How can Startups benefit from Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing is the latest buzzword when it comes to the adapting to the marketing in the digital age. It is basically utilizing the influence of bloggers and social media influencers to promote your product or service to their audience. An Influencer may be an established Blogger, YouTuber, or a person with large following on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat etc. Influencers are considered experts in their respective niches and hence, their recommendations carry a great value for the people who follow them.

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Today, no digital marketing campaign can be devised ignoring the power of social media. And what can be a better way of reaching out to your target audience through an influencer who may have thousands and lakhs of followers.With the current Startup boom, there are numerous players operating in the same domain. It has become more important than ever, to reach your audience through the appropriate mediums. While even the established MNCs have now started en-cashing Influencer Marketing.

Below are some of the reasons why it is an appropriate fit for Startups:

Budget

All of us know that established organizations have been promoting themselves through big publishers and celebrities. There is no doubt that going through that channel may give you more exposure and may be conversions, but at the same time, they are too costly. Startups (not the funded ones) usually operate on a very tight budget, so the question of traditional marketing techniques does not arise at all. This is probably one of the most important reasons why a Startup should go for Influencer Marketing, depending on your budget you can engage influencers who may charge you as low as Rs 2,000 going upwards to even Rs 10,000. 

Targeted Audience

Startups mostly have a clearly defined target audience, same is the case with Influencers. There may be bloggers who write about technology or gadgets, while someone might be focussed on fashion and beauty products. It is clearly evident that people who follow them are interested in their respective niches and so the chances of turning them into your customers are relatively higher. Moreover, people look up to them for suggestions and buying advice so it can be in your best interest to get your products or services recommended by Influencers.

Quick Turnaround Time

Influencers too are Entrepreneurs, so they can match up to your pace of thinking and are always ready to try something new. You would not have to deal with the hierarchical structure of a large publisher when it comes to dealing with Influencer. You can talk directly to the person who is actually going to write or Vlog about you. Needless to say, this cuts out the time required for the entire process and lets you get out the brand message very clearly.

Networking

We all know that there exists a co-ordination between the big corporate houses and the giant media companies as it helps them sustain and flourish in their business. Apart from the business aspects, it helps companies to have a goodwill in the public eye through trusted media partners. Influencers can play a similar role for the Startups, as they also have a huge network of other influencers who can ultimately expand your target audience. So whenever you are launching some new service or a product update, you can get the word going out to the people through their network.

With so many influencer marketing platforms coming up, it has become really simple for the brands to find and engage the Influencers for their marketing campaigns. These platforms provide a detailed overview of the respective Influencers ranging from their niche, the number of followers, pricing as well as the reviews from their previous clients of the past campaigns. Some platforms even enable you to track out the results in the form of views, likes and retweets etc.

So, the next time you creating a strategy for your digital marketing campaign, give Influencer Marketing a try and you would surely love the results.

Written by Rohit Jha