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Wednesday 12 December 2018

What is investor/VC influencer marketing and how does it work?

Reading time: 8 min

What is investor/VC influencer marketing and how does it work?



Dear reader,

This a couple of years old but still up-to-date interview contained so many important thoughts about increasing sales that I had to acquire permission to republish it for your benefit.

Please enjoy the article!

Christian Dillstrom

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I have heard about business-to-customer (B2C) influencer marketing, which involves celebrities like the Kardashians being paid to recommend certain brands on social media. These people have large followings, of course, and the sales results of such campaigns have been amazing.

A global growth hacker Christian Dillstrom, whom I have already interviewed, reminds us that there is also business-to-business (B2B) influencer marketing. He has done this worldwide and explains that B2B influencer marketing has a much greater impact than B2C influencer marketing.

Christian is involved in three types of B2B influencer marketing: investor/VC, decision maker, and media/blogger. I am interviewing him about each of them. This interview is about Investor/VC Influencer Marketing.


WHAT IS INVESTOR/VC INFLUENCER MARKETING?
It is a very effective way to make a group of investors or VCs aware of your startup or established company.

The first and biggest problem you have in obtaining funding is that too few investors know enough about your venture — or don’t know about it at all.

Investor influencer marketing changes that.”


HOW DOES SUCH MARKETING HAPPEN?
Others may do it differently, but what I do is work with you to produce an interview that introduces your company as an investment opportunity.

"That article serves as a long but easy-to-read sales pitch for your venture."

It gets published on my blog, where the article can be read by my 15-31 million monthly business readers. Once your interview is published, I invite all the investors you are interested in to comment on it.


WHY WOULD AN INVESTOR TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE ARTICLE?
That’s a key question.

The answer is that with my tens of millions of monthly readers, I am one of the most widely read business authors in the World. And I am one of the most experienced global growth hackers in the World.

So, I have a very high — and global — B2B credibility. In other words, when I invite investors to comment on an article about an interesting investment opportunity, very few will decline to read it.


DOES THIS MARKETING METHOD WORK EVEN IF AN INVESTOR WHO READS THE INTERVIEW DOES NOT COMMENT ON IT?
Yes, commenting makes no difference if most of the investors you’re interested in read the interview. Once they have read it, they can contact you if they want to learn more about your venture.

Of course, any comment that is published will make the interview article even more interesting and convincing. However, the effectiveness of this approach does not depend on how many comments are posted.


WHY PUBLISH AN ARTICLE ON A BLOG?
WHY NOT JUST EMAIL THE ARTICLE TO THE INVESTOR YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COMPANY?
My blog has received 15-31 million monthly business readers since early 2015. In the last two years alone, it has received over 560 million readers from 240 countries.

The blog platform I am using is powered by Google. Funny business is not possible for very long in Google as it knows what’s really happening on the Internet.

So, when Google says that a particular blog has tens of millions of readers, its statement it a credible one. And people are much more prone to credit the content of such a blog than they are to credit the content of a little-read, unpopular blog.

I have tens of millions of business readers every month, and my readers are always eager to read my blog.

This readership means additional credibility for the content,
as does my endorsement.”

In addition, sending emails does not make the content popular or credible because there is no trusted third party that can prove its credibility.

It is just an email.”


WHY ARE THE ARTICLES IN AN INTERVIEW FORMAT?
Readers love to read casual interviews. That format is one of the reasons that I have tens of millions of monthly business readers.

Unless the investors read the article through to the end, there is no hope that they will take the desired action.


HOW MANY INVESTORS WILL BE INVITED TO READ THE INTERVIEW?
WHO SELECTS WHICH ONES ARE INVITED?
Any amount may be invited. You pick the investors and send me the list of them.


OKAY, SO... YOU ARE A VERY CREDIBLE GROWTH HACKER AND PUBLISHER, AND WILL YOU INVITE ANY NUMBER OF INVESTORS TO READ A CREDIBLE ARTICLE THAT INTRODUCES MY VENTURE AS AN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY?
Not quite. We will also collect weak and strong signals of the reactions of targeted investors. Those signals with contact details of an investor are then delivered to your mobile phone.

As a result, you will have the optimal moment of arranging a meeting with an investor. And that will get funding for your startup or company if it is possible to get funding for it.


DO YOU OFFER THIS KIND OF INFLUENCER MARKETING FOR ANY STARTUP OR COMPANY?
Of course not. My own reputation and credibility are at stake, assets that I have developed over decades.

But I am eager to speak with any start-up and company that contacts me to find out if I can endorse them.


WHY ARE YOU DOING INVESTOR/VC INFLUENCER MARKETING?
I have seen a lot of great startups and companies, all over the world, which are really struggling to get funded.

But I think they deserve to get funded.”

My own situation is very different. I have repeatedly been offered funding when I have had no need for it. Of course, having a readership of tens of millions of monthly business readers makes it easy to turn down offers of funding.

I am trying to remedy the imbalance of the situation. I am known and credible and am offered money. But too many great startups die because of a lack of funding just because investors know nothing about them.


ARE YOU OFFERING INVESTOR/VC INFLUENCER MARKETING FOR FREE?
Not anymore. I've learned that people don't appreciate the value of something that is simply given away, and I really don't want to waste my time.

I really do not want to waste anyone's time. Neither mine nor yours.

A minimum of 5% of equity and if there are different series of shares, I want my shares from the series with the most votes.

After all, I really want the start-up to grow big to return my investment.

The amount of equity I want obviously depends on the amount of work I estimate I need to do to make the start-up successful.


HOW DO I FIND OUT WHETHER YOU WILL ENGAGE IN INVESTOR/VC INFLUENCER MARKETING FOR ME OR FOR MY CLIENT?
Easy enough. Just contact me!

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Christian Dillstrom.

Please stay tuned for further interviews.