#strategies for marketing

[pop-communications]

Strategies for Building Long-term Influencer Relationships

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to connect with their target audience authentically. As businesses strive to harness the potential of influencer collaborations, building enduring relationships with key influencers becomes imperative. At POP Communications, a leading PR agency in Dubai specializing in influencer marketing, we understand the significance of fostering long-term partnerships with influencers. Here, we unveil expert strategies to cultivate and nurture enduring influencer relationships that drive sustained brand growth and engagement.

1. Authenticity as the Foundation: Authenticity is the cornerstone of any successful influencer partnership. Genuine connections resonate with audiences and establish trust. When selecting influencers for collaboration, prioritize those whose values align with your brand ethos. Authenticity breeds credibility, fostering stronger and more enduring relationships over time.

2. Personalized Engagement: Beyond transactional interactions, invest in personalized engagement with influencers. Take the time to understand their interests, preferences, and content style. Tailor your communication and collaboration proposals accordingly, demonstrating a genuine interest in their work. Personalized approaches foster a sense of partnership and mutual respect, laying the groundwork for long-term collaboration.

3. Transparent Communication: Open and transparent communication forms the bedrock of enduring relationships. Clearly articulate your expectations, campaign objectives, and deliverables from the outset. Encourage influencers to share their insights, feedback, and ideas. Transparent communication fosters trust and alignment, ensuring both parties are fully invested in the success of the collaboration.

4. Mutually Beneficial Partnerships: Strive to create mutually beneficial partnerships that extend beyond one-off campaigns. Offer value to influencers beyond monetary compensation, such as access to exclusive events, product previews, or brand ambassadorship opportunities. Invest in their growth by providing resources, mentorship, and support. Cultivating a sense of partnership and shared success incentivizes influencers to invest in long-term collaborations with your brand.

5. Consistent Engagement and Support: Building long-term relationships requires consistent engagement and support. Stay connected with influencers even when not actively collaborating on campaigns. Engage with their content, share their posts, and celebrate their achievements. Demonstrate genuine interest and support for their endeavors, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie.

6. Adaptability and Flexibility: The influencer landscape is ever-evolving, requiring brands to adapt and evolve alongside it. Stay attuned to industry trends, platform updates, and shifts in audience behavior. Remain flexible in your approach, accommodating changes and pivoting strategies as needed. Embrace innovation and experimentation to keep your influencer relationships dynamic and relevant.

7. Measure and Iterate: Continuous evaluation and refinement are essential for optimizing long-term influencer relationships. Establish clear KPIs and metrics to measure the effectiveness of your collaborations. Solicit feedback from influencers and analyze campaign performance to identify areas for improvement. Iterate your strategies based on insights gleaned, ensuring ongoing growth and success.

In conclusion, building long-term influencer relationships requires a strategic and holistic approach rooted in authenticity, transparency, and mutual respect. By prioritizing personalized engagement, transparent communication, and consistent support, brands can forge enduring partnerships that drive sustained brand growth and engagement. At POP Communications, we specialize in crafting bespoke influencer strategies tailored to your brand objectives, helping you cultivate meaningful connections that stand the test of time. Let’s collaborate to elevate your influencer marketing efforts and unlock new avenues of success.

[khruschevshoe]

You know, it's rather interesting to me that Taylor Swift's parasocial relationship with her fans is honestly more akin to a YouTuber than a writer's. When I scroll through her tag on tumblr/Twitter, it's far more regarding the connection to her personal life/relationship developments than the actual metaphors/fictional story she might be telling. Everything comes back to how her songs reflect back on her relationships with Joe/Matty/Travis/Jake/insert ex-boyfriend here. And what fascinates me about it is that even though she complains about it, she leans into that very perception because it strengthens the parasocial bond.

The marketing for TTPD so clearly being about Joe Alwyn and the songs to Matty Healy. The marketing/video for Red TV so CLEARLY being about Jake Gyllenhaal, with so many of the new lines in All Too Well specifically being digs at him (I'll get older but your lovers stay my age, casting an actor that looks like him for the video, specific lines in I Bet You Think About Me). The fact that songs like Getaway Car and Bejeweled and Gorgeous and London Boy and Lavender Haze being picked apart at time of release and long after for signs of relationships crumbling. The way she uses surprise songs in relation to her relationship development with Joe/Matty/Travis. The damn TTPD "stages of grief" playlists where she deliberately undid/changed the meanings of old songs just to keep her audience speculating on her love life.

