Getting the Right Influencer
Partnership for Your Travel Business
Standing out from your customers and getting noticed is hard to do in any business, and quite often, partnerships and associations can help elevate your business to a new level. When you team up with an influencer, you get the chance and the opportunity to reach new markets and grow your business in a cost-effective manner. Influencers who have good followings can provide you with ready-made opportunities to reach new customers, but how do you ensure that you get the right influencer on board. The market is full of influencers who will claim to help boost your business but will they really, and what should you be looking for?
Ensure That There Is a Natural and Not Forced Connection
You must get on with the influencer that you want to use, or else the relationship will be forced and difficult. If business is too forced, it will not work in the long term, and this is what you are looking at and focusing on at the moment – long-term gain. Ensure that you connect with the influencer and make sure that they are working within the travel industry. For example, there is no point in partnering up with a beauty blogger who never travels abroad or leaves the country. Your partnership must be authentic, and it must make sense to you and others for it to be beneficial.
Winning Over the Influencer
Contrary to popular belief, not all influencers want to sell everything to everyone, and this is important to remember. Influencers can be very picky about who they link up and partner with, and if you have an influencer you want to win over because you feel they will add value to your business and offering, then you need to make sure that you are professional, friendly and as accommodating as possible. Honesty and openness are important for a good working relationship, and helpfulness goes a long way too. For example, if you know that your influencer will be flying in from Atlanta, arrange suitable transport for them and sort out their airport parking Atlanta, so they have as little to think about and worry about as possible.
Looking At the Influencers Offering
When it comes to evaluating influencers, it is important to see what they are bringing to the table. Even if they do not have masses of followers, it does not mean that they will not be of high value or importance to you. For example, they could have a small but loyal following who purchase or use everything they recommend, and this would be better than an influencer who has lots of followers but a low conversion rate.
An influencer can increase your business and help launch your travel business into new markets, so it is important that you take time to get things right. The wrong partnership could spell disaster, and you must remember that it can be very difficult and costly to put your brand name back into a favorable position, so take time to get it right the first time.
