How to Work With Influencers

I’ll trade you a paperclip for a Porsche?

Any takers?

Waiting….Waiting…

Seriously, it’s a lovely paperclip.  It's made of shiny metal, and it’s bendable.

Does that help convince you?

No.  HECK NO!

I’m bringing this up because I’m seeing this happen as business owners are trying to barter for traffic when working with influencers and are getting frustrated the influencers are saying no.

AND I’m here to burst your bubble.  Pop.

Offering a ‘paper clip’ product for ‘Porsche’ advertisement won’t work.  Ever.

Here’s an example…

One of the businesses that I co-own is a blog called HowDoesShe.com.  I’d be considered an ‘influencer’ because we have over 2 million followers on Facebook. We constantly have companies reaching out to us to advertise for them. BUT most of them do it SO wrong!!!  SO Poorly. It makes my heart hurt for them and makes my hand want to slap them.

I got an email a few months ago, and it was actually from a popular nose strip factory.  I’m sure they are lovely people, but not sure they understand how this game works (at all).

They sent out an email and said they’d give us some free samples of nose strips in exchange for a blog post, pictures, and social media shout-outs.

Hum.  

I’m guessing that would have been about a $30 value at the most.  

For $30 in a free product, they asked if I’d spend hours writing a blog post and taking pictures, pay my photographer to edit my pictures and share with my social media crowd that I’ve spent 8 years building.

Paper Clip.  Porsche.

Making sense?  

Not going to work.  Ever.

If you are going for big influencers, then you need to be willing to cough up ‘Porsche’ type pricing.  

So, let’s say you DON’T have Porsche pricing.  

Good.  You don’t need it when you are starting to work with influencers. 

So how does this process of working with influencers work when you’ve got nada cash? It’s called trading up. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of it with trinkets and toys.  You start with the paperclip and end up with a donut?  

This is how the process can work with building your brand too. Cool, right?  

This process works great and can help you can get going and start growing without having deep pockets.  You just need to trade up to keep growing.

Let’s say you are the paperclip.  Cute and functional.

Look for someone who’s an eraser. Someone just a little larger than you.  A mini micro-influencer. Ask if they’ll swap for one of your awesome products.

They are just starting too, and you’ll get more yeses.  It might not convert a ton, but it will help you grow your numbers so that you can go get the next thing up….a pencil?  

Find someone a bit larger and offer a bit more.  Maybe it’s product + a product to giveaway.

Growing your list each time.

Keep going, and pretty soon you’ll have a list + products you can use as your trade.

Joint giveaways or email promotions.  

Paperclip to Eraser to Pencil to Donut…..eventually you’ll work your way up to that Porsche.

Now go…live your Becauseicanclan life.  It’s waiting for you.