To those working outside of the FMCG space influencer marketing looks a little like money for old rope.  And perhaps it is. 

Unilever seem to think so, adopting a strategy that identifies and works with what it calls 'micro-influencers'.  So good bye Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne, and hello...well, who? 

Micro-influencers are nothing new.  Customer testimonials and favourable reviews are, at their most basic, micro-influencers - albeit unpaid.

The professional services space, whilst not calling them by that name, have long used micro-influencers as part of their marketing - again unpaid.

Every time The Legal 500 and Chambers asks for clients to approach for its research - these are your micro-influencers.  A case study online - micro-influencers.  An article published jointly with, for example, a surveyor or accountant - again micro influencers. 

Sometimes, something we have been doing for years needs a name for colleagues to it seriously.  Content marketing is a good example. 

So perhaps it is time for law, accountancy and other professional services firms to adopt formal micro-influencer strategies - and call it just that.