Profit-First Influencer Marketing: A RUTHLESS guide

Do you often nod along to the notion that "spending big now on influencer marketing will pay off... eventually"?

The promise of increased brand awareness and the hope of an eventual influx of customers can be tempting.

But let’s be real: pouring money into campaigns and crossing fingers for a vague future payoff isn’t the wisest strategy. As a DTC brand, your bottom line is important.

You need each dollar you invest in influencer marketing to get you sales, & a positive ROI. Not just likes.

That's the profit-first approach. In this blog, we'll unpack a step-by-step strategy to make influencer marketing more profitable, right from the get-go.

1— Focus on the “Ambassador” offer, not pay-per-post

❌ Why you should not opt for pay-per-post?

Pay-per-post (when you pay an influencer for a post, without any guarantee or returns) is an easy-to-execute but risky approach.

One of the significant risks is the immediate outflow of cash.

You pay influencers upfront, regardless of the results. There's no guarantee that the post will translate into sales or any measurable ROI (Return on Investment). If the post doesn't resonate with the influencer's audience, you've essentially spent money with minimal or no return.

With pay-per-post, once the influencer shares your product, their job is done. They don't have a reason to continually drive their followers to buy your product.

These posts can often come off as inauthentic or even as a blatant advertisement. This can turn potential customers away.

✅ A better approach is — the ambassador program.

An Ambassador program is when you engage with a creator to promote your products on a long-term basis and compensate them by sharing a percentage of the sales they made, exclusive perks, discounts, invites to launch events, etc.

Since ambassadors are rewarded based on the sales they generate through referral links or discount codes. This means you're primarily paying for actual results (sales) rather than just visibility or engagement.

You don't pay for the sale you don't get.

Because of their long-term association with the brand, ambassadors are often more trusted by their audience.

Trust translates to higher conversion rates. Higher conversion rates mean that for every dollar spent on marketing, a larger portion results in actual sales.

Check out this post to know how much commission to give to your ambassadors so you're always unit-profitable (with template).

💫 Examples of successful ambassador programs

A real-life example to understand this better is the Pura Vida Ambassador program. They've nailed the concept of partnering with creators and seeing impressive results.

Another example is — Loop Earplugs. They partner with influencers, give them unique discount codes, and these influencers drive traffic to the brand's website.

2— Send outreach to best-fit influencers

After deciding to launch an ambassador program, it's time to identify suitable influencers.

There are many ways to find the right influencers ranging from free to expensive —

📋 1— Look in your customer list (free)

#️⃣ 2— Hashtag Research (free)

🍋  3— Create & promote a brand ambassador program (almost free)

👨‍💻 4— Hire someone to find creators for you (low cost)

🛒 5— Influencer marketplaces (expensive)

The most cost-effective, efficient and easy way is to use tools like SARAL.

Using SARAL you can find any type of influencer for your brand from any geography.

… without spending hours copy-pasting data into spreadsheets or combing through social media accounts that are not even relevant to you.

Once you have a set of 100-200 influencers you feel are aligned to your brand and target audience, it's time to send them an email or DM to gauge their interest in partnering with your brand as ambassadors.

When you reach out via DM include 3 essential parts — brand value, why them, and your ask.

👌 Part 1: One sentence of brand value prop.

Our brand was created because_____ or

Our products are ________.

✍️ Part 2: Explain Why them

Answer why this influencer is perfect for your brand. What attracted you to them (content, creativity, who they are, etc.)

🎁 Part 3: What you have to offer

Reduce the risk of them saying no to you by leading with a give. Send them a free product, or offer them a huge discount, you can also send them swag.

Check out two templates below that you can literally copy, edit, and send in less than 5-min and improve your chances of getting a response —

📝 Outreach template 1

Hey {{creator.first_name}},

I'm {{your name}}. Reaching out on behalf of my brand {{Brand Name}}

{{Explain how your brand aligns with their content/way of life}}

We'd like to send some free {{product name}} and explore collaboration. What's the best email to reach you personally?

📝 Outreach template 2

Wanted to send you something, {{creator.first_name}}

I'm the founder of {{brand}} and wanted to reach out to see if you'd want a free {{product}}, no commitments.

{{One short line about how your mission aligns with them, or why they'd like your product}}

What's your shipping address?

Always follow up if you don't receive a response in 1-2 days.

If you're wondering "Keeping track of messages with 100s of influencers and following up sounds like a daunting task…", you should use tools like SARAL (an all-in-one influencer marketing tool).

SARAL automates your follow-ups, so if influencers miss your initial email, you automatically write back to them.

From here on, you explain to them that you want to work with them on a sales commission basis. Build a creator offer and show them the perks, incentives, benefits, etc. that they can get if they work with your brand.

3— Onboard ambassadors and make sure they post

When you reach out to influencers, expect varied responses.

Some will be eager to collaborate, while others might not be keen on a commission-based arrangement. If you run into challenges persuading them, consult our blog for negotiation tips.

