What do you do with the critics of your business? Do you ignore them as if they didn’t exist? Do you send an equal amount of criticism back their way to cast a shadow of doubt on their opinions of your products and services? Do you try to convince people that they are creepers: someone who doesn’t contribute anything to society and should be passed by like a hooded hitchhiker alongside the road? How you handle your critics may have a huge bearing on how effective you are in marketing.

Criticism is much easier for consumers to voice than it was in the past. Whether you provide a forum for complaints on your website or not, companies like Google have more than likely gathered information on your business and created a business page for you complete with a place to rate you and voice a complaint. You cannot get away from it. It is part of business. The first thing you should do when you get a complaint is figure out who is so upset with you that they would take the time to post it. Are they a customer? If so, you need to reach out to them immediately and try to fix their problem if you can. Are they a serial complainer? You can find out from Google how many posts they have left on other sites besides yours. If you are dealing with someone who is angry with the world and has nothing better to do than to leave bad ratings on social media, you may want to leave them in their own little world. We have a customer who received a very low rating from such a person. After investigating him, we found that he had left other negative ratings or nasty remarks on more than 50 Google Business listings. He was not one of their customers and, it appeared by his other comments, wasn’t even from the area they serviced. Creeper? Yes, creeper! Drive on past him.

However, there is one other group of people you should take notice of if you are in charge of marketing. Those are the influencers. An influencer is not going to be your customer, but they have a great impact on the thinking of people who are in your target market. For instance, do you have a business where your customers are also doing business with an unrelated business who doesn’t have a very high opinion of you? As an example, you may be an insurance agent who is servicing a restaurant with business insurance. What if their trusted food vendor has a very low opinion of you? Their influence can change the thinking of your customers. Or do you have a business that has to meet certain minimum compliance regulations? You may be inspected every now and then. The inspector is an influencer. You don’t sell anything to the inspector, but their opinion of you can make it nearly impossible to sell to your customers. Influencers are game changers.

In marketing, we always have to identify and account for the opinions of the influencers. Here is what I am seeing: too many marketing plans do not take the influencer into account, nor do they try to market to them. Why would you market to someone who is not going to buy anything from you? Here’s why: their opinion of your brand - be it good or bad – will have an impact on your sales. I want the influencers to have great respect for my brand. I want them to respect it so much that they recommend it to people in my target market. I want them on my side, so I have to market to them as well as my customers.

How do you market to an influencer? Most of the time, it involves non-traditional methods of marketing. There are numerous ways, but here are some methods we have used.

• Refer business to them. Referrals have a way of coming back to you as recommendations.
• Look for ways you can partner with them. Does it make sense to collaborate with them? Maybe and maybe not, but if you can strike a deal that benefits both of you, why not?
• Serve on boards and committees with them. Many influencers are active in some sort of philanthropy or nonprofit group outside of business hours. Use this as a way to gain their trust.
• Host events that are beneficial to them. Several of my clients work with architects and engineers. These are people who need continuing education classes. My clients have hosted seminars led by outside experts that they knew civil engineers would find appealing. This was offered free of charge to the attendees. The last event we did, over 100 engineers filled the room. The more important thing is they left that day with a very positive opinion of my client.
• Include them in the invitation to you annual golf outing (or whatever you do for customer appreciation). Everyone likes to be valued. Even if they don’t come, they will appreciate your thoughtfulness, which will enhance their opinion of your brand.

Who are the influencers in your business? Identify them and market to them. Don’t leave the influencers by the side of the road like they are some creepy hitchhikers. Make sure your marketing plan leaves room to market to them as well. It will pay dividends in the end.