8 Quick Tips For Running Awesome Collaborations With Influencers (In 2023)

Network Marketing and Direct Sales trainers always be like...

You've got to show your products to more people!

But short of buying one of those robot mannequins and setting it up on a busy street corner to wave your products around...

How do you get more people to see your products that doesn't also involve waving goodbye to your soul life? 

Well, what if I told you that there is a way to spread the word about your product to tens of thousands of people...

And you could do it without leaving home or sending endless messages to strangers on social media?

It's real, and it can be done through "Influencer Marketing", and more specifically, by running a "Review & Giveaway". 

Review & Giveaways are these convolutedly-complicated things where you...

Have a person review your product, and then giveaway a sample to their loyal following of die-hard fans.

"Wait a minute!"

You may be thinking...

"That's not convolutedly-complicated at all!"

And you would be correct in your thinking! 

While there are several steps involved...

Review and Giveaways are actually pretty simple when you break it all down.

Review and giveaways basically boil down to these 4 steps of awesomeness:

Got your attention?

Great!

Now here are 8 tips to help you make your review and giveaways mucho successful!

This first step is KEY!!!

You must find a blog with high quality content and a blogger who enjoys working with you and is enthusiastic about your product!

I mean, who would you rather promote your products?

This person... 

Or this person?

If you're not sure about how to find the influencers who will enthusiastically promote your products, then be sure to read my Top 10 Tips for Finding Great Blogs for Your Advertising!

First, be sure to google the name of your business and the name of the blog to see if another consultant or distributor from your company has previously advertised on it.

Many times there is a search bar directly in the blog.

If another consultant has advertised or sponsored a review/giveaway on that particular blog within the past year, then pass on that blog and look for another.

If it has been longer than a year since that consultant advertised on it, then feel free to advertise on it yourself.

This is just good etiquette. 

A lot of blogs will have a tab marked, “Advertising,” “ Media,” or ”PR.”

Click on that and it should tell you their policy.

Sometimes they will not have advertising info on the site, but just say to contact them if you are interested.

Usually they will offer sidebar ads, and/or reviews & giveaways; the better option by far is the R&G!

Sidebar ads are good to have along with a review/giveaway, but they are not very effective by themselves.

The review/giveaway is the best way to make sales.

I usually buy an ad on the sites I do giveaways on as a way to thank the blogger for her time and effort. She is also more likely to work harder at promoting your product if you are a paid sponsor.

Contact the blog owner, tell her who you are, and what you are selling. Tell her why her readers would be interested.

It would be good to double-check that she hasn’t already worked with another consultant for your product within the past year.

Ask if she would be interested in doing a review & giveaway.

Some charge for this, some do it for free, and others do it for free if you buy a sidebar ad. The bigger the readership, the more you will pay.

You could start with smaller blogs to get your feet wet, if you wanted; these are usually free.

Just be aware that you might not sell anything by going with smaller blogs.

 If your goal is make sales and gain more enrollees, then you will want to find larger bloggers to collaborate with.

When researching blogs to advertise on, look up their previous giveaways and see how much participation there was.

This will give you a good idea of the response that your giveaway would receive.

Another tip is to actually contact the other business owners who did previous giveaways on that blog, and see what results they got.

A little bit of time investing in research, may save you a lot of time and money down the road.

Once the blog owner agrees, ask her to go to your website and let you know which product(s) she would like, along with her mailing address.

Then YOU place the order for her.

Put her name and address in the shipping section, and your name and address in the billing section. Then you pay for her order.

You can also just send her an item from your personal inventory.

All bloggers have different ways of running their giveaways.

Some (especially the larger ones) will only allow one entry, such as name and email address, to keep it simple with thousands of entrants. Others will allow multiple entries.

All of these links are great to use as entries into your giveaway! 

One of the best entries is to ask the participants to visit your website, and comment with what product is their favorite. This gets them onto your site to see all the beautiful things you offer!

