Do you need to boost your brand’s following?
Do you feel you are not connecting with your audience?
Maria Elena Duron specialises in personal and small business brand marketing.
Maria is the founder of #brandchat and is Marketing Strategist with Know, Like + Ignite – a boutique relationship development firm that helps small businesses in bridging their offline and online relationships.
In this episode she shares insights into consumer-to-consumer marketing and explains how using influencers is the key to growing your brand and increasing ROI.
Listen to the Brand Storytelling Podcast for the full conversation and read the tips below to learn how to gauge your audience and start a brand ambassador program.
“Even though a brand may be new and growing, it’s still important to start developing and engaging your customer advocates and getting to know your customers.”
1. Use influencers to boost your audience
When it comes to consumers’ trust of peer recommendations, the facts speak for themselves. The days of celebrity endorsement and blatant push marketing are over. People trust others that they can relate to, and this is why using influencers is key.
- 74% of consumers identify other people’s recommendations/referrals as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. [Ogilvy/Google/TNS]
- 89 % of all global travellers consider reviews to be influential when choosing where to book. Reviews are also considered to weigh more heavily than personal recommendations made by family and friends.
- 68% of consumers trust online opinions from other consumers, which is up 7% from 2007 and places online opinions as the third most trusted source of product information. [Nielsen]
2. Build your network before you need it
To be successful you need to be prepared. Begin building your network before you need to see the results – these things take time. Start by finding out who your audience is and what their needs are.
3. Choose the right influencers
An effective influencer will be someone within your brand’s target audience. Assess relationships with customers to get greater insights and identify who may be good brand ambassadors.
4. Don’t just rely on social media
Use events to build your relationships and networks and meet with people face to face. Don’t rely solely on online interactions to build relationships. This goes for connecting with influencers and with your audience.
5. Listen and learn
Don’t just broadcast to people, it will come off as being pushy. When you listen to your audience, you’ll learn who your best customers are and discover who your natural advocates are.
Actively listening to your community is the only way you can find out what their needs are and this will enable you to create quality content for them.
Find out how Newsmodo can help you create this quality content.
Listen to the full episode to find out;
What brand ambassadors/ advocates are and how they help your brand.
How brand advocate programs work and how to start one of your own.
The types of content brand ambassadors can create.
Three top tips to build your network and brand ambassadors.
More insights into consumer-to-consumer marketing.
Find out more about Maria Elena Duron
Maria Elena Duron Website
Twitter @MariaDuron
Mentioned In This Episode
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