We recently conducted a survey among our connections who are brand and marketing managers at a variety of health and wellness companies across the country. Our goal was to understand how their needs are evolving and how they are using influencer marketing to achieve business goals. All in the effort to help influencers be better partners!
We’ll be rolling out a new program this summer that includes all of these key insights, but we wanted to share a few with you now especially as so many of you are heading to Natural Products Expo West this week. Here’s what we found out:
- The top three goals brands are looking to achieve with influencer marketing are: 1) Increase brand awareness 2) Increase sales {primarily in-store vs. online for those we surveyed} and 3) Drive consumer conversation and engagement
- 30% of those we surveyed are increasing their influencer marketing budgets this year
- The top two pain points brand managers are experiencing when working with influencers are 1) Finding the right people to work with and 2) Reporting on the ROI of partnerships
- The BEST ways an influencer can stand out to them and create a long-term partnership is by developing quality and timely content and bringing new and creative ideas to the table
And here are a few quotes directly from the decision makers at your favorite brands about what makes an influencer an appealing partner to them:
“We want influencers to work with us for the LONG term, rather than one offs.”
“We may not have the deep pockets they believe we have. We’re open to ideas so bring some to us!”
“Big follower numbers are mattering less and less.”
“Red flags include missing deadlines or deliverables, being unresponsive during any part of the process or overstating experience.”
“We can probably work with you again – and grow the budget – if you help us showcase strong ROI back to the client. The time is now for influencers to embrace, learn and master targeted advertising.”
“Legal plays a HUGE role in our relationships with influencers, restricting what we can do and how we do it. This can make partnerships very complicated.”
“We’re looking for someone who is easy to work with (responds to emails timely, doesn’t need follow up for deliverables, etc.), has realistic expectations and creates content that is usable beyond their network.”
“Willingness to share back-end data to boost client reporting is hugely important.”
“We want to see genuine enthusiasm and affinity for the brand. Content needs to be authentic, so don’t say yes to something if it isn’t a fit.”
“A few things we find frustrating is when influencers work with our competitors at the same time or shortly thereafter or share important details of our campaigns (including budget) publicly or with the media.”
“Being kind and appreciative goes a long way.”
“It’s helpful when the influencer really knows their audience – not just the stats, but what their audience really cares about.”
“We want to see measurable examples of previous successes.”
“A few factors we consider: variety of followers, depth of engagement, size of audience, relevance, credibility, photo skills, unique voice.”
P.S. We’ll be sharing even more insights in real-time over on our Instagram channel {@wellevationhq} from #expowest this weekend. If you’ll be at the show let us know and we’d love to come say hi! Otherwise you can follow along with all of the excitement virtually.
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