In 2024, there were about 280 million online shoppers in the United States alone. This impressive statistic is expected to continue to grow, and with the right strategies in place, your brand can thrive within this expanding ecommerce market. In the digital age, an impactful tool to elevate your brand’s online presence and drive business growth is ecommerce public relations. This practice involves managing your brand’s online reputation and relationships with the public. The goal of PR is to tell your brand’s story in a way that resonates with your audience and the media, whereas e-commerce PR involves strategically doing so online.

The Eberly & Collard Public Relations integrated marketing team has built this guide to help you uncover the intricacies of ecommerce public relations. It provides useful strategies to boost your brand’s online visibility, engage customers and increase sales. Whether you’re a small business owner searching for SEO guidance or a seasoned marketer looking to elevate your digital efforts, this blog can help you unveil the power of public relations for ecommerce.

Introduction: Understanding Public Relations in the Ecommerce Landscape

In our technology-driven world, online visibility is crucial for any ecommerce business. With consumers constantly connected to the internet, brands need to stand out in the crowded digital marketplace. This is where ecommerce public relations steps in as a fundamental component of your brand’s strategy, playing a crucial role in achieving both your short-term and long-term publicity goals.

Ecommerce marketing and public relations play vital roles in shaping consumer perceptions and behaviors. Through strategic messaging and storytelling, you can influence how potential customers perceive your brand. This, in turn, can lead to increased customer loyalty and purchasing behavior changes. With a strong PR presence, your brand can thrive in the ever-evolving digital landscape and generate more online purchases.

The ecommerce industry can greatly benefit from keeping up with online trends and developments. Just as the ecommerce market evolves, public relations has adapted to digital trends, ensuring brands remain relevant and competitive. When ecommerce brands implement trending PR strategies like influencer partnerships, SEO tracking and email marketing, they can stay relevant, boost their reputation and increase sales.

Section 1: Communications Channels in Public Relations

Expanding your ecommerce brand’s reach involves using diverse communication channels. These channels are the lifelines connecting you to both current customers and potential new customers. By employing a strategic set of channels, you can significantly enhance your visibility and engagement. Start by identifying where your audience spends their time online. It is crucial to choose messaging channels that align with your brand and audience preferences.

For ecommerce, a few effective communication channels of connection are social media, email marketing and content marketing. By integrating these channels into your public relations strategy, you can ensure a comprehensive approach. This integration maximizes brand exposure and enables consistent messaging across different platforms, facilitating lasting connections with your audience. Here are a few examples of how to utilize each respective communication platform:

• Social media: Social media platforms are a great way to connect directly with customers and foster a sense of community.
  • Instagram: Use Instagram to share static pictures, attention-grabbing videos and to engage with your audience through posts, stories, or interactive features like polls, contests and Q&As.
  • Facebook: Leverage Facebook by facilitating customer group pages, sharing product updates, and fostering lively discussions within comment sections.
  • LinkedIn: LinkedIn can be used to build professional connections, share insights, network with industry peers, and build business-to-business relationships when applicable.
  • X: Utilize X to post quick updates, engage in conversations by quote tweeting, and gather feedback from your audience.
• Email Marketing: Email marketing is beneficial as it can build loyalty while also keeping customers up to date with company events or promotions.
  • Brands can personalize emails with dynamic content, such as abandoned cart reminders or exclusive discount codes.
• Content Marketing: Similarly to email marketing, content marketing helps strengthen customer attachment through narrative and image resources for them and drives traffic to your site.
  • Blog posts: Share relevant written content that aligns with your brand’s image and encourages customers to visit your website for more information.
  • Customer reviews/Testimonies: Post customer reviews on your website, to highlight positive experiences and help potential buyers feel confident in the quality of your products.

Section 2: Effective Customer Engagement Strategies

Creating meaningful interactions is key to fostering customer loyalty in ecommerce. A loyal customer base not only boosts sales but also enhances your brand reputation. Sincere communication channels, like an active social media presence and the aforesaid content marketing practices allow for direct connections to be made with customers. Engaging content invites participation, showing that you value customer input.

Partnering with influencers is an effective way for a brand to connect with the applicable audiences. Utilizing relevant content creators to represent your brand can help your customers associate trusting personalities with your products. Influencers can interact with customers by responding to social media comments and simply be a voice of authenticity when posting about your products. When this strategy is well executed, influencer marketing can help your ecommerce business soar by boosting engagement and creating a sense of trust with your customers. Here are a few examples of types of influencers to use and when:

Email marketing helps promote customer engagement as well. Typically, brand emails provide recipients with a call to action, like clicking a link or redeeming a coupon. Content marketing can be effectively executed by publishing blogs about industry events or new products, providing your audience with an opportunity to hear your company’s insights and ultimately encouraging customer engagement. Additionally, useful resources like buyer’s guides and product reviews can give customers a brand voice to gain helpful advice from.

Section 3: SEO and Public Relations: A Symbiotic Relationship

SEO and public relations can work harmoniously to boost a brand’s online presence. When strategically aligned, they can heighten your ecommerce business to new levels. PR efforts such as earning media coverage and securing blogging partnerships can generate authoritative backlinks to your site, which are crucial signals for search engines like Google to rank your pages higher in search results.

Implementing a well-executed PR strategy can significantly improve your SEO efforts. Positive media coverage and partnerships can enhance your website’s domain authority when trusted sources provide backlinks. One example of an effective partnership is external blogging. For instance, a creator who works in your specific brand’s niche can publish a blog about your company and provide backlinks to your site. These backlinks can then help improve search rankings and drive organic traffic to your ecommerce website.

Visibility through online articles, blogs, and social media mentions also help with higher site ranking. This not only drives traffic but also strengthens your brand’s online credibility. As your brand gains recognition, it naturally benefits from higher search rankings due to increased site visits and social proof.

Section 4: Collaborating with an Ecommerce Public Relations Agency

An ecommerce public relations agency offers specialized services to help brands succeed in the competitive digital space. They bring expertise in crafting compelling brand stories that resonate with your target audience and the media.

Tying in an experienced agency can elevate your brand’s profile, boost customer trust, and as a result drive sales growth. These agencies can also help your online reputation management and coordinate media outreach. By leveraging their connections and resources, you can achieve more extensive press coverage and build influential partnerships, causing more website views and visits for your URL.

The success of your company’s online efforts can be measured by a PR agency’s analytic tools. Utilizing tools like Google Analytics and social media metrics, you can track traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. These insights not only highlight the success of your PR initiatives but also reveal areas for improvement. Regularly measuring PR outcomes ensures your efforts are strategic, data-driven and aligned with your business objectives.

Conclusion: Leveraging Public Relations Services

For business owners, managers and directors in ecommerce, public relations practices are indispensable. Integrating effective PR with digital marketing efforts can amplify your brand presence and reach. This synergy boosts visibility and fosters customer loyalty.

Want to take your ecommerce brand’s visibility to the next level? A strategic PR approach can help you boost brand awareness, engage sales prospects and drive more conversions. If you’re ready to enhance your public relations strategy and e-commerce marketing ideas, reach out to Eberly & Collard Public Relations for expert guidance on creating an impactful PR plan for your ecommerce business.

Digital PR is reshaping the way businesses engage with their audiences online by blending traditional public relations and digital marketing strategies. This integrated approach boosts brand visibility across key digital platforms while creating meaningful connections through content marketing, press release distribution, search engine optimization (SEO) and other beneficial digital PR strategies.

What is Digital Public Relations?

Digital PR helps businesses expand their reach and magnify brand exposure. Unlike traditional PR, which primarily relies on print media, select online news outlets and broadcasts, digital PR maximizes online platforms, such as online media, blogs, podcasts and social media, to connect with wider audiences more efficiently. By combining targeted outreach, content marketing and media relations, businesses can increase visibility, strengthen their reputation and generate data-backed success.

The Importance of Digital PR for Business Growth

At its core, digital PR is about strengthening a brand’s digital presence through strategic content that informs and engages its target audience. Whether through blog posts, media coverage or social media posts, the goal is to amplify conversations and increase awareness.

