, sustainable influence in your market depends on constantly providing value to your target audience. It is about always thinking of how you can best serve your market, rather than focusing on your personal and business goals.

This means becoming an impactful presence in your industry may take time. That is actually good news, because a consistent track record of solving problems and helping others achieve results will survive longer than any “flash in the pan” respect you earn artificially in a short period of time.

How do you create influence? What steps can you take to build the perception that you are an expert who consistently helps those people in your target market?

You do that by understanding the components of influence. When you know what influence is, how to obtain and measure it, and where to nurture it, you have the formula to make yourself an industry influencer.

That is the goal of this course. Upon completion, you will be able to:

• Gauge and improve the strength of your online reputation
• Identify influence marketing opportunities and benefit from them
• Use simple methods proven to build the perception that you are an influential specialist in your market
• Create market-appropriate content that shows you as an expert in your field
• Locate the areas online where you need to be to best grow your influence
• Measure and monitor your online influence in your target market
• Increase your customer base and loyalty by reinforcing the idea that you are influential in your field

Best Practice Tip: Take notes right here in your course workbook. Highlight sections of text so you can quickly refer to them later. This will make putting together your market influence action plan in the final module much easier.

Here’s a basic overview of the 4 main modules we’ll be covering in the course that, put together, will help you build your reputation as an industry influencer.

We’ll go through each of these influence components in turn, starting with the proven strategies, then content, then presence, and finally measurement of influence.

Over the next 4 modules of this course, you will start becoming a market influencer. You will build the foundation that makes you the trusted go-to source for information and recommendations in your market. More importantly, you will know how to use that market expert status to increase the number of customers you attract and the bottom line profits you generate.

When you are recognized as delivering an influential impact in your market or niche, your business success will come much more easily. This starts by identifying those areas where you excel in building influence. You should also list the goals you expect to accomplish by taking this course.