Marketing has changed a lot over the last few decades. A major reason is that customers are a lot more savvy and aren’t as trusting as they used to be. People are inherently less trusting of advertisements put out by the brands who stand to profit from them. After all, they’re obviously biased and they can’t be objective. This is where the value of influencers come in. Influencers are people who customers view as peers. They aren’t sponsored by any company so they can be trusted to share accurate and objective information about various products. People considering a purchase often turn to influencers to see what they think. When influencers give their approval, customers are more likely to buy. If you have yet to look into influencer marketing, here are a few signs that can tell you it’s time to.

Five signs

1. Your audience has stagnated. If your audience has dwindled to just a small loyal customer base who keep coming back for more, your business isn’t going to thrive. You need to be constantly adding to your customer base and influencers are a great way to help you accomplish this since they can generate interest among people who’ve maybe never even heard of your brand before.
2. Sales are down. This one’s pretty self explanatory. If you’re not moving merchandise off of shelves or out of warehouses, your business won’t be around much longer. A good review by the right influencer can reignite sales. And once you’re moving merchandise again, you can keep investing in improving your product or adding to the products you offer.
3. Your social media presence is lacking. If you’re not on social media channels, you aren’t operating anywhere near your potential. The younger generations spend so much time on social media that it’s pretty much essential that your brand be visible there. Whis is where influencers excel since influencers, by definition, already have a strong following on various social media platforms. Finding influencers can be a great way to jumpstart a new social media marketing campaign or revive one that is pretty much dead.
4. You’re relying too much on paid content. If all of your advertising is in the form of paid content, you need influencers. You don’t pay influencers to review your products or share your content with their audience the same way you have to pay Facebook or Google to sponsor your post or website. Influencers in your niche are already interested in what you’re selling, they want a to get their hands on your products and they’ll most likely be happy to offer a free review of anything you send them.
5. Digital offers aren’t being redeemed. If you’re using email, SMS, or other channels to send special offers to customers but they’re not redeeming these offers at the rate you’d like to see, an influencer can help you by sharing that same offer, or an exclusive one, to their already considerable audience.

Finding the right influencers

The right influencer probably isn’t a world-famous actor, athlete, or singer. Only the national brands can afford to hire them anyways. The right influencers are people that your target audience look up too. Often they’re bloggers or YouTube video creators or minor social media celebrities who are passionate about a subject relating to your business. By simply searching out content relating to your industry, you’ll start to get a sense of which people have influence. Don’t start by asking for favors. Comment on their blog posts or videos. Share their posts on your social media pages. Once you’ve established a relationship, you can reach out to offer a product in exchange for their honest opinion. Finally, make sure you’re sharing their write-up of your product with all your available channels whether it’s a company blog, an email newsletter, or SMS. A relationship with the right influencers will be mutually beneficial as you drive traffic their way, and they influence their audience to become your customers.