As brands increasingly collaborate with influencers to amplify their reach and engagement, it’s necessary to understand how navigating these partnerships can significantly impact success. From outlining clear expectations to fostering long-term connections, every step is crucial in developing mutual trust and achieving impactful outcomes.
This is especially true if you’re looking to build trade relationships. In these relationships, the influencer receives a product or service but no additional payment in exchange for posting content about the product on their platforms.
How to ensure a successful trade relationship
- Source influencers who align with your brand and offering.
It’s important to ensure that the product or service you’re offering aligns with the influencer’s image and vice versa. Before approaching them, research their past posts and brand collaborations to check that the content you’re requesting will resonate with their audience and that your product will be of interest to their followers.
It’s also important to keep in mind that, generally speaking, the higher the follower count, the less likely it is that they will be open to a trade agreement. This doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but you may have to aim high and readjust outreach as responses come in.
- Be clear with your offer
With trade relationships, it’s important not to overwhelm influencers with too many asks. When navigating trade relationships, I like to request the following four things:
- The platform(s) you want to promote on (Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, etc.)
- The type of content (Instagram reel, Instagram story, Tiktok video, etc.)
- Tags and Collaboration features (if available)
- Key features you want the video or content to highlight
If you’d like to review their content or have the right to post it on your brand’s channels, you can always make the request, but this is not always a guarantee in a trade relationship.
Pro Tip: Send influencers examples of past content that showcases what you’re looking for — a visual example is always helpful.
- Influencers are looking for long-term relationships
If you’re working with an influencer on a trade basis, it’s important to reassure them that your brand is looking to establish an ongoing relationship. Since these relationships are less transactional, prioritizing building a relationship with them will go a long way. Be open to their ideas and how they want to represent your brand.
- Make sure to follow up consistently
It’s likely that the influencers you’re reaching out to have numerous collaboration requests in their inbox, so following up with them is key. You may need to follow up 3-4 times before getting a response.
Reminding influencers of your continued interest in working with them goes a long way, and it also helps them weed out any fake, spam, or disingenuous emails. Additionally, many influencers use content creation as a second job, which means sometimes emailing them on Friday or later in the day during the week works best.
What happens when you follow all these steps, but they still want to be paid?
Sometimes, payment is simply non-negotiable for influencers. When that happens, the best course of action is to let them know that you will keep in touch if your budget changes, and maintain a positive relationship.