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By Jenna Dobkin
In today’s over-communicated digital landscape, most fast-growing startups recognize the power of PR to build brand awareness and thought leadership on topics surrounding the brand promise.
Influencer Marketing, when done right, is a powerful complement to your PR strategy. One that helps build a groundswell of engagement and Marketing Qualified Leads as part of your marketing mix. Think keynote speaker at your next digital conference effusing about your brand versus purchasing a virtual booth that few will visit.
I’m proud to head Waters Agency’s Influencer Marketing team and excited to bring my extensive experience to the role, while also learning from this very talented group of senior operators. The best I have worked with! This area of the communications mix might be new for Waters Agency, however we already count these integrated Influencer/Content Marketing programs among our recent successes:
SlashNext, an AI-driven phishing defense provider, draws well over 150 live attendees to each of its Phish Stories videocasts, where socially influential cybersecurity experts join company executives in discussions about the zero-day phishing attacks threatening businesses today.
Telstra Ventures, a strategic growth investor in Lighthouse Technologies, draws over 1,500 views per episode of “The Path,” a videocast series about how successful entrepreneurs navigate the world of venture capital to scale rapidly. The series has drawn entrepreneurs, prospective enterprise customers, and potential investors into conversations with the global venture capital firm.
Best practices continue to evolve as we widen our footprint in this area. Here are 12 B2B influencer marketing dos and don’ts that help clients rise about the noise to attract prospective buyers, drive meaningful engagement, and fill the funnel.
Dos:
Do build a solid foundation
Do select the right influencers to represent your brand
Do build authentic relationships
Do propose mutually beneficial deals
Do pay respect where it’s due
Do amplify what’s working
Don’ts:
Don’t Assume Your Sales Team Cares About Reach (They don’t)
Don’t Assume Popularity = Influence (It doesn’t)
Don’t Take Shortcuts
Don’t Confuse Influencer Advertising with Influencer Marketing
Don’t Ask for Too Much
Don’t Micromanage Influencers
How can we help you steer the influencers who shape your world? Email us today and let’s talk about integrating Influencer Marketing with your PR program.
About the author:
Jenna Dobkin is VP, Influencer Marketing and Senior Account Lead at Waters Agency.
She has more than two decades of experience in strategic communications, public relations, and influencer marketing. Jenna has worked with many category-leading and aspiring technology companies, including such household names as Microsoft, Nutanix, Oracle and KPMG.