Influencer marketing is about working with people who have developed their own community that aligns with your target audience. This allows you to promote your products/services to their respective audience, and the impact on your own business can be huge.
In an environment where there are so many advertising restrictions for Cannabis marketing, it makes sense to work with influencers. It is one of the few opportunities available where you can see big results outside of common advertising systems. Let’s look at how you can use this form of marketing to help you improve your sales.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Let’s start by talking about what influencer marketing is and why it is so effective. Influencers are people who have established a strong following on social media. While the term is most commonly associated with Instagram, it can apply to a range of different platforms. There are multiple reasons why you might want to work with these personalities. First, they have a large audience. This means that you will be able to use them to deliver your message. This is especially important in an age where people are getting skilled at tuning out advertising messages. In addition, influencers have been able to build a personal connection with their audience. This means that people will trust the product recommendations received by influencers. Now that we know what this marketing approach is, and why it is so valuable, let’s look at some of the ways you can apply the cannabis influencer marketing strategy to your business in 7 easy steps.
1. Define your Goals
One mistake many companies make is not being clear on their goals going into their influencer campaigns. Too often companies are vague in setting goals. You need to be specific, knowing exactly what you want to achieve. This will make it easier to gauge if your campaign has accomplished your goals. By doing this, you will be able to ensure that the campaign is providing value to your organization.
2. Establish your Budget
As a business owner, you need to be investing time, money, and resources back into your business to nurture it and help it grow. You need cash flow to stay in operation, so you have to be conscious of where every dollar is going. For this reason, you should make set a clear budget for the campaign. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally overspend. You should also be aware that different influencers will charge different prices to feature your product. For example, those with larger followings might charge more than influencers that have a smaller audience.
3. Working with the right people
There is a range of influencers available for you to choose from. To make sure that you get the best results, you will have to be selective about who you choose to work with. When making this choice, keep your campaign goals in mind, so you can find someone who will deliver. For example, you may find that working with smaller influencers who have a super loyal community and are really relevant to your product/services will work well with your brand. Alternatively, you might want to work with a larger influencer, to help you reach a bigger audience.
Here are some key questions to ask influencers to understand if they are a good fit:
- Who is your target audience?
- What brands have you worked with before?
- How do you work with companies?
- Will you handle the creative and posting of content?
- What is your average turnaround time?
It is vital to take the initiative and do your homework – check out the comments section and see who is engaging most. This is a great indication of the type of audience they attract, letting you decide if they will be a good fit.
4. Identify Fake Influencers
This is an especially big problem in the Cannabis industry: many influencers might appear legitimate until you dig a little deeper. You should be wary of these people, as you need someone who has a loyal following. Buying followers doesn’t convert or help your business grow. Look at account history, make sure the number of followers correlates to the number of posts. In addition, you should look through a potential influencer’s following – when people buy fake bot followers, they have strange usernames and don’t have pictures.
5. Making the first move
If you are just starting out, taking initiative is vital in such a new and evolving industry. Contact the influencer directly and let them know you want to work together. They may not want to but that’s to be expected. For this reason, you should try to look for several options. Then, when someone says no, you can move onto the next person. To give yourself the best chance, you should know all the key details, like how much they’ll be getting paid before you make contact.
6. Review Results
Once your campaign has gone live, review the results to see what’s working and what isn’t. It takes time to get feedback and see how your campaign performs but it is vital. Take the time to follow up to know who you want to work with in the future. Review your campaigns to gain powerful insights so you will know where to invest in the future.
As you review the campaign there are a few things that you should be looking for. First, you might want to look at whether there was an increase in traffic on your site. If your influencer used a referral link, see how many people followed it. If you are using multiple influencers this can be a great way to compare them.
It will also allow you to spot which influencers are underperforming. This can be a very difficult conversation to have, but you must do something about it. In some cases, you might want to negotiate a lower rate. In others, you might want to work with another influencer.
7. Rinse and Repeat
After going through this process, you should be more familiar with influencers and how they work. However, to get the best results, this should be an ongoing process. For example, you might want to introduce another product to your audience or work on expanding your brand. So, use this powerful tool to bring more awareness to your business and increase your sales today.