Influencer marketing requires planning, strategizing, monitoring, and measuring, just like any other type of marketing. Stay with me as I walk you through effective influencer marketing tactics.
Set Objectives
Marketing is only effective if you have well defined long and short-term goals and objectives. Influencer marketing isn’t any different. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to know what you want to accomplish.
It’s critical to know your target audience, your message, and the action (or actions) you want your audience to do before you set your goals. Consider the following questions:
- What is the message of our brand?
- Who are we attempting to contact?
- What do we want the campaign’s audience to do as a result of it?
It’s easy to gloss over these types of inquiries, but it’s critical to dig deep and come up with significant responses. We know we’re aiming to reach out to new customers, but who exactly are these people? What are their passions? What do they require and how will they react? Take the time to create comprehensive customer profiles.
It’s time to spell out your goals once you’ve gotten clear, unequivocal responses to these questions. It’s important to be as specific as possible here. Wishy-washy goals like “raise brand recognition” or “grow product x sales” aren’t going to cut it. They’re unavoidable. It’s almost meaningless. When it comes down to it, marketing is all about increasing brand recognition. And what about if you’re giving away gifts to influencers? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you want to increase sales of that particular product.
Set highly clear goals or targets instead. Say “sell 1,000 of product x within one month of campaign launch” or “double our email marketing subscribers by x date,” not “bring more visits to our website.”
Will you be able to achieve your objectives as a result of this? I wish it were as simple as that… In a nutshell, no. Specific goals, on the other hand, will guide you in the right path and keep you on track.
When in doubt, remember the sensible rule:
Time-bound, specific, meaningful, attainable, relevant, and specific
Important Takeaway: Before you do anything else, make sure you know exactly who you’re attempting to reach with your campaign and what actions you want them to take as a consequence. Next, develop “SMART” goals to guide your campaign in the proper path (as defined above).
Make Yourself Relevant
It should go without saying that you should only contact influencers about possibilities that are relevant to both of your target audiences. According to Marketo, the bulk of failed opportunities were caused by an irrelevant pitch, according to 50% of influencers. Clearly, many of us are still making mistakes….
Keep in mind that an influencer’s reputation is built on their ability to be discerning about the things they evaluate and suggest. They risk alienating their audience and possibly driving some of them away if they start talking about things that aren’t a suitable fit for them.
As a result, it’s logical that they’d be picky about which companies they collaborate with and which items they endorse. They’ll just say no if something doesn’t fit, and you should respect that.
However, publicity from an influencer who isn’t affiliated with your brand isn’t going to help you significantly. Even if the fit isn’t perfect, you’ll probably be able to locate a “influencer” who will say “yes” – usually because they’re in it for the money or a gift. Don’t take the easy way out by using this route.
Influencer marketing only works if both parties benefit from the relationship. Don’t go out and contact everyone who has a blog. It’s fine to be choosy – in fact, it’s encouraged.
Take the time to study about their audience and become familiar with their work before proposing an influencer. Only pitch people that are a good fit for your product, brand, and objectives.
Be honest with yourself.
Influencers aren’t created equal. Almost everyone in the digital world wishes Rand Fishkin, Wil Reynolds, or Danny Sullivan would speak about them, but for the most part, it is simply not possible.
Rand, Wil, and Danny aren’t just influencers; they’re also celebrities. Will they be invited to the Academy Awards? Most likely not. But when it comes to digital impact, it doesn’t get much greater than these people.
Unless you’re already well-known and respected, attempting to engage influencers of this quality in your marketing will almost certainly result in one of two outcomes…
Ignorance or a very large bill
As I previously stated, influencer marketing must be mutually beneficial, and the reality is that you probably don’t have anything top-level influencers want or need if you don’t have klout or income.
Instead, take a step or two down. Instead of tier one influencers, go after tier two or three. You’re seeking for people who are well-known in their fields and have large followings, but who also have the time and desire to help the “little people.” You’re also seeking for people who are eager to help without charging a lot of money.
