What is influencer marketing? It’s when an organization collaborates with well-connected people and has them promote a product on their behalf. It’s the latest thing in the marketing realm. Still, is this as efficient as it’s supposed to be?

Truth be told, launching an influencer marketing campaign is a complicated, pricy and lengthy process. While it could bring amazing returns, some drawbacks should be considered.

Let’s have a look at these potential pitfalls, shall we?

Selecting Influencers Is a Time-Consuming Endeavor

Before you can start your collaboration with an influencer, there are many things that should be done.

You should choose an influencer who is the best fit for your purpose, and identify potential intersections with your product.

You should also create unique content depending on what you’ve gathered about them. I’m sorry to be the one who brings this up to you: but you may not reuse the same piece for every influencer. Each influencer requires his/her own content stream.

Following up with each influencer is also very important.

For that, you should assign an influencer relations specialist. This way, you will reduce the time and resources allocated for this purpose.

It Could Be Months Until You Reap the Rewards

You cannot aim at signing a contract with an influencer in a day. That’s not how it’s done.

You should assign months to have your relationship develop. Afterward, you should give it another couple of months until you notice any significant results.

In other words, you cannot know for sure if the approach will be successful in your market or not. During this entire period when you are pursuing influencers, a competitor could outpace you out. Specially if they are doing effective digital marketing campaigns like the one offered by Top SEO Brisbane.

Influencers Require Executive Contact

Another noteworthy aspect is that some influencers ask for executive contact. Nevertheless, the truth is that most CEOs won’t or cannot put time aside for one-on-one-level communication with influencers.

That could seriously slow down the negotiation process, which would bring unwanted barriers in your endeavors.

It Necessitates Advanced Tracking Tools

Distinct from typical marketing strategies, an influencer campaign limits your input and authority. In other words, you cannot track their blog posts, tweets, presentations, videos, to determine whether the strategy is the right one or not.

One thing you could do is set up custom landing pages to gauge the amount of conversions and traffic generated. Still, even this tactic isn’t as successful as you’d expect it to be.

So, influencer marketing implies establishing a sophisticated tracking system. This way, you can get an overview of the campaign.

There Is No Guarantee That the Campaign Will Accomplish Its Purpose

In other words, you could be paying months and months of work, and fail to obtain any fruitful results. You could make an official written agreement; still, that isn’t a guarantee either.

If the influencer you’re working with isn’t sufficiently passionate about the product, he/she won’t generate the buzz you need for attaining your goals.

To that end, you should invest time in building a relationship with the influencer you’re working with. This way, you can maximize the odds that he/she will become an enthusiast promoter. Even so, that isn’t a guarantee.

And when it doesn’t happen, it means you’ve wasted time, money and resources for nothing.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know the downsides of launching an influencer marketing campaign, it’s time to decide. It’s true that this approach could help you to reach faster to your consumers. At the same time, it could be a huge money drain and this is the last thing you want.

So, make sure you carefully analyze each pro and con of this technique before you take a decision!

About the Author: Lylene is fascinated with identifying quantifiable factors that impacts business performance. She believes that every business model is unique and has unique needs in order to grow. She also shares her expertise working for Top SEO Brisbane.