Finding your own Paul Revere. – How to Use Key Influencers to Boost Word of Mouth Marketing

Remember the story of Paul Revere? He was a key influencer in his time because he knew the key people in a number of social networks and thus connected them toward a common goal. Word of mouth marketing can quite simply mean getting people talking about your business products or services. To maximize the power of word of mouth marketing it is helpful to find key influencers in your industry or niche market to help spread the word. It is helpful to find your own personal Paul Revere.

Your own personal Paul Revere is someone who knows lots of people in many different social groups and communities. Find this person, and convince them to promote your product or service, and your business exposure will increase tenfold.

Who are these key influencers?

The Socialite. We all know people who seem to know everyone and everything. Maybe it is that person from high school who still knows what everyone is doing, where they are, and where they work. She has expanded her social base to now include everyone she has ever worked with making her group of ‘friends’ in the hundreds of thousands. While she may know many people, she isn’t necessarily a strong influencer. She is good at spreading the word, however may or may not have any influence on decisions.

The Powerhouse. This is the person who everyone looks up to and who has a tremendous amount of credibility. They may be just short of celebrity status in their chosen niche. Because they’re so well respected simply being able to use their name may have tremendous power. Their name is recognizable by anyone in your niche industry and thus carries a lot of weight whether they ‘talk’ about your business or not.

The Celebrity. This is the person that has reached celebrity status and simply by being able to affiliate with them, increases your brand awareness and word of mouth marketing. It’s the pop star holding a can of coke. It’s the Princess talking about how weight watchers helped her lose weight. It’s the Indy Car driver holding a can of motor oil.

Depending on your Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy, each of these key influencer personalities can have a dramatic effect on your business and your bottom line. In the first lesson we talked about different types of word of mouth marketing. Among them were two that were specific to harnessing the power of influential people.
They were:

Product Seeding. Get a celebrity to hold a can of Coke and suddenly everyone is drinking Coke. Likewise getting someone with influence in your niche to use or be seen using your product and voila instant recognition.

Influencer Marketing. The influential person will actually talk about how much they like Coke and how Coke has changed their life.
Finding your own Paul Revere and harnessing their strengths and connections is a powerful word of mouth strategy. Sometimes it happens quite by accident, however when planned, it enables you as the business owner to control the direction and your company’s reaction.