Full transcript
0:10- One quick shout out
0:11from a massive influencer will make you millions.
0:13That's the world's greatest myth.
0:15Influencer marketing is not dead
0:16it's not too late to get into it.
0:18So if you wanna see a huge boost
0:19in sales from influencer marketing
0:21there's one very simple thing you need to do
0:22and that is...
0:28In today's video you're gonna learn
0:30how to master influencer marketing
0:32whether you are running your own business
0:34or you need to do this for your job
0:36this video is going to be for you.
0:38This video is the only one that you're gonna need
0:41in order to master influencer marketing
0:42because we're gonna go in depth
0:44in this very complete guide.
0:46Today we're gonna answer these commonly asked questions.
0:50First of all, what is influencer marketing?
0:53Secondly, how effective is influencer marketing
0:56really in today's day and age?
0:59Also, do you need to be paying influencers
1:01to be able to work with them?
1:02We're gonna answer how much does it cost
1:04to run an influencer program
1:06and what you should be doing
1:08if you're reaching out to influencers
1:09and they just don't wanna work with your brand
1:11maybe they're giving you crickets.
1:12And if you wanted to start your own influencer program
1:15how should you be setting it up?
1:17Now guys, if there are any questions
1:19that I won't be going over in today's video
1:22then make sure that you're dropping them
1:23in the comment section
1:23and I will definitely answer it
1:25but it is possible that I answer them as we go.
1:28So buckle in and let's get into it.
1:30If you guys are new here, welcome
1:32my name is Michelle Bali,
1:33I'm a creative strategist
1:34And guys, I'm really excited to share
1:36what I know with you
1:37because if I do say so myself
1:39I have helped build a killer affiliate strategy
1:42for an e-commerce brand in the fashion space.
1:44And I'm gonna share all of my secrets
1:47of how I did it with you guys here today.
1:49So if you guys like getting insider tips
1:51about marketing and e-commerce
1:52then make sure that you're hitting subscribe
1:53because that's all we do on this channel here.
1:56But yeah alright, let's get into the questions.
1:58Okay, so first of all,
1:59what is influencer marketing?
2:01So very simply put, influencer marketing is when
2:04an influencer helps a brand
2:06sell their products or services.
2:08And if you wanna know what influencers are defined as
2:10they're gonna be someone who has
2:12influence over their community.
2:14They don't have to have millions of followers
2:16for them to have influence
2:17or for them to make money for your brand.
2:19And you wanna know something super crazy?
2:21When I was working with this fashion company
2:23we had a girl who had 5,000 followers
2:25and she was our biggest money maker.
2:27And guys we were working with full on celebrities.
2:30Like there was this one singer
2:31in particular that I can think of.
2:33She had over a million followers
2:35and she couldn't sell as much product
2:36as this one really sweet girl.
2:38That being said, don't underestimate the power
2:40that smaller influencers can have
2:43especially when they're super tapped into their community.
2:45So as a brand how can you get started
2:47working with influencers?
2:48You can ask an influencer to make an Instagram
2:51or a BeReal or a TikTok post
2:53and have them include your product.
2:55You can even ask them to include you in a blog post.
2:57Something that's sometimes overlooked
2:59is you can work with influencers
3:01on events and activations, product collaborations
3:04or even create an entire brand together.
3:06For example, a client that I worked with
3:08her name is Jenna Meek.
3:09Hey Jenna, if you're watching this, what's up?
3:11She teamed up with this super influencer
3:13her name is Jess Hunt,
3:15and together they created
3:17a new makeup brand called REFY.
3:19They didn't even know each other before that
3:21but they connected and went into business together
3:23and built the entire business
3:25off the back of Jess' success as an influencer
3:28and Jenna's business savviness.
3:30I mentioned that to show you that
3:32influencer marketing can stretch
3:34beyond just paying an influencer to make a TikTok.
3:36There are definitely ways to get creative with it
3:39and lots of money to be made
3:40which we'll talk about how to do in just a sec.
3:43But first, let me answer this question
3:45that I'm sure all of you guys are having.
