INFLUENCER FAST TRACK

A step-by-step marketing formula for quickly becoming a well-known, financially successful authority. 

Gabrielle (Kindle Bestseller Publishing: Write a Bestseller in 30 Days!, 2017) starts with the good news: Becoming an “influencer,” an established authority on the internet, doesn’t require one to be famous, technologically savvy, a marketing genius, or even that talented. A detailed plan is necessary, however, and hers comprises seven steps to be completed over a six-month period. Gabrielle explains how one can concoct a brand and discover a “sub niche,” a specialized corner of the market one can dominate, driven by a “unique value proposition.” She also explains how to attract a target audience and then build a sales funnel that reliably directs a stream of would-be consumers to products they’re likely to purchase. The author emphasizes the benefits of “OPA,” other people’s audiences, and supplies sound, actionable advice on how to cultivate relationships with other influencers and establish an online presence convertible into cash. At the heart of her strategy is self-publishing a bestselling book, and on this point, Gabrielle most brightly shines. Her counsel, specific and informative, discusses in great detail the ways a book launch can optimize the work’s visibility on Amazon. Further, Gabrielle’s approach is wide-ranging and multifaceted. She examines various ways one can take advantage of other media outlets, including Tedx Talks and JV Webinars. The tone here is indefatigably cheerful; there are chapters with titles like “Reach for the Stars!” which is immediately followed by “Be the Star!” She adopts a rhetorical register that seems designed to inspire a roomful of teenagers: “Cool? Let’s rock!” The benefit of that style of writing is that it’s very clear (most paragraphs are a sentence long), but it can also sound a little condescending or silly. Also, she doggedly markets her own instructional videos and the like—apparently, the book itself is an excellent example of what she means by “funnel magic.”

An informative guidebook that reads like the transcript of an infomercial.