If your website has cookies enabled as well, then if that person ever buys in the future, it will be credited to you. 

Of course, all other entries are secondary to capturing the contact information of these hot prospects (a.k.a email address).

This is why it's best if you run the giveaway using a tool like KingSumo or UpViral.

King Sumo is free, so that is what I recommend, especially if you are just starting out.

As a matter of fact, our last giveaway generated over 1,200 leads, and over $600 in sales!

And you NEED to follow-up. 

People are unlikely to buy from you the first time they hear about you. That's just a reality. 

Now, having an influencer they trust introduce you first definitely helps...

But most of your sales are going to come on later "touches", meaning, other times they hear about you in the future. 

In fact, according to the "Rule of Seven", which Business Insider credits to marketing expert Dr. Jeffrey Lant, you have to contact the prospect a minimum of SEVEN times within an 18-month period before they are convinced to buy. 

So you NEED to build an email list, and then continually provide value to that list.

 
Now that you're clear on your entries, you'll also want to send the blogger some pics to post in her review.

Of course, if she is willing to model and post her own pics of herself using your product, that is even better!

If you find some wrong links, let the blogger know as soon as possible, and ask her to please change them to the correct ones. This is no joke!

I can't tell you how many times I, or those on my team, have been so excited for an R&G to go live, only to realize after it's too late that the LINKS DIDN'T WORK!!!

Once you've verified that everything looks good, post links to the giveaway on your Facebook page, and other social media.

...And, of course, your email your list! Letting your list know about giveaways are a fantastic way to add value. 

It is always a great idea to use the Golden Rule as a guide when running your business.

Your goal for advertising your product is to find new customers, and as a reminder to your current customers.

Don't try to "steal" customers from fellow consultants, who've worked hard to get them!

The morale and team spirit of your company will be a reflection of how you all treat one another.

Do you want to foster an environment of competition and mistrust, or of teamwork and caring for one another?

It may seem like you are losing out at first, but you soon you will find the blessings being returned to you many times over!

The Golden Rule really will bring YOU gold, not just others.

And when you're building a business...this is often literally true.

To top things off, do you know how many blogs are out there?

They outnumber all the grains of sand on all of the beaches on Earth.

Or wait...maybe I'm thinking of the stars?

At any rate, there are a TON of blogs out there, and more than enough to go around. You don't need to steal. 

Put others first, and your business will flourish.  

This is the fun part! It's now time to make somebody's day!

You'll randomly choose a winner, and then send your winner an enthusiastic email, congratulating them for winning!

Give your winner instructions on what you need from them to redeem their prize, and help them decide which item to choose, if they have a choice.

Your winner will most likely end up a loyal customer, and possibly a consultant themselves!

Be sure to send  personal emails or, better yet, snail-mail thank you’s to your customers!

Your customers will really appreciate the extra care and thoughtfulness, and are more likely to become your loyal customers for life!

Be sure they are happy with their purchase, and remind them of your company's guarantee.  

Sincerely thank your blogger, who invested her time promoting your product!

If your giveaway made a profit or gained a new enrollee, and your blogger was helpful and easy to work with, then be sure to continue working with her!

Buy advertising on her site, and schedule your next R&G! One a quarter is a good general rule-of-thumb.

Like I said, it usually takes a person seeing a new product several times, before taking the plunge to purchase.

Also, whenever your company has a sale or introduction of a new product, be sure to ask your blogger if she could give it a shout-out, either on her blog or in her social media.

Many times her shout-outs can be as effective as a giveaway!

Don’t give up!

If your first few blogs don’t work out, don’t get discouraged; just try elsewhere.

Not all blogs will turn a profit, and actually, many may not.

If you have an awesome product, and are looking at the right blogs, you are bound to be successful if you just keep trying and experimenting!

You just need to find a few gems to build your business, but it will take trying many to find the few.

Consider it a treasure hunt and have fun!