The Business of Influence: Reframing Marketing and PR for the Digital Age

Summary

• Avoid the trap of measurement because we can, rather than because we should
• Advertising value equivalence (AVE) is not the value of public relations – it’s a complete waste of time and effort
• The Barcelona Principles describe seven foundation principles of PR measurement and evaluation
• Influence-centric approaches are mature and recommended; influencer-centric approaches are considerably less mature and not recommended
• Influence-centric approaches are focused on business outcomes
• There is no standard way to determine an individual’s influence
• An individual’s expertise is not synonymous with that person’s influence
• There are many specious measures that no self-respecting professional could recommend beyond their casual interest value
• The vast majority of analysis and research concludes that we are influenced more often by friends and family than by so-called ‘influentials’
• The conclusions of The Tipping Point are overly simplistic and probably plain wrong
• The processes of exerting influence and being influenced are complex
• Innovation is driving complexity
• Practitioners show signs of wanting to ignore this complexity, perhaps because they wouldn’t then know where to start
• Influence-centricity entails focusing on the influenced and tracing influence
• Customers who proactively attract other customers to an organization or brand are incredibly valuable and are known by various names, including apostles, evangelists and owners
• Tracing influence aims to understand how influence flows and may ...