3:47Do you need to pay influencers to work with them?
3:50So the answer is no.
3:52You don't need to pay influencers to endorse your products.
3:55There are hundreds of thousands of influencers
3:58that would be willing to do it for free.
4:00But sometimes I hear business owners are getting frustrated
4:04because you might wanna send them a product
4:06in exchange for a free shout out
4:08but an influencer might be like,
4:11"Sorry, no I can't do it for free.
4:13Like here's my rate."
4:14You know what I mean?
4:16So what do you do if an influencer
4:18won't do a shout out in exchange for a product?
4:21Okay, so this is a common problem.
4:22So you have two choices.
4:24You can either move on
4:25and find another influencer
4:26that would be willing because there will be,
4:29or second option you can pay them for their work.
4:32The reason that they're asking for money
4:33is because they know their value
4:35and they know how effective their advertising is,
4:37and they're not willing to do it for free,
4:38which is fair, you know?
4:40So that could actually be a good sign
4:41because that could mean
4:43you might actually wanna work with this influencer.
4:45But before paying them though,
4:46make sure that you're asking them for screenshots
4:49of results from previous campaigns
4:50so that you can see
4:51how much product they've been able to sell in the past
4:54and how effective their shout outs truly are.
4:57But what if influencers are just completely
4:59ghosting you left, right, and center?
5:00What if they just don't wanna work with your brand
5:02and you just can't figure out why
5:04and how do you make them wanna work with your brand?
5:07Okay, first of all
5:08the reason they may not be super interested
5:10in working together
5:12is because influencers need
5:12one of three things to be willing
5:15to work with a brand.
5:16One money, two the clout of working with a cool brand
5:20and three meaning behind
5:21working with a brand that they actually believe in.
5:24A lot of you watching
5:24are probably just starting out your brand.
5:26So maybe paying every influencer
5:28isn't really an option right now.
5:29And if you are a new brand,
5:31you probably aren't yet super successful with tons of clout.
5:34So that's where that last piece comes in.
5:36That's where that meaning piece comes in.
5:38To get influencers on board,
5:39you wanna get them to drink the Kool-Aid,
5:41you wanna share with them
5:42why your product is so amazing,
5:44how you are doing incredible charitable work
5:47about the people that work there.
5:50And you wanna do this in your emails,
5:52in that back and forth
5:53through friendly conversation
5:55and build a brand deck that you send to influencers
5:58with all this educational content
6:00that will absolutely sell them
6:02on you as a person and your brand.
6:05So here's an example of a deck
6:06like a document that I was just talking
6:08about just like this.
6:09So I'll pop that on screen for you guys to check out
6:11and you would simply just attach that to an email
6:14to make an influencer want
6:16to work with you as a new brand,
6:17you're really gonna wanna aim
6:19for that meaning piece.
6:20Make influencers excited about working with a brand
6:23that is so aligned with their values.
6:25And guys making emotional
6:27and personal connections with influencers,
6:30is going to be key, key, key, key,
6:33especially when you don't have the money
6:34to pay influencers up front.
6:36Just because you're not paying an influencer
6:38that doesn't mean that the endorsement is completely free.
6:41You still have to pay shipping
6:43and you still have to pay the cost of goods.
6:44And if you're working at a company setting this up
6:47you need to account for the cost of labor
6:49that goes into managing this program.
6:51So you can keep track of all those expenses
6:53with a spreadsheet just like this.
6:55Feel free guys to take a screenshot here
6:56if this would be helpful to you.
6:58But yeah, holistically running an influencer program
7:00will cost you money up front
7:02and you're gonna wanna budget for that
7:03especially as an entrepreneur.
7:05Now, if you're an employee
7:06and your boss is expecting you
7:08to develop an influencer program for free
7:10you can give him or her this face.
7:13I'm literally just trying to raise my eyebrow.
7:16I can't do the one eyebrow.
7:17You go right ahead and tell them
7:19that Michelle said that I said,
7:22that it is not realistic
7:23and you're gonna need budget, okay?
