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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING INSIGHTS

| less than a minute read

Influencer marketing and Beefy Botham.

In 1981 I went to Edgbaston Cricket ground to watch the fourth day of the Ashes test match against Australia with my mum, two brothers and a Spanish boy called Alfonso. 

Ian Botham took five wickets for a single run in a 28 ball spell and England won a famous victory. We poured on to the pitch, shouting and chanting: "There's only one Ian Botham!" etc.

(Amusingly it became clear on the way home that Alfonso had no idea who had won).

Shortly afterwards I saw an advert with Ian Botham using a Duncan Fearnley cricket bat - which I then bought. Good enough for Beefy, good enough for Tom.

But I felt a bit cheated when I realised later that he had been paid to promote that bat. Not a big deal - but I remember it now, 35 years on.

Tom Goodwin makes a similar point: Influencer marketing is all about trust, if you lose that trust, you lose influence. In B2B marketing, with longer relationships, this is all the more true. 

If you are influential, your influence comes from trust and credibility and from being an impartial advisor. The moment you accept favours, freebies or deploy your self to "influence" others, your entire foundation is destroyed.

Tags

e2e, trusted advisor