Opinion shapers in a specific social or professional group can become your long-term investment, being lawyers or ambassadors of your brand. Funds spent on promotion with the help of thought leaders in the industry will help you obtain amazing effects. And it would be regrettable to lose the favorable attitude of these people and stop doing business with them because of a certain kind of mistakes made by you through carelessness. In this case, to establish mutually profitable cooperation with opinion shapers is more than a doable task.
Once The Huffington Post published an article in which the marketers themselves listed and commented on the mistakes they made when working with thought leaders. Taking into account the valuable ideas expressed by them,
NinjaPromo compiled a complete list of everything that needs to be known about building close touch with agents of influence.
Mistake #1: you do not offer cross-use cooperation
Opinion shapers can make a lot of exciting and profitable suggestions for your brand. But they will expect something in return for their assistance. Companies often underestimate their work and offer the lowest possible reward for their work.
But with the increased popularity and usefulness of marketing, the thought leaders are spoiled for choice. If your offer considers only your interests and is beneficial only to you, they won't be in account with you.
Only 25% of micro-leaders believe that brands have an idea of the real value of a quality influence marketing program.
How to avoid that
- make a study of the opinion shapers and the results of his previous works before making a proposal;
- after the evaluation, offer him/her a decent reward for the job;
- ask to tell about his/her expectations of working with you, and if he/she can really help you achieve your goals, offer equally beneficial cooperation.