Over the past few years, influencer marketing has skyrocketed in popularity, as more and more brands are coming up with new, creative ways to work with influencers. It’s a trusted strategy, and with good reason: The right influencers have a passion for sharing information about causes, products, issues and more that matter to them – and a substantial audience interested in hearing their relatable and trustworthy advice.

One of the underlying reasons for the success of influencer marketing is that, at its core, it is word-of-mouth marketing. And we all know that word of mouth was alive and well, and incredibly effective for brands, before the advent of the Internet.

That’s why influencers’ powerful storytelling ability applies both online and off. And, because we think the best marketing campaigns take an integrated approach, we wanted to share a few ways to leverage the power of influencers beyond posting on social media.

Here are a few ways to think outside of the influencer marketing box:

Events

From movie screenings to cooking classes, hosting in-home parties with fellow moms to attending family-friendly food truck events or meet-ups at conferences, The Motherhood is no stranger to co-hosting, producing and participating in influencer events on behalf of brands.

Events are a terrific way for brand representatives to meet influencers they may have never met in person before. And, perhaps best of all, in-person events provide an immersive experience for influencers to understand first-hand the objective of a program or product. That, in turn, translates well to written, photo and video content for the online world.

Take a look at how some of our favorite influencer local events have unfolded here!

Advertising

According to Forbes, “traditional ads don’t work anymore because 84 percent of millennials simply don’t trust traditional advertising.”

One reason we often gravitate towards specific influencers is because they strike a chord with us and earn our trust, whether they have similar family dynamics as us, shared hobbies or provide a valuable skill. Featuring a well-known and relatable influencer in a traditional advertising campaign can go a long way toward garnering trust among your target audience.

As an example, The Motherhood partnered with Children’s MOTRIN® and a team of six mom bloggers to create social media and online advertising content around the brand’s “My Unstoppable Mom” campaign with Kelly Ripa. Read about how the experience unfolded for Becky Mansfield from Your Modern Family!

Insights & Research

Among our short list of creative ways to work with influencers is gathering a group of influencers for their consumer insights, messaging feedback and more. Whether you’re preparing to launch a product or want to uncover insights about your target audience, influencers can be a huge help in the research phase of a program because they are deeply connected to their audiences – your consumers.

The Motherhood has orchestrated advisory panels and focus groups of influencers who meet, whether in person or virtually, to provide counsel and feedback to brands, before, during and after a campaign has launched. We also help companies conduct research by tapping our network of influencers for their thoughts on various topics.

There are many creative ways to work with influencers that go beyond just social media! Contact us to develop a customized campaign for your next project: contact@themotherhood.com.