How Influencer Marketing Agencies Can Pitch Influencer Marketing Successfully
PR is no longer just about media relations. The bounds of “earned media” now extends beyond reporters into the social media realm, and beyond.
In fact, many companies are looking to increase brand awareness, engage consumers, and drive sales through influencer marketing! According to a recent survey, 51% of marketers say that they spend between $50-$500K per year on influencer marketing, and 15% reported then spend $1M+.
Budgets are by no means small! There’s so much potential in influencer marketing for agencies that want to provide impact to new clients or expand existing accounts. Below, we offer six tips for creating an irresistible influencer marketing program pitch (you can also get a template deck here).
1. Set the scene with data.
Similar to how you compose a pitch to a reporter, it’s important for influencer marketing agencies to start by giving your client context. Why invest in influencer marketing now? What’s the potential impact? Why is it relevant to them?
It’s even better if you can answer these questions with data. Try finding stats that frame influencer marketing as a no-brainer strategy. For example, 70% of consumers are more likely to buy a product from a brand if they collaborate with an influencer they know and trust. Or, 54% of marketers strongly agree that influencer marketing has successfully increased brand awareness. The goal here is to show them what they're missing out on!
2. Map the influencer marketing program to their business goals.
There are different tactics (and influencer types) that will help drive brand awareness versus conversions, and so on.
When building your deck, start by reiterating your client’s goals to them and then show them how your tailored plan — from influencers, to trends, to metrics — will help them reach those goals.
If you don’t already know the client’s goals, then make sure you ask them ahead of your presentation. Do they want to earn more brand awareness or drive sales? Are they interested in reaching new audiences or strengthening loyalty amongst an engaged community? Do they have a specific brand mission or values (e.g. diversity and inclusion, sustainability, body positivity) that they want to promote?
3. Come with a tailored list of influencers.
The basis of a good influencer marketing program are good partners. As such, it will be important to provide a sample list of potential influencer partners in your deck. This is your chance to prove that you are advisors who know how to be strategic and data oriented!
When finding influencers for this sample list, provide basic metrics about them (follower size, engagement rate, video view rate, etc) but also be prepared to explain why you believe they are a perfect fit for your client.
Pro tip: If you already have access to Traackr, try using this special technique for finding high performing influencers.
4. Highlight a few relevant platforms, content types, and influencer trends.
Take your pitch a step further by highlighting your research and expertise in the industry. Pull a few content and platform trends that you think your client could utilize in their influencer marketing program. For example, beauty brands that are looking for interesting and engaging video content might want to know about the beauty influencer ASMR trend. Or fragrance brands that are having a hard time representing their products on social media might be interested to learn about influencers who create scent inspired mood boards (example of this in our most recent State of Influence report).
If you feel that you have enough information about your client’s goals and messaging, you could even mock up a few possible campaigns with influencer rosters, themes, and metrics!
5. Show how you will provide transparent measurements of success.
58% of marketers say that measuring the return on investment (ROI) is the biggest challenge when producing successful influencer marketing programs. As your client’s trusted advisor, you have the opportunity to help them be one of the few who know exactly what impact their influencer marketing programs have.
In your deck, lay out a plan for regularly and transparently reporting on program and campaign performance. Some of the best metrics that are important report on include:
Performance metrics
- Number of activated influencers
- Number of posts
- Reach
- Impressions
- Number of views
- Number of engagements
- Engagement rate
Spend efficiency
- Cost per Post
- Cost per Thousand Impressions
- Cost per View
- Cost per Engagement
- Cost per Click
Fun fact, if you have access to Traackr you can save time by exporting all of these campaign metrics directly from the platform into powerpoint slides.
Tip: Trying to explain the value of influencer marketing to your executive team? Here are some tips from an expert who’s been in the industry for over a decade.
6. Show a few influencer marketing success stories to seal the deal.
If your influencer marketing agency has examples of previous campaigns and programs that you’ve run for other clients, great! If you don’t have any case studies of your own, here are a few that might be helpful:
- How Colgate-Palmolive and its agency partners cut down influencer campaign costs by 40%.
- How Beekman 1802 built awareness and drove sales with TikTok influencers.
- How BFGoodrich reached newer, younger audiences with sports influencers.
If those case studies aren’t relevant to your client’s industry, put your googling skills to the test and find a few influencer marketing campaigns that have made the news! Here are a few brands from various industries that have become known for great influencer marketing over the years:
- e.l.f. Cosmetics
- Rare Beauty
- Fenty Beauty
- Shiseido
- Dove
- Maybelline
- Charlotte Tilbury
- Nike
- Sam Edelman
- American Eagle
- Revolve
- Hoka
- Gymshark
- Moncler
- Absout
- Chipotle
- Bumble
- Meliá Hotels
- Audible
Otherwise, you could browse past winners from specific influencer marketing awards like the Shorty Awards, the influencer sections of Digiday’s Content Marketing Awards, the Webby Awards, and more.