Photo courtesy of: Kelly Saks 

Do you see thousands of influencers on Instagram working with brands and wonder how you can get your brand in the spotlight?

Have you already reached out to an influencer and tried to get your brand featured?

Regardless of where your brand is at, this podcast episode is crucial to understanding the emerging world of influencers and micro-influencers. Kelly Saks, an influencer marketing expert and one of Glamour’s Top 5 Latina bloggers that rule the world, joined me on the show today to share her experience as someone who has built up her influencer marketing over the years and who has worked with so many brands to create beautiful content that engages audiences.

In this episode of the FastTrack Your Fashion Brand Podcast, I wanted to talk with Kelly about some of the “Dos and Don’ts” of approaching and creating a relationship with an influencer so that your business can get the most out of working with talented creatives.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT

• Behind-The-Scenes with Kelly
• How to connect with an influencer
• How to Ask for Content and How to Gift
• Respecting creative content

What Does Working With an Influencer Look Like?

I’m not the only one that gets swept up in the beautiful and effervescent content that influencers put out right?

What I love about Kelly and the content she puts together is how effortless and genuine it feels for her audience. Kelly has worked so hard to build up an authentic following from when she started her blog after college that has transferred over to her other media platforms. She has been pivoting since the pandemic and working on creating more content that aligns with her passions and her audience, most recently her passion has been interior decorating which has led her to work with brands like Crate and Barrel which helped her renovate her office space.

Kelly’s biggest tip for working with influencers is recognizing who has an authentic audience and working with the right influencer for your product. Some people have bought their following and their engagement is super low, which won’t help your product sell because no one is actually engaging with the content.

Picking the right influencer, not just the most popular, might actually get you more conversions at the end of the day. Don’t gift your baby product to an influencer who isn’t a mom, most likely their following isn’t moms if they aren’t in that stage of life. Making sure you know what the influencer is sharing and what their life is like will help you immensely in working with an influencer.

How to Ask for Content and How to Gift

Reaching out to an influencer you admire can be pretty intimidating.

Luckily, Kelly was able to demystify and help me understand a bit more about what I should expect as a brand when working with an influencer.

As an influencer herself, Kelly reminded me that she plays multiple roles in her business. She is her own hair stylist, make up artist, and art director for every image or video she creates.

Any business launchers relate to that? 🙋

Because they are creating content for their Instagram and their audience, it's important to tailor your "ask" to what they are currently creating. Kelly also reminded me that if an influencer doesn’t know the brand, sending a gift and not expecting them to post about it might be the best way to build a relationship and hear honest thoughts about your product. Once you have a trust and relationship built up between you and the influencer, it becomes way less intimidating to ask about a content package from them.

Make sure you make it easy for the influencer. If you don’t do the work in researching, connecting, and making it convenient for the influencer, the odds are the influencer will pass on representing your product.

What are Affiliates and Why Are They Important?

As a brand, one of the strings of income for an influencer is using affiliate links. These affiliate agencies offer widgets and easy marketing tools for influencers who want to link their favorite products on their blogs or in their Instagram bios and get a small cut when someone purchases the item they featured.

If you’re a small brand, gifting your product to an influencer could result in them linking the product in their affiliate page which in turn gets you a sale and also gives the influencer a cut so both can mutually benefit.

Obviously, the expectation should be low when gifting to an influencer and there is always a chance they don’t link your product so making sure you communicate and are knowledgeable about working with affiliates can help you build out your marketing and influencing budget.

Kelly reminded me that you get what you pay for, obviously if you can only pay the cost of shipping a gift to an influencer, don’t expect to see a huge uptick in your sales for that month. But if you have a budget to work with an influencer, then remember that the more exposure, the better so Kelly recommends building out your budget to include multi-platform influencing.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN

09:20-17:50 - Say Hi to Kelly Saks

17:55-20:20 - BTS With Kelly 

20:25-28:15 - How to Connect With An Influencer

28:20-33:20 - What to Expect From an Influencer as a Brand 

33:25-40:25 - Affiliate Links and How to Use Them

40:30-45:45 - Respecting Content

45:50-50:40 - RECAP!

CONNECT WITH ME

INSTAGRAM: @nicole_di_rocco

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/nicolediroccoo/

PODCAST FB GROUP: www.facebook.com/groups/fasttrackyourfashionbrandpodcast

WEBSITE: www.fashionbizmentor.com

SUBMIT YOUR FASHION BIZ QUESTIONS: www.fashionbizmentor.com/breakthrough-coaching

SEE MY DESIGNS: www.mynicolita.com

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CONNECT WITH GUEST

INSTAGRAM: @kellysaks

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/KellySaks/

PINTEREST: www.pinterest.com/kellysaks/

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/kellysaks/

WEBSITE: www.kellysaks.com

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