036: Helping You Amplify Your Online Reach through Influencer Collaborations (w/ Fabrizio Perrone)

Summary: Fabrizio Perrone is the founder and CEO of Buzzoole, a media platform that helps people become influential online. The 33 year old digital entrepreneur and innovator has been a serial startupper since 2007 and was among the first people in Italy to establish a successful online-based business. Buzzoole operates as a vertical tool for the construction and management of digital PR campaigns. As an influence engine optimization platform, it helps in generating quick, easy and qualitative word of mouth. Buzzoole enables new and established brands plan buzz campaigns with the same ease and speed of an Adwords campaign or Facebook ad, all within a self-service model. Buzzoole main clients and partners include Redbull, Ferrero, MSC Cruises, Henkel, Fastweb, Sammontana, Mailup, Orphea, GroupM, Mec Global, Aegis Media and Be On. <br> <br> Starting out in business <br> <br> Fabrizio knew that he wanted to be in business immediately he left University. While in Ireland, he came across a lot of businesses that would work well in Italy, and one idea in particular stood out to him. In mid-2008, he started an offline events company, the first in Italy to have imported an armoured limousine for hire to different clients. With time, and applying the experience he gained from the offline events industry, he slowly changed the company into a digital PR agency with its first service being viral marketing. The company then evolved into offering other digital PR services. He later sold it to a public company in 2013. His experience with that company formed the basis for his Buzzoole idea. <br> <br> Period in full-time business <br> <br> Fabrizio has been in full-time business for the last 9 years. When he started Buzzoole in mid-2013, he raised his first investor funding at the end of that year. The business grew steadily through 2014 then got another round of funding in year 2015. The company has been growing rapidly and is now establishing offices in different countries. <br> <br> Choosing entrepreneurship Vs. a 9 to 5 job <br> <br> He choose to be an entrepreneur when he discovered from the job interviews he taken, that employment was not for him. The entry-level employment terms he used to get from the big companies he interviewed with were not appealing to him. He wanted to do something that would be more challenging and rewarding in the long run. <br> <br> The Buzzoole idea <br> <br> He came up with the idea for Buzzoole when he realised how difficult it was to conduct digital PR campaigns manually. It was too labour intensive to contact every blogger and influencer one needed for their campaign, and managing the campaigns was also very cumbersome. The manual processes were highly ineffective. Fabrizio therefore decided to develop an efficient digital PR campaign technology that would include influencer analytics, campaign management and real-time reporting. He partnered up with his current CTO (Chief Technology Officer), who developed the Buzzoole platform including its algorithm.  <br> <br> The need for brands to engage with influencers and celebrities <br> <br> Companies know that it’s more important what people say about their brands and products; that people widely talk about their brands. That is what builds a brand’s positioning and penetration into its target market. Influential people and celebrities are the most ideal in creating and spreading positive sentiments (word of mouth) about a product/brand. <br> <br> Viability of the Buzzoole concept <br> <br> Fabrizio applied the widespread knowledge that word of mouth is the most effective method of marketing a product. Data he collected showed that more than 80% of user trust from reviews online and more than 50% of all purchasing decisions made were due to online review consultations. Therefore, companies knew that effective digital PR was important in order to develop their brands.