7:25Don't let them try to peer pressure you.
7:27Running an influencer program is never gonna be free.
7:29How effective is influencer marketing really?
7:32So as a business owner,
7:33it can feel really scary to invest money
7:35in sending products to influencers
7:37or even paying them outright.
7:38So I definitely get why you'd want to know
7:41how effective influencer marketing is
7:44before even going into it.
7:45So the answer is,
7:47influencer marketing is gonna be
7:48as effective as your strategy.
7:51I have seen failed influencer programs.
7:52It is possible to lose all the money
7:54that you've invested, it's possible.
7:56But I've also seen extremely
7:58successful influencer programs
7:59making 10 times their money.
8:01So in short, yes influencer marketing is extremely effective
8:04but it has to be with the right strategy.
8:06So if you wanna learn how to create the right strategy
8:08then you've definitely clicked on the right video
8:10because we're gonna go through that, right now.
8:12How to set up your influencer marketing.
8:15Okay, so to get started with influencer marketing
8:17you need to build a program with a clear strategy.
8:21Even if, and actually I should say
8:23especially if you are a solo entrepreneur
8:26this is gonna be extremely important.
8:28If you don't build a program
8:29and you're just kind of willy-nilly with it,
8:30that is a sure way to lose money.
8:33I know because I've seen this happen before
8:34with a business that I worked with.
8:36So you can follow along
8:37and make a playbook the way
8:38that I'm doing it here on Canva.
8:40Okay, woo I am so excited to explain this.
8:43I could go on for days about this topic
8:45because when I tell you I live and breathe this,
8:48I live and breathe this.
8:50Okay, so step number one,
8:51build the structure of your program.
8:52To build the structure you first wanna define
8:55what kind of influencers you wanna work with
8:57and who you're gonna accept into your program.
8:59And be clear on the criteria that the influencers
9:02are gonna have to meet,
9:03in order for you to be reaching out to them
9:05in the first place.
9:06So in your playbook
9:07you're gonna wanna include
9:08what kind of content they make.
9:10Maybe you'll only wanna work with mommy bloggers.
9:12You're also gonna wanna write down
9:13what is the aesthetic that they bring.
9:16Maybe these mommy bloggers
9:17need to have a very clean kind of look.
9:20You're also gonna wanna write down
9:21what kind of followers they have,
9:23in terms of demographics and psychographics.
9:26So maybe you want to market to Australians
9:28that value vegan living.
9:30And also guys write down
9:32how much engagement their content has to have.
9:35So maybe that's above 2%.
9:36You can add other attributes
9:38that are important to you
9:39as well here on this page.
9:41Okay, cool.
9:43So we're clear on which types of influencers
9:44we're gonna be accepting into our program.
9:46But next we wanna define how influencers
9:48are actually gonna move through the program.
9:51And we're gonna do this
9:52with an influencer journey map,
9:54just like this one here.
9:55This map creates a plan
9:57to keep influencers engaged with your brand.
10:00So the reason that we need an influencer journey map,
10:02well I actually had to learn this the hard way.
10:04You can't just send an influencer a product once
10:07and expect them to be your biggest advocates
10:09for the rest of their lives.
10:10You actually need to continue to send them products.
10:13You need to continue to send them emails
10:15meet them in real life,
10:16all that kind of stuff
10:17because you need to keep that relationship alive.
10:20This is crucial
10:20because if you're just sending influencers product once
10:23and then never hearing from them again,
10:25that is an extremely expensive way
10:27of running an influencer program.
10:28Acquiring an influencer into your program
10:30is gonna cost you the most.
10:32However, as you retain influencers
10:34and continue to work with them
10:36you're gonna start to see
10:37the best ROI for the program.
10:38So let me show you how
10:40you're gonna create this influencer journey map.
10:41This map is amazing
10:42because it's designed to repeat
10:44for each influencer that enters your program.
10:46So it's very rinse and repeat
10:48and it's gonna keep influencers engaged with your brand.
10:50Okay so you're gonna make a flow chart just
10:52like this using Canva.
