Return to the full guide
Part Six
Using Influencers to Get in Front of the Right Buyers & Accounts ->
In collaboration with
What is Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing happens all around us. Whether it’s a celebrity or athlete in a commercial on TV, or a creator on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, influencer marketing is a viable way to drive sustainable revenue if done the correct way.
“Influencer marketing is when a brand uses the personal brand of an individual to increase people's trust in their product and in themselves.
It is a transfer of trust from the individual creator to the corporate brand. It can take many different forms, from paying for a post to a collaborative video. It can be having an influencer show up to an event and just mingling with people.”
Why Include Influencer Marketing in Your Go-to-Network approach?
Just as trust is the red thread of a Go-to-Network approach, so is it in influencer marketing.
Earlier, we mentioned how Go-to-Market has shifted away from the “growth at all costs” mindset toward a capital-efficient, precision execution, and performance-driven approach.
This tightened mindset can create risk-averse leaders who must be cautious in the tools they use, the companies they work with, and the people they associate themselves with. Mistakes here could cost them. As a buyer, influencers take the guesswork out of whether or not to move forward.
As a brand, influencers can offer a shortcut to your revenue goals with the trust they’ve already built with their audience.
“Influencer marketing is when a brand uses the personal brand of an individual to increase people's trust in their product and in themselves.
It is a transfer of trust from the individual creator to the corporate brand. It can take many different forms, from paying for a post to a collaborative video. It can be having an influencer show up to an event and just mingling with people.”
When Should I Use Influencer Marketing?
Josh Norris has four criteria for when to use influencer marketing:
The optional details that can help make influencer marketing better: your company has a strong and well-known brand, and your company has a product that people can go try immediately.
The two must-have details: your company has a clear target audience, and when your company has validated product-market fit.
If these elements aren’t in place, influencer marketing can harm the company and the influencer’s reputation. If the wrong people are using the product and it doesn’t help achieve results, the brand suffers and the influencer’s reputation suffers.
How do I choose the right influencers?
Your customer base is the easiest and greatest place to start looking! Your customers make up one of the most invested networks of people in your business.
They championed your product in the procurement process, they are end users of the product right now, and if they’re a seasoned customer, they are achieving results from your product. Nick Bennett suggests “Carefully selecting influencers whose audience closely matches your ICP and key buyer personas. This will ensure your message reaches the right decision-makers.”
Outside of your customers, look for end users. Remember, trust and reputation are on the line here, so using the product is a must! Follower count doesn’t always mean success either – pay attention to the engagement and quality of the influencer’s content.
How do I find a great subject matter expert?
- Follow creators in your industry
- If you are not already, ask a customer who they follow
- Look for the creators who bring receipts and show the success they’re having by the numbers
- If nothing else, look for an influencer marketing manager
Should I Use Short-Term or Long-Term Influencer Campaigns?
It depends! Consider the outcome or goal you’d like to achieve by implementing influencer marketing. If you have a product-led growth product that is usable by individuals, short-term campaigns like one-time posts can be helpful to drive sign-ups.
However, these sign-ups can have a high turn rate if the influencer never mentions the product again. Conversely, short-term campaigns can mean that you miss out on deep trust that comes from long-term partnerships where a company and influencer hitch their brands together.
Whether you choose a short or long-term campaign, influencer partnerships are a great way to accelerate your presence within your industry ecosystem which will open doors to new networks and opportunities!
How Do I Get Started?
.jpg)
- Define the goal: A KPI or metric you can put on a dashboard that you want to impact.
- Content strategy: Determine what kinds of content you want the content to be: Video? Longer form? Now, what influencers would be a great fit for this? Send them a DM, or even better, ask for an intro if you need to get in front of them. Josh Norris mentions these types of DMs have an extremely high reply rate! Pitch them on the structure and type of content.
- Onboarding and support: Ensure your creators are successful in getting into your product.
- Cadence: Determine the cadence for posting. Josh Norris suggests no more than once per month if it’s promotional but if it’s unrelated to sales, a more frequent cadence is great!
- Payment: Pay monthly: the number of months in the contract plus one (Ex. 7 payments for a 6 month contract: one at the beginning, one every month, and one last payment after all commitments are fulfilled)
- Communication: Communicate well with your creators. Provide them with a content calendar and even invite them to a shared Slack channel where all influencers can sit in a single space.
What Does Success Look Like?
Nick Bennett suggests looking beyond vanity metrics when evaluating influencer marketing. Here are some things to consider when you’re measuring the success of an influencer campaign:
- Engagement quality (depth of conversations, not just likes)
- Audience sentiment shifts
- Impact on pipeline and customer acquisition
- Long-term relationship building (both with the influencer and their audience)
Read next