It's not sexist to point out that her wielding her love life is a marketing tool and that the strongest connection to her audience isn't the strength of her writing/the composition of her music- it's her deliberate crafting of a connection between her music and her personal life, leaving the audience invested in her music as an extension of Taylor the Person/Girlfriend rather than Taylor the Artist.

[thewriteblrlibrary]

A Step-by-Step Marketing Guide so we can spite traditional publishers (and make people cry).

~ This is a guide specific for fiction/writeblr. All of this is for free and there is little social media posting/ads involved (unless you want to venture into that). ~

Within the writeblr spheres, there's this underlying hope that our stories will find their audience. Perhaps we'll have a fandom full of fanart and video essays, or maybe we'll be an instant classic and sit on collectors' beloved bookshelves. Our stories could sit within the deepest corners of someone's heart and maybe they never tell a soul about what's so special to them. Maybe our stories become those 'underrated masterpieces'.

Or we just want to see people ugly cry over our writing.

Whatever your hope may be, marketing is an important path to venture on (especially because traditional publishers are rejecting diverse books in favor of ones that are already famous + the whole sub-par machine thing they seem obsessed with.)

And thus, my childhood marketing obsession will hopefully be of use to you. This is all for free (unless you want to spend money) and you don't need to figure out social media platforms (unless you want to, and this guide works if you decide to take that route too.)

Step One: Characters

Marketing spheres will define these fictious people as 'avatars' or 'the target audience'. You could also call them characters. Because that's what they are: fictional people.

For this step, you shall create characters that would love your story.

And here's some great news: You've already done this.

Perhaps you wrote your story to comfort a prior version of yourself. Perhaps each character in your story holds an aspect of your personality. Perhaps you were ridiculously self-indulgent and made the story you would've loved to read. These are all possible characters you can reuse for marketing.

Write down 2-4 quick archetypes for these characters. You'll chose an aspect of your story (characters, themes, or the younger-self that you wrote it for) and write a thumbnail sketch. (Main issue, fears, wants, personality traits if they relate to the main issue.)

I'll do it for my story (the Land of the Fallen Fairies) down below:

Anuli-like (my MC): Overthinking and aloof. Wants a happy ending but thinks their current personality/character isn't good enough for one. The present stales in comparison to the past/the childhood they lost. The 'gifted theater kids'. Kamari-like (side character): Postpones happiness in favor of creating a perfect schedule/getting accomplishments. Heavy masking. Creative but doesn't create anymore. Promises themself they'll enjoy themselves later, when they've earned it. Workaholics. My younger self: Wanting a fantasy escapism to embody the traits they wish they had in real life. Dissatisfied and worried about reality. Perfectionists. Self-indulgent: People who love plants and forests and fantasy worlds far away from reality/humanity.

Great! Now it's time to find these characters.

Step Two: Setting.

(Let's assume you're using the internet for your marketing. But a similar method works for real life too.)

Where do the characters live?

In order to figure that out, we need to discover the characters' interests, what they watch to solve their problems, and who they find #relatable.

(You can do this for each character or for all the characters at once.)

For example:

Anuli-like -

interests: Stories. Analysis videos. Fantasy escapism. Things that remind them of their childhood. (so nature, warmth, comfort, play, imagination and the times they would actually enjoy learning.)

Places to look: Nature quotes, ambience videos, children's shows and fairytales (comfort shows). Fandom culture - fanfic video essays, fan art.

Solving problems (the problem being wanting a 'happy ending' but feeling that their personality/lifestyle/characteristics aren't right for one): Mindfulness things. Self-healing. Quotes and meditations and candles galore. Slow living. Nature vlogs. Self care. All that 'live in the moment' culture.

Places to look: Slow living. Nature vlogs. The 'softer self-help' (spirituality stuff. Magic/ overnight answers). Witchcraft. 'aesthetic nature' places. Guided meditations.

#relatable: Burnt out gifted kids. People who think so much that their life passes them by. Storytellers and creative who create to make sense of the world. People who like dark, gory things in spite of who they want to be. People who don't like reality.

Places to look: Those 'learn better and remember everything' places. (The 'burnt-out gifted kid' recovery places.) Stop overthinking spots. Those quotes on Pinterest from poetic people who think too much /aff. Storyteller places. Dark academia. Classical music. One off quotes/ poetry.

Okie dokie. Once you have this, find channels, social media accounts, blogs, songs, books, etc. that fit with the categories you wrote down. (They should appeal to the characters) You can search up some of the terms you listed into searches and see who pops up. Bonus points if you find people that overlap with multiple sections.

