Henry Tajer was appointed as the inaugural chief executive officer of The Influence Group earlier this year.
Working alongside founders Sharyn Smith and Howard Parry-Husbands, the trio will expand the group’s existing businesses – strategic consulting and insights business Pollinate and social influence agency Social Soup – and build its portfolio.
Tajer spoke to Mediaweek about the appeal of returning to the industry after some time off, growing the business and the future of the influencer market.
The comeback kid and The Influencer Group’s offering
After almost two years away from the industry, the CEO shared that he was very interested and excited to be exploring a different part of the industry. “It has been refreshing for me, and I’m learning a lot,” he said.
Tajer, who previously worked at Dentsu International and IPG Mediabrands, owns a significant shareholding in the marketing and strategic consulting group. He explained that he, Smith, and Parry-Husbands discussed the idea of combining the agencies’ capabilities in strategy, research insights, and influencer marketing and what that offers.
“We got excited by that, and we worked it through over the course of about a year, and now we jointly owned The Influence Group,” he said.
For Tajer, he shared that what makes The Influence Group’s offering stand out is the approach to influence and influencer marketing.
“The role of influence and influencer marketing has always been an afterthought to how marketing has been planned and executed. But when you bring people into the centre of your strategy or audience, it makes it much clearer what things they need to do to help your business.
“Having Pollinate capabilities enables us to go in and understand a client’s situation and speak to their customers, partners and key stakeholders, and put that in the context of the macro, and that’s what we’re calling an Influence Audit,” he added.
“That will enable us to go to an organisation and help them understand the real influences at their disposal that will give them a change in their business, whether that’s growth, a perception shift, or to get into a different sector,” Tajer explained.
Left to right: Howard Parry-Husbands, Sharyn Smith and Henry Tajer
The CEO shared The Influence Group’s plan for developing an influencer marketing campaign fully integrated across all tiers of influencers – from mega to nano influencers.
Tajer noted that The Influence Group will help clients navigate the best way to design an influence-based campaign as it allows them to use audiences to reach audiences.
“We’re seeing influencer marketing becoming more important and relevant to clients as they start to engage more on a one-on-one basis. Having a broader customer strategy of pivoting to one on one is supported well within an influencer space because it’s fully identified,” he said.
“The platforms have developed the protocol… and are getting much better at governing that and putting guidelines and regulations. That’s why we’re excited; it’s really starting to become a real option for almost all businesses to work with,” he added.
Understanding influence and what The Influence Group hopes to do with it
While influencers may persuade our thoughts and tastes on things, Tajer noted that influence is far more wide-reaching, and that everyone is prone to influence one way or another.
“It’s pretty ubiquitous and quite lateral in society in different ways and for different reasons. Everyone has influence, but it’s how that influence is used or how that person understands their own influence and uses it that really makes the difference,” he pointed out.
“They’re the nuances that we’re dealing with, and depending on the subject matter or the area of society, it’s a bit of a kaleidoscope,” he added.
The CEO said that The Influence Group has a great opportunity to work with many companies and stakeholders in the industry to help them understand what influences they can leverage for good, ethical, and sustainable channels.
“We need to understand what’s really influencing Australians and people in other parts of the world. We do our own work to understand the key influences on the population at the moment. That becomes our canvas for everything we’re advising our clients to do,” he said.
Tajer noted that in the last 12 months, analyses of society’s psyche have shifted from health, due to Covid, to cost of living. “That’s a small example of how and why we’ve been using influence as a bit of a currency or navigation for companies to think about how they market and what they do,” he explained.
Building the future of influencer marketing
Looking at influencer marketing, Tajer noted that the market has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. “That suggests to me that the role is increasingly being understood, so there’s more investment being put in it,” he said.
“I’m excited by it, as an investor in the company,” he said of the future of influencer marketing. “I felt that the industry was going to do the right things in this space. I’m confident about what this part of our industry can do and how it will do it,” Tajer added.
There are several opportunities The Influencer Group can build and expand on in the future, Tajer noted. He said there are plans to do more work with influencers managed by third-party companies or management agencies and work with tech companies.
The CEO also hinted at the potential of acquiring other businesses, likely in the years ahead. Tajer said the demand for expertise in influencer marketing and getting the right people in the business is where the company is currently focused.
“We’re growing, and we’re looking for people. We must be clever and quick on our feet in that space,” he added.
Getting into the groove for the year ahead
The CEO said The Influencer Group is focused on getting into a “good rhythm and groove” in the year ahead.
“The plan for the year ahead is getting close to our clients, helping them every way we can and continuing to grow our business at the same time, and having everyone engaged and happy,” he said.
On his part, Tajer shared that he is having fun working in a new area of the industry and added: “What’s keeping me really engaged is how much I’m learning; I haven’t been in this ‘learn mode’ for a long time.”
See also: Henry Tajer appointed as inaugural chief executive officer of The Influence Group
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Top image: Henry Tajer