Marketing Advice
An expert’s guide to influencer marketing with product samples
Increasing by around 50% with every passing year, influencer marketing saw brands spend an estimated £10.5 billion in 2021 alone. This typically involves sending products out to influencers, who will then influence their followers to buy said product. Managing director of Guardpack, Jeremy Freedman, provides his experienced tips on how influencer marketing and free samples can help your brand expand.
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imply put partnering with successful infl uencers is a hugely effective marketing strategy and no matter what you’re marketing, you’re likely to fi nd an infl uencer who wants to receive free items.
We have previously assisted multiple brands with their packaging for infl uencer samples.
How eff ective is influencer marketing? As far as marketing goes, this method is quite cheap, as many infl uencers will be happy to provide promotion and reviews for relatively little. In fact, the average ROI of infl uencer marketing is 520%, meaning for every £1 spent, businesses receive £5.20 in return.
Furthermore, around 36% of brands only need to offer free product samples as payment. Naturally, this strategy tends to be more successful with smaller infl uencers, as it helps them just as much as it helps you. While paying larger infl uencers will undoubtedly provide a much higher reach, their engagement percentage is likely to be much lower.
How to find appropriate influencers First of all, what kind of person are you going to target? It doesn’t matter how many followers someone has if their audience isn’t comprised of your target market. You must also consider what kind of budget you’re going to be working with, as larger infl uencers will expect a little extra incentive if they’re going to promote your product. Once you fi nd someone you like, take a look at their recent content. Consider whether they suit your brand. Whether their content has a good enough engagement rate. This is a key metric to check as some users pay for followers to make their accounts look more impressive. Infl uencers with 50,000 followers but only 100 likes and a few comments, for example, should be avoided.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
If everything about a potential candidate looks good so far, add them, along with any contact details you can fi nd, to your shortlist. After a good long search, you should have a sizeable list of infl uencers to contact about promoting your brand.
How to contact influencers If they’re open for business opportunities, infl uencers will probably have an email address in their bio. This could put you in touch directly with the infl uencer themself, although many larger names will rely on management teams. You should lay out your offer and requirement in a personalised message. It certainly doesn’t hurt to say you’re a fan of their content and remark on a post or two that you think aligns particularly well with your brand. If an infl uencer is interested, you’ll probably hear back quite quickly, perhaps with a few questions or simply instructions on where to send your product. They may, of course, ask for extra compensation, so be prepared to negotiate.
What packaging should you use? As the fi rst thing the recipient will see, it’s important to ensure your packaging is up to scratch, but there isn’t one right answer; it’s all dependent on your brand and the infl uencer. Premium packaging is a must for a high-end product, for example. Considering they may post an unboxing of your product, anything from a fancy box to a little personalised note will really add to the experience. You may have partnered with an infl uencer that’s big on environmental issues, however, in which case clearly reusable/ recyclable materials should be used. The more personal and catered an experience they receive, the better the review will be in return. So, the infl uencer loves your product, now you just need to make sure they know how to shout you out. Be sure to provide them with social media handles, websites and anything else you would like them to promote. This could even be printed on a branded card within the box, keeping the shoutout fresh on their mind while they do the promotion.
October 2022 |17 |
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