Advertisers have always had a love-hate relationship with marketing budgets. If we were to look at the ongoing trends, in the coming months we are expected to witness major budget cuts across the board. As per a Forbes report, the ad budget is set to be even slower in 2023 than last year. So, what does it mean for the influencer marketing ecosystem? 

Well, the good news is that, unlike the other forms of marketing, influencer marketing budgets are expected to grow. There are 3 primary reasons for this - 
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It can be initiated on any budget

1. It is cost effective 
2. It is an efficient way of customer acquisition

The promising return on investment (ROI) of Influencer marketing has made advertisers embrace this marketing choice in a very vigorous fashion. At the same time, given the grim status of the world's economy, influencer marketing will not remain immune to budget cuts. 

Influencer marketing may still receive a large share of the pie, but sadly, of a much-shrunken pie. There is going to be mounting pressure on advertisers to get high-value results while spending a lot less. 

If you are an advertiser on a tight budget, you need to pay attention to the following points -

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#1 Develop a strategy that aligns with your marketing goals‍

Influencer marketing will give great results if you are clear on the goals from the word go. What exactly do you wish to achieve at the end of the marketing campaign?  Ask yourself the following questions-

1. Is it brand awareness?
2. Is it a promotion of a specific product or service?
3. Is it to achieve social media engagement?

Answers to these questions are important to determine how much you need to spend on the influencer marketing campaign.  For example, if your goal is to achieve brand awareness, a simple post with a product mention should be enough. The cost of such posts will not be enormous.  

However, if you wish to promote a specific product or service, you would like the content creator to make a detailed video or post about it. In such cases, the cost of the post will increase. Similarly, for high social media engagement, the content has to be top-notch, which will again add to the cost of the campaign. 

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#2 Identify the best nano influencers ‍

Nano influencers are like diamonds in the rug. They may seem small and insignificant but are actually helping brands gain maximum traction from an influencer marketing campaign. Nano influencers fall in the category of creators who have a follower count between 1000-10000. 

For starters, nano influencers charge far less for a post and yet their posts attract a higher engagement rate. They are also perceived to be more genuine by their followers and are known to create highly engaging and unique content. 

These factors contribute to higher engagement their post receives each time. 

While working with celebrities and mega influencers has its own perks, they often cost a lot and most small and medium-sized businesses cannot afford them. Therefore, nano influencers are the best fit for marketers who have a small marketing budget.  Here are the following things you must consider when recruiting a nano influencer for the job -

1. Who is your target audience? For example, a nano influencer, who is a parent will be a good fit for promoting a food brand for children. 
2. What is the theme of the content on their platform? If you are a make-up brand targeting the youth, a nano influencer who creates make-up tutorials will work well for the campaign. 

Good groundwork is important to reduce marketing spend on every campaign. 

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#3 Have different levels of a commercial agreement with the content creator ‍

Influencer marketing's commercial model can be very flexible. Brands don't always pay an upfront fee to content creators. Depending upon the type of campaign, the influencer and the budget at hand, here are some examples of different levels of commercial agreement you may consider -

1. Gifts - This is a very sought-after practice that can give great results. Giving gifts or free samples of the product can work really well if you are working with smaller influencers. It is a great way to make the target audience get familiar with your product, without having to spend huge amounts of money. 
2. Performance-based compensation - If you are serious about measuring the engagement rate of the video/post/reels created by the influencer, performance-based compensation is a great way to do so. Here is a breakdown of how you can do this -

• Pay per click
• Pay per likes
• Pay per shares
• Pay per acquisition, which essentially means, payment of a pre-agreed cost as soon as a customer purchases the product or subscription

3. Affiliate marketing - If you are looking to drive traffic to your website or app, this can be a great strategy. You can pay the creator for each click that leads a user to your website. 

These compensation models work well if the marketing goal is clear in your head. Brands can choose and decide how they wish to compensate the content creator and can save up on the marketing cost.

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#4 Have a robust content strategy in place ‍

In traditional influencer marketing campaigns, the responsibility of ideating, execution and finally content creation is done by the creator. Such a way to generate content can cost a premium, however, there are other ways to get the content developed. A cost-effective option is - User Generated Content. 

It is a highly engaging strategy that involves the participation of the end-user or customer. The user is expected to share, comment or repost or like the comment. User-generated content strategy is not only cost-effective but less in terms of effort. Giving out freebies or discounts is a good way to get started with user-generated content.

Refurbishing already existing or old content can also be a good strategy if you have a bootstrapped marketing budget. 

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#5 Learn and adjust your strategy based on the results ‍

This is a very important part of curtailing the budget of your influencer marketing campaign. Once the campaign has started, it is important to measure the success of the campaign and adjust the resources accordingly. For example, if you are working with a pool of influencers, you must study the performance of each creator. 

Continue to work with influencers who are performing well. This will enable you to pump the resources in the right direction. With limited resources at hand, every penny counts and it is best to adjust the strategy based on the campaign metrics. 

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Closing Thoughts‍

The world economy is at a very vulnerable stage. There is a lot of uncertainty and businesses are bootstrapped like never before. As business owners, it is important that money should be wisely spent on marketing. In many ways, influencer marketing is a silver lining, especially when other traditional marketing methods are becoming very expensive. 

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