I know I didn't include booktube or booktok in here. You can if you want too. But those can be a bit... 'consume these 500 books'. You also want to find other places where people who would like you story live, even if they don't follow booktube or booktok.

Congrats! Now you know where your characters live!

Step Three: the scary part

Take everyone you found on your search for the settings and write them down a list. Make sure you get an email/contact info. (they usually list them somewhere under 'for business inquires') Also feel free to watch their content and get to know what attributes these settings have.

And now... we talk to them. about our stories. You can do it. I believe in you.

This called 'pitching your product' in marketing spheres. But you can be informal about it.

I know it can be difficult to talk about your work, so here's a tone to have:

'I made this thing I like and I think you'll like it too'.

What you'll do is send an email (or dm) that goes like this (inspired by Creative Hive on youtube):

Hi [name],

[Genuine compliment]

[Quick sentence or two about your story. Include the themes and who it appeals to. If you have a logline/sentence summary, include that. But I find that the underlying themes and 'who's it's for' is more engaging.

For my story, I might say something like.

I've written a story you might enjoy, since you like [interest]. It's called the Land of the Fallen Fairies. It's a nature-themed commentary on the pursuit of happiness and fixing yourself to deserve that happiness, told by an overthinking, unreliable, houseplant narrator. It was supposed to comfort me when I got frustrated with myself and my happiness chasing, and I hope it can comfort others too.

(That's probably a bit long and I can trim it down a bit.)

You can phrase it like a gift if you want too.]

[Call to action.

'If you like it, I'd appreciate a mention on your [platform].

I know this part may be difficult to mention (imposter syndrome is not fun.) But I promise that if they do like it, they'll be happy to mention it.]

If they don't respond within... four-ish days? (A week at most). then you can include a follow up. For this you can include a template with info about your story. This way it's easy for them to talk about your story.

The template:

title

genre

blurb

Author

where to find the book

Bonus points if you have an additional, physical thing to send them.

Congrats! Now do this pitching process a few times until you've covered most of your bases. (Pitch to as many people as you can. It will get more comfortable as you do it. Play your favorite song and don't let yourself think too hard about it.)

----------

The benefits of this process are that you find people that are already interested in the themes and vibes of your story (in comparison to to ads, which get shoved in everyone's faces.). Someone your audience already trusts will talk about it, which means you don't need to do all this trial and error to find your audience and make content for them.

It's basically a bunch of people talking about something they like!

AND you diversify your audience across niches, but with an underlying theme/interests. Booktok/booktube must appeal to everyone, so it's a hit or miss for recommendations. (Unless there is someone that specifically does one genre/type of story.)

From here you can do fun little things to build up hype and make the book launch feel like this fun event. (I love it when that happens so here's my thoughts about trying to create an event with your story... although that may require another post entirely.)

preorder goals

charity goals

Arg's and puzzles

fund with side plushies and trinkets

Book blog tour

book boxes

as many memes as you can make

rewards (like bookmarks or posters or smth) that people can get for supporting

Talk about the process of creating your story. I know this one channel called 'Dead Sound' that creates 'making of' videos for his short films and they are some of the best videos on youtube.

Okay dear storyteller! Now go forth and share your story with the world!

Additional resources:

Creative Hive <-- a youtube channel that goes through the pitching process.

This video is also very good <-- Haven't watched the rest of the channel but I assume it's also good.

One of the best marketing channels on the internet (the videos are actually entertianing to watch.

Seth Goldin <-- I read his book and took the parts I liked and modified for storytelling marketing.

Dead Sound <-- propaganda to watch the short film series he has (he did the whole 2-d 3-d style wayyyy before spiderverse did... and he's one person making these. One person. It's amazing.

Glitch <--- If someone can figure out how The Amazing Digital Circus was marketed then I will pay you money. It seems to be a lot of memes and funny things.

[jayflrt]

𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐒 38. then who's flying the plane???

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SUMMARY ▸ in which you work at the starbucks where heeseung is a regular at (and considered a public enemy). also he only goes when he’s stoned off his ass.

[kalashtars]

y'all remember when book fairs used to have those "banned books" display sections that advertised books based on that fact that they had been banned in schools in the past and everyone went "haha wow, it's crazy that they banned books like this! what a wacky thing to do!" haha........ yeah....... who would even do that......

[countingstars-17]

he is making everything about formula 1

[aahanna]

"Haven't you noticed that we often bargain with poor people, like street vendors and auto drivers, but rarely negotiate prices with wealthy individuals or businesses that make significant profits every year? It's time to change this system and reconsider our approach to bargaining and fair pricing."