10:53And high level, you can see that
10:56it's gonna outline all the different phases
10:58and touchpoints and influencer
11:00goes through within the program.
11:01So to start, I recommend
11:02that influencers enter the relationship
11:04as a tier one influencer.
11:06This is where you are not paying
11:08influencers for their content
11:09you are just exchanging product for content.
11:12This is almost like a trial run
11:14to see how effective they are
11:15before you move them onto the next phase.
11:17So here on the flow chart
11:18you wanna include all the touch points
11:20like the initial email with the outreach
11:23how many products they receive,
11:24and all of that.
11:25And you can be creative with the types of touch points.
11:27Like maybe after you send them a product,
11:29you're adding them to your close friends list
11:31on Instagram to make them feel
11:32like they're a part of your community.
11:34Then you wanna define what the criteria is
11:36to move them further
11:37into the program to become a tier two influencer.
11:39Now, what I've seen work
11:40is they have to post three times about you.
11:42And then in that case,
11:43once they post three times about you,
11:44they move on to tier two.
11:46But what if they don't meet that criteria?
11:47What happens then?
11:48So here you wanna put that
11:50they're gonna get a reminder email,
11:52and if they still don't post,
11:53you're gonna boot them outta the program.
11:54Okay, bye.
11:56Now before I move on to the next step
11:57I wanna offer you a free marketing plan template.
12:00Okay guys, it's gonna help you plan a rock solid strategy
12:04for driving sales on your online store.
12:06You can download it right here
12:07by clicking in the corner.
12:08And guys, actually, this template is part
12:11of a totally free e-commerce course
12:13designed to help get your business
12:14up and running quickly.
12:16So if you're interested in the course
12:17or if you're interested in the template,
12:19I'll leave more information in the description box below.
12:21Okay so in tier two
12:22is when you start an affiliate relationship
12:25the difference between a tier one influencer
12:27and a tier two affiliate is by this point,
12:28you like their content.
12:30You know that they're dedicated
12:31and you know that
12:32you're kind of ready
12:33to be more serious with them.
12:35But with an affiliate,
12:36you're gonna give them unique discount codes
12:38and links for their customers to use.
12:40And every time that a customer does use them
12:42they'll get a percentage of the sale.
12:44And of course, it's gonna be a symbiotic relationship
12:46because you get to leverage their audience
12:48that you would've never had access to otherwise.
12:51So if we look at what's actually going on in tier two
12:53there's gonna be multiple touch points at this phase.
12:55You can choose to send products
12:57once every couple of months.
12:59That's pretty standard.
13:00You can also choose to include
13:02in-person events like influencer dinners
13:04that happens a couple times a year.
13:06And I learned this tip from my friends over at GRIN.
13:08So definitely check out GRIN
13:10we'll talk about that in a second.
13:12But you can keep influencers posting
13:13about you on a regular basis
13:16by creating what's called surges.
13:18A surge is when an influencer can make
13:20one and a half or even two times
13:22the amount of their regular commission
13:23but only during a certain time period
13:25like every first week of the month, for example.
13:28So they urgently feel like
13:29they wanna post about you
13:30to their stories or to their feed,
13:32and get sales flowing
13:33so that they can make more money.
13:35You would just let your affiliates know
13:36that the surge is going on via email
13:38and let them do their magic.
13:40As far as how much commission you wanna pay them.
13:43I would say standard is 10%,
13:45but it can be as high as 20%
13:47but no more than that for most businesses
13:49because it would really
13:50start to eat into your margins
13:52because you're also gonna need to offer
13:54their audience a discount as well
13:56to incentivize customers to buy.
13:58And usually that's anywhere from 10% to 20%.
14:02So it's a lot, right?
14:03It's like, okay
14:05you have to incentivize influencers to post about you.
14:07You have to incentivize customers
14:08to buy from you and that can add up.
14:11So unless you have crazy insanely high margins
14:14you definitely want to do 10 for the influencer
14:16and 10 for the customer.
