What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a powerful social media strategy where companies collaborate with influential individuals or accounts on social platforms to promote brands, products or services. Influencers, with their established credibility, help brands to connect with specific audiences and generate interest in the products they endorse.
At Smartbrand, we offer influencer marketing services tailored to your brand’s needs, harnessing the reach and influence of content creators to help you achieve your marketing goals. This strategy leverages influencers' power to build direct, authentic connections with the right target audience.
What makes a successful Influencer Marketing strategy?
A successful influencer marketing campaign starts with the right selection of content creators who can authentically promote your products.
While it’s often assumed that influencer marketing is only for top celebrities and large brands, its potential is much broader.
You don’t need influencers with millions of followers to see results—small or niche influencers can drive significant impact, especially for targeted campaigns.
At Smartbrand, we create influencer marketing strategies that work for brands of all sizes.
Whether you are looking to increase brand awareness, boost sales, or engage with your audience, our team can design a tailored approach to meet your objectives.
Campaign Objectives in Influencer Marketing
Before diving into an influencer marketing campaign, it’s crucial to define the objectives:
- Brand Awareness: Are we looking to raise awareness for the brand?
- Sales: Are we aiming to drive direct sales?
- Product Launch: Do we want to introduce a new product to the market?
- Customer Loyalty: Are we looking to build customer retention?
At Smartbrand, we define four key types of influencer marketing campaigns:
- Awareness
- Objective: Reach the maximum number of potential customers with specific characteristics.
- Key Metric: CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)
- Other Metrics: Reach, Impressions, Social Mentions
- Engagement
- Objective: Generate the highest engagement rate.
- Key Metric: Interaction Rate
- Other Metrics: Number of interactions, Cost Per Engagement, Follower Growth
- Conversion
- Objective: Drive direct sales or specific conversions.
- Key Metric: Number of Sales
- Other Metrics: Use of promo codes, Cost Per Sale, Net Profit
- IGC (Influencer Generated Content)
- Objective: Collect original content from influencers for the brand’s use.
- Key Metric: Total Media Value & ROI
- Other Metrics: Content generated, Time saved, IGC Performance vs. Average Content Performance
These categories help define the campaign’s priorities and measure the impact, but we often work with multiple objectives combined and prioritised based on the brand’s needs.
How to create an Influencer Marketing Strategy
Once the objectives are set, the next step is understanding the audience, evaluating available resources, and aligning with other actions the client may be carrying out. As an influencer marketing agency, Smartbrand designs a personalised strategic plan for each client.
Context and consistency
While each influencer has their unique style, most are open to discussing how to approach a collaboration that benefits both the influencer and the brand. The strategy should be aligned with the brand’s content plan, ensuring everything integrates smoothly with other ongoing campaigns.
In addition, it’s crucial to consider whether the campaign will be local or international. Local campaigns require a different approach than global ones.
Prioritising by affinity and relevance
Selecting the right influencers is crucial for a successful influencer marketing campaign. It’s not just about the number of followers; it’s about finding influencers whose values, interests, and style align with your brand.
For larger brands, working with influencers who have a broader reach can make sense, but for niche brands, micro and nano influencers tend to be a better fit. These influencers often have higher engagement rates and more dedicated followers.
At Smartbrand, we carefully consider the affinity between the influencer and the brand, ensuring that each collaboration feels authentic and resonates with the audience. This approach leads to more meaningful interactions and better campaign results.
Industry-specific expertise
Specialised products require influencers with in-depth knowledge of the industry. To connect with a demanding audience, it’s important to choose influencers who understand the sector and can speak authentically to their followers.
By respecting industry codes and providing valuable content, brands can gain trust and authority in their field.
Maximising Reach
Maximising the impact of your campaign means not just selecting influencers with a large number of followers, but also considering their activity, engagement rate, and the audience they connect with.
In some cases, we also consider investing in paid reach, ensuring that influencer content is amplified across the platform.
We also secure agreements to use influencers content across other marketing channels, like your website or social media profiles, to further extend its reach and impact.
Available Resources
It’s essential to identify the resources available before launching a campaign. This includes both: budget and the team you have at your disposal.
Understanding the resources you have is key to setting realistic expectations and creating a strategic plan that can be successfully executed.
Investment in Influencer Marketing
One of the most common questions brands ask is: How much should I invest in influencer marketing?
The answer depends on your market, target audience, and the type of influencer you’re working with.
In Smartbrand, we work with influencers of all sizes, and costs can vary greatly depending on several factors:
- Audience size: The more followers an influencer has, the higher the price for their collaboration.
- Industry/sector: Some sectors, such as fashion, beauty, or tech, have higher competition, leading to increased costs.
- Engagement and views: The quality of the influencer’s audience matters. Higher engagement usually justifies a higher price.
- Type of collaboration: Short-term collaborations or “one-off” posts are typically less expensive than long-term partnerships.
Influencer marketing can be incredibly cost-effective, especially when you choose the right influencer and structure long-term partnerships that help your brand grow steadily over time.
Collaborating with influencers
At Smartbrand, we have extensive experience in managing influencer collaborations.
From macro-influencers to micro-influencers, we have successfully closed deals and led campaigns with influencers from diverse industries and countries.
We take care of everything: from contractual management and product shipments to ensure smooth collaboration logistics.
Timing, quality, and clear communication are key to making sure everything runs as planned.
Once the agreements are finalised, we manage the content creation and publication process, ensuring that all deliverables meet the brand’s guidelines and expectations.
Our team is also involved in reviewing content before it goes live to ensure it aligns with the brand’s “Dos and Don’ts” list.
The Benefits of Influencer Marketing
Why should you invest in influencer marketing services? Here are some of the top benefits:
- Increased Brand Visibility
Collaborating with influencers puts your brand in front of a highly engaged, relevant audience, making it easier to reach potential customers who may have otherwise been difficult to target. - Building Trust and Credibility
Influencers have established trust with their followers. By partnering with the right influencers, you can benefit from their credibility and foster trust with your own audience. - Targeted Reach
Unlike traditional advertising, influencer marketing allows you to reach niche communities that align with your brand, whether it’s fitness enthusiasts, tech lovers, or beauty aficionados. - Cost-Effective Strategy
Working with micro or nano influencers can provide a more cost-effective way to increase engagement and visibility, compared to large-scale celebrity endorsements.
