Influencer marketing goals must be based on business strategy

Every company does influencer marketing from their own starting points. Some have plenty of their own resources and expertise for planning and implementing influencer marketing. Others have one person responsible for everything, with no expertise or time for everything. However, before running into these realities, it would be good to spend a moment thinking about the target state: what goals do we have in influencer marketing? How should it ideally be done?

Everything starts with the company’s business strategy. Marketing must support the goals of the company’s business strategy. Marketing is truly long-term work where there are rarely easy quick wins. Behind it is often a lot of work, boring strategy exercises, hard work, analytical interpretation of numbers, and numerous corrective moves. After the business strategy, influencer marketing is considered as part of the marketing strategy: what is the big picture to which influencer marketing belongs? If necessary, it’s worth creating a separate strategy for influencer marketing, especially if it plays a major role in the company’s marketing. Influencer marketing shouldn’t be extra fun activity done with leftover marketing pennies from other activities, but goal-oriented work.

How to create a strategy for influencer marketing?

Step one in influencer marketing strategy is goals. You need to think about what you want to achieve with influencer marketing. Do you want mainly brand visibility, to spark discussion, do you want clicks to websites, or orders from the online store? Step two is metrics, meaning how the achievement of goals is measured. Are measurement tools available, or is the campaign done with an influencer marketing agency that has reporting and measurement tools? It’s good to also set numerical targets so you know what to compare results to; for example, are 200,000 views for a campaign a good or bad result? It’s also good to think about which part of the purchase process the campaign aims to influence. It should be noted that you can’t influence both the beginning and end of the process at the same time. The campaign must have one main goal – you can’t embrace the whole world at once, no matter how tempting it might be.

Step three is sufficiently precise target group definition – understanding it is also key in influencer marketing. If the target group isn’t defined correctly, the following steps will probably also go wrong: channel choices, content, and influencer selections. Target group definition must always exclude something too – it’s not worth marketing everything to everyone, because then the message won’t hit anyone properly.

Define social media channels, content style, and suitable influencers in the strategy

Step four is channel selection, meaning from which channel to reach the target group. Is it TikTok, Instagram, or some other platform? In channel selection, you shouldn’t go by gut feeling, but study statistics on social media channel usage, for example. Don’t let your own preferences influence too much either – even if you spend all your time on Facebook or TikTok, your target group might not do the same.

Step five is content. The campaign plan must have main frameworks for content. What kind of content is created, how much, with what theme, and on what schedule. When these main frameworks are created, it’s worth trusting the influencer: that’s the only way to get authentic experiences and content. If you don’t dare give this freedom, then influencer marketing probably shouldn’t be done at all. Influencer marketing essentially includes the influencer’s freedom to tell about their own experiences in their own voice. Additionally, the influencer knows their own follower base best and knows what interests them. Supporting and guiding in the background, in addition to the campaign plan, are written contracts and briefs, which should always be made. It’s also worth taking care of commercial markings and compliance with legislation. Ultimately, the responsibility always lies with the marketer.

Your own influencer marketing strategy should be communicated openly to both collaboration partners and influencers. It takes courage to open up the company’s marketing strategy. However, it’s worth it, and even necessary, so that the campaign can succeed. How could the main message be clear to the customer if it’s not clear to the company itself? Someone should make the strategy anyway, either with the company’s own resources or by utilizing an influencer marketing agency as a partner.

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