14:17Tier one, tier two is usually a good place to start,
14:20but if you find that you have influencers
14:22that are absolutely killing it
14:23with their discount codes,
14:24they're making you a ton of money,
14:26then you might wanna think about creating a tier three,
14:29that makes them feel like absolute royalty
14:31because you wanna retain them
14:32and you wanna keep them
14:34feeling happy about your brand.
14:35So in tier three,
14:36you can include more regular gifts
14:37you can include higher commission
14:39and more touch points like commenting
14:41and liking their content on social media
14:43and creating and fostering real relationships.
14:46So you're probably thinking, oh my God,
14:48okay constant emails, dinners,
14:50discount codes, there's just so much going on
14:53in order to run an influencer program.
14:55And yeah, you're right, there's a lot.
14:57But there is this tool that I'm obsessed with
14:59that I just spoke about it's called GRIN, guys.
15:02GRIN is gonna help you manage these relationships
15:06all in one place.
15:07This is the only tool that you'll need
15:09in order to run your influencer program.
15:11So here you can do influencer research
15:13and fire off emails directly in GRIN.
15:16You can set up discount codes for affiliates
15:19you can track how much money they're making you
15:21and you can even pay your affiliates straight from GRIN.
15:24And another really cool feature that I love
15:26is any photo that you are tagged in
15:29will show up on GRIN
15:31so that you can save it and repost it later.
15:33So I personally love GRIN,
15:34and I love the people that work there
15:35but of course there are other options out there too.
15:38There is Aspire and Impact.
15:39So definitely check those out.
15:41Now, this tool does not come cheap guys,
15:43so you definitely make sure
15:44that you're doing research to see that
15:45it does have all the features
15:47that you need for your specific needs.
15:49But trust me, guys, you cannot run an influencer
15:51marketing program without a productivity tool.
15:53You do need it.
15:54Okay, so you've got a plan, you've got your tools.
15:57Now you need to figure out
15:59how the work is gonna be divided
16:00to run this epic machine of a program.
16:02I have a friend who runs
16:04the influencer marketing program all by herself
16:07of a medium sized company
16:09and I'm like, honey, no, this isn't right,
16:13you need a team, okay?
16:15So if you wanna see a huge boost in sales
16:17from influencer marketing
16:18there's one very simple thing you need to do
16:20and that is hire a team.
16:21If you're a solo entrepreneur
16:22and you wanna take influencer marketing seriously
16:25do not do it all by yourself either.
16:27Hire a team or at least hire one person
16:29and get some help from Freelancer or Upwork.
16:32But for all of my people watching
16:34that do have a bit of budget
16:35or maybe you're working at a company
16:36ideally you would have one person
16:39to manage outreach and tier one influencers,
16:42then you would have a second person
16:44to manage tier two influencers and retention.
16:46Also, one of these people
16:47would have to be in charge of shipments
16:49and making sure everyone's getting their packages.
16:51And the other one of those people
16:53would be in charge of making sure that
16:54the content that your influencers are producing
16:57is actually being used,
16:58whether that's on social media, emails or ads.
17:01And then finally, you would need someone
17:03that is in the numbers all day, every day
17:05and can really interpret what's working,
17:08what's not working,
17:10and help you build a strategy
17:11and bring forward ideas
17:12as you grow your program.
17:14So you've got two doers and one thinker.
17:16One quick shout out from a massive influencer
17:18will make you millions.
17:19That's the world's greatest myth.
17:21Now, it's all about working at scale
17:23with hundreds of influencers
17:25to be able to see real growth and real revenue.
17:27This is just a more sustainable,
17:29economically friendly model
17:31than working with massive influencers.
17:32I always wanna keep it real.
17:34It's a slow and steady race to the top
17:35and even slower if it's only you
17:37working on this on your team.
17:38So I would really suggest that you do invest
17:41some money into hiring
17:42so that you can scale this program.
17:44So speaking of scale, as you scale,
17:46you're gonna wanna keep track of
17:47how much money you're spending,
17:48how much money you're making,
17:50and how your program is performing.
