Key Opinion Leaders

A key opinion leader is a person, group, or organization with an expert or professional status in a region. Often, their status elevates their opinion or recommendation in the eyes of the consumer. Hence, they are highly listened to when making decisions. Key Opinion Leaders include; television hosts, political figures, artists, and highly ranked doctors or lawyers. It is good to note that key opinion leaders are not always necessarily social media influencers. In most instances, KOLs give an expert opinion about a product or service, not just promoting a product for sale. 

Key-Opinion leaders marketing 

KOLs marketing has significantly become popular and a successful strategy for promoting brands. Arguably, KOLs already have a huge following of an ideal target audience. Their followers look up to them for opinions and advice. The opinions or recommendations from a key opinion leader are perceived as trustworthy and authentic. To an extent, they are more trusted than ads. As a result, KOLs incredibly impact consumers’ decision making. Marketers, therefore, utilize KOLs credibility to influence purchasing decisions. 

Benefits of using Key Opinion Leaders in Marketing

• They help you reach your ideal target audience.

For instance, a pharmaceutical owner can use a doctor for marketing their products. The essential thing to consider is noting who are the opinion leaders for your brand. 

• Increase ranking and visibility. 

When an opinion leader promotes your brand, more people are motivated to visit your website. In return, your ranking and visibility are enhanced. 

• Increased sales. 

Key-Opinion leaders attract attention and educate people about your product. Since they offer expert opinions or recommendations, people buy more of your product. Using KOLs is, therefore, a successful strategy for increasing sales. 

How to find a key opinion leader for your brand

One of the best places to find an opinion leader is on traditional medial. However, you can search online using the keywords of your product to discover KOLs. You should note, Opinion Leaders may maintain their jobs and spend less time online trying to gain more followers. Also, their popularity may be restricted to a particular state. 

Advantageously, KOLs are excellent communicators and knowledgeable. In addition, they have a ready-made audience that they easily influence. Unlike social media influencers, the KOLs sphere of influence has genuinely interested customers. In some scenarios, companies, especially small businesses, decide to use micro-influencers and grow with them. 

How to use KOLS in your marketing strategy 

Just like social media influencing, you will start by setting your marketing goal. The set campaign goals significantly impact the KOL you select for your brand. For instance, a KOL who has a baby will be more efficient in campaigning for baby clothes and so forth. Remember, a good KOL has a large following of your ideal target audience, not necessarily most followers. 

Another factor is pricing. Engage rates are important to consider when selecting a KOL to ensure you do not strain your business. Mostly, prices rise with the amount of influence. Micro-influencers are relatively inexpensive. 

Finally, you can use KOLs in product development and improvement. Businesses prefer sending their products to key-opinion leaders for sampling. Thus, use their insights to design your product. In addition, you can use their insight and recommendation to educate people about your brand. 

Media and social media monitoring is a vital tool when finding KOLs. Using analytics services to get KOLs is also efficient. However, nothing can replace the help of an expert who will professionally handle your marketing and communication. NETBASE QUID is a consumer and market intelligence company. We help businesses in campaign strategy, product launch, market intelligence and crisis management. If you are interested in media monitoring, we can always help you find the right KOLs.