Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses – A 5-Step Plan for Customer Acquisition

In today’s hyper-connected world, we’re exposed to more than ever. Memes, ads, and content everywhere are trying to capture our attention.

Eventually, we find a source online that we trust and listen to much of what they advise.

Advertising and more traditional marketing methods can fall short of building trust with your audience and capturing their attention because you blend in too much with everything else. Not to mention many of these marketing strategies can require a college education to understand the best ways to make use of them.

If you’ve tried other marketing methods and haven’t had success in attracting new customers, influencer marketing might be a good alternative. Because influencers have an audience that trusts them, influencer marketing can be a great way to get your message across to potential customers in a way that will be well-received.

Below is a 5-step plan for leveraging influencer marketing as a customer acquisition strategy for your small business.

Step 1. Know your influencers

If you’re trying to work with influencers, you need to understand why they create and share content in the first place.

Ask questions like:

• What problem are they trying to help their audience solve?
• What are they trying to prove or disprove to their audience?
• Why do they create content? Is it to sell something, a hobby, or something else?

Answering these questions can help you come up with creative ways to work with the influencers. Take the time to understand them in these ways so you can develop your strategy in the following steps.

Step 2. Establish your presence

Before you reach out to influencers in your industry, you need to be on the platforms they use.

This means you need to create social media accounts, make sure your website looks good, and make sure your Google Business Profile looks professional if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

In any case, make sure that what they find you on search engines and social media sites represents your business in a way that’s consistent with your brand identity and values.

Remember, the impression you make online can significantly influence potential influencers’ perception of your business. By presenting a professional and consistent image across all online platforms, you increase your chances of persuading well-known influencers to work with you.

Step 4. Build your angle

If you’re going to pitch influencers a story, it’s not effective to just have them do a review of your product. This is true even if you pay them for the placement.

The reality is, that their audience doesn’t care about your product. They care about the content they’re consuming, and if you simply insert yourself as a sponsor into their content, this can just be annoying.

Instead, find ways to make your product or service a part of their style of content in a creative and interesting way. This will present your brand in a more engaging way and likely result in positive perceptions from viewers.

According to video marketing trends, short-form video is on the rise. This is likely due to short attention spans, but whatever the reason, this means you have less time to show your brand to your influencer’s audience, so creativity in the presentation is key.

Many times, if you’re paying for the engagement, the influencer can help you come up with an idea, but it’s good to have something in mind going in.

Step 5. Send your pitch

Pitching an influencer requires a strategic approach to ensure that your message resonates with them and aligns with their interests and values.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to pitch an influencer effectively:

1. Research: As mentioned above, research the influencer’s content and interests to understand their niche, audience demographics, content style, and previous brand collaborations. This will help you tailor your pitch to appeal to their interests and preferences.
2. Personalization the pitch: Personalize your pitch to the influencer. Mention specific content or campaigns of theirs that you admire and explain why you believe your collaboration would be mutually beneficial. This demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to understand their work and are genuinely interested in collaborating with them. You can usually templatize most of the email and personalize the first sentence to save time if you’re reaching out to lots of influencers.
3. Include a value proposition: Clearly articulate the value proposition of collaborating with your brand. Explain how the partnership aligns with their audience’s interests and how it can benefit both parties. Highlight any unique selling points of your product or service that would appeal to their audience.
4. Explain the benefit of collaborating with your brand: Outline the benefits of the collaboration for the influencer. This could include exposure to a new audience, access to exclusive perks or products, or opportunities for creative freedom. Emphasize how the collaboration can help them achieve their goals and enhance their personal brand.
5. Include a clear call to action: Provide a clear call to action in your pitch. Whether it’s scheduling a call to discuss further details, sending product samples for review, or outlining the next steps for collaboration, make it easy for the influencer to take action.
6. Keep it short: Keep your pitch concise and to the point. Influencers receive numerous pitches daily, so make sure your pitch fits on a phone screen with no scrolling.
7. Follow-Up: If you don’t receive a response to your initial pitch, don’t be afraid to follow up politely. Influencers are busy individuals, and your email may have gotten lost in their inboxes. A follow-up can help bring your pitch to their attention.

Remember to be authentic, respectful, and transparent throughout the pitching process. Building genuine relationships with influencers is key to successful collaborations and long-term partnerships.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing presents small businesses with a unique way to connect authentically with audiences and boost customer acquisition.

Following the outlined 5-step plan, small businesses can effectively harness influencer partnerships to drive brand awareness and engagement.

By understanding influencers, crafting personalized pitches, and creating meaningful content for their audience as part of the partnership, businesses can maximize the impact of their collaborations, resulting in newly acquired customers.