17:52So keep track of these metrics
17:53on a monthly basis in a Google spreadsheet.
17:56Costs of goods,
17:57you wanna keep track of how much money you're spending
17:59just on the production of the goods
18:01that you're sending to these influencers.
18:02So let's say for example,
18:03my lipstick cost 50 cents to make
18:05and I send out 50 packages last month.
18:07Then I would write down in a spreadsheet
18:09that my cost of goods in February was 25 bucks.
18:12Now, obviously guys, your cost
18:14of goods is gonna be much higher than this.
18:15On the last project that I was working on
18:17the company that I was working
18:18with was spending upwards of $50,000 a month
18:21and that was just on cost of goods alone.
18:23Yeah, that was a medium sized company.
18:25So really just giving you an idea
18:26of how you can really scale your gifting efforts.
18:29The next metric you're gonna wanna keep track of
18:30is how much it costs to ship the goods.
18:32This information is really easy to find in Shopify or GRIN.
18:35Next, keep track of
18:37how much you're paying employees or freelancers,
18:39to run and manage this program.
18:40So if you have someone on salary
18:42you would basically just break it up
18:44into how many hours a week they work
18:45and input that number here.
18:47You also wanna keep track
18:48of how much you're paying influencers
18:49in commission or outright,
18:51so you can put that number here.
18:52And add a section for the cost
18:53of any tools that you're using,
18:54like GRIN right over here.
18:55So those are all your costs, okay?
18:57But if you also wanna keep track of your revenue
18:59you're gonna wanna make a section for that.
19:01So you can track revenue from GRIN really easily
19:03and subtract the costs from the revenue.
19:06Just like this you're gonna find out the profit
19:08and the ROI of the program holistically.
19:10I even in a different cell
19:12write this express in a decimal
19:13to see how much money I'm getting in return.
19:14So if you're a small business
19:162X revenue is a really great place to start.
19:18I like to make a section to keep track
19:19of my top performing influencers
19:21so that I can see over time
19:23who has been a consistent performer
19:25and then I can go back
19:26and reward those influencers and affiliates.
19:28So I'll include my top five every month
19:31just like this year.
19:32And that is more or less how you track
19:34the ROI of your influencer and affiliate program.
19:37You can get actually even more granular
19:39than this with CPM and more metrics.
19:41But for me these are the metrics
19:43that are gonna be the most important to you,
19:44especially if you are on a tight budget
19:46and you wanna make sure
19:47that your money is making money.
19:48So yeah, hopefully this has helped.
19:50Did you know that you can actually
19:52start your store right now
19:54with Shopify for free?
19:55Shopify offers a free trial for three days
19:57no credit card required.
19:58So if you guys are interested in that
20:00I will leave a link for you guys right up here.
20:02Okay, so I feel like this video
20:03has been 3 million years long
20:05but if you follow the steps,
20:06I know this will be helpful to you
20:07because this is the foundation that I built
20:10for an e-commerce company
20:11which turned out to be a trackable, scalable
20:14and profitable framework,
20:16profitable over everything.
20:17Influencer marketing is not dead.
20:18It's not too late to get into it.
20:20You just need to have the right strategy in place.
20:22And yeah, that is the beauty about YouTube.
20:25You did not need to go to school to learn this
20:27and you didn't need to sit in on my meetings
20:29to get this strategy.
20:30This is all here and available
20:33for you for free on this channel,
20:35"Learn With Shopify."
20:36And if you guys are new here
20:37definitely think about subscribing
20:38because whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur
20:41or you are in the e-commerce game,
20:43or even if you're working for a company
20:44and you wanna level up your skills
20:46then this is the place to be.
20:47Hit that like button if you thought
20:48this was one of the more
20:49all-encompassing videos on this topic.
20:51And yeah, guys, thank you so much for joining me.
20:53My name is Michelle Bali.
20:54I'm a creative strategist
20:55and have been your host for today's video.
20:57I'm here for you guys every week
20:59and I cannot wait to see you guys next week.
21:00Peace.