For a small business, marketing is an uphill task. To begin with, they have limited resources at hand. They often also do not have a big marketing budget. Every penny has to be carefully spent. At the same time, to keep up with the big fish in the industry, they may over-stretch their marketing budget with no guarantee on ROI. Over spending on marketing or higher customer acquisition costs is a very common thing. This is a challenge, especially for businesses that are on a tight budget. 

Running expensive paid ads may not always bring-in desired results. Most social media users come across countless ads on various platforms which can result in ad fatigue, leading to a habit where most users prefer to skip the video ad than watch it. 

Given this drawback of traditional marketing, many businesses have now turned to influencer marketing platforms to promote their products or services. Influencer marketing for small businesses has been a game changer. If executed strategically, influencer marketing is a cost-effective tool to increase brand awareness, build credibility and engage with potential customers. 

While influencer marketing is a great small business marketing strategy, it still needs careful considerations. Here are 5 hacks, small businesses need to know to get started with an influencer marketing campaign-

# 1 Scale Up the Influencer Budget Slowly 

One of the best things about influencer marketing is that it can be started on any budget. Small businesses who are new to influencer marketing should scale up the budget slowly. Instead of putting all their money into a single influencer, small businesses prefer to spread out their resources to several micro or nano level influencers. 

However, there is an element of risk, especially if small business owners are collaborating with new influencers. By paying close watch on influencer selection and performance and gradually increasing the campaign budget, business owners are in the better position to test the waters. It gives them the time to assess the effectiveness of a campaign before committing larger sums of money. 

It also offers a learning curve. As business owners work with different influencers and campaigns, they learn strategies, content types and influencer partnerships that yield best results. Scaling the budget slowly allows businesses to gather insight and refine their approach over time. 

# 2 Partner with Core & Niche Influencers 

Small businesses need to reach their target audience as early and as efficiently as possible. For this, they must choose to work with niche influencers from within their industry as collaborating with them ensures that the products or services are promoted to an audience that is highly relevant and aligned with the offerings. For instance, if a business deals in home decor products, they should choose to work with influencers whose content leans towards home decor, lifestyle, renovation etc. 

Niche influencers are  also seen as experts or enthusiasts within their niche. When they endorse a brand, their recommendation carries more authenticity and trust, as their followers view them as credible sources of information.

Small businesses can benefit from laser-focused targeting. Niche influencers can enable small businesses to reach a highly specific segment of the target audience, increasing the chances of conversion and engagement.

# 3 Localize Influencer Marketing Campaign Endeavour

Localizing influencer marketing can provide several advantages to a small business. It allows them to tap into the advantages of community connections, cultural alignment, and targeted engagement. By partnering with influencers who are deeply rooted in the local area, small business owners can create more impactful and relevant campaigns that resonate with the local audience. 

In addition to that, in local community connection, word-of-mouth recommendations carry a very significant weight. When a local influencer endorses a label or brand, their followers are more likely to consider it, as the influencer is seen as a trusted source of information.

Small businesses have different forms. Some operate from an online space, others have a traditional brick and mortar set-up. In the case of the latter, local influencers can help businesses target specific geographical areas where the business operates from. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that rely on foot traffic or have limited service areas.

# 4 Embrace AI Powered Influencer Marketing Technology

AI is disrupting influencer marketing in a big way. Influencer marketing tools are mostly driven by AI technology today. AI may seem very intimidating for small businesses, but in reality, AI powered influencer marketing technology will add more value to influencer campaigns operating on a small budget. 

Generative AI for instance has the ability to create realistic images with prompt text. By just using the right set of keywords and description, AI tools can be trained to create real and life-like images, videos and texts in a matter of seconds. Small businesses often do not have the luxury of a big budget to execute high production value creatives for social media influencer campaigns. With Generative AI, this is now possible. 

Brands can also create virtual influencers, a trend which is expected to grow in coming years. Virtual influencers are known to bring in higher engagement rates. In the long-term they will also prove to be a cost-effective alternative. After the initial cost of development, it will save businesses the cost of recurrent influencer fees and will also give brands the creative control on how to work with the virtual influencers. 

# 5 Work with Influencer Marketing Platform 

Using manual methods to get started with influencer marketing campaigns comes with a fair share of challenges. The process of identifying suitable influencers for a campaign and then approaching them for the job is more complex than it seems. There are chances of influencer fraud and as the campaign size grows, keeping track of the campaign metrics may stand as a hurdle. 

Therefore, small businesses must consider working with influencer marketing platforms that  not only help in influencer discovery, but also allow campaign managers to manage every component of the campaign from a single dashboard. 

Most influencer marketing platforms have a very robust system in place. They understand the challenges faced by small businesses, and offer highly customized solutions. Getting an overview on influencer performance at a campaign level will also help businesses to allocate their campaign budget in a more rational and responsible way. 

By keeping these factors in mind and approaching influencer marketing with a strategic mindset, small businesses can create effective campaigns that yield meaningful results and contribute to their overall marketing objectives.

galleri5 is an influencer marketing campaign platform that offers highly customized solutions to businesses of any size. We have worked with many brands and have a complete user stack across industry verticals. For more information, book a demo today!

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