You’re a startup thinking of launching a marketing strategy, but marketing seems to cost an arm and a leg.

Well, not all marketing.

Influencer marketing might just be your saving grace.

In this post, we’ll first uncover why influencer marketing is great for startups, and then we’ll hook you up with five killer tips to nail your startup influencer strategy marketing from the get-go.

Let’s get started.

How can Startups Benefit from Influencer Marketing

Most startups have tight budgets. Influencer marketing is valuable because it’s a cost-effective way to get quick visibility and credibility in the market.

Let’s list how it benefits startups.

• Allows you to capitalize on an influencer’s established name and credibility.

• Taps into their existing followers, instantly boosting your brand’s reach and engagement.

• Reach your targeted audience directly—so you achieve maximum ROI.

Evidence supports that influencer marketing offers 11x higher ROI by influencer marketing as compared to other digital media.

• Drives higher engagement and conversion as all marketing efforts are concentrated on the most relevant audience; which isn’t the case with traditional marketing.

• Scales easily as your brand grows and requirements change.

4 Tips for Startups to Use Influencer Marketing

As a startup, you don’t have resources or time to waste. Research shows that 90% of startups fail, with only 10% surviving their first year. 22% that fail lack a sound marketing strategy.

So, your startup influencer marketing needs to be smart from the start. Use these tips to launch scalable influencer campaigns that improve your bottom line.

1. Decide on your goal

Before any actual planning, think about what you want out of influencer marketing.

Most startups aim at building brand awareness, increasing customer acquisition, or maximizing return on investment (ROI).

Since you know your motivations best, decide on a goal that aligns with them.

A single marketing goal will focus your marketing efforts and guide your next steps.

Talk to your team to understand and discover everyone’s motivations, and let your product and business goals guide you.

You can also use the help of a marketing consultant to help you determine and land on one goal.

Then, make sure to set clear performance metrics to track and measure your progress so you can adjust your campaign accordingly.

Also, decide, at this stage, how much you’re willing to invest. This helps determine the scale of your campaign and the types of influencers you can afford—whether nano, micro, or macro influencers.

It’s best to start off with a smaller budget so you can experiment and figure out what clicks without putting too much money on the line right away.

2. Work with the right influencer.

Influencers speak on your behalf and represent your brand.

So, work only with influencers who align with your brand and whose followers align with your target audience. This way, your marketing message reaches your target market and not an irrelevant audience.

Micro- and nano-influencers are great for this. They have dedicated followings in concentrated niches, and the best part is that they don’t cost much.

• But how do you find micro-influencers for your startups?

Use search filters and hashtags to look for influencers active on social platforms.

If your brand sells eco-friendly products, go on platforms that your target audience uses and search for commonly used hashtags like #SustainableLiving or #ZeroWaste.

Read our guide on how to find micro-influencers.

You’ll find posts and accounts that talk about these topics. Then, identify active influencers in that niche using filters like ‘Top Posts’ or ‘Recent Posts’ for each hashtag.

You can also join an influencer marketing platform like Glewee and get access to its content creator marketplace, which has over 10,000 prevetted influencers in every niche. Use our filters and search tools to pinpoint the perfect influencer for your brand.

Join Glewee today and run unlimited campaigns for free

When choosing influencers, don’t go for vanity metrics like number of followers or impressions. Look at their content style and engagement and shortlist the best matches. Pay attention to the quality of their posts. Also, see if the influencer’s message aligns with your brand ethos.

Do this till you find the influencer of your choice.

3. Build a startup-friendly influencer campaign.

You don’t necessarily need a lot of money to run an influencer marketing campaign. Remember, monetary compensation isn’t the only form of payment that micro and nano influencers work for.

Here are some ways that don’t cost much and still benefit both parties. This means more engagement and reach for you and more exposure for your influencer:

• Offer free products instead of cash in exchange for them sharing their experiences with your products online
• Try social media takeover, where the influencer manages your brand’s pages to promote a product.

Make sure you trust the influencer, set clear rules beforehand, and announce the takeover in advance to maximize impact.

• Reach out to bloggers to offer guest posts. This is great for getting some backlinks, SEO, and boosting your website’s authority.
• Try contests and free giveaways to encourage participation from your audience.

4. Perfect your messaging: Focus on benefits, not features

One of the most important things about your influencer campaign is the piece of content you create with them. Duh!

Here are some ideas that’ll help you create a message that clicks and converts.

1. Be creative, attention-grabbing, and different. Collaborate with the influencer to inspire creativity.

2. Get ideas by researching your competitors. Look at their social media pages and learn from their strategies.

But don’t copy them. Find your own voice and work with your influencer to come up with creative ideas.

3. Create content that feels natural to the influencer’s followers. Tailor it to their style and way of speaking.

4. Understand who you’re talking to (aka your customer); their demographics, psychographics, goals, and challenges. If you know your audience inside out, you’ll create content that connects and resonates.

5. Focus on specific everyday problems to make your messages felt and heard. Show how your product solves their issues.

For example, instead of just saying your product reduces carbon footprints, create educational content that teaches easy, eco-friendly habits, organically including your product in the mix.

Make it about them, not your product.

6. Be consistent with your messaging on all platforms. Also, test and refine your approach according to customer feedback and your predetermined performance metrics.

Key takeaway: Influencer Marketing for Startup Success

It’s both a tough and easy time for startups. Tough because of the fierce competition and easy because of the variety of tools at your disposal.

From launching influencer campaigns to tracking progress, everything is now easier to do and manage.

Influencer marketing is affordable, easy to use, and scalable; which makes it a godsend for startups because.

Work with influencers who fit you like a puzzle piece, follow our tips to create content that resonates, and maintain consistency in your approach.

You’ll make the most of influencer marketing and boost your startup’s visibility, credibility, and sales quickly.

Join Glewee to get ahead—find influencers for free and launch customizable campaigns in under two minutes.