Today, influencer marketing has become an essential lever for brands, allowing them to reach a wide audience, create authentic user-generated content, and convert new followers into customers! This is why brands are increasingly abandoning traditional advertising to turn to a new, highly effective channel: sending products to influencers. For this, 3 types of partnerships exist: gifting, sending products in exchange for a review, and paid collaboration. Which marketing strategy should you choose? Let’s take a look.
1- Gifting
What is gifting?
Gifting is the act of sending free products to influencers. In exchange, the brand expects “them to talk about its products to their community of” followers.
What does the brand actually receive in exchange for sending its products?
When a brand chooses the gifting option, no contract binds them to the chosen influencers. The brand therefore cannot require these individuals to make a post on their social networks upon receiving the product. Influencers will therefore talk about the products received and tested only if they wish to, if they are convinced by the brand, and if they like the product.
However, the advantage of gifting for brands is that influencers who decide to create content to talk about the received products will do so in a more spontaneous and authentic way. This will be even more impactful for the members of their communities.
How to proceed with sending products to influencers?
For these product shipments to be truly relevant, it is imperative to avoid mass sending of products without having selected the influencers beforehand. It is essential that the brand chooses influencers who already have an affinity with its products or other similar products.
Moreover, the brand must be interested in the characteristics of each influencer’s audience and base their decision on concrete marketing data (age, place of residence, interests, etc.)
Once the influencers are selected, the brand can contact each individual to:
– Introduce themselves and explain their approach, concept, values, etc.;
– Ask if they are interested in receiving a package of products.
2 – Sending Products in Exchange for Reviews
How to go about getting reviews in exchange for sending products?
To recruit consumers who will give their opinion on the products they receive, brands can set up ambassador programs that they can implement directly on their website.
Very simply, consumers who wish to participate in the program can apply to the brand in question. After analyzing their profile (type of customer they belong to, their interests and values, the social networks on which they are present, the size of their community, etc.) and if they are selected, they then receive products to test at home from the brand.
In exchange, they leave a detailed and authentic review on the brand’s website and can talk about it on their social networks through content creation or on their blog by writing an article.
Thus, Trustt is a SaaS software that makes life easier for brands when they want to set up an ambassador program on their e-commerce site. Directly integrated into the site (WordPress, Shopify, Prestashop…), this software allows brands to recruit relevant and engaged ambassadors in a lasting relationship, and to transform consumers and the audience into brand contributors, content creators, and even “top ambassadors”.
Discover Trustt
Trustt is a digital marketing solution that allows you to create a virtuous circle between your brand and your consumers.Who are these brand ambassadors?
These brand ambassadors can be influencers as well as loyal customers of the brand. They do not hesitate to share their opinions online and generally use their social networks to communicate and give their feedback following the use of a product or an experience with a brand.
Trustt:
– Identifies relevant influencers via Favikon, a highly effective influence platform for searching and analyzing influencer profiles;
– Acts as an intermediary by helping brands to contact selected influencers (brief, negotiation, follow-up throughout the campaign…);
– Centralizes all data collected during the influence campaign.
Why is this strategy particularly interesting for brands?
According to an IFOP study: 88% of consumers consult other internet users’ reviews before making an online purchase and 75% of them say they trust the assessments left by other buyers. Indeed, reviews from other customers reassure and comfort new customers in their purchasing decisions.
Moreover, thanks to the detailed reviews received, the brand collects valuable data, which allows it to continuously improve its products and stay one step ahead of the competition.
3- Paid collaboration
In which case should this type of partnership be implemented?
Many brands decide to partner with opinion leaders on social networks for specific events such as the launch of a new product. This collaboration with an influencer allows the brand to quickly boost its reputation and visibility, gain access to a wide audience, and ultimately ensure sales of this new product.
What is the advantage of a paid collaboration between a brand and an influencer?
The advantage of a paid partnership is that it establishes an official framework for the influence marketing campaign. This allows the brand to set goals for the influencer to achieve and have control over the posts they will publish on social networks.
How to go about it?
When a brand decides to work with an influencer as part of a paid partnership, it is important to lay the groundwork for the collaboration.
Thus, the brand starts by sending:
– A contract to recap the terms of the agreement with the influencer;
– Then a very detailed brief that specifies the ins and outs of the collaboration (marketing objectives of the campaign, expected deliverables, KPIs, best practices, etc.)
– And finally, the product(s) on which the influencer should communicate.
In summary: To make the right choice between product donations, ambassador program, or paid collaboration, it is important to clearly define your marketing and communication objectives. Moreover, the success of an influence campaign largely depends on the profiles of the selected influencers who maintain their authenticity in their content, so this is a step that should not be neglected!
