Influencer Marketing Tips for Startups

Owning or working in a startup isn’t something easy, it takes time, effort, hard work, and resources to fructify an idea and even tougher is getting the marketing right. Marketing can be a deal maker or breaker, thus implying the over-whelming need of a well-thought marketing strategy. Irrespective of the resources pumped into a marketing plan, if it doesn’t reach the targeted audience or fails to click with your future consumers, as good as your products or services might be, the purpose won’t be served; on the other hand, even if your marketing strategy isn’t too grand but still connects with your audience, Voila!! The game has begun for you.

In today’s times, modern marketing skills are needed to reach out to the audience, for that, you have to be creative and clearly communicative, hence, emerges the need for influencer marketing. Influencers have taken social marketing by storm in the recent past. Influencers are basically people who have developed a digital relationship with their followers and you can use this point to your leverage, just keeping in mind that your promoted content has to be authentic and reverberates with your audience and brand goal, simultaneously.

Prior to you engaging with influencers, you need to make sure that they carry or at-least have the ability to carry your intended message, in here it is of utmost importance for you to demarcate between genuine and fake influencers. The former are the ones who have an illustrated body of work behind them, carry a real vibe and have a count of genuine and engaging followers, whereas the latter can be merely termed as all pomp and show, even though they might have a huge follower count, yet those followers might not be real or not the audience you are looking forward to connecting to.

Let’s have a look at some of the influencer marketing tips you can incorporate:

1. Opt for an influencer whose persona aligns with your company’s goal- As the owner of a startup, it is important that you understand the influencer you have decided or chosen to work with has a connection with your audience, not only with theirs, if not, then they can establish a rapport. To understand this, it is important for you to have done your preliminary market study, beforehand, this way you shall know which audience to target and how to target, then accordingly, search and evaluate the right type of influencers. That means going for those influencers, who fit in with your brand goal, if the influencer doesn’t reverberate with your brand identity, then it’s going to be of no use, won’t yield any results, and would be a waste of your resources.
2. Have a budget on-hand- Depending upon the size and available resources of your startup, you can customize the budget of your campaigns, aimed at your audience and the kind of influencer you want to reach out to, to promote your brand. Depending on your budget, you can involve celebrities or mega influencers, but if operating on a limited budget then you can have a nano or a micro-influencer who can promote your brand, in a creative fashion and simultaneously generate a good monetary return for your investment.
3. Generating attention for each other- This is a handy, effective, and cost-efficient strategy; here it is a symbiotic relationship, wherein it’s not that only you as a brand need influencers, but it’s true the other way too. Influencers too need adequate online exposure and support from their followers. Here you can enter into an agreement with the influencer, where they will mention your brand on their social media channels and handles and you will do the same. This ensures raising adequate brand awareness amongst people and generating interest for the same, and this all can happen without you shelling out any money.
4. Guest Bloggers and Vloggers- A successful way to organically raise your brand’s visibility is to have SEO friendly content published on your website, as well as associating oneself with industry experts or famous bloggers and vloggers can generate interest and buzz for your brand. You can invite guest bloggers and vloggers to write or share visual content, pertaining to your sector, which you can publish on your website. This way your brand’s credibility will increase as well as your brands’ awareness, and most importantly people who align with your brand’s goals shall reach out to you for further business opportunities, partnerships, and associations.

 To ensure that your brand reaches the maximum audience, you can use the above-mentioned tips to get started with influencer marketing. If done right, it can create wonders for your brand and push it up the ladder, so go ahead and conquer the market.