Key Opinion Leader: Path to Marketing Success

Most businesses have heard of brand ambassadors and “influencers” and understand how to leverage them for marketing success. But what about Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)? What are they, and how do they work?

If you want to learn more about KOLs, this guide is here to help. It examines what they are, the benefits they offer your brand, how to implement them as part of your marketing strategy, and how they differ from conventional influencers. We also look at some examples of KOLs already being used by brands and where you can hire them (including on Billo). 

TL;DR

• Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are similar to influencers but have greater expertise regarding niche, specific topics. Brands often draw them from industry, academia, or research labs to create more detailed, valuable, and authentic content.
• Compared to influencers, they often have higher trustworthiness due to their professional standards and are ideal for forming long-term relationships.
• Unfortunately, finding them can be challenging, but platforms like Billo make the process more straightforward. 

Ready to learn more? Let’s dive in.

What is a KOL (Key Opinion Leader)?

A KOL is someone in a specific field with significant influence over those who follow them. Many are verified, legitimate experts well-known for their professional credentials and extensive experience. 

Influencers sometimes use KOLs to boost their channels by interviewing them and getting their opinions. Their ideas are profound, so they often provide the most interesting content for their audiences. As such, they are not usually defined by the follower count, but can be categorized into nano, micro, macro, and mega influencers.

Many KOLs have extensive, decades-long careers in various industries, allowing them to speak at length about the topics close to them. They often have well-established reputations and connections with the people around them, allowing them to shape public opinion in ways that regular influencers or brand ambassadors can’t with high-quality content. KOLs can be doctors, industry professionals, or scientists with real-world achievements, like running companies, publishing papers, or working in specific niche fields. 

Key Opinion Leader Benefits for Your Brand

Because of this, KOLs offer specific brand benefits that aren’t available from run-of-the-mill influencers. These include: 

• Enhanced credibility. When a KOL says something or makes a point, audiences will likely believe it because of their extensive credentials. They want to defer to their greater wisdom and get quick answers to pressing questions they can trust (instead of having to do the research themselves). 
• Higher engagement. KOLs provide brands with more audience interaction compared with traditional advertising. Prospective customers can absorb knowledge that would be difficult, if not impossible, to get from private research. 
• Valuable insights. KOLs can provide audiences with novel perspectives on matters relating to your products, services, or industry. Many have unique takes that even your marketing department may not have considered. 
• Authentic content. KOLs are exceptionally adept at creating content that resonates with audiences and amplifies your brand’s message. They understand how to take complex topics and make them more relatable. 
• Niche audience appeal. Finally, KOLs are often well-known in pre-existing niche audiences, so getting them to work with your firm can be advantageous. For many brands, using them is a shortcut to authenticity and credibility. 

You can find KOLs organically or use services like Billo to find them much faster and start experiencing the benefits immediately. 

KOLs in Marketing Strategy

Learning to use KOLs in your marketing strategy is essential to achieving success. Integrating them correctly can put you miles ahead of the competition. 

But how do you do that? 

Key Opinion Leader Management

First, you need to manage your KOL effectively. Doing this well lets you go deeper with them so that both parties can benefit from the relationship. 

1. Build a friendship with them

First, start by building a friendship with the KOL. Getting to know them and building rapport makes it more likely that they will want to support your company. Ensure you understand their needs and maintain open communication with them. 

2. Provide resources

Next, give them material they can work with. Provide them with the resources they require to create impactful content that serves your audience. Don’t be one of those companies that expects KOLs to simply get on with the job. 

3. Monitor their performance

Monitor performance during your relationship with KOLs. Look for opportunities to optimize their efforts and ensure that they provide your company with value. 

Metrics to watch include their: 

• Reach – the number of audience members who watch their content
• Content quality – a qualitative measure of their ability to produce content that will succeed on social media platforms long-term
• Engagement – the proportion of people watching who like, comment, subscribe, or take another desirable action after listening to the KOL
• ROI – the financial return on using the KOL; the ratio of the income they generate over the cost of hiring 

Remember, most KOLs are industry professionals who have spent their lives working regular jobs. They aren’t marketing professionals or people who understand the nuances of social media. Therefore, you will need to hold their hand and guide them to generate the results you want. 

