The peak of digital marketing is a long way up – but what if you had a boost?

Standing out from the competition online is a much harder job than what many believe. Every platform, ranging from social media to search engines, have in-built advertising options. And for every option there are millions of brands and digital marketing executives coming up with cutting edge ideas to gain audience attention.

Once you have that attention too, how do you make sure it translates into something beneficial for your company?

Why Go For Influencer Marketing And Online Collaborations?

The whole process of digital marketing involves researching, finding the appropriate target audience, and then enticing them with unique advertising strategies. Influencer Marketing and online collaborations can help cut down this process drastically, and help companies get more for less. Here’s why –

Pre-Collected Audience 

Influencers and online content makers attract a certain kind of demographic. So if you are, for example, a company selling DIY products, you can tap into influencers who make such content and market to their audience. In doing so, you are directly engaging with people who will be the most interested in your products and services.

They Know How to Market 

Influencer Marketing and online collaborations gets you in touch with people who are the best at marketing. After all, many such people have been their own agents, and painstakingly collected an audience over the years. They know what their fanbase wants, and how your products can best appeal to them.

Such a partnership can thus help reduce your workload in designing and executing a marketing strategy.

Audience Trust Them 

The whole idea of following, say, a fashion influencer, is to get inspired from their tastes and preferences, and help in better curation of products and services.

Thus, if an influencer comes out to say that a particular brand is in trend or worth the purchase, audiences are much more likely to trust the brand and try to get their hands on the product.

How to Approach and Manage The Influencers Right?

Thus, influencer marketing and online collaborations are a very effective strategy that can help you take your digital marketing strategy up a notch and get the results you want.

But influencers are also very selective in the brands they work with, and smaller brands and businesses may have a tough time getting a big content creator to engage in influencer marketing and online collaborations with them. But it’s certainly not impossible – and here’s how you can get it done.

Research

The first instinct for many businesses would be to go for the biggest and most well-known influencers. However, such collaborators may often have high rates and strict demands.

In contrast, smaller influencers would not only be more budget-friendly, but them sometimes have a more intimate connection with their audiences, making their push for products more organic and receptive.

Research is also essential to make sure that the person in question does not have insensitive actions in their background – the backlash from these can bleed onto brands as well.

Use the Right Channels – and Words

Don’t just DM the influencer – they are unlikely to respond as their inbox would be full. Most influencers have managers or official emails that you can reach them out on, so use those.

Additionally, don’t send across a pre-made template. Instead, keep some general pointers in mind, but customize your email so that the influencer knows how the influencer marketing and the online collaborations can be mutually beneficial. Before you sell your products to the audience, the influencer needs to buy into them.

Get It In Writing

A common mistake many digital marketing strategists make is to believe that influencer marketing and online collaborations can be a ‘we’ll see as we go’ thing. Treat any influencer marketing and online collaboration as a formal business deal. Draw up a contract of what is expected and what will be provided in return, and make sure that both parties assent to it.

Online platforms are very dynamic, and you want to make sure that your collaborator does not back out or choose something else in the middle of your campaign for the sake of a new trend or event.

Get Creative

If you are going on the influencer marketing and collaboration route, you should go all in. Instead of them just posting an image, ask your influencer partner to actively display your product through demonstrations or videos. This is much more likely to pique your audience’s interest, and would show off your product and its features much better than a simple post.

Other methods of better engagement include creating challenges, competitions, and giveaways centered around your products.

Trust Your Influencer and Collaborator

While nobody wants to give up control over something as critical as digital marketing, remember that being bright and visible on the internet is literally an influencer’s job. So, give them the freedom to experiment with new ideas and strategies, even if you are unsure about them – you might end up gaining a lot in return.

This does not mean that you can simply hand over the reigns to them. Active intervention is needed to make sure your product comes out in the best light.

Take Notes

Every influencer marketing and online collaboration is going to be unique, so every moment is a learning opportunity. See what works and what doesn’t, and what the audiences like the most. See how the influencer is able to impact your ROI, and if not, find the problems so that the next collaboration goes smoother.

Indeed, even a failed digital marketing campaign featuring a collaboration may be better than no campaign at all – influencers and their, well, influence, is here to stay, and brands who do not use this strategy risk losing out a lot.

Thus, better to take a chance and learn your lessons than to keep shying away from this method of digital marketing.

Do you think that influencers and influencer marketing can really help boost a brand’s business? Or do you think brands should not use influencers in their marketing? Have your ever purchased something because an online content creator promoted it? Let us know in the comments below!