One of the defining strengths of Digital PR is its data-driven approach. By utilizing analytics to assess online interactions and audience sentiment, businesses can refine their strategies to align with consumer preferences, maximizing impact and relevance. This measurable approach improves the effectiveness of Digital PR initiatives and delivers actionable metrics that support long-term brand growth and market positioning.

Building a Strong Online Reputation

In today’s digital landscape, a strong online reputation and appearance are essential for business prosperity. Digital PR serves as a tactical tool for growing and maintaining this reputation, guaranteeing that your brand is positioned positively in your business sector. Businesses can strengthen credibility and brand trust by actively staying in the media and engaging with audiences.

Implementing strategies, such as social media monitoring and online reputation management, allows businesses to take control of their narratives. A well-established online reputation strengthens brand perception, creates engagement and contributes to long-term business growth.

By engaging with reputable online publications and influencers, businesses can expand their awareness within their industry sectors. Increased exposure leads to higher website traffic, ultimately driving more lead conversations and sales. Simply put, the more visible a brand is online, the greater the opportunity to attract new customers and retain existing ones.

Search Engine Optimization

Another core element of Digital PR is SEO, which plays a critical role in improving a brand’s online exposure. By optimizing content for search engines, businesses can improve their organic rankings, drive increased website traffic and expand their reach and impressions. This synergy between Digital PR and SEO is especially valuable for any business looking to compete in a crowded online realm. An effective SEO strategy ensures that content reaches the right audience and ranks well in search results, positioning the brand for long-term gain.

Beyond visibility, SEO enhances the quality of website traffic by attracting users actively searching for relevant products or services. By targeting industry-specific keywords and phrases while also focusing on the search intent of the specified keywords, businesses can connect with target audiences; doing so will increase the likelihood of conversions and building a more engaged and loyal customer base.

Enhancing Digital Storytelling and Content Marketing

Brand storytelling creates narratives that connect with your target audience, playing a significant role in content creation to expand your business’s reach. By focusing on creating valuable content, businesses position themselves as industry leaders. Whether through blog posts, press releases or social media posts, the goal is to increase awareness for your brand. Digital PR strategies promote this content by giving it an online viral element, maximizing publicity and engagement.

Creating multimedia content, such as Reels, videos and infographics, can further improve your storytelling efforts. According to Buffer, “Instagram Reels see 36% more reach than other post types. Instagram Carousels see 12% more engagement than other post types.”

Partnering with a digital PR agency that offers content marketing services can strengthen client relationships and improve brand awareness. These services may include managing your social channels, which can lead to increased engagement. Maintaining an active social media engagement with your audience is an important factor when trying to create deeper connections with your audience.

Digital PR Strategies for Success

There are numerous digital PR strategies, each offering valuable benefits depending on your business objectives. A well-executed digital PR strategy can increase earned media coverage, improve customer loyalty and evoke new business opportunities, such as advancing brand credibility through positive online reviews and media mentions or strengthening relationships with key influencers in your industry.

Building Relationships with Media Outlets

A common misconception about digital PR is that media coverage happens instantly after deploying a press release. In reality, securing published content requires strong relationships with journalists and editors, well-crafted press materials and strategic negotiations with publications. Having these relationships with different publications in your industry helps increase awareness and position your company as an influential voice in your industry.

Partnering with an experienced PR firm that understands the nuances of media outreach and press release distribution is essential. At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we have cultivated and sustained strong relationships with editors across a wide range of industry publications in architecture, design, construction, engineering, horticulture, hospitality, travel and more. These connections have been instrumental in securing prominent earned media coverage for our clients.

Influencer Outreach and Collaborations

Influencer marketing is one of the many powerful digital PR tools that can further amplify your brand’s influence. By collaborating with influencers whose audience aligns with your target market, your company can expand its brand awareness and tap into new markets. An authentic endorsement from an influencer can also increase your brand’s credibility.

When selecting an influencer, it is necessary to align your brand values with those of the influencer. It also depends on their relevance to your industry as well as their audience demographics and engagement rate. Influencer collaborations can be complex, which is why hiring a digital PR agency that specializes in influencer marketing is important for securing the right influencers for your brand and third-party endorsement objectives.

Positioning Your Brand as a Thought Leader in Your Industry

Thought leadership is about sharing expert insights, innovative ideas and forward-thinking perspectives to establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry. By addressing challenges, emerging trends and future developments, your company can become a go-to resource of valuable industry knowledge. Digital PR helps businesses establish and augment their thought leadership presence across multiple platforms, assuring their message reaches a broad and engaged audience.

In the ever-evolving digital marketplace, sustained credibility is crucial. Digital PR amplifies thought leadership and strengthens industry recognition through consistent publicity in reputable media channels. By securing placements in industry publications, podcasts and expert panels, businesses reinforce their authority in the field, creating trust and long-term influence.

Measuring the Impact of Digital PR

Measuring the effectiveness of your Digital PR campaigns is essential for maximizing brand awareness, clicks and customer engagement. Working with a digital PR agency safeguards that your business has the expertise to track and analyze the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to provide valuable analytics into the effectiveness of your campaigns. These KPIs help identify areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement, affirming that your campaigns are consistently aligned with your business goals.

A digital PR agency will select and monitor KPIs that best measure the success of each campaign type, making it easier for you to judge the impact of your efforts. By continuously evaluating these metrics, with agency-managed platforms like SEMRush, Hootsuite and Google Analytics, businesses can make data-driven adjustments to their strategies, optimizing performance. With a PR agency’s expertise in tracking and refining campaigns, you can verify your digital PR efforts are contributing effectively to your broader business goals and objectives.

Tracking Online Brand Presence

Monitoring your brand’s reputation and footprint online can provide insight into how well your digital PR strategies are working. Gauging online brand recognition can be tracked with various tools and metrics. Consistently evaluating these elements can reveal how the brand is perceived.

Regularly assessing your online standing aids in identifying trends and potential reputation risks. It also helps businesses make informed decisions to strengthen their digital PR strategies, facilitating a resilient and positive brand image.

Partnering with a Digital PR Agency

Digital PR is a powerful tool that can heighten your brand’s online connections. When executed strategically, it enhances online awareness, improves website traffic and can generate more sales. However, achieving meaningful results requires more than just implementing tactics; it demands ongoing refinement, industry insight and maintaining a multi-faceted digital marketing strategy.

According to BuzzStream, “Nearly three-quarters (72%) believe digital PR is forecasted to be more challenging in 2025 than in 2024.” Partnering with an experienced PR firm with digital PR services can seamlessly integrate digital PR into your broader marketing strategy, ensuring a cohesive approach that is forecasted to maximize exposure and impact. With expert guidance, you can navigate the evolving digital landscape, secure high-value media placements and position your brand for lasting results.

Collaborating with a digital PR agency means access to a wider network of contacts, including influencers and media outlets. Agencies bring specialized skills in areas like content creation, media outreach and reputation management. They also continuously update their strategies based on current trends and technologies. Partnering with Eberly & Collard Public Relations ensures your business remains ahead of the curve and can quickly adapt to changes in your industry, market and the digital world.

If your business is interested in engaging with customers/clients or raising awareness about the products or services offered by your business, demand generation is one of the most efficient marketing strategies a business can implement. But a demand generation campaign should be executed and measured correctly in order for it to be effective.

The Eberly & Collard Public Relations integrated marketing team shared a blog outlining four strategies to increase b2b demand generation results in 2020. The blog article was one of our all-time most popular, having been clicked on and read many thousands of times. While the basic principles of demand generation have stayed the same since then, there have been several updates and advancements within the marketing world that have trickled down to enhance demand generation best practices and strategies. This blog will serve as a valuable second resource to execute a successful demand generation campaign.

What is Demand Generation?

Before you begin to plan your demand generation campaign, you must know exactly what demand generation is and involves. Demand generation is the inventive and strategic practice of creating interest in and demand for a business’ products and/or services; it is an education-focused marketing strategy to prioritize reaching “out of market” or non-existent buyers.

The ultimate goal of demand generation is to increase awareness of and demand for that which you and your colleagues sell. As a demand generation agency, we assist our clients in expanding their audiences, building brand authority for them, generating interest in their offers, and evoking market trust in their businesses.

