How To Attract More Brand Deals As An Influencer| A Word From Your Favorite Influencers/Creatives

Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers/individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche. Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that social influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.

Positioning yourself and becoming attractive to brands isn’t just about having a polished bio or a fancy media pack. Sure, they help, but there are much deeper things to consider as an aspiring influencer looking to get more brand partnerships. In recent years, the Zambian influencer landscape has seen the rise of many micro and macro influencers. They have ventured into different industries such as fashion, beauty, skincare, food bloggers, event MCs, fitness and health, travel bloggers and lifestyle connoisseurs. These influencers are multifaceted and talented in their creative industry but they have the following stuff in common.

1 . Authenticity

Authenticity is the secret ingredient to influencer marketing success. When brands are in search of influencers to perfect their strategies and drive their campaigns, they keep in mind how the influencer applies authentic qualities in all their content delivery, simply put, the influencer must be themselves at all times because this is what keeps their audience glued to their pages.

Authenticity of the influencer’s personality is key to how their audience perceives them, and in turn, your brand. This area can be very subjective and is often the most difficult for marketers to identify, as there are no hard-and-fast rules for how to identify an influencer that is authentic vs. one that is not but mostly this can be evaluated from their previous works. Influencers come off as authentic when they follow the following guidelines;

Use story telling as a form of brand connection.
Have confidence in their knowledge of their audiences, especially when it comes to their content creation style.
Work with brands that align with their persona.
Effortlessly collaborate with others.
Are not afraid to share the pro’s and con’s of a product/service or an experience.

2 . Expert Content Creators Build A Solid Audience

Despite the thin line between content creators and influencers, Influencers create content with the intended purpose of convincing their followers to purchase a product, try a service or share brand knowledge. Influencers create good quality content in form of images and videos and are therefore known as experts in that field. We have seen brands like Beefeater Gin, Jameson Zm, and Yango Zambia engage influencers who have created quality content around the brands and effectively communicated the brands strategy.

When influencers work with brands they consider;

The need to increase brand awareness and reach new audience.
Improve brand trust, grow personal and brand audience and resonate with customers.
Reach a new audience with a product feature or launch.

3 . Passion, Trust and Consistency

Working and engaging with influencers is not always an easy experience. If authenticity is the glue that binds influencers and audiences, then passion is the fuel. And much like authenticity, passion can’t be faked. Much like authenticity, maintaining trust between influencer and audience is strictly necessary; good influencers are keenly aware of that. After all, trust guides our every decision. The above all tally’s with consistency. Consistency is the key to social media marketing and in the influencer world. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the business or on which influencer graph you fall into, consistency will also be as important as your content.

Consistency will;

Help measure effectiveness.
Show commitment to work.
Increase credibility and accountability.
Help set realistic goals.
Will set you apart from other influencers.

As an (aspiring) influencer everything will seem effortless if you stay true to your brand and work hard, apply creativity and tirelessly be authentic, always!

To further expand the influencer topic and experience, here is a word from Zambian creative influencers who are no strangers in the industry.

Amy Gabriella Malonda – @aunty_stylishhh

Popularly known as Aunty Stylish, Amy is a fashion and lifestyle influencer/creative, stylist, and events girl. With massive experience in the industry, she shares the following words of acuity:

“If you want to attract influencer deals, you have to show up. Show them what you can do for the brand. They’re bound to notice you. When they do, aligning with their brand is very important because each and every brand has a different demographic and target market, therefore do your research and use that as a guide.”

Alfred Chibiliti – @chibilitialfred

Alfred is a TV news anchor and influencer who has worked with multiple brands such as Chivas, Pembe Zambia, Amarula and the fashion line Nkanda Yatu. Popularly known as the Dapper King due to his style and poise, depicted on his Instagram, Alfred has blended these facets and created the dapper king brand.

Alfred’s influencer journey has not been smooth sailing. He reflects on his highs and lows sharing the following words of incitement:

“Position yourself by being niche specific. Some brands will strengthen you while some will weaken you hence be strategic and intelligent as you navigate the influencer industry, and remember you have the power to say ‘no’ and recommend someone else.”

“Pricing in the influencer industry is difficult. Always walk the talk. I work with brands that fit into my scope because they can afford me. This is why I prefer long-term contracts so that I can get to plan and perfect my brand-influencer delivery.”

Sampa Nakamba – @sampanakamba

Sampa is a multidisciplinary creative with quite a number of tags to her name. She is the founder of Rubi Trii, Rubi Trii Home and Skillet to go, and the brand ambassador of Jameson Zambia.

With impressive creative industry experience that keeps getting better and better, Sampa shares a general and specific word of acuity on the topic at hand:

“Engage! The most effective way to get the brands you want to work with to notice you is to engage with them. Repost their content, comment, tag, and if you can, go ahead and buy their products/services and show how much you genuinely enjoy these products/services on your socials.”

“Think of the brands that appeal to you the most, consider why you’re drawn to them and then align yourself and your content with their characteristics and values. For example, if you love a particular makeup brand because it’s environmentally friendly and cruelty-free, create content that speaks to your love for cosmetics and your appreciation of people and nature.”

Munshya Banda – @dr.babe_

Trading under the alias and persona of Dr.babe, Munshya is an emerging (skin, beauty and self-care) influencer, Youtuber and a Medical Doctor. With over 8K followers on Instagram, she details that creatives such as Khaby Lame and Elsa Majimbo are good examples of niche specific influencers who carried the wave of comedy and humor to flourish effortlessly. Munshya further shares the following thoughts on influencers attracting more brand deals;

“Knowing your niche will help you thrive in it because brands are always looking for niche specific influencers. It is important to be consistent with your content on various socials because this is your online resume. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and share your experiences while navigating the industry. Pay attention to brand events such as those held by Jameson and Stella Artois and network as much as you can. To conclude, I consider collaborations indispensable. I have collaborated with Tabo Daka and this has exposed me to more brand deals, therefore putting each other on.”