[forza55]

Sebastian Vettel thinking about F1 return... | Sky Sports F1 via Youtube

[inesvazquezart]

Guess who binge read Glass scientists comic...so Hyde in fancy vest because I happened to see @leonenjoyer69 suggestion and love the acting in the comic. It needs an animated show, now.

Another week another fandom, it´s not been but three weeks since i binge read dungeon meshi too and it´s all tumbler´s fault!! ahahaha

Funnily enough I´m working on a graphic novel set in 1890s in Santiago de Compostela, with science and weird magical/ local folklore stuff surrounding the story. The main character is a girl obssesed with science and Charles Darwin that completely dismisses the supernatural. Maybe one day I´ll show you a glimpse of her and her wacky little sister XD

The plan is 4 books, I know, how delusional is that? first one is fully drawn and now I´m currently dealing with the inking which is been slow... Color is going to be death.

I´m working towards having it published on my region's dialect/language, and I´ve been weighing out the possibility of sharing an english version online, on a web of it´s own or even tumblr, but I´m really bad at promoting stuff and have no clue about how many of you people that follow this blog will be interested. First part is kinda childish, but it gets darker as the following parts move on, so i donno, if people would stick around. So I guess the only way of finding out is slapping folks with pages as cheese slices slap unsuspecting cats.

[murrpa]

YALL IM FOAMING OUT OF MY MOUTH

[emprcaesar]

question do people think vampires are real or do they just think daniel molloy and up and coming rockstar lestat de lioncourt are really committing to the bit?

[illir]

today's moriarty the patriot the remains chapter should be the last one, the novel story "flashback" should end here and we'll go back to present post-timeskip. it'll be released at 12am jst (in less than 2 hours) so if you want to read it as soon as it's released you can buy the magazine (july issue) from one of the links i listed in this carrd

also if you didn't know sensei's pc crashed while she was working on this chapter and she had to work on it from the scratch and had to get her pc fixed. if you even care and wanna support her 🙄

[revoevokukil]

There is an old copy-paste moving around the internet regarding discussions asserting the inherent Slavicness of The Witcher, and I will record it here for posterity.

(translated from polish)

-write eight books

-have their main character suffer from otherness, prejudice and erroneous stereotypes

-insert anti-racist references at every turn

-make dwarves into Jews

-and use to criticise anti-Semitism

-criticise nationalist attitudes

-criticise xeno- and homophobia at every turn

-show support for a multicultural society and acceptance of otherness

-describe how victims become executioners

-show how violence begets violence

-make it the central theme of the last three volumes

-have the hero and his lover die during a racist pogrom

-defend the persecuted to the lastHear from every corner of the internet that "a black witcher would be a disaster."

-write thirteen stories

-based three on Andersen's fairy tales

-three more on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

-seventh on an Arabian fairy tale

-mock folklore and folk beliefs in the first one

-but also make fun of them in the story "The Edge of the World"

-mock the Polish legend in "The Limits of Possibility"

-name the main character "Żerard" (Jerald)

-generally use mainly names with Celtic roots like Yenefer or Crach

-and those derived from Romance languages such as Cirilla, Falka or Fringilla or Triss

-a few English names such as Merigold

-and those derived from other Germanic languages such as Geralt

-and Italian

-German

-and even French

-borrow monsters from American games, especially from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

-from Irish, make an elf language

-and from German, make it the language of dwarves

-make the characters celebrate Irish folk holidays

-write an article about where you got your inspiration from

-pour bile on Slavic fantasy in it

-finally write an eighth book

-make one of the key characters a Japanese demoness

​

Become a champion of turbo-slavism.

/s

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

always so jarring to open Word to write my silly little gay fanfictions and find documents from work still open

[ratinayellowbandana]

every time I’m like “surely this is the decline of my interest in critrole. nothing major has happened for a couple months, and I’m fine with my low level of engagement. maybe I’ll explore other things! :D”

and then imogen and laudna have one (1) direct conversation and I’m back here like a cat that just heard the can of wet food open from across the house

[rivalsforlife]

Twitch Plays... Ace Attorney?

So, I guess, in commemoration of the Ace Attorney 456 Collection being released this week, the official English Ace Attorney account is hosting a "twitch plays pokemon" style of collaborative ace attorney gaming. If you wanted to see the game over screen 2000 times, this stream is for you!

No word on how long this will be going, and no real reason to believe they will make it past the first case, but if this sounds interesting to you then you can join in on twitch.tv/capcomusa at 4pm pacific time today (Jan 23 2024).

Image from Official Tweet