Additionally, creating demand generation involves businesses aiming to keep buyers’ interest even when they are not in a “buying cycle” or mentality. Then, when leads and prospects are ready, your business, products and/or services are top of mind.

Demand Generation vs Lead Generation Explained

Demand generation is often confused with lead generation. While they are both highly effective – we’d even say, they are equally crucial – marketing practices, it is important to note that they are different and should be handled as individual strategies.

The key difference between demand generation and lead generation is the focus of interaction and the overall goal. Think of them this way…

Lead generation is a short-term, sales-focused marketing strategy that prioritizes identifying potential new customers and collecting their contact information. The goal of lead generation is to convert these newly identified prospects into leads, with the possibility of having them become clients or customers.

Conversely, demand generation concentrates upon building a deeper layer of brand authority while attracting and educating new audience members. Simply put, the primary goal of lead generation is to nurture targeted audience members throughout their entire pre-customer journeys, so they naturally are drawn to you and your business. The end result is the realization on their part that they cannot move forward without your products or services.

With that said, demand generation and lead generation can and often should work hand-in-hand. Lead generation supports demand generation by attracting new potential customers to learn more about your business and therefore be willing to become a client or purchase your products or services. When possible, one should prioritize demand generation over lead generation in order to reduce overall customer acquisition costs and maximize the quality of new leads. Work with your in-house sales and marketing team and a growth marketing agency (that would be us, here at Eberly & Collard Public Relations) to create a marketing plan that effectively combines demand generation and lead generation for short- and long-term returns.

Top Strategies for Demand Generation Success

When concepting and implementing a demand generation campaign, there are many different strategies from which to choose. The public relations and marketing experts at ECPR have compiled our top three strategies for demand generation success you can incorporate into your next demand generation campaign.

• Utilizing social media and influencers in demand generation is one of the most powerful methods to generate awareness for your business. Working with relevant influencers in your niche who can create content to promote your business and its products or services is an ideal way to build trust and authority. If an influencer is promoting your products or services to their followers and fans, the followers are much more likely to be interested in learning more about them. Additionally, incorporating social media into your campaign can open the opportunity for two-way communication with your target audience. Work with our digital marketing agency for assistance with utilizing each platform for its different purposes. For example, LinkedIn is the ideal platform for sharing thought-leadership, while Instagram is better suited for video and imagery content with short captions.
• Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy used to focus on narrowly defined audiences. You and your business can increase demand for your products or services with individuals, which results in more qualified leads or customers. ABM can be implemented through campaigns, advertisements, direct mail or email marketing. One best practice when utilizing ABM is to build an email list with the new contacts and segment it into precisely targeted groups. You can then use these groups to execute email marketing campaigns that provide targets with resources, ideas, tools, techniques, all of which will delight and engage them.
• With the precise groups you’ve defined with ABM, you and your business can collaborate with our inbound marketing agency to create and execute email marketing content. Email marketing content for a B2B demand generation campaign can include deliverables such as e-newsletters, content promotions, white papers, helpful guides and event invitations. Email marketing campaigns are an effective way to reach and educate your target audience; these campaigns should always offer insightful information and end with a call-to-action (CTA) to encourage the recipient to learn more about your business and the products or services you offer.

Key Metrics for Measuring Demand Generation

One of the most critical steps of a successful demand generation campaign is measuring the reach and success of the campaign. Here are some key metrics our demand generation agency recommends for measuring the triumph of your demand generation campaign.

• Conversion rate of leads interested in a business’s service or products becoming clients or customers is one of the most telling metrics and indicators of how your campaign is performing. This metric tracks the percentage of people who take action based on your campaign’s efforts and can show areas for improvement. Set timeframes with objectives to gauge your rate of client acquisition.
• Activations and signups are just what they sound like: demand marketing metrics that track the number of users who have activated their free trial, created an account or taken other action to connect with your business. Activations and signups indicate an initial or basic level of interest and show that these users (and, hopefully, future clients or customers) are interested in learning more. They may not all convert to customers, but they are one of the leading indicators of potential new sales. When you see they are showing interest, act quickly. Nurture them by sending follow-up responses with additional benefits, special resources or invitations to engage further or even speak.
• For a campaign with a goal of generating awareness, brand search volume is one of the best ways to track the performance of a campaign. Use tools like SEMRush or work with Eberly & Collard Public Relations’ digital marketing agency team to track your brand search volume and compare your volume results pre-campaign and post-campaign to see how the results have improved or declined. Make adjustments based on these important analytics and be flexible with A-B testing to trial what works and what might not.

How to Choose a Demand Generation Agency

You may be reading this blog and thinking that conceptualizing and executing a demand generation campaign is not possible or feasible for you. If this is the case, we would recommend exploring demand generation with us, as the opportunities and possibilities can be near-limitless with the right demand generation agency partner.

When searching for a demand generation agency, you should look for a respected and qualified agency that has years of experience in B-to-B demand generation. Additionally, the agency should have experience in your industry and understand your challenges and ways in which to resolve them for you.

Eberly & Collard Public Relations has many years of experience with demand generation for clients across a wide range of industries. Contact us today to learn more about our services and get started.

There are approximately 13,000 trade shows that take place in the United States each year. With such a massive volume of shows, it is crucial you and your business stand out among the rest of the exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and award winners.

Partnering with a well-prepared trade show marketing agency can help you determine and develop the best trade show marketing strategy for your marketing staff and business.

What is Trade Show Marketing?

Tradeshow marketing refers to the strategic approach of promoting a company’s products, services and brand at industry-specific trade shows, exhibitions, conferences, symposiums, or similar events. It involves utilizing the event as a platform to engage with potential customers or clients, generate leads, showcase important or new products or services, build brand awareness, and establish valuable industry and sales connections.

The best strategic approach to trade show marketing employs a combination of public relations, media relations, advertising and marketing strategies for an integrated assemblage of services designed to create business opportunities before, during and after the event. An effective trade show marketing strategy provides businesses with a focused opportunity to reach targeted audiences, gain visibility within specific industries and make lasting impressions on potential customers or clients to generate revenue and long-term growth.

The following creative B2B trade show marketing strategies for tradeshow involvement serve as a valuable platform for networking and driving business growth through effective marketing and relationship-building methods.

5 Creative Trade Shows Marketing Strategies

While developing and employing marketing strategies for your trade show is a given, it is fundamental that your marketing approach is creative and thoughtful in terms of the related activations and audience. Everyone (i.e., your competitors) is going to be marketing their booths before the show. This is precisely why it is crucial to ensure your marketing endeavors surpass those of your competition and captivate the attention of attendees in innovative ways.

Not sure how to market your trade show in a creative way? Eberly & Collard Public Relations’ (ECPR) expert marketing team is available to conceptualize and deploy creative and effective trade show marketing ideas for you, such as maximizing social media, managing pre- and during-show press releases, overseeing event advertising, securing speaker and panelist opportunities for your thought-leaders, and providing overall strategy.

These 5 tips will ensure your exhibit display sets itself apart.  

1. Create a Trade Show Marketing Plan

First and foremost, you are going to want to determine which trade show is right for you. Each trade show is designed for different industries and different audiences, so it is important to research which trade show makes the most sense to reach and interface with highly germane attendees.

After you have determined which trade show is best suited, it will be time to create a trade show marketing plan. Consider the following concepts to enhance your trade show event marketing plan before, during and after the event:

• The first step to creating your plan is defining your marketing goals for the trade show. What are you aiming to get out of exhibiting at the show? Some goals could include expanding your network, creating business leads and strengthening existing client relationships.
• It is important to create an attractive and well-designed booth space that effectively represents the company’s brand and offerings. This may include on-brand banners, signage, displays, product demonstrations, and interactive elements to attract and engage attendees.
• Next, you will want to define your branding and messaging. Develop clear and compelling messaging that communicates the company’s value proposition, differentiates it from competitors, and resonates with the target audience.
• A huge benefit of attending a trade show is lead generation. Implement strategies to capture leads by collecting contact information from interested attendees. This can involve activities like offering giveaways, conducting contests, or providing incentives for attendees to provide their details. Many shows offer digital lead-capturing tools that should not be overlooked.
• After the event, follow up with leads generated during the tradeshow through personalized communication to nurture relationships and convert leads into customers. Use an effective CRM system and email campaign with follow-up or drip campaigns to engage with leads showing the most interest.

