Forming strong relationships with influencers can become the backbone of an effective content marketing plan. However, while you might find yourself trying and trying to get the attention of one, the influencer can still ignore you. In this episode of Here’s Why, Mark and Eric will help you find out why your efforts are going unnoticed, and how you can turn it all around!
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Links Mentioned:
- How to Build a Relationship With an Influencer – The Digital Marketing Classroom with Professor Enge
- All of our “Here’s Why” Videos
- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Full Transcript:
Mark: So Eric, I have some really great ideas for how we could partner together. These ideas are a sure thing, no fail, guaranteed huge hits! I’m so grateful for this opportunity to speak with you about my great ideas. Can’t wait to hear what you think about them!
Eric: Huh? Did you say something?
Mark: Ever wonder why you can’t get the attention of influencers? Well in this episode Eric Enge is going to explain why your efforts are failing. Better yet, he’ll give you ways to succeed at building influencer relationships. So stay tuned!
Mark: Eric, most marketers realize that gaining the ear of a relevant influencer can create a big boost to their marketing efforts, exposing them to a much larger audience. But most attempts to reach out to influencers fail. Why is that?
Eric: There are many reasons, of course, but let me share three of the most common ones. First, too many people make a pitch to an influencer before they’ve built any relationship. That’s a no-no.
Mark: I’d imagine most influencers get tons of pitches all the time.
Eric: Absolutely right. Influencers end up ignoring a lot of those pitches because they have no way of evaluating which ones will really create any value for them. You might have the best idea in the world, but if they don’t know you from Adam…
Mark: Oh, have you met my friend, Adam?
Eric: Well no Mark, and that’s the problem. Adam may be a genius, but how would I know that? If Adam has taken the time to build a relationship with me, to become useful to me, and to show me he knows his stuff, then maybe I’d be more open to listening to his ideas for a project or partnership, or more open to promoting his content.
Mark: So if Adam feels like he has a relationship with you, time to pitch, right?
Eric: Maybe, but better not to rush it. If you rush into pitch too soon, you risk souring the relationship. In reality, if you’re building the relationship right and creating real value for the influencer in all your interactions, you might not even need to pitch. Better to wait for some occasion when the influencer expresses or shows interest in something you’ve done. Then the door is probably open for you to suggest some kind of cooperative effort.
Mark: That all makes sense. Now how about a pro tip? Are there times when it’s worth going the extra mile, doing something out of the ordinary to win over an influencer?
Eric: There sure are, and its sad how many people ignore the value of such opportunities. For example, I’ve traveled across the country just to attend a conference speech by an influencer I wanted to know. Then I made sure I was the first one in line when that person comes off the stage, so I could talk to him first. And then maybe I invite him or her out for coffee or offer to buy them dinner. Never underestimate the power of a real-world encounter.
Another “above and beyond” way to get on an influencer’s radar screen is to offer proactively to do something extremely helpful to them, without reward for yourself. Once I heard a major influencer in my field say at a conference that he wished he had time to crunch a mountain of data to do a certain study. Immediately after I heard him say that, I found him and offered to do the needed data analysis. It was dozens of hours of work, but today that person is one of my most valuable partners. We even ended up writing a book together!
Mark: Thanks, Eric, for alerting us to ways we can fail at influencer relationships. The good news is that Eric has produced a Digital Marketing Classroom video that will teach you in even more detail how to obtain and build relationships with influencers who can help your business to grow. View it at the URL on your screen now.
Thanks for sharing. I agree that it is always important to build a relationship before immediately pitching ideas to influencers. However, what do you do when you’re only route of communication with the influencer is email? Is there a specific strategy you can use to build a relationship with someone that you may not be able to correspond with in person? I deal with this on a daily basis as a recruiter.
Hi Angela, thanks for your question. Can I ask for a bit more clarification? In saying “only route of communication is email” are you saying that the person is not active on social media or elsewhere? If so, how can he or she be an “influencer”?
Hello Eric.
You have mentioned some good points regarding relationship with influencers.
But I have a questions being from India.
For example, I want to make relationship with influencers out of my country, race and career. How do I proceed? Also I can’t contact in person? The only way is through social media and e-mail, may be a phone. But my accent will throw them off.
So please give some good advice.
Hi Palla – it’s very possible to start a relationship via social media. Try re-sharing their posts that you like and interacting with them about their content via social media too. Don’t fall into the trap of being TOO aggressive about that though. Start slow, and as you get some interaction developing with them you can slowly scale it over time.