If you haven’t heard of influencer marketing, you’re not alone. It is a relatively new but growing market trend for large and small businesses. The idea is to use those who wield influence in the form of a following or audience to help you gain awareness for your business.

Here is a more elaborate definition supplied by Wikipedia:

Influencer marketing (influence marketing) focuses on specific key individuals (or types of individuals) rather than the target market. It identifies the individuals influencing potential buyers and orients marketing activities around these influencers.

Influencer content may be framed as testimonial advertising where they play the role of a potential buyer themselves, or they may be third parties. These third parties exist in the supply chain (retailers, manufacturers, etc.) or as so-called value-added influencers (such as journalists, bloggers, academics, industry analysts, professional advisers, and so on).

Influencer marketing will work for nearly any business.

In a sense, it is a sophisticated method of word-of-mouth marketing (WOM). There is no argument that WOM is the most potent form of marketing. Movie studios know this. They spend millions attempting to influence opinions about new releases because the power of a suggestion from a friend is far more motivating than reviews by critics or even flashy, funny, and compelling trailers.

You are much more likely to see it when someone gives a thumbs-up to a movie. The same is true for just about any consumer product or service. Restaurants, doctors, plumbers, interior designers, and more get tons of business from referrals, and so can artists. So, if you have the right people touting your work, it will help make sales, get into galleries and shows, get grants, and more.

Don’t Get Hooked on Any One Form of Marketing

As with any marketing, you can’t rely solely on influencers to grow awareness, nor would you want to. As powerful as it potentially is, influencer marketing is not something you can control. You can work to use it efficiently in your overall marketing, but you will find it works best in concert with other efforts to grow awareness and make sales of your art. Of course, you shouldn’t rely on any third-party platform as the primary or only means of shedding light on your business.

It is a very competitive landscape out there for artists. That’s why looking for unique ways to grow your business is crucial. Being in front of changing movements helps you achieve your goals. It’s not about being trendy. Instead, it’s about jumping the line on your competition, increasing your odds of success, and hedging your bets against your current marketing stack.

Everybody Has a Marketing Stack

What I mean by marketing stack is looking at what you are doing now. If you have followed my advice in my books and online training, you know I advocate having multiple forms of marketing work together in cooperation. For instance, in the past few years, Facebook advertising has become a massive boon for many businesses, including artists. It may continue to offer an upside soon. It may also become too expensive or fussy for small companies to keep using it.

Because you can’t control it, you can’t afford to rely on Facebook or any other form of getting noticed. If things go south and you’re too dependent on a single type of marketing, it can seriously hurt your business. If thinking about this and marketing stacks makes your head spin, that’s okay. Use it as a wake-up call that you need to make some changes. Consider what you do that helps you gain awareness for your business.

Here are some marketing stack questions to ask yourself:

• Are you making regular posts about your business on social media?
• Do you sprinkle those in with more engaging content, not about your art?
• Do you use Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Pinterest to advertise your work?
• Do you have a plan, and are you working on it, to grow your email list?
• Do you have an editorial calendar to mail your posts, offers, and newsletters on a schedule?
• Do you have an outreach program to contact your warm market?
• Do you have a formal plan to market your art?
• Do you have multiple forms of distribution, such as your websites, galleries, online galleries, third-party dealers, and so forth?
• Do you use influencer marketing to promote yourself and your work?

All the questions above are related to your marketing stack. You could add more things, such as shows, fairs, publishing, licensing, etc. As a solopreneur, which describes most artists, it’s a nearly impossible task to get all those plates spinning while still finding time to work on making your art. So it’s no wonder many artists rely on the one or two things that bring the best results. That is just human nature.

So, here I come and suggest you engage in a new form of marketing. Don’t hang me. I’m just the messenger. I get how frustrating it can feel to have more advice about the next new thing heaped upon you. You may not realize it, but my career is much like yours. I make things and then try to find people who want to buy them from me. I find my marketing stack is frequently out of order.

All that said, I want to encourage you to embrace using influencer marketing. That’s because, if done well, it will give you a return on investment of your time and energy that is more significant than just about anything else you can do. Plus, you can get someone else to do it for you. There is almost nothing about it that requires your input. Maybe show up for a podcast, an online interview, or a phone call. Anyone who is willing to learn how to use the system can handle the rest.

This post in the Coschedule blog, How to Boost Engagement with Micro-Influencers the Right Way inspired me. It is an in-depth review of how to use micro-influencers to advance your cause. They are only different because they have smaller followings than mega-influencers. So you can do very well with the microcrowd.

The above article is well-written and helpful. It outlines what you need to do to start an influencer marketing program. You could just read it and be ready. If you want more help or need to know more, keep reading.

Here are some other helpful posts to help you get started with influencer marketing:

• Influencer Marketing on Social Media: Everything You Need to Know
• Influencer Marketing Is Becoming an Essential Business Strategy (Survey)
• Micro-Influencers Are More Effective with Marketing Campaigns Than Highly Popular Accounts

If anything, I believe the concept of micro-influencers is the right path for artists. It will be much easier to get someone at this level to show interest and act than those with massive followers. However, don’t be shy about taking your best shot if you find a fit amongst a mega-influencer. There is little cost and no downside other than time to try.

Find a way to move micro-influencer marketing up in your marketing stack. I am confident that when you do, it will pay off in rich rewards. And there is a herd mentality in the media. Success is much easier once you have broken through and can show results.

Good luck, and go for it!