The final aspect of your trade show marketing plan, and most important in ECPR’s opinion, is to start planning early. People often think it is okay to wait until a month before a show to start implementing marketing strategies. The best plans begin 9-12 months before trade shows, so your audience (and team) have ample lead time.

Your trade show marketing plan should include an advanced calendar or timeline for pre-planning everything you will need and want to implement.

2. Write and Send Your Trade Show Press Releases to the Media Early

Writing and distributing a trade show press release to promote your company’s exhibit at a tradeshow holds immense significance in maximizing the impact of your participation. A well-crafted press release acts as a powerful tool to generate buzz, attract media attention, land news coverage placements, and create anticipation among industry professionals and potential customers.

By effectively highlighting key aspects of your exhibit, such as innovative products, groundbreaking technologies or exciting announcements, a trade show press release helps position your company as a frontrunner in the industry. It offers an opportunity to showcase your brand’s expertise, generate pre-event publicity, and drive booth traffic, ultimately amplifying your presence and fostering valuable connections and visibility.

Additionally, a press release can extend the reach of your trade show efforts by being distributed through various media channels, including industry publications, news outlets and even social media, ensuring broader exposure and enhancing the overall success of your tradeshow booth.

While you may already know the importance of submitting tradeshow press releases to the media, keep in mind that editors and journalists appreciate release submissions with some lead time for them to consider your news.

If you wait too long to send your release to the media, it may not be published or reach your target audience in time. Journalists receive hundreds, even thousands, of press releases before trade shows. If you send yours early enough, yours will be one of the first they receive, giving you a much better chance of being published.

We assist our clients with discerning pre-show press campaigns, at-show releases and post-show news, along with the most results-oriented timelines for each. Contact us for details.

But, with or without outsourcing this form of tradeshow marketing, make certain your event press releases are truly newsworthy and viable versus wasting media members’ time with business and product news that is trite.

If your trade shows have active Press Rooms, take advantage of them. Media members often visit the Press Rooms to work and look for exhibitors’ Press Kits. Simply put, this is usually a free and smart opportunity for exhibitors that too often goes underutilized. Create an Associated Press-ready Press Kit and place copies in the event’s Press Room for the duration of the show. If undecided how to do so, consider our firm as your go-to resource.

3. Utilize Social Media Before, During and After the Event

Trade show social media allows you and your business to self-promote and boost engagement before, during and after the event.

Similar to writing and sending your press release(s) early as part of your tradeshow marketing campaign, it is an excellent idea to start posting about the ways in which your company will participate in a trade show on social media well in advance. This will give your followers time to follow all of your social media channels and get excited about the event and visiting your expo booth. You should also create custom graphics and videos that can be used to produce awareness and give rise to interest and excitement for your exhibition.

Your custom graphics should feature messaging that strongly connects with the intended audience and effectively conveys the company’s value statement. Crafting these customized deliverables also helps distinguish your company from opposing brands.

During the event, your social media should be extremely active. Use the event’s designated hashtag with each post and share important information about your booth such as your location, giveaways, expo booth or stand attributes, and speaking or activation times. One of ECPR’s expert tips is to schedule your social media posts in advance so you can spend more time engaging with your audience. Then, post on-the-spot extra content as happenings occur.

Speaking of engaging with your audience, go live on social media during the event. This is a fun and interactive way to engage with your attendees, show them new products, answer any questions they may have, and ultimately attract them to your display booth.

If the event allows, preplan networking activities with food and beverage at key times during the day, including when you normally experience lulls in booth traffic. Be sure your sales and marketing leads are present. Post “come one, come all” content on your social channels.

After the event, share your favorite memories and moments from the show. You could also write a blog post about the trade show and share it across your social channels as well.

A great and easy way to engage with followers and potential leads after the show is to ask them to share their favorite memories from the show and visiting your booth. This personalized communication can ultimately convert leads into customers.

4. Use Tradeshow Marketing Materials to Attract Visitors

Who doesn’t like freebies? Freebies can be used as marketing materials for a trade show, and the best marketing materials for trade shows attract visitors to your booth, which is what we all want!

Designing and distributing promotional materials such as brochures, flyers, business cards, and branded merchandise to provide attendees with information about the company and its offerings are extremely effective means to create foot traffic around your display.

As exciting as marketing materials are to marketing managers, they are only worth it if the materials are something your audience actually wants. At a trade show, attendees will receive dozens of koozies, pamphlets and other freebies. You want yours to leave a lasting impression. ECPR’s recommendation is a branded tote bag of good quality in which attendees can put all their collected materials. Among the many branded tote bags at tradeshows, the ones people hang onto are well-designed with durable and good-looking material. A subtle business name, logo and website address make the most coveted and reusable totes.

Effective marketing materials can turn the visitors you attract into leads. Your marketing materials should include incentives for attendees to provide their contact information and head to your website after the show. Provide undeniable incentives for post-event contact.

And, as many savvy marketers know, your exhibit booth is a marketing material in and of itself. Your display should be eye-catching and interesting to attract visitors. To really distinguish yourself, coordinate your display with the custom trade show social media graphics you created before the event. This may include banners, signage, displays, product demonstrations, and interactive elements to attract and engage attendees.

But, do not stop there. Think of your exhibit from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about your business and what it provides or offers. Design your booth displays to quickly convey your unique selling propositions, draw in passersby, and maintain booth visitors long enough to delight them in ways that will lead them into customer journeys with your sales team.

When it comes to your booth, one of our firm’s favorite and easiest tips is to assign staff members to greet guests in your expo areas, and keep cell phones stowed so your booth team comes across as being interested in meeting attendees.

5. Advertise Strategically

The final part of our blog article is trade show advertising. This is a significant trade show marketing endeavor too many companies miss.

As you may already know, every real trade show has a floor guide or directory of the exhibitors and where their booths are located. Companies have the opportunity to purchase advertisements in the floor guides or directories. Some shows offer advertising in the form of concourse and on-floor signage, show aisle markers, café advertising, bus or shuttle ads, hotel lobby advertising options, and much more.

What you may not know is that the timing of trade show advertising is crucial. If you wait until right before the event, there is a chance openings and space will be limited or gone. The ECPR marketing team recommends evaluating and negotiating advertising opportunities as soon as they are available.

It is also recommended that you purchase advertisements in relevant trade publications. Trade publications are a huge part of B2B trade show marketing, so it is wise to have advertisements in these media outlets. This is yet another way to communicate your tradeshow information and booth number before and during trade shows.

Wrapping Up

A lot goes into marketing trade show exhibits. Plans, press releases, social media, marketing materials, lead generation and advertising are all important aspects of preparing for success.

Return on investment involved in marketing trade shows and success from trade show marketing strategy stem from creative, strategic and advanced planning.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we have decades of experience in public relations for events and can help you increase your trade show event marketing outcomes to yield leads and sales. Contact us with your trade show pain points and questions. We love trade show and event marketing, and we are available to assist you and your team.

Influencer marketing has been booming since the mid-2000s. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, this sector is expected to reach approximately $24 billion by 2024. This growth is driven by emerging trends, including breakthrough technologies, new social media platforms, and evolving consumer attitudes toward influencer-sponsored content. Communications professionals, therefore, must stay abreast of evolving influencer marketing trends to keep their brands competitive in their respective industries and sectors.

Maximizing Influencer Impact in Niche or Precise Markets

Conducting B2B influencer marketing presents a unique set of challenges that differs significantly from the strategies employed by consumer brands. Unlike consumer brands, which can easily partner with one of the millions of lifestyle influencers available, B2B influencer marketing requires a more nuanced approach. This involves identifying and collaborating with industry-specific thought leaders who possess deep expertise and credibility within their niches. These influencers are not only fewer in number but also demand a strategic alignment with the brand’s values and objectives. Thus, the process of selecting the right B2B influencers is far more complex and critical to ensuring a successful partnership that resonates with a professional audience.

