It doesn't matter how good the sales figures are, when store owners are told their best bet for a positive influencer-relationship is to simply give some of their product away, they start having second thoughts. 

"Shouldn't I get something in return?"

When you work in the world of e-commerce, so much of your life revolves around transactions, and it can seem very strange to offer costly items in return for no guaranteed promotional content.

The secret, explains Lagace, is to trust your influencers and trust your product.

• A properly curated and chosen list of essential influencers, chosen for their potential interest in your product and approached in a friendly, non-transactional manner, will return positive responses and posts from at least 30% of recipients, many of who will make at least two pieces of content

If that's just 100 items sent to 100 influencers, you've generated between 30 and 60+ promotional spots. Most influencers who see positive responses to a product will also agree to share the usage rights to any created content, with the understanding that continuing the relationship would be mutually profitable and beneficial. 

Now it's time to get transactional.

Once you've purchased the usage rights to a dozen or so of the best performing responses from the most reliable influencers, establishing the explicit transactional nature of the relationship, offer to take it to the next level with exclusive contracts.

This is where you'll be able to set clear terms and openly state your expectations, while paying your content creators drastically less than if you hadn't invested in winning them over with some low-cost gifted product and a small investment in their earlier promotional content.

Never stop seeding for new influencers.

Always be on the lookout for the next big name and face to push your product and spread brand awareness, while keeping your best and brightest curious and interested.  Repeat this process constantly to ensure a steady flow of cost-effective, engaging and genuine promotional content.

Pitstop is a tactical podcast for DTC/ecommerce/Shopify entrepreneurs to keep their store on the track and winning. Updated a few times a week, these short episodes get right to the point with none of the fluff. Hear real stories from operators and experts to get fast fixes and find free money.

Pitstop is presented by Mesa.

Mentioned in this episode:

Triple Whale - Whale Mail