What Are the Benefits of Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses?

To help small businesses understand the advantages of influencer marketing, we reached out to industry experts and business leaders for their insights. From increased visibility with influencers to connecting on a personal level, here are the top 11 benefits of influencer marketing for small businesses, as shared by professionals ranging from editors to marketing managers.

• Increase Organic Exposure
• Boost Sales and Revenue
• Bridge the Gap With Audiences
• Access Target Personas With Micro-Influencers
• Cultivate Long-Term Relationships
• Humanize Your Brand
• Target Engaged Audiences
• Enhance Brand Visibility
• Reach Warm Target Audiences
• Build Brand Trust for B2C and B2B
• Connect on a Personal Level

Increase Organic Exposure

One benefit of influencer marketing for small businesses is increased exposure. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, where a business must pay big bucks to be seen by thousands of people, influencer marketing can be done at no or minimal cost. 

An example of this could be something like engaging customers who already use the product in an “I’m a fan” campaign. By asking people to publicly display their approval and enthusiasm for the company, it gives more organic exposure without any money needing to be spent on advertisement.

Kate Duske, Editor-in-Chief, Escape Room Data

Boost Sales and Revenue

Influencer marketing has several major advantages, one of which is increased sales and revenue. Using the appropriate marketing approach when utilizing influencer marketing for companies will encourage more people to use the goods and services you have to offer by allowing influencers to promote them. This works because the influencer’s followers are committed and enthusiastic about what they hear. 

As a result, they have a higher chance of influencing their audience’s behavior than brands that approach them directly. You’ll have a higher chance of seeing a larger number of consumers, which might potentially lead to more sales and revenue if you identify niche-relevant influencers to market your brand.

Peter Zendzian, President, ZZ Servers

Bridge the Gap With Audiences

As a therapist and coach from the LGBTQ+ community for the LGBTQ+ community and as an influencer in the Diversity and Inclusion space, I see the benefit of working with influencers on a daily basis. 

In most instances, I am approached to bridge the gap between academia, public and private sector organizations, and their diverse audience, but I also work with influencers myself.

Influencers understand and speak the language of their audience and know their wants and needs, their desires and frustrations, and what keeps them up at night. Influencers can flag if a message is entirely off or on the mark. 

These influencers relate and, ideally, are relatable and genuinely authentic. It is only that authenticity, if present, that drives results and gets the message across. Without authenticity and genuine core values, influencers can quickly be perceived as frauds, string puppets, or empty marketing vessels.

Manuel Schlothauer, Founder, HeyManuel.com

Access Target Personas With Micro-Influencers

With the rise of influencer marketing on a macro level, brands were tapping into the loyal fan followers of those large celebrities to promote their products or service. We have already seen a massive shift in how influencers operate as well as the types of companies they will work with. Enter the micro-influencer.

Micro-influencers are now the choice when it comes to influencer marketing and campaigns, and as a result, this has made accessibility even greater for small businesses. The benefits of working with a micro-influencer start with access. Access to the target persona small businesses are trying to sell to. 

In most cases, micro-influencers are much more affordable as they don’t have the expansive followings that most macro-influencers do, but this works in the small business’s favor. If you are a small business looking to promote your product or service, find someone that is already talking about what you do in the content they create and work with them.

Marc Gawith, Head of Business Development, Pictory

Cultivate Long-Term Relationships

Influencer marketing is an effective and cost-efficient way for small businesses to reach new audiences. A unique benefit of influencer marketing for small businesses is the possibility for a long-term relationship with the influencers; providing incentives or discounts, not only does it give customers greater visibility into what the business offers, but also allows them to develop relationships with social media superstars, who can serve as reliable brand ambassadors. 

For example, a local cartoon artist may offer workshops that feature user-generated artwork created by their social media followers. Through such collaborative efforts, small businesses can create value-garnering partnerships with influential members of their community that could potentially lead to higher levels of customer loyalty and advocacy.

