Influencers often have a say in the purchase critieria used by decision-makers. Often their influence is direct, such as inputing to a request for bid. Indirect influence is an important factor as well. While the most widely known (or perhaps infamous) example in the tech market is Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, most indirect influences are far from obvious. Influencer relations programs search out and track these influencers, for action or simple monitoring.

 

Here’s the kind of thing you want to find: This week, Jon Peddie (JPA) proposes a change in the benchmark criteria for graphics-enabled motherboards. Jon makes the case that today’s consumer wants the most performance per dollar, with the lowest wattage. He’s put the 3 factors together into a simple-looking equation and calls it the PDW mark (performance-dollar-watts).

Will it be adopted overnight? Hard to say.

It’s this sort of low-flying advice that can ripple out across entire markets over time. If you run an influencer relations program, keep track of the shift in thinking as well as the drivers behind the shift. This is vital information for your sales and management teams.