INFLUENCER MARKETING
THE FUTURE OF INFLUENCER MARKETING AND
HOW BRANDS CAN SHIFT INTO INFLUENCER
RELATIONS
A strategic approach to influencer engagement focuses on the
relationship with the brand and community over the long
term. Influence is a value exchange between brands and
influencers at different stages. Enterprise brands that can scale
their ability to connect with influencers will also be able to
impart influence on niche influencers, making the brand even
more influential.
LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS WITH A SMALL
GROUP OF INFLUENCERS VS. WORKING
TEMPORARILY WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF
TALENT
While it is possible to engage creators transactionally for short
term projects, it is longer term relationships with influencers
that drive the best quality engagement and advocacy. When
you pay an influencer for their craft, they care about the brand
short term. When you build a relationship with an influencer
based on shared values, they care about the brand for the long
term.
THE BEST WAYS FOR BRANDS TO CO-CREATE
WITH INFLUENCERS
Virtually any kind of content brands create for their audiences
can involve collaboration with influencers including text,
images, audio and video online and with offline
communications. The best ways brands can co-create with
influencers is to find the opportunities where brand values and
influencer values intersect for their distinct audiences. When
brands collaborate in ways that contribute to furthering the
interests of participating influencers while also advancing
their own goals, everybody wins, especially the audience.
Lee Odden is a marketing strategist, author,
speaker and bearded world traveler. He’s also CEO
of TopRankMarketing.com, a digital marketing
agency that serves top B2B brands with “best
answer” marketing strategies that integrate
content, search, social, influencer marketing and
online advertising. Cited by the Wall Street
Journal, The Economist and Forbes for his
marketing expertise, Lee has evangelized a
customer-centric approach to marketing at over
200 events in 17 different countries, through
numerous industry publications and an award
winning blog at TopRankBlog.com.
ADVICE FOR BRANDS ON HOW TO USE
INFLUENCER MARKETING GOING FORWARD
It’s important to think strategically about where working with
influencers fits in brand content and communications. A
holistic and strategic view will bring enterprise marketers out
of the depths of short term, transactional influencer
engagement and surface it to an always on approach that grows
relationships. When influencers genuinely care about the
common goals with brands, it inspires a level of advocacy and
scalable quality content you can’t buy.
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