A Message to Brands: Working With Influencers

If you are a brand or influence, or an enthusiast of either, you may know that marketing and influencer budgeting is on the rise. Influencer Marketing Hub states “Influencer Marketing” has increased 325% in Google searches within the span of 12 months and has an average earned media worth of $7 for every dollar spent. However, there is one key that doesn’t match this growth: pay.

Messages from top companies are no stranger to reaching out to influencers offering product or exposure exchange for photos, blog posts and edited videos and advertisement to thousands of trusted followers. Influencers, especially who work day and night editing content for their collaborations, are frustrated and reeling back on the free content. In order for marketers and brands to keep up, I have written a message to those big companies to answer some of their frequent questions

What are some recent collaborations: Recent Brand Collaborations: Dunkin Donuts, Get Shipped by Betches, Holiday Ice Rink DTLA, CaseApp, Sips By, Le Grand Verre Wines and thankfully more coming soon.

What is the community aspect of Influencing? Community Building Tactics: Being an influencer and successfully combining it with your life is little bit of networking and a whole lot of looking for supporting and like-minded friends. From the time I decided to take my personal site to the next level, I decided I needed to find networking groups that would teach me marketing skills I do not currently hold. I already work in Marketing but it was so different learning the other side of the business from the eyes of the “advertiser”. I also looked for other friends who had the same goal, which ultimately led to join Influencer groups like SoCal Blogger Babes. Joining Influencer groups has given me a group of girls who are who keep you motivated when you feel that your “job” is not legitimized and who are extremely open when it comes to tips and tricks.

Do’s & Don’ts for Brands: Understand that although you are not advertising with a large agency or firm, you are still promoting your brand or product on another platform. Some brands choose to look at that and assume that this will give them free promotion and are often offended when the Influencer sends back a pricing sheet. The truth is the brand has already seen value in that specific Influencer platforms to have initiated or continued a conversation that most times leads to a contract. Even after signing a contract that promises pay, product and sometimes commission, the brand is still only almost a third of the budget they would have used had they gone with a large media based outlet or advertising/marketing agency. Working on the marketing side for my full-time job, I have personally seen that the revenue outweighs the cost – about a third of cost per influencer vs an agency and a much more solid relationship with consumers who purchase from a voice they trust. (Very biased, but I have had much feedback from personal followers of what they have used and what they like or the product’s flaws).

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