Influencer Marketing Can Be Expensive
Influencer marketing is one of the hottest strategies in today’s marketing world. Brands of all sizes are scrambling to figure out how they can get their product, message or service into the hands of some of the internet’s most followed personalities. In its beginning days, influencer marketing used to be somewhat affordable. Influencers weren’t as aware of their true value meaning they weren’t charging as much to participate in campaigns. Unfortunately, things have changed.
Nowadays, influencer marketing, especially when done at scale, can be quite costly. But, it doesn’t need to be that way. In this blog, Hollywood Branded discusses how brands implement influencer marketing campaigns successfully on a small budget.
In-House vs Agency
If you’re a brand with a big budget, working with an agency is probably your best bet. Agencies have the personnel and management tools needed to ensure that your influencer marketing campaign runs as smoothly as possible. However, a lot of brands out there, especially newer brands, don’t have the budgets to work with an agency but still want to reap the benefits that influencers have to offer. By using these five techniques below, brands are able to do that...
1. Use Micro Influencers
Micro influencers are a brand’s best friend. Unlike their higher follower base counterparts, micro influencers have a smaller more niche following. They have a great relationship with their audience and know what does and doesn’t work. The best part about micro influencers is their price point. More often than not, brands can get away with paying a micro influencer a significantly lower price, or sometimes even just product, in exchange for a posting about their product, message or service. In a world where prices have skyrocketed, finding these niche micro influencers can be a goldmine for brands. The only downside to working with micro influencers is that they require a lot of management. Say you’re looking to reach 100,000 people, you may need to work with 15-20 micro influencers whereas you may only need to work with one macro influencer to reach that same number of people. However, the former will be a significantly more affordable option than the latter.
2. Use Customers As Influencers
Utilize the customers that you already have. People that are already using your product are the best people for your brand because they already know and love your product, (assuming you have a good product). Scroll through your follower list and find any people that have at least 1,000 followers. Ask them to promote your product to their followers in exchange for early access to new product releases and/or discounts. It should be easy to get them to post on your behalf considering that they’re already a fan of your brand. Sure, their reach may not be the highest but beggars can't be choosers!
3. Combine Affiliate and Influencer Marketing
Although the days of “I’ll pay you nothing up front but I’ll give you a hefty cut on the back end” may be coming to an end, this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to negotiate some type of deal along those lines, especially when working with micro influencers. Most influencers will want to get paid a little something up front for content creation (at the end of the day, influencers are content creators not salesmen) but you may be able to negotiate a smaller up front fee in exchange for a percentage of the revenue generated from their posts on the backend. If you do this, be sure that the influencer includes some type of CTA (call to action) to increase the likelihood that followers move forward to purchase your product or service.
4. Repurpose Content And Pay For Boosted Posts
After securing content from micro influencers for free or a very small price, don’t stop there. Repurpose that same content for your own social channels. In addition, you should put some dollars behind the posts to amplify the content to a larger audience. Even just $25 will help spread your content to thousands of fans. Nonetheless, the money that you’d spend to boost your posts will still be significantly less than what you’d pay to a macro influencer.
5. Partner With Another Brand
This will take a bit of research but when done correctly can yield great results. By partnering with another brand to run an influencer campaign, you will be able to offset a lot of the costs because the influencer fees will be split between two organizations. For example, let’s say that that you’re a vodka brand looking to promote your product via influencers. You may look to partner with a juice brand and run an influencer campaign that promotes a cocktail that you can make using both your vodka and your partnered company's cranberry juice. Not only will this cut down your costs but it may entice the influencer to work with you even more considering that they get to partner with two brands at once.
Moving Forward
As a brand with a smaller budget, you must keep in mind that influencer marketing is not a one time quick fix. It is very rare that an influencer marketing campaign will spring your brand into a national success. A successful influener strategy takes months of patience and several reiterations. But, when done correctly and patiently, influencers can absolutely yield great results for a brand.
For more information on influencer marketing here are some other blogs we have for you to check out:
- 3 Insights To Create Affordable Influencer Marketing That Sells
- 4 Things To Consider Before Launching An Influencer Campaign
- 5 Signs Your Brand Should Invest In Influencer Marketing
- Choosing Which Influencers To Use For A B2B Influencer Campaign
If you are a brand that doesn’t have the biggest budget but still wants to work with an agency to help you meander through the world of influencers, check out our Influencer Budgeting Calculator.
