But how can you know if influencer marketing is for you? And if it is, how would you choose which influencers to work with? Between the nano, micro, mid-tier and macro levels, there are probably thousands of influencers that might work for you. That’s why it’s important to write down a list of traits you’re looking for in an influencer before you start looking. Here are some key considerations as you decide whether to embark on an influencer campaign:

1. Goals, Measurements, and Contracts

Like all advertising, you have to know your goals before starting. From there, figure out things like platform, influencer target, messaging that fits specific influencers and what your call to action is and how that’s communicated through the content.

Proper measurement is also key. You need to make sure you set the right KPIs for your team so that you’re clear about the ROI you seek from engaging influencers. Are you engaging influencers to:

• Drive sales?
• Build awareness?
• Help with a specific consumer demographic for new customer acquisition?
• Change consumer perception of your brand?
• Answer your brand’s critique? 

Finally, the contract negotiation should be very specific, and stay true to your goals and measurements, as discussed above. For example, you should set expectations on:

• Type and number of posts
• Which platforms will be used
• Messaging
• Usage rights
• Links to e-commerce 
• Revenue-sharing vs. compensation on activity 

In terms of negotiating, see what the sticking points are on price. Usually this centers around exclusivity requirements, licensing rights, number of draft reviews—keep in mind video re-shoots can be particularly pricey—and ownership rights. You can negotiate lower rates by having some give on these areas.

Also note that advertising needs to be disclosed by the influencer, per the Federal Trade Commission.

By narrowing among dozens of reasons to engage influencers to a key singular goal will help with specifics around setting team expectations and specific measurement. And if you don’t set proper expectations, things will not pan out as planned and the relationship could be ruined. That leads to wasted money and bad publicity. 

2. In-House vs. Out-Source

Your company hires experts in marketing, advertising, PR, digital, etc. You should also hire someone that knows influencers. This could be in-house or agency side. Managing influencer programs in-house helps maintain more control of the brand and the campaigns if influencers are a key pillar of your marketing strategy.

On the other hand, working with digital influencers can take a large toll on internal teams—in terms of heavy lifting of time—from forming deals for content creation to pushing paid ads across your brands’ social channels, and measurement. Stacy DeBroff, CEO of Influence Central, tells me “Many companies opt to engage seasoned specialists like my team to run their influencer engagements, as it ensures deep vetting of potential influencers, carefully framed and signed influencer agreements that include extension of content rights to the brand, seamless campaign management, online draft reviews before content gets posted, and detailed and guaranteed campaign metrics drawing directly from each influencer’s behind the scenes data.”

3. Authentic Match

Companies must compare their Brand Value Proposition and Buyer Personas and find authentic matches. Otherwise, customers will discount content from an influencer who seems to be just “doing it for the money.” Additionally, marketers must gauge each influencer’s passion for the brand and their desire to work with you. The key is not to just chase influencers that you think are up and coming, but to go after influencers that will help build an authentic brand.

4. Influencer Strategy

Rather than defaulting to the bottom of the rung with micro influencers or spending your way to the top (unless you’re a large brand) with social media celebrities, the best strategy is a mix of nano, micro, and mid-tier influencers.

Such a mix will usually give the best ROI, since these groups together have a decent mix of followers and are perceived to be more authentic, generally. And of course, marketers need to aim for a mix of influencers that fit the brand/business life stage. Below are the different levels of influencers:

1. Nano influencers (1-10k followers): It costs dramatically less to engage this group, since many of them will create content simply for product samples in return. As such, they can offer you the ability to engage certain groups at lower costs. But be sure they have some experience with such campaigns prior to engagement. Of course, some first-timers will do a great job, but consider their experience level before you go all-in.
2. Micro influencers (10-50k followers): Typically, micro influencers do not have agents—which can often try to pull more money from your pockets—and they tend to be more personal. Though they have smaller followings, comparatively, they can be very effective.
3. Mid-tier influencers (50-500k followers): They have a substantial number of followers, but they typically use many brand partnerships to make money. So since social media can be their primary source of income, they can be dramatically more expensive than the previous tiers. Additionally, many mid-tier influencers have started to engage agents. 
4. Premium/Macro influencers (500k-1m+ followers): They are best used for big, themed and/or seasonal campaigns. But it is often best to avoid them. They often communicate through agents, and the relationship is much less personal. As a result, they frequently dedicate much less of their time to the project. They can also miss the message of authenticity, which is critical, and should be a deal breaker.

While follower count is okay for gauging cost and reach, you can’t make your decisions simply based on this number. KPIs like views and engagement will usually give you a much better idea, and a simple conversation with the influencer in mind can go a long way.

Conclusion

Influencers can be a powerful tool in a marketer’s toolbox, but they must remember that this is about relationship building. That’s why it’s key to involve influencers in your brand, get them passionate, and to not treat them as just an execution point. But at the same time, don’t let them take advantage of you, which is why it is so important to gauge up front how passionate and authentic they are about your brand and have a very clear and specific contract. 

