In 2022, the influencer marketing industry reached a staggering $16.4 billion, and this upward trend shows no signs of slowing down.
Marketers are also singing its praises, with a whopping 89% believing that the return on investment (ROI) influencer marketing offers is on par with or even better than other marketing methods.
By partnering with influencers, you can convey your brand messages in a genuine and relatable way through a trusted channel. The key to getting started with influencer marketing lies in implementing the right strategy for your influencer marketing campaign, so let’s have a look at what that is.
Set Clear Goals
To start your influencer marketing campaign, you must begin by setting clear goals. These goals will be your guiding compass from start to finish, preventing you from losing track in the middle of the campaign.
To make your strategy more effective, it’s best to have just a few specific goals. Don’t spread yourself too thin. The fewer (and more concrete) goals, the better.
Here are some goals you can achieve through influencer marketing campaign alignment:
1. Boost Reach and Improve Consumer Experience
While businesses try to optimize their marketing strategies, many leverage influencers and affiliates to expand their reach and improve the consumer experience.
For example, in April 2022, Cruise America RV Rentals partnered with The Dyrt, a renowned camping app. The goal was to improve camping experiences for their customers.
Cruise America offered its customers membership in The Dyrt PRO through this partnership, providing valuable resources and tools to enhance each RV trip.
This example shows how brands can partner with platforms and influencers to enhance and enrich the customer experience.
2. Build a Brand Presence
If your brand is new and you want to establish yourself in a certain area, teaming up with influencers who are part of that niche can be your best bet. They can help spread the word about your brand, raising awareness about your products and services.
Athletic Greens is a prime example of a brand that skyrocketed brand awareness through partnerships with travel influencers like Kara and Nate, who have over 3.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
Before these partnerships, Athletic Greens was another average greens power in the supplements market. After investing in influencer marketing, it’s now a household name.
3. Establish a Strong Brand Position
If you want your brand to be the first thing your target audience thinks of in your industry, work with an influencer to showcase your brand’s unique traits.
They have the power to shout your brand’s name from the social media rooftops, introducing you to a market where you’re virtually unknown.
Additionally, using a SWOT analysis template can help you identify your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, enabling you to refine your positioning strategy effectively.
4. Get More Conversions
A common goal for most influencer marketing campaigns. But conversions don’t always equate to sales. Define what “conversions” mean for your campaign. Do you want more newsletter signups, app downloads, sales, or new clients (appointments booked)?
Once you know what you’re after, dial your campaign in and keep your eye on the prize.
5. Increase Sales
You can boost your business’s sales by giving influencers special discount codes to share with their followers. The influencers can earn a commission for sharing the codes while your sales increase. Win-win!
Another common arrangement is exchanging your products or services with influencers for content on their social media. Usually these are unboxing videos and reviews. Often accompanied with a unique discount code, this type of content can lead to huge boosts in sales.
Establish a Budget
After you’ve pinpointed the appropriate goals for your campaign, the next crucial move is to allocate a budget to achieve those objectives.
Even if finances aren’t your forte, establishing and tracking your budget is essential to understanding which campaigns fly high and which flop.
Whether you choose to pay your influencers in product or monetarily, it’s best to set aside a budget for every influencer that you decide to work with.
Whether your budget is substantial or modest, the crucial factor is staying disciplined with those figures. This practice won’t only prevent wasteful spending but also provides a firmer foundation for a return on your investment.
Identify the Right Influencers
With the budget and goals sorted out, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and find the right influencers for your campaign.
Now, you’ll need to make a crucial decision based on your budget — whether to connect with small, mid-sized, or large influencers. Each category comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
When engaging with various influencer sizes, here’s what you should anticipate:
Nano Influencers
They might be newcomers to the market or not fully dedicated to it, which means they may lack the expertise.
However, the upside is that they carry a small yet devoted following (with the highest engagement rates), making them ideal for enhancing brand awareness and driving sales.
Micro-Influencers
These influencers boast a substantial following and foster authentic connections with their audience. Expect a solid return on investment.
Holger Sindbaek, serial entrepreneur and the founder of Online Solitaire, says, “We recognized the potential of micro-influencers on platforms like TikTok and YouTube to reach and engage our target audience effectively.
