Influencer Marketing: Best Strategies & Examples

Influencer marketing is a popular trend and tactic for both B2B and B2C brands to drive sales. In 2024 its only going to get bigger as influencers grow. But as a brand you may be a little confused or just unsure as to how influencer marketing works and how you can apply it to your brand.  This is where our guide comes in handy. It shows you how to leverage influencer marketing with strategies and examples for your brand so you can capitalise on it and get a good ROI.

What Exactly is Influencing Marketing?

In this digital era influencer marketing has become a popular buzzword along with ‘influencer’. But aside from the hype, it’s an actual marketing strategy. Simply put influencer marketing is the process through which brands leverage well-known figures who have influence over their target markets to promote their brands. It’s nothing new as it’s been around forever. It just wasn’t called influencer marketing. The following are examples of influencer marketing long before the term came into existence:

• Wealthy & influential families promoting the Titanic in 1912
• Marilyn Monroe promoting Nivea cream for women in the 1950s
• Elvis Presley an ambassador for karate in 1960s America
• Oprah Winfrey promoting Revlon lipstick in 1989 for their campaign ‘Unforgettable Women’
• Michael Jordan promoting Nike apparel in the 1980s and early 1900s

How do I Use Influencer Marketing for my Brand?

Rest assured that you don’t need highly influential celebrities to promote your brand. We now live in the digital age and with it comes influencer marketers. Many of these are not extremely famous but can still do a lot for brand promotion. Take for example Murad and Nataly Osmann. These two have amassed a massive following on Instagram and it all started with just one travel photo. Many of their followers look to them for travel inspiration so as a travel company you might want to reach out to them to promote your brand.

So, when it comes to your brand and using influencer marketing the best thing you can do is to leverage the reach of an existing influencer who has built a large following and strong brand reputation in a particular niche to support your brand, endorse your product or service or co-create content, with the aim of increasing brand awareness and driving sales.

How to Build Your Influencer Strategy

Let’s take you through a simple three- step framework for building your influencer strategy.

Outline the Goals for Your Influencer Marketing

The first step before you even find an influencer is to outline your goals. Your goals will lay out a roadmap for you in which to work with. Don’t contact an influencer without first outlining some clear goals and metrics – KPIS (key performance metrics) that you’re aiming for. From here your able to make better informed decisions around the influencer you partner with, the platform you choose, and the type of content created. To help you get started break it down into the following:

• Identify your end goal/s and why you need an influencer
• Identify your influencer (name, age range & platform/s they are on)
• Identify what the influencer will help you do
• Identify how the influencer will help you do it
• Identify the platforms to create and promote content (maximise your reach)
• Identify any special considerations
• Identify clear metrics – KPIS eg: 100 new visitors to your website each week
• Identify clear boundaries and rules for working together

Finding an Influencer For Your Brand

Choosing the right influencer is vital to the success of your influencer marketing. It can either make or break it! Choosing the wrong influencer can turn into an “influenza” we once heard a business owner say. So, to give you a helping hand to find the right influencer and not an influenza for you we recommend that you start off with:

• Leveraging your networks (existing networks you have along with other people’s networks)
• Reaching out to a content agency (they have lots of networks and connections)
• Do some manual research on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook etc
• Listen to podcasts related to your industry and take note of influencers mentioned
• Listen to podcasts that are marketing related as influencers get mentioned & also invited
• Visit Tribe, an Australian based global marketplace to find influencers
• Visit Buzzsumo, which allows you to search for influencers by topic
• Don’t forget to look into mirco-influencers

Build a Relationship with your Influencer

Ultimately, working with an influencer is a partnership and just like with any partnership you need time and good values like mutual respect and trust. Your influencer should respect your brand and know what you stand for. There should be a good synergy. You are a good fit for each other. Work out some type of fair compensation. You can’t just expect them to promote your brand without giving something in return. Every influencer is different and so what determines fair compensation will depend on the partnership terms. Establish this early on in the relationship. Some influencers are happy with receiving gifts or free and exclusive products, others prefer to work on a commission.

Influencer Marketing Trends

The following are all highly popular forms of influencer marketing trends used by many B2B and B2C brands to drive sales which you can apply to your brand:

• Video content (influencer talks about your brand in a video)
• Affiliate marketing and discounts
• Content marketing – producing different types of content on different platforms
• Branded content (sponsored posts with mention of influencer)
• Competitions and giveaways by the influencer which lead back to you
• Events like expos and conventions where your product or service is promoted

Some Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns

The following are just some examples of successful influencer marketing campaigns adopted by brands. Use these examples to inspire you for your own influencer marketing campaign.

ASOS Influencer Marketing

One of the world’s biggest fashion e-commerce sites, ASOS decided to leverage the power of young and fashion-conscious millennial influencers by creating sponsored content on their Instagram posts which featured them wearing ASOS clothing with links to prompt followers to ‘buy the look’. It generated massive sales for the brand (over $100,000 US) and increased awareness of the ASOS clothing range.

Frank Body Influencer Marketing

An Australian-based beauty brand, Frank Body launching exclusively on Instagram and Facebook with just one product – their original ‘Body Scrub’. The company has over 1 million social media followers and has now sold over 2 million body scrubs in 149 countries around the world. Influencer marketing and content saw their Instagram account grow from 0 to 350,000 followers.

Audible Influencer Marketing

Audible’s partnership with New York Times bestselling author Tim Ferriss has seen a high ROI. During his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, Ferriss briefly mentioned his partnership with Audible and directed users to his custom URL, where they not only got a free eBook but also see a list of his favourite books. It’s an influencer marketing tactic that strikes a balance between sponsoring Audible’s service and allowing Ferris creative freedom to choose his favourite books.

Turkish Airlines Influencer Marketing

Snapchat star and influencer Jérôme Jarre partnered with Turkish Airlines back in 2017 for a good cause – to bring much needed humanitarian aid to Somalia during its humanitarian crisis. Turkish Airlines was the only airline flying to Somalia at the time, so Jarre partnered up with them and he got other people involved in his network to help bring food and other life essential supplies to the country. Jerome created so much impact that bought genuine value to so many people.

As you can hopefully see influencer marketing when done well allows you to maximise the power of people – ‘influencers’ who can do much to promote your brand. For more help in growing your brand, Book a Time with WORD EMPIRE^®, who will help build your business empire.