Your press release is my spam
PRs are now targeting their invites towards influencers, with the expectation that they will sell their product launches and industry events in exchange for some free hors d’oeuvres. Natalie Giddings, owner of influencer agency The Remarkables Group, would beg to differ.
Every morning I open my inbox to endless press releases asking me to invite the influencers we work with to product launches and industry events. Or requesting I get them to mention a product.
Without a second’s hesitation, those emails are deleted. Not because I have something against PRs, but because the influencers I work with would, quite rightly, be offended by the expectation they should work for you for free.
Influencer marketing is big business, not a cheap way to get free exposure
No pay, no play
Hi Natalie, when you say “If she recommends a lipstick, tens of thousands of her fans are going to rush out and buy it” – can you substantiate that? I’ve looked at all your case studies and they all talk reach, hours reading content etc., but I didn’t see any (apart from Westpac app downloads) that talked sales or product uptake? Happy to be corrected on this and genuinely curious.
Thanks.
I’d also be interested in this, as it would surely be the best and easiest way to justify any investment in using an influencer.
Otherwise, it’s no wonder people keep asking to get influencers to work for free… there is no associated return for their work!
Cheers, James
Thanks Dave & James
We’re working with a third party insights company on an attribution study. It’s actually completely possible. The last two studies of a similar nature we did in 2016 (1200 respondent) & Feb (1500 respondents) this year confirmed 4 out of 10 buy products their favourite influencers recommended. Plus we about to launch a coupon program with online and in-store redemption. I’m very excited about this with my retail background. Though the later won’t be publicly available data. My point is – we absolutely love to measure.
Ummm. Last I jeard The Remarkables shut their influencer arm down.
Also. Would love to see the raw attribution data for 10k people buying after a youtube vid. Standard PR talking big game.
Thanks James,
We stopped representing talent late last year and moved into strategy, implementation & measurement. We could see brands needed genuine support with ideas, solid strategy and consistent approach. This way, the activity could be appropriately governed and can be optimised towards for the brands ideal metrics overtime.
Eh? Is this a line from “Utopia”?
The main focus is right though as I have been saying for years. Why should PRs get paid squillions to pass info on to people they expect to pass to their followers for nowt?
I think you will find that the sales spike referred to was a result of me complimenting my partner on her new lipstick choice. The correlation is 100%. 1 compliment => instant sales spike.
@ David Hague – nobody in PR is getting paid squillions mate.
When you are being paid nothing at all, even a few thou’ is squillions …
While we’re pointing out things we dislike about our necessary industry collaborators, may I point out the fact that 9/10 of the ‘influencers’ with huge followings that I’ve worked with have either run for the hills when I’ve pulled out a list of KPIs or not been able to produce a single substantiated report on how their engagement on a campaign truly brought ROI to my client once the project was completed.
I also completely disagree with the statement about not working with micro, up and coming influencers. In my experience, they have been far more appreciative of being invited to an event, more genuine in their posting and a lot more effective in engaging with a real audience.
Once influencers get a larger following and profile, their message becomes diluted, their costs unjustified and their egos too big.
Most influencers are quite reasonable. If not, we don’t recommend them. Plus it’s access to audiences and content in one!
This is also how we work with KPI’s. Many influencers despite what I presumed, aren’t ex-marketers. In many instances it was just about teaching them what is important to brands or simply, where and how to find those metrics.
And absolutely, micro-influencers are a great tactic as part of a broader strategy. We use a layered approach if the budget allows. Some of the automation platforms have recently changed their key metric from potential reach to combined audience which I’m much more comfortable with. But if we really want to position and grow awareness of a brand, we work with a chosen group of professional influencers with considerable and dedicated audiences, after first assessing the brand fit. Pity about the ego statement though!
Huge generalisation.
This is all great Natalie, but I’m certainly not the first to have made mass generalisations here, your entire piece was a mass generalisation about the PR industry and our understanding about working with influencers.
If this article is an example of what you’re teaching them about working with PR people, I fear they’re certainly going to have a rough start in collaborating with us, to further themselves in the space.
Spot on @Janelle Ryan
Surely influencers, as part of new media, should be held to the same standards as magazines and newspapers. There should be space for paid posts (advertisements) and organic posts (editorial). Working in PR I regularly invite influencers alongside traditional media to events – I pay neither and expect nothing. But if the product or event piques their interest (which it should, if I have done my job right and invited people that have a natural alignment to my client) then we will see organic coverage – be it in a magazine or an Instagram feed. Unless they are an ambassador for the brand, and actively working on the evening (hosting, MCing, doing meet and greets) I would never pay anyone to attend a product launch on behalf of a client.
I would simply expect that influencers provide actual reporting on their campaigns with sales results that link to the brief and the media kit that they should have provided.
In my little business, we assist influencers in their communication with their brands and clients to ensure that they are delivering and reporting properly so that they are re-hired.
Clients should seek the demographic information that links their audience to their influencer, see evidence of past results and devise a strategy with their influencer.
Janelle is correct – I’ve found that if your product launch is aligned with the influencer, and provides influencers with content for their audience, it doesn’t always have to be a paid approach. And sometimes a launch or new product is an opportunity to develop a relationship that can lead to a more extensive – and therefore paid – engagement. Comes back to that (unanswered) question of ROI …