Marketing By Influence

Knowing your target audience is key to making sales or getting qualified leads but it is one thing to know your target audience and another issue to know where to find them.

The issue of knowing where to invest marketing resources into finding and effectively marketing to your target audience is an issue a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses are still yet to figure out. A lot of people lose a lot of resources on the trial-and-error method of running aimless ad campaigns and discounts.

What if I told you there was a way out? 

Recently, the Holy Spirit has been drawing my attention to one particular form of marketing, and it may surprise you, but when you are done with this revelation, you will also see the light as I did.

This form of marketing is called Influencer Marketing. Surprised?

Influencer marketing is any form of marketing effort that employs the engagement of a well-respected individual or brand that has some form of reputation or influence relevant to the product or service of interest.

While it is your job to know who your target audience is, you don't need to go through the stress of locating and effectively reaching out to them when there are people who have made more than half of the marketing efforts for you.

It is important to note that an influencer is not a content creator. Don't mistake the two. An influencer has loyal fans who are willing to patronize anything they promote out of love and respect. He or she has some form of influence or impact over their fan base. A content creator, on the other hand, has followers and subscribers who are only interested in their brand and may not necessarily subscribe to anything new.

    Now let us consider the main Biblical event that led us to this point from our anchor verse.

1 Samuel 9.4 - And he passed through Mount Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.

So from our anchor text in if you happen to read from the beginning of this chapter 9 to chapter, you will find out that Saul had now been searched for His Fathers asses for days to no avail, and just when he was about to give up, his servant came up with a brilliant solution.

1 Samuel 9.6 - And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.

They had searched for their target in different locations to no avail till they decided to turn to a man of God whom they knew would know the whereabouts of the asses and yours truly; they got the right location from him.

1 Samuel 10.2 - When thou art departed from me today, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

    You might want to ask; What does the biblical event from our anchor verse have to do with influencer marketing? If you have not yet still seen the light by now, no worries, you surely will at the end of this blog. So walk with me. I promise it gets clearer, and the revelation of the latter is much sweeter.

Now back to business.

Instead of wasting time, effort and resources trying to find your target audience like Saul and his servant, why not just go to someone who already has such information or influence at the palm of their fingers? If they had gone to the man of God first, they would have saved themselves the trouble.

Why waste more time and resources when you can hire the influence of an influencer?

Even Jesus used Influencer marketing only this time, He was the influencer.

He would start with miracles or solve a problem each time he entered a new city. This act would build trust in the onlookers and attract a large crowd of warm leads to him. Unfortunately, he also attracted competitors, but that's not the point.

After pulling this large crowd and getting their attention, He would then preach the gospel and build more brand loyalty through conversion, signs and wonders.

Remember the miracle of feeding 5000 men? The crowd that followed him did so because of His previous miracles, and after preaching the word to them, He left them wanting more by performing another great miracle or deep word of revelation. 

Notice that most times, Jesus would perform an act of influence and let people come to Him before He preached the gospel; He was not door-knocking. He knew how to influence people easily and this was a major marketing strength. It was more time-saving and effective for Him.

    If you are quite observant of the trends on social media today, you will notice that famous entrepreneurs and CEOs are finally coming into the spotlight to build a personal brand that would further showcase their brand. They are now using their influence for their profit.

Even Mark Zuckerberg was never active in his creation till recently. What about Donald Trump? Trump gathered millions of followers in less than 2 days.

The world of influence through content creation and other forms of advertising is now taking over and we Christian Entrepreneurs also need to step up our game.

I understand that not everyone was meant for the spotlight. You might not have the charisma but you can surely impact people with the value you possess. You might not also have the time or talent, but you can hire an experienced influencer to do the job for you.

    Jesus is the greatest influencer of all time.  His game is top-notch. I mean, He would even influence influencers to increase His sphere of influence and He still does it to date through the Holy Spirit. Talk bout generational influence.

Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? She seemed like a well-known woman in her town and already had 5 husbands to her name.

Jesus influenced her by offering her the value of living water and revelation truth. Soon after, she spread the word of His power to the whole city and this drew out the city to meet Jesus.

    I believe at this point, we now see eye to eye on this topic, and you might now be considering this super form of marketing, so let me walk you through briefly.

There are different types of influencers, and each caters to the desires and emotions of a particular target audience with characteristics that perfectly fit different types of products and services. These audiences have already been nurtured over time and trust has been built. You can also gain their trust by going through the one they trust. Building trust from scratch takes more time and resources.

Influencer marketing is a more time-saving and cost-effective form of marketing when considering its long-term benefits if you play your cards right. It builds instant trust and patronage. If not patronage, you get warm leads. 

You can also gain brand loyalty if you are up to the task. Influence has the power to make people love your product if their role model approves of it but such loyalty can only be maintained if you actually offer value.

Influencers might not necessarily double as content creators, you just need a person of influence to attest to the value that you bring to the table; someone your audience will trust.

I have seen so many churches over the years use this form of marketing. They invite popular gospel artists or ministers and add them to the front covers of their posters with increased visibility.

Notice how the hall is always full when these people show up and how normal the programme is when they don't. Non-denominational members don't mind attending these programmes just to get a glimpse of their favourite influencers.

We are talking about the power of influence here!

    Some people might say that influencer marketing does not work for them. Well, it did not work for them because they did not do it right.

Now let's study the pattern of Jesus that gave him mind-blowing results:

1. He paid His influencers handsomely

Although Jesus did not use money, He made a major impact in people's lives that would make them not keep shut even when He told them not to say anything about Him.

If you invest little, you will also get little effort.

It must not even be money, it can be another form of value or partnership that will make these influencers go above and beyond on your case.

2. He chose the right influencers

Notice that the ministry of Jesus capitalized on people with chronic long-term diseases that everyone around them knew about. When these people were healed, everyone could notice and bear witness to the change. These were people that the majority of the people in the town knew. Jesus was very strategic even in ministry so why shouldn't you. Jesus never does anything without purpose. 

Just to point out, if He has kept you alive till now it is for a purpose so don't give up on yourself when He still has great plans for you.

A good influencer is not judged by the number of followers they have but by their results in the form of fan loyalty and audience engagement. In other words, measure their level of impact. If they don't have these, then you might not get the results you seek.

3. He was always ready to deliver value.

Jesus was able to heal and satisfy everyone who came to Him by referral. He always did greater miracles than the ones people followed Him for. Do not overpromise and underdeliver.

He didn't just influence people; He maintained the influence, and His worldwide influence still speaks to date.

When an influencer has fulfilled their side of the contract, do you deliver to the extent of the hype or do you kill customer expectations and discredit the authenticity of the influencer? Is your product or service good enough to arouse interest?

In fact, a good influencer will not even market your product if they find no value in it, but the dishonest ones are just after your money.

If you use influencer marketing without the right preparation to deliver as planned, you will be causing yourself more harm than good.

    You might not have enough financial resources to patronize influencers as a startup brand but you can use the barter system like Jesus did. What form of value do you have that they would ultimately benefit from? You can also offer them some form of ownership or partnership. Jesus transformed some of His into His disciples and gave them thrones in His kingdom.

Some influencers become brand ambassadors instead of a one-time deal and like I said before, even if you are still a small brand but have long-term potential, some influencers can still give you a shot just like investors do.

There is always a means to an end.

Have you been able to build influence? If you have, is it just wasting away or are you building a foundation for generational impact?

Think about it.