Let’s face it, every major niche is uber-competitive.
As ad prices increase and customer loyalty decreases: we as marketers have to find a solution to this problem. So instead of going straight for cold traffic who is harder to acquire, why not go for traffic who already has a public figure’s loyalty. A public figure who’s audience already knows, likes, and trusts them from years of cultivating a meaningful relationship. And ones whose endorsements (or lack their of) have a major influence on their future followings buying decisions.
What if instead of competing with companies who can spend billions on branding campaigns on people who already know most established brands, you could get the same effect in a more significantly cost-effective way. Beacaclly a warm referral of traffic being sent to your product. In other words, get them to transfer their influence over to your new brand.
Influencer marketing has become an evergrowing billion-dollar industry and has literally quadrupled if not more in spending & partnership creation since 2010. For example, Amazon has created an Influencer Marketing platform to promote its products to micro audiences. Beats By Dre utilized this strategy to the max and became the fastest-growing headphone technology brand in the last decade. Another case-study example is HiSmile Teeth brand who has paid celebrities like Connor Mcgregor and the Kardashians millions to make posts to promote their brand.
If you’ve been in business and sales for any amount of time, you probably know: relationships are everything. There’s no way around this concept, sure converting people on first contact is cool but 9 times out of 10, if your marketing message isn’t on point you’re wasting valuable dollars. So we as marketers must become savvy and use the concept of “leverage” and joint ventures to get the upper hand of relationships and trust with consumers.
Now, you don’t have to spend millions on celebrities. Think about influencers who have built loyal tribes via social media. People who have followings that rang from 20k-300k via their respective social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, etc).
That’s exactly why the Dream 100 strategy was created. Identifying the top players in your industry, then forming a relationship with each and every one of them to later form a strategic alliance that is a Win:Win for both parties.
Create a list of the top celebrities, websites, blogs, YouTubers, course creators, events, Instagramers, podcasts, and associations in your niche, and to reach out to them regarding partnerships.
This source of referral traffic can be hit or miss. But all marketing has to be constantly nurtured and tweaked (it’s all relationship-driven). ALTHOUGH, if you find the right influencers to partner with, it can be a gold mine, And yes, there are “influencers” in just about every imaginable niche known to humanity. There are two different ways to work with these influencers:
1. For Free!
Examples below:
• Be a guest on an industry podcast • You write a guest blog post for an industry blog • You give a speech at an industry event • You give a course creator an affiliate deal • You offer a product or something they value as leverage in the negotiation.
2: You Pay Them
When influencers reach a certain audience size, they typically start selling ad-spots on their websites, YouTube Channels, Instagram feeds, and events. You can pay a monthly retainer, commissions, or one-off payment.
Some examples of paid influencer marketing would be:
• You become a sponsor for a YouTube video • You pay for an Instagram post • You sponsor an industry event • You pay a celebrity/influencer to shoot a video (product review, giveaway, etc)
Once you make your list of paid influencers if you don’t want to go the free brought, compare the cost of the ad to the volume of sales that can be generated and then decide if you want to create an advertising contract with the influencer. I am always searching for new influencers to do this with my brands as well as the brands I manage. I have found some of these influencers, when matched with the right pain solving offer, urgency, and scarcity-based positioning can bring in constant sales & revenue.
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