According to MediaKix, nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels.


It’s not just mainstream but also quantifiably effective for marketers to apportion their budgets and realize a said outcome.


That said, what exactly is influencer marketing?


It is all about espousing your brand message through content creators/ influencers who have a good number of reach, engagement, and endorsement competencies. 


So when you think of influencers – go for how their voice moves on the Web and how elegantly they communicate your brand mention/ message/ worldview through their channels of engagement/ social media platforms.


But how do we reach out to these message mavens?


Here are 5 ways with which you can ace your influencer outreach.

  1. Be clear about the theme, message and the overarching alignment goal. Influencers are crazy-busily occupied promoting multiple brands as that’s how they’re compensated for their evangelism. So you’d have to ensure you align with their worldview, niche focus, word-of-mouth marketing and content creation capabilities. Choose influencers with not just the similarity of niches and audience they serve, but also the diversity of opinions and stances they bring. This establishes a holistic alignment between your brand’s expectations and how these influencers meet them with their sorted influence.
  2. Competency over credentials. Sometimes, marketers look at the overall credentials of an influencer and not how these influencers actually work towards your brand goals. So, it’s always important to have the right balance – though sometimes simply competency – of the way they engage and promote your brand on their channels. Competency here refers to their in-depth knowledge about branding and marketing, social selling psychology, public speaking and social media versatility, to mention a few. How influencers talk in action on the social networks almost invariably trumps who they were at a certain point in time. Relevance is equally important as roster. If these influencers are able to incite a genuine conversation about your brand with not just their audience but also your audience’s community/ ecosystem/ audience, then you’ve done your job pretty darn well!
  3. A micro cohort with a macro perspective. Micro is not necessarily small or limited or capped; it is sternly abundant for marketers to choose micro influencers especially if they are small businesses and have limited budgets. In fact micro is a mindset in the making for brands, to uplift their message with a focused, niche influencer engagement initiative. Having a cadenced cohort in an incremental series of influencer marketing program works much better than a mere shout-out or short-lived brand-speak by these influencers. Always go for the long-term impact over short-term hoopla. 
  4. Social media channel prioritisation. Instagram by far stands to be the go-to channel for influencers and their sponsored posts. Given the eclectic business niches, it caters to almost all types of influencers and their brand-focus. Marketers alike, enjoy multi-purpose brand marketing with more mentions, shares and posts that are in tune with the brand communications and emotions. Not far behind are platforms like YouTube and Facebook, among others. The key, therefore, is to mash up the versatility of platforms with a consistent message.
  5. Freemiums/ freebies go a long way for brand-building and establishing rapport. Ever thought of amazing goodies you could gift your influencers apart from the compensation? While these goodies may not be super expensive, but it can be strike a chord with your influencers for your brand and why you exist and truly stand for. A beautiful coffee mug, a gorgeous merchandise or a toolkit – your influencers already love it!

What’s your influencer outreach strategy? Turbocharge it with us!

Photo by Melanie Deziel on Unsplash