How Influencer Marketing and Brand Partnerships Can Grow Your Brand?

In April 2021, ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid trended for an entire week. He did wield a bat, but not on the cricket pitch, but in an advertisement for an Indian FinTech start-up — Cred. Imagine the volume of traction generated by the firm due to that single ad. 

Similarly, people could be their own DJs during their Uber rides, thanks to Spotify partnering with Uber. Both the brands collaborated by nudging people to play the songs of their choice on all of their Uber rides. 

Thinking of it, what was the need for a FinTech start-up to hire a former Indian cricketer? What was the need for Uber and Spotify; leading firms in their respective domains to collaborate?

This is where Influencer marketing and Brand partnerships come into play. These two approaches are allowing businesses to grow and evolve rapidly. If so, how can you grow your business with them? 

Following the five steps listed below is a great way to grow your business with influencer marketing and brand partnerships. 

✓ Content is everything

For any marketing campaign, quality and persuasive content is the lifeblood. Likewise, influencers thrive on producing engaging and meaningful content. So, for your business to get the desired results, achieving synergy with the influencer based on content is the key. Furthermore, influencer marketing needs to be adept at fulfilling this statement:

“Real marketing should not feel like marketing.”

The content should be tailored in such a way that it aligns with the influencer’s original strategy of providing value. This ensures his/her audience is engaged at all times without shrugging the content off for being a sponsored ad.

✓ Leveraging different platforms

There are a plethora of platforms where brands can stitch partnerships and monetize their engagement. However, should you devote efforts to all these platforms? The answer, No. A videogame brand and a VPN provider have negligible value on Instagram. However, if they collaborate on Twitch or YouTube, their engagement is certain for a boost. Also, on these platforms, they can target their specific audiences. 

Likewise, research about the top influences in your domain and on which platforms they are producing content. Along with that, have a brief idea of where your target audience is and earmark those platforms. Being consistent on a select two or three platforms helps you in building an organic audience.

This makes your branding efforts more focused.

✓ Niche-specific influencers and brands

Often, marketing campaigns fail even after employing the best of the influencers. Why?

Because the influencer and his/her original content are in no way related to the campaign. His/her audience doesn’t want to see alienated content on their favorite influencers’ timelines. So, finding the right influencers and brands related to your business’s niche is important. A few months ago, an IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, and German sportswear brand — Puma collaborated for a three-year sponsorship. A popular sports franchise and a global sportswear brand joining hands.

This is an example of a brand partnership of mutual benefit.

✓ Measuring performance

You are investing effort, time, and money while bringing on board an influencer or collaborating with another brand. So, measuring them is of paramount importance.

Placing key metrics and analyzing them provide deep insights into the results of the partnership or influencer marketing. From sales and website traffic to lead generation, numbers shall define the success of your efforts. This also provides credibility for your next moves like extending a partnership or prioritizing a certain platform. And by this, you are reducing the wastage of efforts and money.

✓ Consistency is the key

Branding and influencer marketing take time before your business reaps the rewards. The tone of your campaigns, its value proposition, and engagement are correlated. 

Consistency in the former two facets almost guarantees organic growth in the latter. Since both influencer marketing and brand partnerships are long-term investments, planning and strategizing are of greater importance. Finding the right influencers and brands, aligning goals, understanding the brand’s values, maintaining a content calendar, are some actions that precede execution.

Remember, Competition is no more the spice of the business world. Collaboration is. Growing together is where future success lies.