If there’s one thing that can give you an edge in business, it’s having a great relationship with the right influencers. And that means you’ll need to craft a great Influencer Outreach Strategy.

However, too many people approach influencer marketing the wrong way. They look at follower growth but ignore engagement and proper demographic research. Celebrities won’t help your product if their audience isn’t interested in it.

If you’ve decided to work with influencers to promote your product or service, then you need to make sure their audience is the right one. Once you’ve done your research on the individual or group in question, then you need to set clear goals. What do you want the result of your engagement to be? Is it web traffic, sales, increased awareness and recognition etc.

Having clear expectations will save you time and unnecessary headaches. It’ll also ensure that you and the influencer both do your best to achieve those objectives. Also, you’ll need to define your approach such as are you going to offer them cash or a free trial or just befriend them?

Once you’ve covered that, you’re ready to start reaching out to the influencers you’ve chosen. Here are some tips that can help you create good and long-lasting relationships with them.

1. It’s Give and Take, Not Take, Take

Remember that ‘influencers’ are people and most of them don’t do anything unless there’s something in it for them. But it’s not always as simple as offering them something for free, sometimes, you need to connect with the ‘heart’.

Essentially, what does this person need that they’re probably not aware of? Or maybe they are but just don’t have the time to do it. Listen, if there’s one sure way to get almost anyone to respond to your emails, that’s the ‘what’s in it for me’. So the key here is to think of what they may want first or in other words, how can you provide value to them?

And it doesn’t have to be concentrated on what they do for work. Look for the one thing that they care about such as charity or other organizations, a topic of interest that lights them up or even a book from an author they love. Can you buy their book?

The above-mentioned examples are good ones and a nice segway to my next tip…

2. Don’t be a Suck Up

Sucking up is lame when you think about it, so don’t do it but show them the respect that they’ve earned. It’s also super weird too because every decent human being hates being treated god-like. I for one, certainly hate being addressed as ‘sir’ and during my days in management for several companies, I always told my employees to address me by name.

Here’s the thing, if you’re reaching out to influencers, don’t forget that they share the same problems or situations that other people have. They’re just regular folks like you and me, contributing to the world the best way that we can.

Also, make sure that you’ve at least been following their content and perhaps, engaging with them at some level before attempting to reach out. Why? Because they’ll notice!

3. What’s Missing?

At first glance, that question probably made you think of their needs and wants. If so, then you’re correct but we’ve already covered all the basics of that on tip #1 (give and take). What I want to discuss now is actually helping them achieve specific goals.

Not all influencers have tons of followers and if you think otherwise, that’s ok but not recommended. There are lots of bloggers and YouTubers out there but not all of them have a huge following. However, it doesn’t mean that they’re not influential. At times, it just means that they’re really bad at convincing people to hit the ‘subscribe’ button.

So you need to look at the overall picture. How much traffic is their website getting and where are those people coming from such as USA, Canada, UK etc. If the audience fits and they are receiving a decent amount of web traffic regularly, then they’re influential. Why?

Because not only will you gain access to their website visitors but one backlink from them will further increase the relevance of your brand because search engines see them as votes. Plus anything you publish on the web is like the gift that keeps on giving!

We still receive a lot of web traffic from older blog posts that we’ve published. The only caveat is that you need to make sure you’re updating your content so that they don’t become irrelevant or outdated. So try to use or produce content that’s somewhat timeless.

4. Be Patient

Patience is important because if you’re not, your request may not be well-received. I don’t try to ask for anything when I reach out to an influencer. Instead, I try to provide value to them and continue seeking opportunities to do so, until I’m confident that they won’t view my request as disingenuous.

This isn’t being dishonest either because you should already enjoy the work that the influencers you’re reaching out to do. Sometimes, this process will take months or even years to gain their trust and respect. Once you’ve shown them that you genuinely enjoy their work and you intend to build a true relationship, they’ll be more receptive to almost any request you throw at them.

These are my best advice when it comes to influencer marketing and you should use them in your Influencer Outreach strategy. Do you have any of your own? Please share in the comments.