Jason Falls - Business of Marketing Podcast

Influence vs Influencer Marketing with Jason Falls

In Podcast by A. Lee Judge

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Public Relations, Influence Marketing, and right-out Endorsements.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart.

This is in part because of shifts in “who we trust”, how brands communicate to their consumers, as well as the channels in which marketing content is distributed.

In this episode, we have someone that can help us learn a bit about Influence Marketing vs Influencer Marketing. And give some insight into how that relates to traditional PR.
 

Today my guest is Jason Falls. Jason is a leading digital strategist, author, speaker, and thinker in the digital and social media marketing industry.

As an award-winning strategist, he has been noted as a top influencer in the social technology and marketing space by publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Advertising Age.

He has worked on marketing strategies for brands such as GE Appliances, General Motors, AT&T, Humana, and many others.

His recent book is quickly becoming a must-have for marketers learning about influence and we will surely talk about that book here in a moment.
 
Conversation points:
Within Marketing, we often hear two terms: Influence Marketing and Influencer Marketing.
  • Jason, what is the difference between influencer marketing and influence marketing?
I’m an advocate of every company being a media company. No matter what their product or service, they need to be a media company.
  • How would you communicate to a company to create their own media to support their influence?
I know that you come from the world of PR.
For me, personally, I’ve lost enthusiasm for traditional PR. Mainly because the voice of the customer is often louder than any PR that a company itself can create.
  • In an era of Influence Marketing, where does traditional PR stand?
There seem to be two vastly different worlds between B2B Influence Marketing and B2C Influencer Marketing.
Let’s talk about each separately:
  • Tell me where you would start and some things to consider if you are tasked with utilizing Influence Marketing for this company.
Now for B2C:
  • Where do you start there with Influence Marketing?
I heard on your podcast a rant you gave about the overuse of the term “Authenticity” and with full admission, I believe we are both people who have been training marketers to use “Authenticity”
  • So, given that the term has been beaten to death and overused, do you think that companies have gotten the idea and moved the needle any closer to being authentic?
Shaquille O’Neal endorses everything from foot powder, to ink cartridges, to Taco Bell. When he endorsed Icy Hot and Muscle Milk, it made sense. But Comcast and Ink Cartridges?
  • Is there a grey area between influence and endorsement – and can an influencer go too far with what they associate themselves with?
I’ve seen you mention a few tools and software platforms for finding and managing influencers.
  • Can you tell us about 1 or 2 and how these platforms work?
Finally, Jason, tell us about your recently released book called “Winfluence”
  • What can readers expect to learn from your book?

Thanks for listening to The Business of Marketing podcast.

Feel free to contact the hosts and ask additional questions, we would love to answer them on the show.