Is your CMO or CEO asking you how to elevate your brand in 2019?

Well I’ve got good news for you. Influencer marketing is a perfect complement to your PR strategy. Here are three reasons why influencer marketing works.

Influencers achieve awareness

Similar to PR, influencer relations programs help build brand awareness. They have the potential to reach huge audiences: 95 percent of Gen-Z use YouTube, and 1 billion people actively use Instagram.

I managed to get my client, Ventev Mobile, included in a tech YouTuber’s gadget round-up and within 78 hours it had over ten thousand views! That’s roughly 128 views per hour. Better yet, the YouTuber linked to where viewers could buy the products on Amazon in the description.

Quality influencer relations programs draw from the finesse of how smart PR professionals approach the media, and blend it with the latest insight, understanding, and analytics social media provides to squeeze out every drop of juice.

Influencers extend engagement

Earned media wins drive awareness and validation, but the publications’ backend analytics on exactly how many people read an article or review remain a mystery. Influencer posts, however, can give you a clearer picture of engagement.

Whether it’s likes, comments, or shares, these engagements start to tally up as soon as a post goes live, but can carry on far beyond the original post date. Plus, YouTube is ranked as the second most popular search engine behind Google, giving more opportunities to surface a video featuring your gear.

And there are almost always more ways to get an influencer to continue to engage.

The week after a post publishes they could share a live Instagram video answering followers’ questions about your new product. Or they could share a promo code, created just for them, that gives their followers a discount when they purchase your gadget. Each new piece of content creates and builds more engagement.

Influencers raise ROI

But how do you answer the question to end all others: “What’s the ROI?”

Influencer marketing has been shown to create 11 times higher ROI than traditional digital marketing. Additionally, the measurement methods available for influencer relations programs can be more precise than PR and earned media.

When you field an influencer-specific promo code, you will know the exact redemption rate and resulting sales. If you partner with an influencer on a campaign, you can know exactly how many of their followers were reached. And, if you’re tasked with brand imagery, there’s the additional value of influencer-generated content creation, which can be leveraged on your brand’s channels too.

Those extra insights are what can make a consumer tech leader more confident in augmenting existing marketing and communications strategies with influencer relations.

If you’re launching a new gadget, attending a major conference like CES, or looking to reach a new market for the first time, engaging influencers can deliver your message to the right audiences.

Just make sure to engage the right team early. Get in touch to find out how influencers could help your marketing program: