Setting up your influencer marketing program

Based on countless campaigns we have helped our clients with, we have found that one of the most effective strategies for our clients is to utilize the Pareto Principle. The Pareto principle states that 20% of the input results in 80% of the outputs. In a business context, it states, for example, that 80% of the sales or income often come from 20% of clients or customers. 

Regarding influencer marketing (IM), 20% of the influencers you work with generate around 80% of the revenue. These 20% are the influencers you want to build long-term relationships with and invite to all of your campaigns. To identify this top 20%, we recommend the following steps:

1). Influencer Testing Campaigns
Collaborate with influencers for the first time and track their performance. The main goal is to determine if the influencer can influence their audience to make a purchase. Keep costs low by requesting a single post and avoid large budgets until you better understand how the posts will perform.

2). Analyse the data of each influencer
Welcome the top 20% of influencers to your brand ambassador program and establish long-term partnerships with them.

3). Repeat and scale
Continuously increase your tribe of performing brand ambassadors. Influencer testing campaigns can be seen as the engine of growth for your IM program. The performing influencers can be invited to each of your seasonal campaigns, resulting in a return on ad spend (ROAS) of 10X or higher.

In summary, your IM program can be divided into two main operational aspects. 

1). Testing: First-time collaborations to identify influencers who can influence their audience to purchase 

2). Relationship Management & Affiliate marketing: Working with top-performing influencers by inviting them to your seasonality campaigns. This is where you make your money, and ROAS of 20+ are common.