Ever been influenced by something, or even someone. We’ll be covering what an influencer is later, but first we’re discussing all things content with the wonderful Janine Wood. Janine is a Senior Partner at Armadillo Consulting Group providing Communications and Strategic Management Consultancy where helping organisations capture their target audiences' attention with tailored, impactful content is the name of the game. For over 25 years Janine has worked in a variety of sectors right through from new and disruptive technology to packaging design and loves creating strategic plans and writing the content within them.   Takeaways - Creating content, content that matters needs to have some form of structure. The main points Janine raised for doing this through thought leadership are: - What is the overall strategy - Who is their target market and who do they want to be reading about them - Then what will resonate with this market, making it thought provoking - All this before you consider where this content needs to be placed (different channels) - And don't forget that CTA – Call to action - Finally, remember it is always quality over quantity. - Rather than focus on what people are doing wrong, Janine suggests its more about the opportunities that are being missed. Creating a standard press release and then sending it out to the wider world is not good enough. You need to be selective in your approach and tailor your content accordingly. Remember, it’s your name, your brand and your reputation, so make sure your content is as interesting as you are! - And finally, thought leadership is very different from being an influencer, although they both look to do similar things. Influencers are more visual and impactful, whereas thought leaders need to be going in-depth with their content. Either way, it is what will fit with the brand that can be the deciding factor.   Influencers As we’ve been speaking about this today, I thought it would be good to dig a little deeper into this type of Marketing. Now influencer Marketing isn’t anything new. It’s been around since the famous were seen as, famous! But what has heightened the knowledge of this tactic is the accessibility to communicate to hundreds and thousands of people with very little investment, mainly through platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. Influencer Marketing is leveraging the popularity of an individual to promote a certain product or service to a desired set of people. The important factor to consider here is the relevance any individual has in a particular market. Both the influencer and the thing that they are promoting must be aligned and have the same principles in order for them to resonate within the market an organisation wants to promote to and persuade to take some sort of action – usually transactional. If you are still unclear as to what this is all about, take a look on Instagram at a personal trainer called James Smith, although he doesn’t endorse much himself (only the brand he has close ties to and believes in) he does shine a light on the fitness industry and how some celebrities are endorsing products they (a) shouldn't be and (b) are offering false promises to influential people with limited knowledge – check him out and you’ll soon see what I mean (link in the show notes as always). Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License LinksJanine Wood https://www.armadillocg.comjanine@armadillocg.com Books:Purple Cow – Seth Godin: https://amzn.to/2Gc7nSt James Smith PT on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/jamessmithpt/