If You’ve Dabbled With Influencer Marketing, But Haven’t Had Much Luck...

First of all, let’s get one thing straight….

Influencer marketing doesn’t equal “brand awareness” alone

I went on a hike over the weekend with a few entrepreneurs in the B2C and DTC space. The conversation went something like this: Them: “so what do you do?”

Me: “I run an influencer agency for B2C brands”

Them: “oh cool, so you help them build brand credibility and stuff”

Me: “yeah that’s part of it. Some want brand awareness, others are brand new startups and want to see immediate ROI”

Them: “wait…..influencer marketing can bring ROI? I HAD NO IDEA!!”

Yes, influencer marketing has many outcomes. And if you’re not seeing “much luck” in the outcome you’re seeking yet, chances are, there is a critical error in the execution of strategy.

Is it possible that influencer marketing just doesn’t work for some brands?

Yes, only if your product sucks.

More than 61% of influencers have been persuaded to purchase by influencer recommendations. That’s more than paid advertising and organic content marketing combined (businesswire ).

If your product is strong and you're having trouble with results, the issue lies in one of many possible strategic errors.

So, what are they?

Critical Mistakes in Influencer Marketing

1. You keep choosing the wrong influencers

This can be across a variety of areas, but here are the most common ones:

a) Fraud

b) Demographic

c) Terrible creators

d) Terrible communicators

? ?2.? You’re micro-managing their creative

I spoke to an influencer in our series “Behind the Scenes with Influencers ”, who told me that she worked with a skincare company who forced her to read every ingredient of their product in a reel—massive fail.

Learn to guide the influencer, not script them.

3. You have no unique storyline that draws in your demographic

Remember the quote, “Facts sell, stories sell”. Yet many brands who attempt influencer marketing are selling facts. They’re selling the ‘deliverables’ or ‘features’ of their product or service.

And features don’t sell.

4. Your measuring is way too messy and you don’t know how to standardize

If you haven’t memorized these numbers by heart, it’s time to start taking a much closer look: a) what are my KPI’s?

b) what are the individual metrics for each influencer? (reach/engagement/traffic/conversion rate/CPM etc)

c) what are the metrics for all of them combined?

d) what’s my direct growth plan based on these metrics?

5. The learning curve is too big, but you still don’t want to work alongside an agency

It’s sometimes a smart idea to work on projects internally. But it’s often a smarter idea to work with someone who already has hundreds of thousands of vetted influencers in your niche with a strategic model that garner’s your outcome goals consistently.

If you want a closer look at the pros and cons, here’s an article on In-House vs. Influencer Marketing Agencies

Wrapping up:

Influencer marketing works potently, and the statistics prove it time and time again.

The issue lies in how you conduct your influencer marketing strategy. If you’ve dabbled but aren’t getting results, troubleshoot some of the errors mentioned above.

Or if you’re ready to trust a team with the internal processes, systems, and tools to guarantee successful strategic influencer marketing...

let’s connect on a call by clicking me right here :)