The Expert Guide: How To Grow Your Brand Through Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing where brands collaborate with influential individuals on social media platforms to promote their products or services. These individuals, known as influencers, typically have a large and engaged following, often within a specific niche or industry. Many brands, both established and emerging, often leverage influencer marketing to grow their business by increasing brand awareness, building credibility, and driving engagement.

For The Folklore’s latest edition of the Speaker Series webinar, a distinguished line-up of speakers bring their wealth of experience and expertise to share the keys to success in crafting powerful influencer campaigns that drive sales and boost visibility.

Reni Abina is the founder and creative director of Rendoll, which she founded in 2019 with a vision to empower women through stylish and elegant designs. Her brand ethos centers on celebrating diversity and instilling confidence in every wearer.

A seasoned fashion and beauty expert, Chrissy Rutherford boasts more than 15 years of industry experience. As a creative entrepreneur, Chrissy has collaborated with renowned brands such as J.Crew, Caudalie, and Net-a-Porter. Her dedication to mental health advocacy and anti-racist initiatives in the fashion world underscores her commitment to meaningful storytelling and community empowerment.

Saheedat Abdul brings a unique blend of influencer management, agency leadership, and brand strategy to the conversation as a Global Influencer Lead. With a track record of shaping successful campaigns for brands including Airbnb and Google, her expertise lies in seamlessly integrating influencer marketing into a compelling narrative that resonates with diverse audiences.

Together, our speakers delve into essential topics such as identifying the right influencers, setting measurable goals, and building authentic relationships with content creators.

Discover the key takeaways below.

When is the right time for brands to start working with influencers?

Saheedat Abdul: I’d say when they have a really clear brand identity mapped out to understand what kind of influencers would fit within the message they’re trying to put out there, along with understanding what their budgets are. Although giftings are low lift, there’s still a budget that goes into it: shipping costs, the cost of the goods.

Reni Abina: On the brand owner side, I’d say it’s when you have really perfected your product. You also need to have the capacity to handle large orders because you never really know how many sales you might get. You don’t want to mess up that opportunity where you’ve gotten all this traffic and then you’re not able to fulfil it. You don’t get many opportunities to make a first impression.

Chrissy Rutherford: It’s important to establish relationships and think about it in terms of community building. Relationships withs brands can often feel transactional, but like anything else, the best relationships should be authentic. I love when it feels like a brand sees me as their ideal customer and they want to build a rapport with me.

What steps can you take to create an impactful influencer marketing strategy?

Abdul: Understand what message you’re trying to put out there. Being really dialled in on that messaging will be really key in figuring out which influencers to partner with. There are different cultural moments that you can support; it could be ongoing or Valentine’s Day, which speaks to a wide range of couples. Figure out what message you really want to land on and then go all in on that. Once you have that down, then you’ll be able to figure out what the approach may look like: are you going to work with celebrities or micro-influencers? Once you figure out the exact messaging, it becomes much easier.

Should an influencer campaign always result in direct sales? What are some other metrics to track when creating your strategy?

Rutherford: Not always. You have to identify what you’re hoping to get out of an influencer campaign. Is it sales? Do you want brand awareness? For me, typically, brands are coming to me for brand awareness and alignment. Or are you seeking out a particular community? I work with a lot of wellness brands and, because I speak out on mental health, they are also seeking people who sit in these niche categories. If a brand’s goal is direct sales, there are unique influencers who can post a link and the product sells out, but that isn’t typical.

I consider myself to be a conscious consumer and think I’ve cultivated an audience that also operates like that, so they are not necessarily impulse purchasers. Sometimes, people want to sit and think about it for a while.

So instead of just sales, you’re looking for brand awareness, an increase in followers, a new person who may have never heard of you before, and now they’ve signed up for your email list. Things like that are what you can measure.

What are the different influencer campaign types and how should brands select the most effective format for their specific objective?

Rutherford: As always, think clearly of what you want out of your influencer campaign. There are giveaways, which is a great way to get eyeballs on your account, or grow your followers. Discount codes are also great: everyone loves a deal. I really love when brands I work with offer that to my audience. If you are looking to drive sales, that’s going to get people over that line to the point of purchase. Affiliate and commission can be great for brands that don’t have big budgets. It can supplement the rate or be an incentive to an influencer.

UGC (user generated content) is hugely popular with brands that have very small teams. If you’re a start-up with very few people, or you don’t have the budget to churn out content at the same rate as other brands or to get influencers to post on their own accounts, you can work with influencers who are only going to create content for your brand page but not necessarily share it on theirs. It’s a really good way to have visibility. Then there’s the typical content exchange of producing a reel, a static post or a TikTok.

How do you determine if an influencer aligns with a brand’s identity? What are the key things to look for?

Abina: It’s important to know what your brand identity is. What are your values? Who is your target audience? When you know who you are then you research influencers who align with it: do they have a similar target audience to who you are trying to reach? I really look at their content, the brand that they work with, and how their followers engage and comment on their page. I always say you need to approach people in your industry and who are creating content in your field.