As someone with extensive experience in influencer marketing and PR, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs and creators who are looking to leverage influencers to promote their brand or product?

Be clear about your expectations, timeline, and budget. Influencer marketing and PR have the power to have an immediate impact, but more often than not you are going to work with multiple influencers and need to have multiple stories placed over the course of months before you begin to see a real return on investment. Be patient and be realistic about how much time and money you have to invest.

How do you approach combining traditional earned media with digital communications to create effective marketing campaigns for your clients?

We practice Influencer PR™, a method I developed after 15 years working in marketing and communications. Influencer PR is based in storytelling and leverages the best voices and vehicles to deliver that story authentically. Sometimes that voice is a journalist and that vehicle is a media outlet. Other times that voice is an influencer and the outlet is a digital channel. More often than not, it is both! We are surrounding the target audience with that key message and this ensures the best return on investment for our clients.

Marketing and communications can be overwhelming with so many options available. How do you approach identifying the right message and the best vehicles to deliver that message for your clients? What factors do you consider when developing a strategic PR and influencer marketing plan?

We begin every new client relationship with a message architecture session. This helps us identify key messages, uncover themes, and generally better understand the business and where our client is trying to go. These storylines and soundbites fuel our messaging and create the foundation for our strategy. We look at who our client is trying to reach and combine that with the messages and messengers needed to reach that audience authentically.

What are some common misconceptions or myths about influencer marketing that you often come across in your work, and how do you address them?

Businesses will often assume that all influencers will work for trade. Trade is great and there are many who may be interested in talking about your product because they like it, but free product doesn’t pay the bills. Increasingly, influencers are looking to be monetarily compensated. This is their livelihood. I address this by getting real clear on budget. You don’t have to invest millions in influencer marketing to see the return, but I need an understanding of your budget and your goals and often I have to right size the expectation on return.

In the ever-changing landscape of social media algorithms and platform policies, how do you stay updated and adapt your influencer marketing strategies to ensure maximum reach and engagement for your clients?

Test, test, test. We are always testing and adapting. Algorithms change, but also an audience’s needs change. Many of my clients are expanding to new markets and reaching a new demographic generally means a shift in your messaging and how you show up. We can start from a place of knowledge and leverage available data, but we won’t know if a message is truly resonating until we test it.

What do you enjoy most about your work in influencer marketing and PR, and what do you find most rewarding about helping entrepreneurs and creators achieve their marketing goals through strategic PR and influencer partnerships?

I love exposing entrepreneurs to my method, Influencer PR™, and watching their business flourish. It is like a lightbulb comes on and they see the power of their story being shared far and wide by voices that matter to their end user. That third party validation gives them credibility with their customers, their investors, and lays the foundation for serious brand building.

Thank you!

Connect with Andrea Sok on LinkedIn

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