We built authentic connections and trust by partnering with influencers with dedicated followings within the gaming community.
These collaborations brought high-quality visitors to our platform, many of whom became loyal players.
For example, our campaigns with TikTok and YouTube micro-influencers led to a noticeable increase in user acquisition and retention rates, reflecting the industry trend.
This strategy not only boosted our player base but also enhanced engagement, demonstrating the value of selecting the right influencers to drive meaningful interactions.”
However, the main downside could be the expense, especially if operating on a limited budget.
Mega Influencers
If you partner with big influencers who have a huge audience that matches your business, chances are you may see quick results regarding sales and conversions given their popularity with their audience.
Unfortunately, top-tier influencers often lose touch with their audience and niche as they grow, so their overall engagement rates suffer. However, sponsored posts still offer an excellent opportunity for investors.
To maximize these opportunities, consider incorporating content localization to ensure your messages resonate with diverse segments of the influencer’s audience.
Therefore, rather than focusing solely on accounts with huge follower counts, it’s smart to consider relevance. If an influencer fits your niche and has an engaged community, they can be a valuable partner, regardless of their number of followers.
Automate the Communication Process
Once you’ve signed the contract(s), it’s important to effectively communicate with your influencers and affiliates to ensure they are on board with your marketing strategy.
As technology and management tools continue to evolve, avoid manual tasks by working smarter, not harder.
Automate some of your processes to increase efficiency, and consider using a video marketing platform to streamline content creation and distribution.
For this instance, you can use team scheduling software to organize the posting schedule of your influencers and affiliates. That way, you can seamlessly plan or coordinate your content, copy, and posting dates while keeping everyone on the same page.
All of this will save you time, and ensure efficiency as well. Say goodbye to tasks slipping through the cracks and hello to influencer campaigns that deliver results with automation software.
Build a Relationship With Customers
When working with influencers and affiliates, you tap into established networks to promote your products or services. But this is just the beginning of a relationship with your potential customers.
The real challenge is maintaining that connection, and that’s where affiliate email marketing comes into play. By partnering with leading email marketing agencies, such as InboxArmy, you can design and execute an affiliate email marketing strategy that complements your influencer and affiliate collaborations.
These agencies specialize in crafting personalized, targeted emails that resonate with the interests of customers who have shown interest through an influencer or affiliate link.
Imagine a customer discovering your brand through a trusted influencer. Then, through strategically planned follow-up emails, they’re nurtured with:
- Exclusive offers
- Product insights
- Special discounts that match their interests
That’s how affiliate email marketing helps to cultivate and deepen these new relationships. So why not lean into affiliate email marketing to strengthen your relationship with customers?
You can generate repeat business and boost word of mouth thanks to happy customers. What’s not to love?
Measure and Analyze Your Data
To measure the efficacy of your campaigns, it’s essential that you keep track of the data and later analyze it too.
One of the ways to align influencers and affiliates to your marketing strategy is to provide them with relevant data and insights that can help them create engaging and authentic content for their audiences. Additionally, incorporating professional event photography can significantly enhance the visual appeal of their content, making it more attractive and shareable.
For example, you can use embedded analytics to integrate data from various sources and generate interactive dashboards and reports that can be easily shared with your partners.
That way, you can empower them to make data-driven decisions and showcase the value of your products or services in a compelling way.
Wrapping Up
Integrating influencers and affiliates into your marketing strategy can be a game changer for your brand. There are hundreds of successful examples to prove that.
By aligning these powerful forces, you can create a dynamic marketing approach to help you reach your goals like increased engagement, and conversions, boosted sales, and better brand positioning.
If you’re seeking further insights to navigate the world of influencer marketing, eCommerce, and entrepreneurship, consider tapping into the knowledge reservoir of eCommerce Fastlane.
Author Bio
Kelly Moser is the co-founder and editor at Home & Jet, a digital magazine for the modern era. She’s also the content manager at Login Lockdown, covering the latest trends in tech, business and security. Kelly is an expert in freelance writing and content marketing for SaaS, Fintech, and ecommerce startups.