Harnessing The Power Of Influencer Marketing For Investor Relations Professionals
It’s no secret that the function of investor relations professionals has expanded dramatically in today’s digitally connected world. At SmallCap Communications, we understand that the ongoing challenge is to attract the attention of potential investors while also ensuring appropriate communication regarding the company’s financial performance and development prospects.
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that has grown in popularity in recent years. In 2022 alone, the global influencer market value stood at 16.4 billion U.S. dollars, that figure is constantly evolving. While influencer marketing is frequently associated with consumer businesses, more specifically with product sellers, it may also be a beneficial tool for investor relations professionals and CEOs of public companies.
In this article, we will look at how using influencer marketing may assist investor relations professionals and add to their overall performance.
Building Trust and Credibility with New Audiences
One of the most important aspects of investor relations is to establish trust and some form of credibility with stakeholders. Whether this is trust from years of having a good public image to trust that you gain from referral business partners, to having led successful investor partnerships, this is bound to set you up for success.
Industry influencers such as well-known investors, founders & CEOs who are trusted in various niches and industries can help brands both fast-track and bolster a company’s reputation. By collaborating with influencers who share the company’s values and target audience, investor relation professionals can capitalize on their authority and credibility to strengthen the brand’s reputation.
What are some simple processes you can apply to ensure that the influencers you work with will contribute to a positive company image?
- Ensure you identify potential influencers for collaborations early on and start engaging with them on a regular basis. Invite them to collaborate on webinars, panels, and invite them to various stakeholder meetings, etc.
- Do a lot of research to ensure that their values align with those of your company. While the benefits outweigh the risk, and we strongly believe in the power of influencer marketing, ensuring that things align is crucial.
- Work with a marketing agency as they have years of experience identifying potential collaborations and professional relationship-building skills.
Ultimately, it’s important to know that when an influencer (or any well-known entrepreneur) endorses a company and/or its stakeholders, it can add a layer of authenticity that traditional marketing methods and strategies may not be able to achieve as quickly, alone.
On the other hand, there’s a reason we mentioned doing your research, partnering with the wrong influencer can also be costly. If you don’t go the route of working with a marketing agency, you’ll want to ensure that you research the influencer’s past. Look deeply into their social media presence and build this relationship over time to ensure that values align.
Amplifying Reach and Engagement
Now that you have an idea of how working with influencers can help you build trust and credibility, let’s talk about how this form of marketing can also help you reach new investors and increase your overall engagement from various marketing efforts.
Influencers have built communities of engaged followers, both online and offline, who rely on their advice and ideas. Investor relations professionals may tap into these current audiences and reach a larger number of possible investors by engaging with influencers.
When we hear the term influencer, we often think about celebrities. The reality is that, oftentimes, influencers may not have a significantly large following. However, they have highly-engaged audiences who will not hesitate to take action, such as signing up for an event or purchasing from a brand if they recommend it.
Based on your guidance, influencers can develop content to promote the company’s strengths, investment opportunities by creating content such as blog entries, videos, or social media posts. The content may then be distributed across a variety of digital channels such as social media platforms, blog posts, white papers, presentations and more.
This allows a company’s message to reach a broader and more diversified audience. As a result, brand visibility increases, engagement grows, and new investors may be acquired.
What type of content can influencers share for investor relation professionals and CEOs?
The possibilities are endless, and let’s review a few:
- Share content that demonstrates some of your traction and results from various stakeholder engagements.
- Collaborate with influencers to promote an upcoming investor event.
- Share investor success stories.
The opportunities are endless when it comes to campaign ideas, and it’ll all come down to your goals and what you are looking to achieve with influencer marketing.
Targeting Specific Investor Segments
Investor relations professionals know the importance of working with the right investors. This is detrimental to their company’s success. In order to reach the right influencers, it’s important to remember that the audience demographic of the influencer(s) you work with will play a significant role in the positive outcome of a campaign or collaboration.
The influencer’s experience and skill in a specific sector or market segment can improve the communication’s relevance and efficacy, attracting investors who are genuinely interested in the company’s products.
In order to ensure that the influencers you work with have the right audience for you, you’ll want to ask them the specifics of their audience and also inquire about past collaborations they have done. Although some of this information may be confidential, most influencers will be happy to provide a portfolio that provides information on their audience, engagement rates and outcome of various campaigns they worked on.
A Boost to Your Companies Thought Leadership
The cultivation of thought leadership is critical for public companies and their CEOs. It promotes them as industry experts and boosts their reputation, which is a critical component of growth. IR (Investor Relations) professionals can harness their skills to position the company as a leader in its industry or niche by engaging with influencers who are known thought leaders or subject-matter experts.
As a reminder, when we use the term influencer, we are referring to anyone with an audience who has the power to influence buyer decisions and/or cultivate new relationships. Think CEOs, well-known investors, founders, and anyone who regularly shares thought-leadership content.
Influencers can contribute their views and experience to debates on important issues by participating in various industry events in collaboration with your company. This association assists the company in gaining awareness, cultivating industry ties, and attracting investors who appreciate innovation and experience.
We hope that you have learned some benefits of considering the exploration of influencer marketing. Once primarily associated with consumer brands, it has emerged as a powerful tool for various industries and for investor relations purposes.
When used strategically, influencer marketing can cultivate relationship-building business growth and position your company as a thought leader in your industry, all benefits that would be appealing to potential investors.