To navigate these complexities and achieve impactful results, many businesses turn to specialized agencies like Eberly & Collard Public Relations. Our expertise lies in conceptualizing and managing tailored Social Media Influencer Programs that bridge the gap between brands and industry experts. By leveraging our deep understanding of B2B dynamics, we ensure that the influencer partnerships we curate are both strategic and effective. In the following case studies, we’ll showcase how our targeted approach has successfully addressed the unique challenges of B2B influencer marketing for our clients.

Case Study: Coverings 2024 Influencer Program

Coverings, the largest tile and stone tradeshow in North America, sought out ECPR to implement annual influencer marketing programs to generate and enhance event visibility, drive attendee registrations and increase engagement across Coverings’ digital platforms.

Influencer Marketing is an Essential Strategy to Drive Event Attendance.

For Coverings 2024, our Influencer Marketing team employed a robust, targeted influencer marketing strategy focusing on securing partnerships with a diverse mix of content creators, aligning with the show’s key audience segments: interior designers, architects, builders, remodelers, contractors and more. Upon assembling a carefully researched list of hundreds of suitable candidates, ECPR team members strategized their outreach plans by sorting influencers into tiers based on numerous variables, such as follower count, engagement analyses and content relevance. Once highly relevant influencer partnerships were secured and negotiated, our program initiatives transitioned to content collaborations and onsite planning, some of which included:

• Engaging influencers to create and share content related to the event themes and highlights.
• Conceptualizing social media influencer agreements that included expert content goals and benefits for Coverings, while still permitting the influencers to utilize their own voices, tones and styles.
• Coordinating an Influencer Tour to provide firsthand experiences of the event’s offerings and a platform for them to create content onsite to share with their respective audiences.
• Utilizing influencers to promote a wide range of Coverings education, activations and other programming aimed at driving engagement and registration for the event.

Talented Influencer Amber Guyton Attending Our Coverings 2024  Influencers Tour.

The Coverings 2024 Influencers we secured and with whom we closely collaborated including the prominent interior designer Brittany Palazzo, architect Jeffrey Bruce Baker and installer Schannon Yodice, among many other talented content creators and social media personalities, were tasked with crafting wide-ranging content, including Instagram and Facebook posts, stories, TikToks and LinkedIn updates, all meticulously designed to highlight the distinctive features of Coverings 2024 and to amplify informational reach across every applicable audience segment.

The Results:

• Enhanced research methods from the ECPR influencer marketing team generated a 50% increase in Influencer Tour attendance compared to the previous year.
• The influencer campaign generated a total of 71,031,670 max potential impressions, an increase of 44.1% compared to the previous year
• The ECPR team significantly increased video content for Coverings 2024 by producing seven times more videos and reels from influencers. This strategic enhancement led to higher engagement levels with influencer content and subsequently drove an increase in event registrations.
• Coverings had significant growth in social media followers, with an addition of 4,352 new accounts across platforms.
• The strategy not only amplified the event’s reach but also significantly increased social media engagement and interactions across a broad range of audience segments.

Key Highlights:

• Influencers like Schannon Yodice (contractor) and Brittany Palazzo (interior designer) were particularly effective, garnering millions of impressions each, which indicated an especially strong resonance with their respective audience segments.
• Niche influencers like Jeffrey Bruce Baker successfully engaged with architects in the Atlanta area, regionally and nationally, significantly boosting the architectural industry attendance at Coverings 2024.
• The content shared by our influencers helped portray the event’s critical messages and highlights, directly contributing to an increased awareness and interest in Coverings 2024 across varying audience segments.

The success of the Coverings 2024 Influencer Program underscores the power of targeted influencer collaborations in amplifying event outreach, engagement and attendance. By strategically selecting and partnering with influencers who aligned with the event’s core audiences, Coverings was able to significantly enhance its digital footprint and set a robust precedent for future events.

Macro, Micro and Nano Matter

While influencers like Brittany and Schannon significantly boosted reach and engagement, micro and nano influencers like Jeffrey offered a unique advantage by connecting with a more targeted audience through his tight relationships with followers. Despite having a slightly smaller reach compared to macro influencers, Jeffrey and other micro or nano influencers often excel in niche or specialized markets and achieve higher engagement rates.

According to Aspire’s sixth annual benchmark report, “The State of Influencer Marketing 2024,” micro and nano-influencers are highlighted as key trends to watch this year. The report reveals that nano-influencers consistently achieve the highest engagement rates across all platforms, averaging an impressive 4.4%. Their focus on close-knit communities enables brands to engage with highly loyal and enthusiastic audiences.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, there’s a strong preference for partnering with smaller influencers, with nano-influencers (44%) and micro-influencers (26%) favored over more expensive macro-influencers (17%) and celebrities (13%). The effectiveness of nano and micro-influencers in achieving better influencer marketing ROI largely depends on the campaign’s objectives and target audience. The Coverings 2024 program illustrates that a strategic blend of influencer tiers can maximize both reach and engagement. Macro influencers are ideal for broad brand awareness, while nano and micro influencers offer superior ROI for highly targeted, niche campaigns due to their strong connections and high engagement rates with specific audiences.

Many companies are using AI tools like Upfluence, Traackr and Heepsy to find macro, micro and nano influencers. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 63% of marketers plan to integrate AI into their influencer campaigns.

Our Eberly & Collard Public Relations influencer marketing team guides the strategic, creative and contractual processes for our clients’ social media influencer content and campaigns.

AI is transforming campaign management by leveraging data analysis to precisely match influencers with a brand’s target audience, enhancing both precision and efficiency. However, despite its advanced capabilities, AI can occasionally struggle to effectively identify niche influencers capable of projecting genuine authenticity through online promotions on behalf of a brand.

Navigating the Surge of AI in Influencer Marketing

AI influencer marketing tools have streamlined and enhanced various aspects of campaign management. AI algorithms and influencer tools have now become very common in analyzing data to find individuals whose audience demographics, interests and engagement levels align with a brand’s target market. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, “50% of those who have worked with AI influencers described their experience as ‘very positive’.”

Despite its transformative impact on influencer marketing, AI-driven research can sometimes overlook the genuine connections and insights that human influencers provide. AI relies on algorithms and data, which can result in content that feels formulaic and impersonal. This detachment from authentic human experiences and emotions can undermine the relatable and heartfelt connections that build trust and engagement with audiences. As AI can impact the influence of social media marketing on customer loyalty, the role of influencer marketing agencies becomes essential in crafting effective influencer partnerships.

From planning the influencer marketing strategy and conducting influencer outreach to negotiating and finalizing contracts and collaborating on impactful content creation, our team helps create genuine influencer partnerships for our clients. We conduct thorough research across diverse social media platforms to identify influencers who align seamlessly with our clients’ brands. This careful selection process ensures that the influencers we partner with will resonate deeply with their target audiences, driving increased engagement for our clients. By prioritizing influencers who genuinely use and believe in the brands, products or services they promote, we enhance the authenticity of each partnership, thereby building stronger trust between the brand and its audience.

Boosting Authenticity and Transparency in Influencer Partnerships

In the current digital climate, authenticity has become a cornerstone of successful influencer partnerships. Influencers who genuinely believe in and use a product or service bring sincerity to their endorsements. According to Sprinklr, “89% of customers value authentic content, making authenticity a crucial component of influencer marketing.” This genuine connection often translates into trust, encouraging followers to engage with and purchase from the brand. Authenticity not only bolsters the credibility of the influencer’s recommendations but also strengthens the bond between the brand and its audience, fostering deeper and more meaningful connections.

When influencers seamlessly integrate a brand into their content with genuine intent, it resonates more profoundly with their followers. This authenticity builds trust, which is invaluable for increasing brand loyalty and driving higher conversion rates.

Case Study: Chiarabella 2024 Influencer Program

The goal of the Chiarabella influencer program is to elevate brand awareness across the United States by enhancing the company’s social media presence through strategic collaborations and partnerships. Chiarabella, which is one of the most trusted brands of kitchen, bath, wardrobe, and storage solution products, has a strategic targeted influencer marketing strategy that focuses on key figures in the interior design, distribution, construction, hospitality, and architectural industries.

