It’s expensive. It’s risky. Is Influencer Marketing right for your business? The answer is highly dependent on many factors that you have to consider before you even engage your marketing budget. The first question you need to ask yourself is Who is my target audience? Your audience should drive every marketing decision you make. Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X are all primary targets that influencer marketing can impact. But the money spent with an influencer is usually a one time deal. A single Instagram post, mention in a story or snap is all you might get with a big price tag. Is it really worth it? My opinion, no.

Here is why. If you are moving units of your product or having subscriptions to your service, you already have all the influencers that you need. I’m a big fan of letting existing customers represent the business because they are the ones that have already benefited by purchasing it. Your customer base is already going to look a lot like your market segmentation and if you ask them to help you promote your product, I’m willing to bet they step up.

The key will be your guidance in the process. Not every customer is comfortable or camera ready to promote your product in a way that speaks to your audience. You need to provide them tips for what you want from them. Give them incentive, heck, you have the budget to even consider paying someone. Authenticity is the key ingredient in a great campaign. Let them know the key point you want to get across in their message, but give them the freedom to be themselves. Let them be honest about what they might dislike about your product, but don’t let that become the meat of the content.

The content types are limitless. Social media posts, YouTube reviews, guest blogs – all great content that can be repurposed for your use at a fraction of the cost. All you have to do is build the plan, timeline and delivery method. It’s influencer marketing, but what you will notice is that you become the influencer as a brand, not a celebrity that is disconnected from your audience. Share the content on your own channels and plan out the content calendar. Provide content that is informative, review-like and interactive. Let your influencer lead conversations – don’t be afraid to make them a content contributor to your brand. Balance all of this will marketing that is selling to your audience. Balance is another key to a great marketing strategy. You can’t always be selling to your audience because they will get fatigued with your brand.

Your customers will always be your greatest brand ambassadors and your audience will believe them. After time, your audience will become the customer and the cycle will continue.