Christopher Earle: Should You or Shouldn’t You: 3 Ways to Tell if Influencer Marketing is Right for Your Brand

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Should You or Shouldn’t You: 3 Ways to Tell if Influencer Marketing is Right for Your Brand

influencer-marketing-right-for-your-brand

Reaching and connecting with customers in a meaningful way has become incredibly challenging. There I said it.

It’s no wonder with the sheer number of flash-in-the-pan marketing practices have somehow made their way into brands large and small only to leave marketing teams throwing their hands up in frustration. The amount of knowledge and data that we have access to today really is incredibly. Unfortunately, it can be hard to filter out the sage advice from that which is better left undiscovered.

It wasn’t so long ago that everyone started saying: “brands need to be on social!”, so companies jumped at the chance and signed up for every social platform available (even those that didn’t make sense). Then, when people said: “we need content!”, it led to a huge boost in the amount of content created and even today 76% of marketers plan to create more content this year than the year before.

While it can be tempting to jump at the opportunity dig your teeth into every new tactics because well, everyone else is doing it, it’s important to take a step back and consider whether it is the right fit for your customers, for your brand and for your message.

Influencer marketing is no exception. When implemented correctly, a content driven influencer marketing program help accomplish everything from building awareness to developing trust with current and potential customers.

If any of the following pains sound like what you’re experiencing, then chances are influencer marketing might be a welcome addition to your marketing strategy.

Budgets Aren’t What They Used to Be

Most marketers today are being tasked to do more with less. The hefty ad and marketing budgets aren’t what they used to be (even at larger companies). In addition to having less to spend, marketers have been tasked with amping up the creativity and improving results.

Instead of feeling frustrated with smaller staff and budgets, the current state of affairs presents an opportunity for marketers to get creative.

Co-creating content with influencers enables brands to align with like-minded individuals and extend their reach significantly. Do keep in mind that depending on your industry or the type of influencers you’re working with, there may be some cost associated with partnering. However, partnering with influencers has to potential to reap rewards that far outweigh the cost of other marketing initiatives.

Content Isn’t Resonating with Your Audience

If you’re like most marketers, your team spends countless hours poring over data to identify the content that is resonating best with your target audience. You may notice that you have some breakout content, but in all, your audience doesn’t seem to be very engaged with the message.

If it doesn’t catch their attention they don’t read it. If they don’t read it then they’re definitely not sharing it. By incorporating a combination of curated and original content from influencers into long and short-form content, you’re able to add signals of credibility and up the “Interesting factor” of what might otherwise be a dull article, eBook or white paper.

Adding influencers that can empathize with your customers will help them see themselves in your content and create a stronger connection with your brand.

Your Buyers Don’t Like Being Sold To

Let’s face it, who does? When you feel like a company’s only interest is in getting you to buy their product or service, it’s a turn off. And as we know, all of the research clearly states that people buy from people that they feel like they know and can trust.

If your goal is to create value for your customers (as it should be), then the inclusion of influencers into your content can help build authority, credibility and trust which can in-turn lead to sales. If you collaborate with top tier influencers then those people are essentially endorsing your brand as one that is credible and trustworthy.

Influencers are a powerful tool and when incorporated appropriately, they allow brands to focus on adding value for customers all while encouraging more engagement.

Could Influencers & Content Be a Winning Combination for You?

Influencer content programs aren’t a magic bullet or replacement for an integrated digital marketing strategy. However, knowing when and where to add influencers to your content mix can be an incredibly effective way of providing value for customers and potential customers.

We’d love to hear what some of your content challenges have been and help you determine if adding influencers might help!