4. Keep communicating with them

Finally, you’ll want to continue communicating with them to address concerns and ensure the relationship remains healthy. Reducing communication or “letting them get on with it” isn’t usually a good policy. You want to steer them in the right direction and provide them with resources so that they can deliver on their potential (which is often high). 

Key Opinion Leader Strategy

Whenever you work with a KOL, you also need a strategy to maximize their influence over time. Doing this step well lets you build sustained campaigns instead of one-off marketing pushes. 

Here’s what to do:

• Work with the KOL long-term. Don’t just bring them in for a few weeks or a specific campaign and then let them go at the end. Build a long-term partnership so they can continue providing your audience with niche value for many years. 
• Leverage their expertise. Whenever you interview the KOL, ensure that you probe them with questions your audience cares about so they can get the best advice possible. 
• Integrate with your other channels. Ensure your KOL operates across your social media accounts and blogs and can attend your events. 
• Keep measuring their impact. Use key performance indicators to measure your KOL’s success and impact in the marketplace. 

Key Opinion Leader vs Influencer

Given this discussion, you might wonder how KOLs differ from conventional influencers. After all, they seem similar. 

The reality, though, is different. KOLs are a separate category because they do things conventional influencers can’t. 

The primary difference between KOLs and influencers is their expertise. The latter are adept at engaging their audiences, but the former have profound knowledge that takes a lifetime to accumulate. 

Audiences who watch influencers know they are going to people with broader, less specialized appeal. However, when they consume KOL content, they know they are getting someone with genuine credentials in their field who understands everything about a specific issue. As such, if there is anyone they should listen to, it should be KOLs. 

For this reason, KOLs often command more trust than regular influencers. Audiences know they must follow the rules because of professional standards. If they don’t, they could be struck off. This differentiates them from people looking to win big audiences and make money via advertising or affiliate deals. 

Finally, KOLs differ from influencers in their content. Influencers focus primarily on entertainment or lifestyle content, while key opinion leaders go deeper and are more educational. They aim to ensure audiences understand the topics that matter to them in detail. 

Ultimately, you can think of influencers as “casual” and KOLs as “serious.” Both have value for brands, but you may discover situations where you need one more than the other. 

Examples of Key Opinion Leaders

You can find examples of brands using key opinion leaders across the internet to promote their products and services. These partnerships are often lucrative and form the backbone of company marketing strategies. 

Take healthcare, for example. Numerous doctors and medical professionals put their names behind products and services that appeal to them, working with brands to develop in-depth and engaging content. 

Dr. Mike Varshavski is an excellent example. He is a family medicine practitioner, but he partners with numerous health brands to promote wellness products, leveraging his expertise, such as biodermausa. 

Dr. Mike Israetel is another example in the fitness space. He is an expert in his field with years of experience and is well-known for his sharp, witty responses to tough interview questions. He recently partnered with RP Strength.

Technology is another area where brands are leveraging KOLs to promote their products. For example, tech brands ike LG will sometimes use chip designer Jim Keller to highlight the benefits of their hardware and why it is a profound upgrade over existing solutions. They also sometimes bring in designers from companies like Nvidia or AMD to discuss the underlying technology in their chips and why it’s so exciting. 

You even see a similar trend toward KOL usage in fashion. For example, Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, often shapes fashion trends and works alongside big brands, like Nike, to adjust public perception and drive sales. 

Where to Hire Key Opinion Leaders

This guide provided a key opinion leader definition and explored how brands could use them. However, finding someone who can work with you effectively is often challenging. Who should you approach to become your KOL?

Fortunately, Billo can help. Our platform makes it easy to find KOLs with the skills and expertise you need. 

You can think of our service as a sort of marketplace. We bring talented KOLs together from across the globe and then provide you with access to them, along with a host of tools to manage your campaigns and measure your success. Everything you need is in one place. 

Ultimately, Billo simplifies the experience and offers better value than traditional solutions. We work directly with KOL partners, allowing us to deliver tailored solutions for your brand while also helping you find the best people without having to go through expensive agencies. So, why not try us today?