Amy Ling Lin, CEO, sundays

Humanize Your Brand

Influencer marketing can help small businesses humanize their brand by featuring the influencer using their products or services in a relatable and authentic way. For instance, a small business that sells yoga gear could partner with a popular yogi influencer to showcase how they use the brand’s products during their yoga sessions. 

Another effective strategy for humanizing a brand through influencer marketing is by featuring the influencer’s personal story or experience with the brand. For example, a small business that sells home decor could highlight an influencer’s journey of transforming their living space using the brand’s products. 

This type of content helps customers connect with the brand on an emotional level and encourages them to become loyal customers.

Will Yang, Head of Growth and Customer Success, Instrumentl

Target Engaged Audiences

Micro-influencers are perfect for brands just getting started with influencer marketing because they are much more approachable and affordable than larger influencers. 

They tend to provide content that is geared to a specific audience and niche and also have a high engagement rate. It’s much more important to find someone who has a highly engaged audience, rather than someone who just has a wide reach. 

Also, by identifying and partnering with influencers that are passionate about a problem you’re solving, they will speak authentically to their audience and will resonate more with a larger audience. An influencer of any size with a wide reach offers brands little to no benefits because they are not driving active engagement that will likely lead to helping grow your business.

Maegan Griffin, Founder, CEO, and Nurse Practitioner, Skin Pharm 

Enhance Brand Visibility

Influencer marketing is a valuable strategy for small businesses seeking to promote their brand to a wider audience. By collaborating with influencers, businesses can leverage their storytelling skills and influence to promote their products or services in a relatable and engaging way. This approach, known as soft-selling, is more likely to resonate with potential customers and increase the conversion rate.

Compared to other marketing tools like ad buying, leaflet distribution, and own social channels, partnering with relevant influencers who have a significant and engaged following offers a unique advantage of speaking the audience’s language. Influencers can translate the business’s products or services into a language that their followers can understand, making the endorsement more authentic and trustworthy.

Influencer marketing also provides a cost-effective approach for small businesses with limited marketing resources to increase brand visibility and gain exposure.

Winnie Chan, Creative Director, Heydaysss

Reach Warm Target Audiences

One of the core benefits of influencer marketing is exposing your brand to a target audience already “warm” to your product.

The main crux of the success of this approach is that you choose influencers based on engagement and audience relevance, not just their follower count (as this can easily be influenced by bots or literally paying for followers, so it’s not always a good gauge of potential engagement metrics when looking at follower count alone).

Gary Warner, Marketing Manager, Joloda Hydaroll

Build Brand Trust for B2C and B2B

Influencer marketing is undeniably beneficial for small businesses focusing on B2C—the potential to reach a larger audience and build brand awareness through highly relevant channels (alongside great content) will lead to increased sales and growth.

Living in the world of B2B, however, I can see this route to market is still relatively untapped. Influencer marketing is slowly being adopted by B2B—most recently by building up the “personal brand” of senior stakeholders.

Traditional “influencers” have generally established trust and credibility with their followers, and their endorsement of a product or service can lead to increased interest and engagement. This concept can also be applied to B2B marketing—senior stakeholders hold the same power as influencers over the decision-making process and, in turn, can attract the right attention from targeted audiences.

Building trust in your brand is key to longevity—something we all want in an ever-changing sales landscape.

Hannah Evenden-Morley, Head of Marketing, Stripe OLT

Connect on a Personal Level

Influencer marketing can make or break a business. If an influencer marketing campaign goes right, a business can experience a surge in sales and engagement. For small businesses, influencer marketing can be highly beneficial in many ways. 

One benefit is tapping into different audiences on a personal level. Influencers are able to connect with audiences in a unique way. Brands are constantly looking for ways to connect with audiences on a deeper level. With influencer marketing, brands can bridge the gap and tap into an audience with ease.

Diana Royanto, Writer, Milkwhale

Related Articles