All in all, remember to:

1. Set specific goals, measurements, and contracts
2. Decide if you want influencer management done in-house or out-sourced
3. Find authentic matches and foster passionate relationships
4. Create a strategy that will maximize ROI 

The post Is Your Brand Getting Influencer Marketing Wrong? appeared first on SiteProNews.

The companies willing to innovate—by testing and adopting new methods pioneered by B2C, B2B, and even direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands—have a huge opportunity to stand out in 2020 and beyond.

We’re All Marketing to Millennials

What’s the key reason to stop parsing out B2C and B2B strategies? Today, most businesses are marketing to millennials. Thanks to Generation Y’s size—at 83.1 million, they’re the single largest consumer group—they’ve long been the obvious target for B2C marketers.

More recently, however, millennials have started moving up professionally into management positions. In 2016, millennials became the largest segment of the US workforce, and some researchers say they will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. As baby boomers retire, they are stepping into decision-making roles with spending power, and B2B companies need to adjust their marketing plans accordingly.

Here are four key strategies to help B2B and B2C companies alike navigate this new reality:

Forget the Perceived Personal⁠–Professional Divide

A key tenet of B2B marketing used to be that it should be more logic-driven and focused on ROI at the earliest stages of the customer journey. B2C marketing, for its part, was supposed to appeal more to emotions upfront.

New B2B buyers, however, don’t distinguish between the personal and the professional like those in decades past. According to a Deloitte study, millennials are “transforming the status quo by seeking purpose in the organizations they serve without sacrificing the flexibility to be who they are at work.” Today’s leaders and managers build corporate culture explicitly around personal passion and social purpose.

With personal and professional identity more aligned than ever, B2Bs can borrow from B2C marketing—building brand awareness around mission and social responsibility to draw prospects in, then focusing on ROI at research and consideration phases.

Invest in a Digital Presence

Companies must own their message and build the type of end-to-end brand experience millennials expect when making a buying decision—even when they’re at work. CEOs need to conduct a digital audit.

An established B2B company learned this the hard way. They offer industry-making software solutions for home services providers—residential and commercial HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies. The problem was that their go-to market strategy was built around newsletters, trade shows, and inbound marketing. They didn’t initially prioritize website design, user interface, or digital marketing efforts.

Here’s a great example of a successful marketing strategy in our modern age. A tech startup came in, saw an opportunity to disrupt their space, and started stealing customers. This company understood that new B2B buyers do their own online product research, traversing over 80 percent of the buyer’s journey by searching the web, digesting the results of digital search ads, talking to friends, and checking social media before reaching out for a demo or quote.

In this situation, B2Bs must adopt a B2C-like focused digital footprint. Bring in a digital marketing manager to understand website traffic; ensure that the company is mobile optimized; launch email prospecting, LinkedIn, and other social media programs; and implement best practices for buyers doing independent research.

Trade show marketing and newsletters aren’t enough to keep established B2B businesses competitive. This model demands digital transformation to build a consistent brand message and drive accelerated growth.

Test Experiential Marketing

B2B companies have traditionally invested more in experiential marketing, like tradeshows and conferences in the past and more recently, branded, immersive experiences. But modern experiential marketing doesn’t have to mean multimillion-dollar pop-ups. New experiential methods are available even to small-to-mid-sized B2B and B2C brands.

The secret here lies in your willingness to learn from D2C companies. The paint startup Backdrop has set out to make the consumer’s experience of painting their home better. Their brand experience extends all the way to curated Spotify playlists—perfect for painting to and released regularly on Instagram.

By testing capital-efficient experiential marketing strategies like branded playlists, then gauging how the community responds, companies can make informed decisions to go bigger with experiential programming.

Linear advertising and PR marketing are no longer sufficient for B2C companies. Modern methods—like experiential marketing—can be budget busters unless you learn from innovative D2C models.

Avoid Strategy Tourism Using Martech

The biggest mistake businesses can make in adopting new marketing methodology lies in failure to lay a foundation for measuring success. Here’s where a marketing technology stack comes in.

Tools for website tracking, email, marketing automation, CRM, and more will help you reach buyers. The preponderance of over 7,000 martech vendors today makes choosing the right toolset one of the most difficult areas for marketing leaders to navigate. It’s also a large investment, so businesses will need help putting it together if they don’t have the expertise internally. Fortunately, it’s worth it.

Investing in digital technologies will (1) make operations more efficient, boost sales, and enhance the customer experience, and (2) empower leadership to quickly assess where to make further investment.

With a new generation making most buying decisions at work and at home, the old divide between B2B and B2C no longer exists. Mom-and-pops and medium-sized B2B businesses that don’t keep up with the digital transformation will be left behind, and established consumer brands can lose ground to D2C brands using innovative methods. Owners and CEOs need to recognize that this new reality is here to stay, and they need to look beyond their own businesses to their customers and competition to stay relevant.

The post B2C and B2B Marketing are Converging: Will You Adapt? appeared first on SiteProNews.