Do you have a project, business, or product you are trying to get off the ground? Are you having trouble getting people to listen to you, and take your ideas seriously? You may benefit from the wisdom, experience, and influence of a KOL.
What Is a Key Opinion Leader (or KOL)?
The acronym KOL stands for Key Opinion Leader, and it simply refers to the kinds of people who inform the decisions of others. These are the movers and shakers who the majority of people within a given group will listen to.
For instance, in the technology community, Bill Gates and Elon Musk are obvious KOLs. Their opinions, expertise, and methods of operation are highly influential to others in that same sector.
Within the medical community, a KOL could be someone who has years of experience in their given medical field and who is respected. When they talk, others will listen.
KOLs drive change within their area of expertise, serving as leaders for people they may never even come into contact with. By issuing a statement, they can influence large numbers of people. By changing their habits in a visible way, they can cause other people to change their habits as well. By making a purchasing decision or sponsoring a product, the KOLs can drive consumers to that product in droves. This is why so many advertisements use recognizable people. Not all of them are a part of the industry that the product comes from, but those chosen to appear in advertisements do tend to have some clout with the target audience, appealing to them in some way.
KOLs are even more influential than celebrities. While people may become interested in a product because of a celebrity endorsing it, people will often make quick decisions to support or not support something based on what a KOL is saying. They trust that person’s expertise and value their opinion. In some instances, they may even blindly do what the KOL tells them to without giving the decision a lot of thought.
A KOL can also change people’s minds. If someone has made their mind up on a particular topic or about a specific brand or product, they may have second thoughts when they hear what a Key Opinion Leader has to say about it. These KOLs are people who have tremendous influence on the decisions, opinions, and lives of those who listen to them.
A KOL can also draw attention to an important cause or business. Having a Key Opinion Leader on your side can make all the difference, as their presence helps to raise awareness and get people talking about what you are doing. If you notice that your idea is experiencing very little traction with the media or with customers, then the influence of a KOL can change that and can do so very quickly.
How to Find a KOL
There are a number of tools available to help you determine who the Key Opinion Leaders are for a given field or business. While some of those tools cost money to use, there are many free ones available. You may want to begin there before you start paying money for a similar service. You may be able to get the help you need in identifying KOLs without having to pay anything.
Free tools to find Key Opinion Leaders:
- KOL website
- Google Scholar
- PubMed
- Research Gate
- H1.co (free functionality seems very limited, and according to some sources, the yearly subscription starts at USD $70,000)
These tools give you the power to separate the posers from the experts and the influential people from those who hardly have anyone paying attention to them. That way, you can utilize your budget wisely and make the most of your time so that your project succeeds and you meet any deadlines you may have.
How to Utilize a KOL
With the right resources, you can do more than just identify who the KOLs are for your industry or chosen area of interest. You can also see what kind of influence they have, where their influence is at its strongest, and which other sub-categories they may be influencers in.
Keep in mind that just because someone calls themselves an influencer, that doesn’t mean they have a lot of impact on the decision-making of the people they interact with. With hard data provided by a strong search tool, you can determine just how influential a particular expert is in their field. You won’t have to wonder if they are going to have an impact, because you can see ahead of time what kind of influence they have already had.
You can also compare various KOLs with these tools, examining data points so that you can make an informed decision about who might be right for your particular needs. Depending on what kind of project you are working on, you may benefit more from one KOL than another for a specific category.
If you have never utilized the power of a KOL before, you could be missing out. Now that you know what KOLs are and the kind of influence they have on your target market, and you know how to find them, you can go further and reach more people.