We chose influencers for Chiarabella based on their follower count, engagement rates and alignment with Chiarabella’s brand values and sales objectives. The approach includes engaging influencers to create and share Chiarabella content about the brand’s flagship showroom and diverse range of kitchen and bath products, custom cabinetry, smart toilets, tubs, faucets and fixtures, wellness products, and others. Our Atlanta team also coordinates tour events at the showroom for our influencers to create content about the brand nationwide.

The ECPR team researched, vetted and acquired influencers Erika Ward, Jeffrey Bruce Baker and Ronald Jones who create multifaceted content that ranges from Instagram posts and stories to Pinterest posts and Facebook updates, all designed to highlight the products and attributes of Chiarabella.

The Results:

• The Chiarabella Gallery expanded its reach within the interior design, distribution, construction, hospitality, and architectural sectors through collaborative posts with influencers. This strategy not only enhanced B2B and B2C interactions but also significantly increased engagement with Chiarabella’s target audience.
• Growth in social media followers boomed, spanning the design and hospitality trade sectors with which the brand aligns.
• Connections with consumers of affluence generated flagship showroom foot traffic, design appointments, and brand awareness that has converted to brand equity and custom kitchens, baths and more.

ECPR’s select team members, alongside influencers Erika Ward and Ronald Jones, planning creative content at the Chiarabella showroom in Atlanta.

Key Highlights:

• Just one of Ron’s Instagram reels reached over 27,500 accounts with exponential visibility and interactions within a matter of hours.
• Chiarabella’s account engaged with 22,000 new accounts in July 2024, when one influencer’s reel went live, giving rise to a bevy of new followers, likes, reshares, and comments.
• Our influencer program showcased numerous custom cabinetry solutions and kitchen and bath product options to tens of thousands of interior designers, architects and builders in days, kick-off weeks and months of growing content and engagements.

The results significantly boosted Chiarabella’s awareness and engagement. Influencer collaborations increased visibility, while in-person influencer events at the showroom fostered direct interaction with Chiarabella’s social media presence.

The ECPR team successfully forged valuable partnerships with influencers who authentically showcased their enthusiasm for Chiarabella’s products and design. Ron’s genuine passion for Chiarabella’s intelligent toilets led to a deeper collaboration than initially planned. His ability to pivot his content to emphasize what he truly values about the brand provided a credible third-party endorsement.

On the other hand, Erika’s design philosophy—characterized by a blend of timeless and modern elements—mirrors the essence of Chiarabella’s offerings. Her alignment with Chiarabella’s modern yet classic elegance resulted in content that she sincerely endorses, reflecting her genuine appreciation for the brand. In turn, Jeffrey brought Chiarabella’s brand offer to light for leading architects and consumers in the Southeast, throughout the U.S. and Internationally with his diverse fans and followers.

The openness from influencer relations helps build trust with the audience, who appreciates authenticity and honesty. Additionally, featuring behind-the-scenes content or interviews with influencers about their experiences with brands can further demonstrate transparency and foster solid and real connections with followers. By prioritizing authenticity and transparency, brands can build stronger, more credible relationships with their audiences, ultimately driving more effective and meaningful engagement.

The dynamic nature of the influencer marketing landscape in 2024 and beyond necessitates the expertise of a well-versed influencer marketing agency. Agencies help brands navigate the complexities of influencer selection, campaign management and performance analysis. By leveraging industry insights and advanced tools, they ensure that brands can effectively engage with their audiences and achieve their marketing objectives.

Do you need an agency to help with influencer marketing for your business? Reach out to Eberly & Collard Public Relations to receive in-depth, expert advice from our full-service PR firm and influencer marketing agency. We are equipped to build B2B and/or B2C influence for your business, personnel, products, services and brands.

Influencer marketing, just in the U.S., is estimated to surpass $4 billion in 2022. With these numbers exponentially growing, it is safe to say that companies are picking up on influencer culture’s effectiveness and consumer impact. With this in mind, it’s important for company marketing teams to know how they can stay up to date with new influencer marketing trends, especially with the branding benefits involved in the newer and burgeoning styles of video and audio content.

What are Influencers, and Why are They Important?  

The idea of influencers revolves around popular public figures or celebrities being paid to endorse a business’s products or services, with the goal being to expand brand awareness and key messaging throughout their industries and among the customer or consumer followers or fans who admire them.

In this space, influencers are typically categorized as either micro-influencers or macro-influencers based on their respective reach. Micro-influencers are typically those with 1,000-100,000 followers, while macro-influencers capture audiences ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of followers.

While it is important to consider reach in deciding which influencers to use, the value of influencers comes from their recognition as experts in their fields. Being held in such high regard creates trust in these creators, resulting in endorsements regularly increasing marketing engagement, presence and effectiveness. Whether the marketing objective is engaging with business-to-business prospects or reaching business-to-consumer targets, influencer marketing is a significant strategy marketing managers should maximize in 2022.

Leveraging Podcasts through Influencers

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, podcasting as a media outlet, has exploded with 80 million weekly American listeners, per Buzzsprout. The format’s ever-growing presence, combined with its ease of access, makes influencer marketing through podcasts a seemingly untapped gold mine.

Podcasts are unique in that they attract extremely loyal listeners in incredibly niche audiences. One example is that of industry trade shows, being one of the categories sometimes under the radar. Trade shows often host podcasts for business audiences to convey information about specific events, news and information for and within specific industry trades. These podcasts can help drive event registration as well as interest or sales for the trade show’s exhibited products or services.

Appropriately contracting influencers in this category of industry-specific podcasts can be extremely helpful for a company. Retaining influencers for trade show and other business-to-business podcasts can involve benefitting from the influencers’ third-party and positive commentary that includes key mentions or insights about the contracting company and its unique selling propositions. The same can be true of business-to-consumer events and podcasts.

As these podcasts are primarily funded by sponsors, similar to radio, they incorporate branded messages into their episodes, creating a perfect opportunity for paid influence. However, while radio sponsorships only occur live, podcasts are recorded and posted on streaming services, meaning, your company’s message stays in their segments for good.

Similarly, affiliate marketing with podcast influencers has become a popular practice in this space. By incentivizing creators to promote your service or product, in exchange for a percentage of business or sales received, influencers often go the extra mile with acknowledging your brand multiple times to increase their take from the partnership. Or, influencers can be funded with a one-time fee in exchange for an agreed type of endorsement or positive opinion or perspective they communicate.

From a marketing standpoint, affiliate marketing is not only the most common form; but, it is the most effective, with 29% of all podcast listeners saying they have used a promotion they heard about during an episode, according to a study by NCSolutions.

In a different lens, influencers can also be paid by companies to do guest appearances on industry or topic-focused podcasts. Having a guest influencer on an already existing podcast with a substantial following can further enhance a message’s effectiveness. While some podcast producers or hosts may not prefer to interview a business’s marketing executive (some do, and some do not), influencers are desired guests on podcasts because all parties benefit from their presence. Both the guest and the host show draw viewers towards one another while they promote conversation about your business.

Adding Virality of Short-Form Videos with Influencers

Those who work in the media industry have become aware of short-form video’s rapid growth since its inception into social media in 2013. Yet, it took years, until the boom of TikTok, that marketing teams began to use the style as a tool to promote themselves through popular creators. Since the concept has been spread to other platforms, it is bigger than it ever has been with a 2022 marketing trends survey, conducted by HubSpot, finding that 30% of marketers who use social media plan to invest in short-form videos.

TikTok and Instagram are the two largest platforms where short-form video marketing often occurs through the implementation of influencers. These influencer video applications’ marketing sphere can be centered around business-to-consumer marketing and/or business-to-business marketing. When well-managed and monitored by your public relations agency, influencer videos can easily create tenfold return-on-investment.

On both video-oriented platforms, sponsored collaborations dominate the business-to-consumer game. Popular influencers often sport merchandise or show off using consumer goods and products as they either create content around current trends or simply provide short testimonials or reviews geared toward the consumer or e-commerce follower audiences.

For a business-to-business approach, this style of influential videos is all about industry savvy influencers creating short video blogs or “vlogs” about their own positive experiences with specific products or professional service providers. The created videos and vlogs can provide real-time influencer insight on specific aspects of products or services for businesses, which has the power to intrigue business professionals who are decision-makers about purchasing products or procuring service providers for their businesses or the businesses for which they work.

