An Extensive Guide on Influencer Outreach For Your Business

Influencer outreach has become the new yardstick for success. In an increasingly digital world, to beat the competition, companies are constantly exploring different marketing avenues to seize growth opportunities and boost revenue. One such successful strategy that most businesses are opting for as opposed to traditional marketing strategies is influencer outreach.

So what is influencer outreach?
Influencer outreach is essentially a form of social media marketing wherein businesses collaborate with influencers i.e. well-known individuals that are viewed as experts in their niche with a committed social following, and leverage their reach and reputation to endorse the brand and achieve their marketing goals.

Here are some important statistics about influencer outreach that you should know before diving into the subject itself -

• More than nine out of ten marketers today have influencer marketing as a part of their overall marketing strategy.
• 71% of marketers say that the quality of customers and traffic acquired from an influencer marketing platform is better than other sources.
• 49% of consumers today depend on influencer recommendations for their purchase decisions.

However, there are various factors that contribute to the success of an influencer outreach program. Listed below are a few things to keep in mind before investing in influencer outreach -

1. Define Your Goals -
Like any other marketing strategy, the first step to creating a successful influencer outreach program is to have clearly defined goals for your business. Outlining concrete goals enables you to craft an effective strategy while also establishing your next actionable steps. Moreover, it also helps you to define your key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of your campaign! Whether your goal is to create brand awareness, build a strong online identity, attract a new demographic, or even generate more leads and optimize sales, setting an explicit objective brings clarity to your plan of action. Additionally, this insight also allows you to determine a budget which is an integral component of any project.

 

2. Build a Detailed Buyer Persona -
The next step is to develop an in-depth understanding of your target audience. This can be done by building a detailed buyer persona which is an ideal combination of both - demographic and psychographic segmentation. Information like your target group’s location, age range, gender split, approximate income level as well as their hobbies, interests, priorities, and pain points helps build such a comprehensive buyer persona. This makes it considerably easier for you to ascertain the eminent influencers they will most likely be following.

 

3. Identify the Right Influencers -
Thereafter, set out to identify the reputable influencers who are experts in your niche and can assist you in achieving your marketing objectives. They could be celebrities, bloggers, industry experts or even thought leaders. However, ensure that your assessment of them is not solely based on the number of followers, but also considers the quality of their content, engagement metrics and credibility. This will help you discern if establishing a collaboration with them will make sense as a temporary event or a long-term partnership.

 

4. Determine an Influencer Outreach Strategy -
One final step before reaching out to the influencers is to shortlist the strategy you want to undertake. There are several influencer outreach strategies that can be implemented like gifting them free samples or products in exchange for a shoutout or a review, running collaborative contests, and giveaways, inviting them to take over your platform for a specific period, or even entering a paid-partnership or affiliate marketing agreement with them. Based on your budget and current goals, evaluate a strategy that would help you achieve your campaign objective, and get you optimum results.

 

5. Plan an Effective Communication Approach -
Creating a lasting first impression in the minds of influencers by adapting to a contemporary communication practice rather than making it sound like a sales pitch, promises a productive outcome. Ensure that your communication is personalized, pleasing, engaging, and has something in it for both of you. Keep in mind that building a strong relationship with the influencer should be your primary focus and not simply getting them onboard to endorse your brand to their audience. In the end, making valuable connections will go a long way for your business.

 

6. Analyze the Outcome -
Lastly, it is imperative that you track and evaluate the success of the influencer outreach strategy adopted by you. You can do so by making use of the KPIs that you determined while setting your goals. For example, if your goal was to create brand awareness then you can refer to the website traffic and page views to track your success whereas if your goal was to generate leads and drive sales, you can measure those by surveying the hike in email subscriptions or actual sales! Analyzing the data is fundamentally instructive in gaining a deeper understanding of what works for you and for your future marketing campaigns as well.

For further support to grow your business, our team at Parkyd Digital is available and happy to help you. With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, we custom create innovative, strategic, and cost-effective solutions for your business to help you achieve your sales and marketing goals. 

 

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