By: Joshua Finley
You may already know that influencer marketing grows brands at less than one-tenth of the cost of paid ads. But did you know that one mistake with influencer marketing can hurt your brand just as severely? Let’s explore how you can get started with influencer marketing for your business without risking damage to your brand.
Josh Norris, the founder and CEO of Josh Norris Consulting, is known across Silicon Valley for helping B2B startups of all sizes modernize their go-to-market strategies. When building influencer marketing programs for clients, Josh emphasizes brand alignment and attributable ROI and cautions against reckless partnerships. Here, Josh distills his expertise into actionable advice for getting started with influencer marketing.
A Diverse Background in Business
Josh brings 14 years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience to the table. He began his journey by founding startups and leading teams in product management. Later, he had a tenure leading an engineering team at a publicly traded SaaS company before returning to the world of early-stage startups. Josh has since transitioned into the revenue side of the business, developing three successful go-to-market motions from inception before striking out on his own as a fractional consultant and advisor.
Now, Josh collaborates with startups and scaleups globally, guiding founders in building effective GTM strategies in challenging market conditions. “The entire GTM space is in a pioneering moment,” says Josh. Nothing works as well as it used to, so we have to get creative and experiment.” This innovative attitude led Josh to build influencer marketing programs, among other strategies, to help clients stand out from the noise.
Getting Started the Right Way with Influencer Marketing
Josh offers three essential tips for scaling your startup using influencer marketing.
Consider a Product-Led Growth (PLG) Motion
Influencer marketing works particularly well with product-led growth (PLG) motions. Josh explains, “Influencer marketing brings a ton of eyes to your product. If you have a self-serve PLG motion, of course, many of those eyes turn into free trials, which can turn into revenue without having to speak to a sales rep.”
The PLG approach works particularly well with influencer marketing due to its low-friction nature. Prospects can immediately engage with the product, leading to quicker and more seamless conversions. “Of course, you must prepare for this,” warns Josh. “A client came to me last month asking to launch an influencer marketing program. After our first session, we realized it would be best to put a PLG motion in place before hiring influencers. Otherwise, they would struggle to capture revenue from the program. Right now, we’re updating their website and onboarding flows to support self-serve.”
Josh goes on to explain the importance of onboarding in PLG motions. “The number one metric for assessing product-market fit is retention,” Josh says. “But retention happens too far in the future. I like to look for leading indicators of retention: ‘aha moments’ where new users attribute value to using your product. Onboarding is important because it guides users to these moments, increasing their likelihood to pay and remain customers for a long time.”
“But PLG isn’t required for influencer marketing to be successful. Just make sure your sales team can handle an influx of leads,” Josh says. “Also, make sure you have filters in place to prevent leads from outside of your ICP from making it to your sellers. Forms, enrichment, lead routing, that sort of thing. Don’t let your sellers waste time with bad leads.”
Find the Right Influencers
Identifying the right influencers is crucial to the success of your program. Josh advises startups to thoroughly understand their Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and the buyer personas within those profiles. “Your best influencers will be well-known and respected amongst your buyers. They’ll often be in similar roles as your buyers or subject matter experts in the space. Lately, I’ve been telling clients that your best influencers might already be your customers… Start there.”
It’s essential to focus on influencers who are forward thinkers and early adopters with a responsive audience. Josh adds, “The experts people follow to learn how to do their job better—in B2B, those are your best influencers. Not necessarily whoever has the biggest audience, but the actual subject matter experts who your end users learn from.”
Think Long Term
Building a sustainable influencer marketing program requires a long-term perspective. “You’re not just looking to get a bunch of quick sign-ups from an influencer. Sign-ups from influencer deals actually have a high churn rate if the influencer stops talking about your product.” The real payoff from influencer marketing comes over time as buyers gain deep trust from watching your collaborations grow. “It plays out over months and years,” Josh notes.
Josh recommends creative contracts and co-marketing initiatives that extend beyond simple promotional posts. “Consider six-month minimum contracts, attending events together, collaborative videos, appearing on podcasts together, all kinds of things. Variety builds a deeper connection and trust with the influencer’s audience, leading to more sustained engagement and retention,” he advises.
Summary
Scaling your startup with influencer marketing requires strategic planning and a long-term vision. Josh Norris’ expertise and actionable tips provide a roadmap for startups looking to leverage the power of influencer marketing effectively. Josh says, “Influencer marketing is about becoming a household name—one strategic step at a time. Don’t mess it up.”
To learn more about Josh Norris and get connected, click here.
Published By: Aize Perez