Affiliate marketing, also, is seen as extremely effective in these areas through special influencer-based UTM codes and the announcement of special promotions or offers with calls for action. When influencers post content about your business or brand, you should ask or require them to include a UTM code to track any conversions or sales they induce. The premise is a pay-back or payout in the form of a small commission for each conversion they generate. This can be an event registration for a tradeshow or other event, or it might be a product or service purchase brought about and linked to the influencer’s created content.

The upside to these two specific platforms is their algorithm-based targeted content. While on other platforms, you must research how to attract certain audiences to your posts and account, TikTok and Instagram Reels constantly showcase new material to viewers based on what they interact with, who they follow and what kinds of content they regularly pay attention to. Meaning, that if you choose influencers correctly within your industry, others who look at similar content will more likely be shown or delivered this influencer and your brand.

All of this is only as good and results oriented as your or your agency’s management of your business’s influencer marketing program, strategy and agreements.

Connecting with Online Communities through Live Streaming and Influencers

Live broadcasting, or live streaming, is also accessible through various digital platforms and has become one of the highest grossing mediums available. When your influencers broadcast or stream content about your business or that which makes your organization distinctive, the interest and click-through rate exponential increases.

What the live streaming community offers that other media formats don’t is real-time interaction between influencers and their audiences, which creates a stronger bond and allows more information to be presented for those interested. This exchange makes the application of this format handy when promoting an event and/or a brand, product or service.

Seen especially in younger audiences, Grin found that some audiences on YouTube are influenced more by popular YouTubers than by celebrities.

Allowing your audience an insider or third-party view of an event or tradeshows, a sneak peak of a new product, or how a professional service is performed and yields benefit creates a sense of interest or intrigue and engages them to learn more.

For many event marketing teams, hosting an onsite livestream which features influencers as guests or hosts can provide this effect. Influencer-based live streams offer expert analysis of not just the event itself, but the products or services being showcased at the event, which can draw in viewers or attendees based on each influencer’s following.

When business-to-business events, conferences or exhibitions take place, livestreams are one of the most promising ideas for enticing new clientele or attendees to register. Many tradeshow and event organizers have to market their event’s benefits through associations and businesses whose members or personnel have attended in the past to validate the events worth for others to register and attend. In the influencer space, these trusted individuals can provide an even deeper level of event approval to an effective audience, persuading their followers and fans simply based upon their involvement in the sector and event via verbalized or shown experiences.

Tips for Video and Audio-Based Influencer Marketing Strategies

While employing these formats of video and audio media with an influencer can help expand the reach and visibility of your company, the most important part comes with properly executing your social media influencer marketing strategy.

Here are a couple key tips on how you can start making your influencer marketing campaign more effective.

Limit Scripting but Guide Soundbites: Whether it be demonstrations, sponsored messaging, or product videos for marketing, a common mistake many companies make is over-scripting for influencers.

While tempting to write exactly what you want them to say, these types of scripts restrict the creator, making the message feel ingenuine and out of character to their audience. Allowing influencers leeway to use their own voice and style in creating sponsored messages, reviews, tutorials or commenting often results in higher levels of audience engagement.

However, giving your influencers a messaging guide is essential. This can include what tone to use, what points and topics should be covered or a length estimate. Create a list of important soundbites, being concise, clear language and subject-matter you would like for them to incorporate into their content. Provide message and brand standards to ensure proper and correct information is shared, which also helps avoid inadvertent content that could confuse the audience or conflict with your objectives.

Appoint someone with a true and seasoned understanding of influencer marketing on your staff or with your marketing agency to work closely with and oversee your contracted influencers.

Participate In Trends: Influencers who participate in popular social media tends while showcasing your brand, and integrating popular captions at the time of creation, automatically sets the algorithm of the platform to favor their content, especially on Instagram and TikTok. In accurately researching popular trends, your influencers can create content around the topics and captions they should use, leading to more people likely seeing and following your business or brand.

Any given social media site normally contains an algorithm which determines what an audience is shown. These complex equations take into account a user’s interests and learns preferred topics over time through providing new content and achieving either positive or negative responses. While this cycle helps in targeting specific audiences, within these spaces virality is also key to the algorithm.

While the topic of influencer marketing geared to generate visibility of positive online content can involve a significant amount of time and energy, the payoff can be extremely rewarding to businesses when properly vetted and managed. Some companies make mistakes because they either lack awareness of popular influencer trends or how to incorporate and oversee them, or, they simply try too hard to play into a specific topic versus facilitate an innovative, yet macro-view, of influencer content.

The aid of influencers and public relations agencies can add much needed leverage to these styles of podcast and video campaigns because of their extensive platform-specific knowledge on what is captivating or entertaining to their followers and fans.

A great example of this type of influencer-based knowledge comes from TikTok’s ‘Sounds’. While many marketing teams or companies would need to spend extensive time researching which sounds are popular at a specific time or how they could incorporate them into brand messaging, creators have an innate ability to understand and customize them across their respective platforms. This brings about a natural flow of persuasive information about the products or services and brands for which businesses are seeking promotion.

The introduction of influencers into any marketing campaign can feasibly produce more engagement and interest in your products or services because of the community built around the trustworthy creators. To stay relevant and provide authentic content which is also effective, it is important to have awareness surrounding current media trends like short-form videos, podcasts and live streaming as well as how to apply and monitor these trends to appeal to your audience. Even if influencer marketing, videos and podcasts are not the forte for some internal marketing teams, this is no reason to avoid adding them to an annual integrated marketing plan. Public relations firm services can provide the tools necessary to develop and perform successful influencer marketing campaigns to grow and benefit your company and its levels of influence.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we develop and manage influencer marketing programs for our clients by carefully researching, acquiring and managing top influencers that are the most beneficial for their brands. Contact us if you are looking to kick-off a new or improved influencer marketing program. Learn more: www.ecpr.com.

The influencer marketing industry is on track to nearly double its worth from $8 billion in 2019 to $15 billion by 2022, according to a Business Insider Intelligence report. Showing no signs of slowing down, influencer marketing is increasingly becoming a vital strategy for businesses to build brand awareness, generate engagement, attract leads, and drive sales.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that employs or engages industry-leading content creators, or influencers, to advocate your business and endorse your products or services. The goal of influencer marketing is to increase the visibility of your company and drive your brand’s message to your target audience via a variety of channels, such as an influencer’s blog and social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc.).

According to HubSpot, 80 percent of marketers say influencer marketing is effective and helpful in growing their businesses. However, it is important to note that an influencer marketing program is only as results oriented and effective as it is managed. When managed properly, it can expand your reach and produce new, unique and positive results for your business.

Understanding the difference between macro-influencers and micro-influencers is a critical aspect of any successful influencer marketing program. Doing so allows you to determine which form of influencer marketing will be most beneficial for your business and the goals you wish to achieve.

Macro-Influencers vs. Micro-Influencers

Macro-influencers are celebrities and other well-known individuals with broad, diverse audiences of hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. There is no denying that macro-influencers are capable of introducing and promoting brands, products and services to a wide-reaching audience; however, this is not always the best influencer marketing strategy for every business. Not every brand has the budget to engage macro-influencers; and depending on your marketing goals and objectives, smaller-scale influencers may be a better fit for your company.

Micro-influencers, on the other hand, typically have between 1,000 to 100,000 followers. They have more specific and targeted audiences, and are regarded as experts in their respective niches. Not only are micro-influencers considered to be far more accessible, affordable and authentic than macro-influencers, they also drive increased awareness, fans and followers, engagement, website and blog traffic, leads, and sales conversions for brands and businesses of all kinds and sizes.

While a micro-influencer’s number of followers is smaller than that of a macro-influencer, they have proven to achieve similar, if not better, results for businesses and brands. In fact, influencer marketing trends predict micro-influencers will continue to rise in 2021 and are emerging as the most effective influencer marketing strategy. As such, more and more businesses are realizing the importance and value in partnering with influencers who have smaller but highly engaged followings.

Below, we share five of the top benefits of using micro-influencers, as opposed to macro-influencers, to build brand awareness and boost sales for your business in 2021 and beyond.

