Influencer Marketing

Understanding the demographics of your target audience will give you significant insight into their mindset, and the kind of people they will be “influenced” by. Who are the customers? Where do they come from? Why are they interested in what you sell? Answers to these questions allow you to understand what your average lead looks like.

Now that you have a preliminary understanding of your own business and the audience you are targeting, you are in a good spot to develop a sound marketing strategy. You need to figure out the major theme of your campaign, and the causes you stand for. What are the selling points and major factors that resonate with your brand. This will help you shortlist the influencers in the same ballpark so that they may also be readily interested to be associated with your brand.

With all this information in your arsenal, it becomes easier for you to identify a narrow list of influencers that will be enthusiastic enough to work for you, more so on your own terms. Just like any kind of voluntary relationship, it is important to know what influencers will be “in your league” and which ones clearly wouldn’t and have realistic expectations. With all these things in mind, your narrow list of relevant influencers is a great place to start.

Choosing an influencer becomes easier when your list is finalized. Some brands focus on one strong, familiar face to represent their product or service, while some use more than one influencer for the same purpose. Either way, it is up to you, your budget and your capacity to choose influencers. Every influencer is different and based on the product you are selling you have to choose your influencer. If you are selling skincare products, you’ll want someone who’s associated with beauty and has clear skin. If you are selling local, organic products from a particular state, then get someone who hails from that state. It’s all about making what you sell relatable, so choose an influencer that best represents your target audience.

Once your influencer is secure, understand that the person you are dealing with is actually famous, and you’re not the only brand to have approached them. You need to act quickly to secure them so that they are actively associated with your brand and not your competitors. Do this with appealing incentives, PR packages, coupons etc. Usually influencers have managers with whom you can discuss such technicalities. It is best to get them sorted quickly so have apt people representing your brand who are decisive and have a sound marketing strategy.

This step requires one-on-one conversations with the influencer and figuring out their take on what you sell. If they are comfortable with the advertisement campaign, then their relationship with your brand seems more natural and thus relatable to the audience as well. Have a clear notion of what the influencer must avoid saying or doing as a representative of the brand. The list of don’ts must be implemented stronger than the list of do’s so as to prevent being associated with someone who may cause issues with your brand. So always be clear about the creative brief while letting the influencers also bring their say. After all, they’re influencers for a reason.

There are many ways to reach your target audience through an influencer marketing package. You may ask these influencers to take insta-worthy photos and tag and mention your brand or start a Facebook Live to talk about the product. They may also tweet about it, or give you a shoutout on Snapchat for increased influencer outreach. Your content can be made in such a way that it fits perfectly on all these different platforms, so make sure that the content is made available everywhere, including the influencer’s page as well.

Understand the return on investment the collaboration with the influencer has brought to your company. Your marketing team should have the numbers to tell you whether the influencer services were fruitful, or not so much. In most cases, the added exposure only benefits your brand, as you reach far and wide and even get brand new leads. However, there may be cases where you invested a lot but the response rate did not vary too much, or as expected. In that case, you must be able to let go of such collaborations and look for better prospects in the future.

A good relationship with a famous influencer can bring your brand on top and keep you there. That is why influencer marketing is a very sensitive albeit rewarding field of marketing. Most of the time, you are dealing with teenagers and young adults that have barely begun their lives, and with the right connections, your brand can grow with these influencers. The way you deal with them matters a lot, because as mentioned earlier, you are not the only one eyeing the most popular people on social media. It’s very easy for them to pick and drop brands, so do your research and a lot of background study before making the first move. It may lead to lasting connections favourable for your brand.