And if certain influencers aren't interested, it's okay. There's a vast pool of influencers out there, many of whom are happy to work on commission.

After you've gotten influencers who agree to the commission-based collaboration, it's time to onboard them.

👋 How to onboard influencers

• Provide them with brand essentials like logos and color palettes.
• Share past promotional strategies that have worked, and highlight your product's top features and benefits.
• Instead of giving them a strict sales script, offer a creative guideline. They know their audience and platform well, so let them craft the content in their unique way.

Once they're set up, it's important they promote your brand consistently.

📸 Encourage regular posts

To encourage regular posts, you can use a mix of the following ideas

• Escalating commission system

An escalating commission system is a tiered reward structure where influencers earn higher commissions based on their sales performance. It begins with a base commission rate for every influencer. As they achieve specified sales milestones, they progress to higher tiers, each offering a greater commission rate.

Obvi, the collagen brand uses this method to incentivize creators to put in consistent effort and bring in higher sales —

Obvi's ambassador program has helped it go from 0 to $30 million in revenue in 3 years.

• Ambassador challenges

Ambassador challenges are contests or objectives set for brand ambassadors to keep their engagement levels high and promote healthy competition.

These challenges can range from achieving a certain number of sales in a specified period, creating the most engaging content, or even referring other potential ambassadors to the program.

Winners of these challenges typically receive rewards, bonuses, or special recognition, further motivating them and others to actively participate in promotional activities.

Here's an example of an ambassador challenge from Revolve's ambassador program —

• Exclusive perks

Give ambassadors early access to new products or features. This not only makes them feel special but also creates buzz around product launches.

If you're hosting events, product launches, or webinars, ensure your ambassadors get an invite, making them feel like an integral part of the brand.

The goal is to keep the relationship rewarding and engaging, ensuring ambassadors are motivated to consistently promote your brand and products.

4— Build long-term relationships

But incentives for creators aren't always about monetary rewards. Creating an emotional connection can often be more compelling than simple transactional benefits.

The idea is to build long-term relationships with influencers, beyond the transactional play.

👉 Pura Vida Bracelets, for instance, places a premium on regular interactions, from engaging with ambassadors' posts to casual chats about their day.

"I can personally say that I’ve met 90% of our influencers in person and have either gotten food with them, been traveling with them, or done something where it’s not just about a photo or a handshake." ~ Griffin Thall, CEO of Pura Vida Bracelets

Don't assume that nurturing relationships with ambassadors is just a feel-good strategy. It has concrete benefits that can ultimately improve revenue.

When ambassadors feel closely connected with a brand, the content they create is more organic and relatable. This authenticity resonates more with audiences than overtly promotional content, leading to better sales.

A solid relationship results in long-term partnerships. Instead of constantly searching for new influencers, which can be costly and time-consuming, brands can reap the benefits of sustained collaborations with trusted ambassadors.

👉 As Ashwin Melwani, the co-founder and CMO of Obvi, articulated,

"Don’t treat influencers as a source of revenue, treat them as an extension of the brand. Treat them like you would your VIP customers. Keep them updated with upcoming products and launches. Let them be the first to try new products out. If they feel a part of the brand they’ll want to go above and beyond for you and in turn the content they produce for the brand comes across as more genuine to their following."

👉 Lululemon's stance on ambassador relationships is also embodied in the words of their CEO, Laurent Potdevin:

"The goal is to foster more flexible and authentic relationships. We're very focused on our grassroots model. We think it's incredibly powerful. We love it. So don't expect to see us endorse big teams around the world anytime soon."

To build long-term relationships, gestures such as a shout-out on social media recognizing your partnership helps…

…or a handwritten note can also motivate them.

Apart from these, be genuinely interested in their journey, help them out if you can, and stay in touch.

Set systems to do this repeatedly

Running influencer marketing profitably can be a challenge even after you have the right roadmap.

You need to set up a system to do this consistently month-on-month to keep adding new ambassadors to your influencer portfolio. You would likely want to experiment with different types of influencers or influencers with different target audiences.

All of this is possible if you have the right tools to let your influencer marketing run in a semi-auto-pilot mode.

I've seen companies pay hefty fees for complex systems or struggle with messy spreadsheets, which isn't practical for a serious influencer program.

If any of this resonates with you, then it's clear: You need a tool like SARAL.

With SARAL, you can:

• Find the right influencer: Instantly find the perfect influencers for your brand, no more hanging on Instagram for hours just to find a few right influencers.
• Automate your communication: Say goodbye to manual emails and follow-ups. Automate, personalize and ensure your messages are seen, not lost in the void.
• Seamlessly manage: One dashboard, countless functionalities. From relationship management to email responses, all under one roof.
• Efficiently ship & track: Send products in bulk, create tracking links, and oversee the success of your influencer campaigns.
• Transform customers into ambassadors: Easily onboard customers to promote your brand with a dedicated application page.

If managing it all feels daunting, we've got you covered with dedicated managers ready to assist.

But you have to take the first step and claim your free trial of SARAL here.

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