1. Micro-influencers have higher engagement rates.

Did you know that influencers with smaller followings tend to have higher engagement rates than influencers with larger followings? This statistic may catch you by surprise, but according to Markerly, influencers with a follower base of 10,000 to 100,000 offer the best combination of engagement and broad reach, with like and comment rates that exceed influencers with a higher number of followers.

Although micro-influencers have fewer followers, they hold a large and powerful influence on their tight-knit, loyal communities and audiences. Micro-influencers are much more engaged and able to interact more frequently and authentically with their followers. Conversely, macro-influencers have such large followings that it is difficult to engage every single follower on a personal level. The more influencers interact with their audiences on a genuine level, the more connected, relatable and influential they become in the minds of their followers.

This is one of the best ways micro-influencers can benefit your brand, as partnering with them often yields more impactful results by helping connect your brand, message, product or service with their highly engaged and responsive followers.

2. Micro-influencers reach niche and targeted audiences.

Micro-influencers are seen as industry experts and topic specialists in a particular market, and they reach niche and targeted audiences consisting of people who share the same or similar interests. In contrast, macro-influencers have a much broader audience with diversified interests. Thus, partnering with micro-influencers for brand, product or service promotions instead of macro-influencers is often recommended. Doing so allows you to reach highly engaged followers in a specific niche and easily connect with your target audience, as opposed to getting lost in the masses.

3. Micro-influencers are more affordable.

Incorporating a micro-influencer strategy into your marketing mix can benefit your business’s overall budget. Micro-influencers are far more affordable than celebrities or top-tier influencers with millions of followers. This has encouraged many brands to turn to micro-influencers for collaboration.

More often than not, macro-influencers charge thousands of dollars for a single post promoting a product or service, whereas 97 percent of micro-influencers charge less than $500 for a promotional post. Instead of paying a costly fee for a single, short-lived post from one macro-influencer, consider investing in several different micro-influencers to maximize the benefits and longevity of your influencer marketing program. By doing so, you can reach a larger, more engaged and targeted audience that is more likely to have a true interest in your brand and take action on your products or services.

4. Micro-influencers provide more authentic content.

Micro-influencers generally give the impression of being genuine and trustworthy individuals, as they provide their audiences with more authentic and relatable content. They are very invested in the communities they have created, and their followers look to them for honest reviews and recommendations. Because of this, they are strongly motivated to produce creative, high-quality content that impresses their followers as well as the brands with which they work. In doing so, they are able to deliver your brand’s message in a way that will appeal to and resonate with their followers, ultimately encouraging them to transform into potential customers.

5. Micro-influencers generate higher conversion rates.

Collaborating with micro-influencers is an excellent way to increase your conversion rates. According to a recent study, 82 percent of consumers are highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer. This, in part, goes back to the authenticity factor that we mentioned just above. The suggestions and reviews made by micro-influencers are considered to be candid and sincere by their followers.

A great strategy for this is to create special discount codes or affiliate links for your micro-influencers to share with their followers by way of product reviews, tutorials, sponsored posts, etc. In turn, this will encourage and motivate their audiences to purchase your products or services. As a result, there is a strong likelihood your sales conversion rates will increase.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we develop and manage influencer marketing programs for our clients, and carefully research and vet influencers that are the most beneficial for their brands. Contact us if you are looking to kick-off a new or improve a current influencer marketing program for the new year.

Today’s marketing communications world is more integrated than ever before. Companies and corporations around the globe are recognizing the true value and efficacy of melding various aspects of marketing communications to maintain a consistent corporate identity and brand message across traditional and nontraditional channels. Implementing an integrated marketing approach helps businesses reach and interface with their publics and target audiences through the many networks and formats they use to find and purchase products or services.

Corporate public relations and corporate branding are two aspects of marketing communications that are key to the success of any business or corporation. While these two marketing components have separate definitions, strategies and campaigns, they are far more effective when planned and executed synergistically to market and promote a business’s brand. The integration of corporate public relations and corporate branding can convert leads and prospects into new sales and clients for your business. Therefore, it is important to understand how each of the two activities operates separately as well as how they integrate and work together as a unified force.

What is Corporate Public Relations?

Corporate public relations refers to the practice of establishing and maintaining communication and relationships between a business or brand and its various publics, such as its employees, clients or customers, key stakeholders, investors, the media, and the general public. It also involves creating and cultivating a positive reputation and public perception of a corporation.

From brand storytelling to media relations to crisis communications, corporate public relations comprises a wide range of responsibilities and functions that contribute to a company’s long-term success.

• Brand storytelling: Various methods of communication, including press releases, social media posts, newsletters, etc., can be used to disseminate your brand story and messages.
• Media relations: A corporate public relations department manages requests from the media for information about the company and interviews with key executives and managers, as well as conducts media outreach to garner positive coverage in targeted publications and news outlets.
• Crisis communications: If a crisis arises, a company’s public relations team is typically responsible for initiating and guiding the crisis plan, crafting a strategic statement or response, providing information to the media, preparing messaging points to address important groups with interest or involvement in the organization, and advising the company spokesperson on how to respond to the media appropriately and in a way that provides the public with the facts of the situation and explains how the crisis is being handled.

Your corporate public relations strategies and campaigns should be designed to communicate your company’s mission statement, values, products or services, and achievements to the media and general public. A proactive approach is paramount when it comes to corporate public relations. Proactive public relations strategies entail researching, vetting and acquiring new opportunities that generate exposure and activate thought leadership for your business and brand.

Some great ideas for corporate public relations events and activations you should seek to secure include speaking engagements, panel discussions, webinars, podcasts, industry awards and recognitions, and third-party endorsements. Securing these types of opportunities will allow your target audiences to interface with your business and gain a better understanding of your brand, products or services.

What is Corporate Branding?

Corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the name of a business or organization as a whole, rather than the name of a specific product or service. It creates a unique corporate identity for your business that reflects the company’s mission, values, character, and culture. This is conveyed through visual and non-visual elements, including your brand colors, logos, taglines, fonts, product packaging, professional service descriptions, website and blog content, tone of voice, etc. Every message you communicate, both internally and externally, reflects your corporate identity.

Understanding the importance of corporate branding versus corporate public relations is essential. From a public relations standpoint, corporate branding develops and maintains a distinguishable corporate identity and consistent brand messaging that shapes how clients and prospects perceive your brand. Ultimately, it helps stimulate brand recognition, trust and conversions. To achieve this, businesses must create and implement well-planned, creative corporate branding strategies and campaigns.

Successful corporate branding strategies will connect your brand with your target audiences. Social media marketing is a great strategy to increase the visibility of your brand and reach potential customers or clients. Building a social media presence and plan for your business offers users the opportunity to discover your brand, learn about your products or services, ask questions, and share feedback. When executed properly, this strategy can drive brand awareness, engagement, website traffic, sales, and more. You can learn how to create an effective social media marketing plan for your business in our blog post written May 29th.

Branded content can also be used as a corporate branding strategy and campaign. Branded content is a powerful tool that can deliver true value, insight and customer service to your target audiences. In today’s digital landscape, especially, branded content can be packaged in a variety of formats, including videos, podcasts, blog posts, case studies, etc. An effective branded content strategy or campaign can further your brand story and communicate important information about your business to your targeted customers or clients. In a previous blog post, we shared five tips to writing branded content that can help you better grasp how to generate sales leads for your business and brand success.

Corporate public relations and corporate branding both focus on keeping a company’s corporate identity aligned with its brand messaging. Therefore, they may naturally overlap at times, but the results are maximized when they are used in unison. Integrating the two practices and executing them simultaneously ensures your corporate identity and brand messaging are consistent across all channels, creating a unified and seamless experience for your publics and target audiences to engage with your brand. In addition, doing so generates sales and customer loyalty for your business’s brand, products or services because the more you consistently meet or exceed your customers’ expectations, the more they will trust and depend on your brand.

The Eberly & Collard Public Relations team specializes in integrated marketing communications, public relations and corporate branding. By creating and managing integrated public relations and branding strategies and campaigns, our firm helps drive interest in and promote positive perceptions of our clients’ businesses, key personnel and product or service offerings. Contact us if you’re seeking to generate authentic connections with your target audiences that lead to winning their respect, earning their trust and gaining their patronage.