 to create widespread brand loyalty without compromising identity.){kind=link}
There comes a time in your brand’s life when it needs a helping hand to elevate its success. Your team has spent countless hours on the product, brand identity, positioning, etc. Now it’s time for your brand to get the exposure and appreciation it deserves. Who do you trust to represent your baby, your brand? Big and little companies struggle with finding that perfect person(s) to create widespread brand loyalty without compromising identity. Fret no more, we at LMS are partnership experts (humble, we know) and we have a couple of tips to make finding the right person to represent YOU effortless.
Pro tip #1: Go Natural
Close your eyes and think of that one person you made this brand for, the person your products cater to, the person you imagined wearing/using/engaging with your brand. Your influencer or brand ambassador needs to BE that person!! When you scroll through their Instagram feed, you can see your brand effortlessly in all of their photos… promotional or not. It looks natural. Authenticity is key in influencer marketing. Afterall, influence is only as powerful as the action it provokes. A true brand partner should genuinely like and use your product, and make that clear in their promotion of it! If followers think an influencer is working with a brand solely for the paycheck that comes with the post, they are not further encouraged to have an interest in your brand and will simply keep scrolling…
Misfit Wearables x @MelanieSutra is a great example of a natural influencer partnership. Their fashionable, fitness tracker, the Misfit Ray, fits effortlessly into Melanie’s feed and lifestyle.
Pro tip #2: Loyalty, Loyalty, Loyalty.
A great partner will use your product without force and have a true interest in your brand and its mission.
At LMS, we believe in acquainting potential partners to your brand through ‘Seeding for Loyalty,’ in which we simply introduce your product to the influencer with no strings attached. If they love it and are interested in how they can be involved, that’s when the deal comes into play. This is a surefire way to find partners who are not only interested in your company and its potential for partnership, but also someone who is a genuine fan of your product. Bonus: With genuine interest, comes flexibility. A celebrity or influencer who is a true fan and believes in your brand, is more likely to be flexible in their rates, time and deliverables.
Investment is also a powerful tool in fostering loyalty between your brand and a partner. If your business is in a place to offer a potential partner the ability to invest in the company or receive equity as a form of, or in addition to payment, that could be a mutually beneficial arrangement. When a celebrity or influencer is invested both in mind and pocket in the well-being of your company, it opens doors to even more flexibility in collaboration! They make money, you make money, consumers fall in loooove.
Pro tip #3: Feel the Connection
She had style, she had flair, she was there! That’s how she became… your partner?
Though that worked for Fran Drescher in the 90’s hit sitcom, The Nanny, finding the perfect match for your needs takes a little more effort and you certainly don’t want to just take the first person who comes a knockin’.
A great partnership is all about a connection on multiple levels. Yes, your dream celebrity may use your product, and yes they may have a bagillion followers, but in what creative ways can they work with your brand? A social post is one thing, but incorporating your brand into their work or lives in a larger way creates a deeper impact. When LMS built the partnership between WTRMLN WTR and Beyonce, we were able to secure WTRMLN WTR as a backstage and VIP offering at her tour locations. That really got everybody, as Queen Bey says herself, “drankin’…watermelon.” Thus, the connection between Beyonce and the brand ran even deeper in her followers minds. When we brought together CORE Hydration and Ellie Goulding, we catered to Ellie’s strong interest in fitness and curated the partnership to highlight her as ambassador for healthy living.
When looking into a potential partner, find out what is going on in their lives, what are they passionate about, do they have a connection to a larger cause, where does your brand mission and their interests collide? That place, that interest, where both parties are excited and invested – that is where the magic happens!
Bottom line: A brand partner is more than a pretty face holding your product. LMS builds successful influencer and celebrity brand partnerships by focusing on natural, loyal, connections everyday. Check out what we’ve done with some of our clients here, and be sure to reach out at imgame@wearelms.com to see what we can do for YOUR brand.