Influencer Marketing Rule of Thumb

I’ll take you back to the basics so that you can truly understand Influencer Marketing and PR. They go hand in hand. You’ll also see the importance of it in today’s marketing strategy for businesses. So, in case you didn’t know… Influencer Marketing is a form of marketing where influencers in their respected fields or niches has a specific target market (audience) in which they share brand awareness and messaging. Many influencers have a very loyal and engaging online community.

Businesses take a portion of their marketing budget to allocate to influencer marketing in addition to traditional marketing like print ads, TV advertisements, radio ads and digital ads. Every business has their specific marketing strategy that works for them. As an entrepreneur, I can speak on this first hand and let you know that it’s all trial and error. One business may thrive with Facebook ads while another may not and be more successful on Instagram. Use the platform that works for you and shows proven results!

It’s important when you are in the influencer space that you maintain a positive online brand reputation. That along with being an authority or expert in your niche will give you longevity in this field. It’s also a HUGE positive with the brands that you forge connections with and establish partnerships. I’ve been in brand ambassador programs for years due to brand loyalty and sharing my authentic experiences with some of my favorite products. People value your personal feedback!

I can also share with brands how my product review, restaurant review or travel experience persuaded others to purchase a specific item, eat at a certain restaurant or book that trip. When you can show a brand a return on their investment, you’re doing great and they’ll keep you on their list of influencers or bloggers who have the power to engage consumers and motivate their purchasing decisions. I personally will pay attention to someone’s personal experience over a paid print ad. I’m just saying!

While I don’t like the word “expert” because I feel as though it puts you out there and I’m really behind the scenes and avoid being in the spotlight at all costs. I can own that I know my stuff and am well versed in social media marketing, influencer marketing and community management. I also make it a priority to seek out PR companies like Behrman PR that specializes in lifestyle brand Publicity to introduce myself and work towards building a long-lasting partnership.

Overall, Influencer Marketing is a continuous growing form of social media marketing that involves working with “influencers” who have expert knowledge in their niche that endorse brands that they believe in using their blog and social media platforms. According to mediakix 80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective and 89% of marketers say influencer marketing ROI is as good or better than other marketing channels. 65% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets this year.

Do you value influencer marketing over traditional advertising?

When Your Branding Is On Target

I recently received a complimentary 30 minute Brand Session from Cover Paige Creative. It was my prize for coming in 2nd place in the B-Link Biz Contest through the Blogalicious Marketing Network. #BLinkBiz

JenOni Featured Image

I was really pleased with my brand consultation with Cara of Cover Paige Creative. I did re-brand in January of this year and that helped me streamline who I am and the direction I want to take with my blog and services that I offer on JenOniDotMe. Cara was able to shed some light on further connecting the dots so there is no mistaking the JenOni Brand! I was given Kudos for having my logo on all of my social media page banners. Consistency across the web and all social platforms is essential to branding yourself. There is no way you can leave my blog and head over to my Twitter Page or YouTube Channel and NOT know it’s me. I absolutely LOVE my logo font. It’s very stylish and chic looking, which fits perfectly with my tagline… “It’s a Lifestyle!” One thing that stuck out to me that Cara said was… “Help people remember you.” also to be clear about my services. I guess it’s important that people know exactly what I offer. As much as I don’t like feeling boxed in a corner because you know… I can do it all! Lol! Cara said to dumb it down and choose three things to focus on. This was so hard because I’m passionate about so many things and can talk about them for hours. Well after some deep thought my three focuses will be Brand Relationships, Consulting and Graphic Design.

Cara was pleased with the way my blog was designed and laid out. I am a minimalist and truly believe that less is so much more. I’m also just a little OCD and am working on NOT striving for perfection. I’ve missed so many opportunities and remained stagnant because things weren’t “PERFECT” It’s a battle that I deal with daily. I’ve recently posted video I wasn’t really proud of. I don’t even care for video so that in itself is a HUGE accomplishment on my part. I vowed that I would start to incorporate vlogging into my blogging routine. I’ve posted pictures that weren’t up to my editing standards, I’ve even gone outside of my comfort zone AND… you know what?!?! I’ve had so many amazing opportunities since my re-brand in January. Branding is so important! Don’t overlook it. One thing Cara said to me after we had a brief discussion on being an “Expert” which I’ve never been comfortable saying is that… I am going to have to put myself out there if I want my brand to grow. There are many things that I am proficient in and I am the “Go To” person for but, I never considered myself an expert. Cara said that I need to just “Get over it!” Lol! and OWN IT! So, you may see me throwing the word “EXPERT” around in the near future. I’m also in the process of writing my first e-book. You’ll start hearing more about that as I get closer to the launch date.

Overall my call with Cara confirmed that re-branding was absolutely the right thing to do and that I was definitely on the right track. She did leave me with some homework to do so that there is further cohesiveness between my business website and blog. I am going to work on further putting myself out there more because as uncomfortable as it may feel to me, I’ve had nothing but positive outcomes. I’ve created new relationships and have a new set of goals that you’ll start to see me work towards. I’ll also share one thing that she said that made total sense. Kara shared that at a conference she attended, one of the speakers stated that “You don’t have to be THE expert, you have to be AN expert”. I’ve gained expertise over the years on Social Media (Twitter Especially) and I know I have something to teach people. I create strategies that work and I have the best online community that has grown organically since 2009. I am going to continue to engage with my network and grow! I’m at a point where I really need to focus on being consistent and pushing out valuable content on my blog . I’ll be following up with Cara after I do my homework and implement some changes. Visit the Cover Paige Creative website to learn more about Cara and her team for all your branding needs.

