Robert Sanzalone, a writes an interesting blog about the hierarchy of technology evangelists on his new blog Technology Evangelism. Using my credibility branding model I would also call them “influencers.” (The full post is located below). What is interesting is his perspective of the four different categories of evangelists from A-listers to D-listers. This is a great example of the hierarchy of almost all influencers. And all of them can play a role. Getting a least one A-lister on board will add tremendous credibility to your brand with little explanation.
For example all you have to say is “Jeff Barr of Amazon is endorsing my product” and your job is done—easy. With a B-lister there is probably more of an explanation of credentials, but it wouldn’t take long before your customers were on board with that influencer. The C and D-lister require that much deeper description of their credentials, but they can still serve a purpose. These groups of influencers are also looking for companies and products to endorse; it provides them with backwards credibility. The more endorsements they have out there the higher their profile.
Robert also points out another important point, that each of them offer a certain perspective on the world and a level of unique expertise. From my perspective, this is especially true as you move down the evangelist food chain. You can leverage the more targeted expertise of these influencers very narrowly to specific audiences of customers.
Vertical Evangelism
Robert Sanzalone - 14 Feb, 2007
Recently I have been following an e-mail mailing list from The Global Network of Technology Evangelists or GNoTE. Other than a conference scheduled last December, there really is no purpose for this group so far other than its mailing list. Interestingly, even the person who started the group, the great Guy Kawasaki himself, has rarely been seen submitting a post.
The reason why I bring it up at all stems from WHO seems to be hanging out and participating in this group. Jeff Barr of Amazon. Cool! Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo. Wow! And then there’s … well everyone else.
While I understand the term “Technology Evangelist” is still VERY new and is slowly gaining regular acceptance, the definition seems to be waving all over the map. A recent post by Betsy Weber of TechSmith simply asked the question: “What kind of interview questions do you ask potential evangelists in interviews?” The answer STILL continue to pour in as each evangelist defines themselves and who they would hire (which would be… well someone like themselves).
From this discussion, I have concluded there seems to be at least FOUR different categories of people out there calling themselves and/or being acknowledged as Evangelists:
1. A-List Evangelists. These are people who are high profile marketers and “faces” for their company. Again this would be a Jeff Barr of Amazon or Robert Scoble formerly of Microsoft (doesn’t that almost sound like the artist formerly known as Prince? Hmmmmm…). These individuals may blog though it’s not a prerequisite.. They are asked to speak often and they are respected by the technology industries - deservingly or not.
2. B-List Evangelists. These are people who work very, very hard at spreading the word about a technology, web 2.0 service or company but are not as well known OR not as respected by the community. At the top end of this I would put someone like Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome - someone I would say is just as high as a Scoble or a Barr (and they are all good friends with each other btw) but is not quite as acknowledged in all circles. Another is Will Pate of Flock, a great evangelist for his product, but again still working up the ranks as one of those A-List speakers.
3. C-List Evangelists. These are people who are Technology heads of their departments. I would put someone like Jeff Sandquist of Microsoft in this category - or any other developer head of a Microsoft department or larger technology company. Inherently, because they KNOW their stuff so well, and can teach others about it, they’re Evangelists. I have a bit of an issue with this since frequently these Evangelists are NOT great communicators - in person or on stage. This seems to be an important element missing for the definition to be true.
4. D-List Evangelists. These are those who are out there spreading the word about technology by various means (consulting, blogs, podcasts, presentations, teleseminars, webinars, etc.) but are not connected to a large recognized company. They frequently are entrepreneurs who scratch out their living through affiliate programs and presentation as well as consulting services. Many in the GNOTE list have referred to these types of evangelists as “wannabes” and “one day when they grow up, they’ll be big like us”. Truly nasty and elitist at times.
As a whole, this whole hierarchy is what I would call VERTICAL EVANGELISM. Not all are equal and not all are the same. The view of the world on each of them is very different as it is they way they view each other.
Is this all good or bad? Neither really. I suppose until the industry matures to a level where a certain level of “professionalism” has been established and the group establishes some sort of accreditation (much like what Public Relations has gone through over the last 20 years), then Evangelists can be taken seriously. Sorry Guy.
End
So find the influencer that works for you, aim high but don’t forget the lower end of the hierarchy for their more target expertise. Thanks for the insights Robert!
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