Branding, Marketing & PR All In One

branding-and-marketing-strategy

I’m going to start from the very basics and give you the breakdown of each individual service. It might seem that they can be similar at times however they all work hand in hand to give you the best exposure to promote your product or service. You need to brand yourself, market your product or service and promote it heavily to be successful. If no one knows you exist how do you expect to turn a profit?

Branding – Your Name, Logo or Trademark. What your audience recognizes and knows you by.

Marketing – The transfer of a product or service from the producer or seller to a buyer or client through advertising, shipping, storing and selling to a particular audience.

Public Relations – The actions of a corporation, store, government or individual in promoting between itself and the public.

I have seen businesses fail due to going in without a marketing strategy. If you build a store tomorrow and it’s not in the greatest location, aside from people that may happen to see it in passing how would you get people into your establishment? Same thing goes for a service that you may have to offer. If you were to start a consulting business tomorrow, how would you promote it and let people know that you have a consulting business and offer that service? Yes, there is guerrilla marketing but that can only go so far. If you don’t know exactly what guerrilla marketing entails it’s a low cost alternative way to promote yourself like flyers, posters, stickers and flash mobs just to name a few. I think guerrilla marketing is great for different events, concerts, and parties!

First things first! Fully understand your product or service and know your target market. Once you have gotten these two things down you can start to create a campaign to get you exposure. Before you start to map out a marketing strategy let’s hope that you have a logo, website, and social media platforms in place. That will be a huge part of the branding portion. Make sure you love your logo, slogan or tagline; this is what people will know you by. There are several taglines that I can say and you can associate the logo and brand with it immediately. I’m Loving It! = McDonald’s | Don’t leave home without it. = Amex | The happiest place on earth = Disneyland | Life’s Good = LG | Just Do It! = Nike | Broadcast Yourself. = YouTube. Do you get my point!

Once you have established your brand and target audience it’s time to start marketing yourself and plan a media launch. Look at all the media outlets you have to choose from. What’s your advertising budget? It can help you decide on TV, print, radio, or online advertising. There is also email blasts, telemarketing, direct sales etc. You can definitely mix and match the marketing mediums you have to choose from. I recommend having a press release on hand to everyone. Be sure to track the responses you get through each method you use. You want to know your ROI (return on investment). Look at what works and what doesn’t and you can alter your campaign to suit your needs. It will be great information to have for future marketing campaigns. I can’t stress this enough, have a good team in place! You can’t do it all by yourself.

So even though Branding, Marketing and PR are similar in some ways they are very different and work hand in hand to successfully promote a person, product or service! I hope this article was helpful. What do you think about the differences between Branding, Marketing and PR? What are you doing to promote yourself, your product or your business? I’d love to know.

Don’t Play Hide & Seek with Social Media for Business

I love when I go into an establishment and see promotional items that have social media icons printed on it to promote the businesses social networks. Sometimes it just says (become a fan!) and then lists their website address, others may have everything spelled out for you so there is no guessing or searching to do. When dealing with social media and building a following you want to give people simple steps to follow. The other day I ordered take out for lunch at a fairly new Chinese Food restaurant in town. Upon leaving I grabbed a menu and it had their location, phone number, business hours, social media icons and website information. I went back to the office and immediately went to their website to see what it looked like and go to their social media pages so I could fan and follow. There was just one issue… their social media icons weren’t listed on their website ANYWHERE!

I proceeded to search and see how long it would take me to find their social media pages. It was a bit frustrating because well first of all I thought they needed to be listed on their website; secondly their twitter handle wasn’t the exact name of the restaurant and that was insane to me especially because that’s what people would automatically think to search for with the links not being available anywhere else. After about fifteen minutes of looking for these social networking handles I finally got it only to see that it was a HUGE fail and not everyone is going to do what I did to find them. I also noticed that they aren’t very active on their social networks and don’t have much of a following. My advice would be to first and foremost add the social media links to their website on the front page. I can understand that not all twitter handles may be available exactly the way you want them to be but, you need to try and keep it as similar as possible to your business name and that’s why being able to link to it from a business website is so important or wherever the social media icons are placed online.

Social networks are used daily to develop communication between a business and potential clients or existing consumers. Successful marketing strategies tend to go viral. The key is to develop a plan when integrating social networks into your business. If you are clueless but willing to learn, I’d advise seeking a consultation with a social media marketing specialist and creating a plan that works for YOU that you can integrate into a scheduled routine. Consistency is a huge part of successful social media marketing strategies. If you are overwhelmed with the thought of adding one more thing to your plate then I’d say you need to consider hiring a social media professional to keep your social media pages current, by updating content frequently and engaging with your audience so you maintain your following, continue to grow and keep them informed. There’s no need to play hide and seek with social media for businesses, they should be (in our face) front and center where everyone can see them! What are your thoughts on this? Have you run into similar situations?

error: Ask And You Shall Receive!!