social media

Marketing Stats Got Us Fired Up. Jumping Into 2020 Like…

The world of content marketing, much like your average pop star, is always evolving. It’s critical for your business that you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the industry. It can be an exhausting task if you don’t know where to look. One of our favorite ways to stay on top of marketing trends is to keep an eye on yearly statistics.

We’ve rounded up some of the most surprising content marketing statistics from around the web to help make 2020 your most focused and successful year yet. Using these statistics to guide and inform your content decisions for the year, you can leverage data to bring results in terms of the attention, awareness and leads you have set as your goals.

Let’s start with the obvious statement of 2020: Mobile isn’t the new kid anymore. It’s the most common way people access the web. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t some surprising numbers:

There might be a lot of talk about social media, but that doesn’t mean that email is becoming any less valuable: it can do much more than just getting messages into inboxes. When it comes to customers’ acquisition & retention especially if you’re looking for direct impact and reach, there’s no competition with email marketing. Email marketing has stood the test of time—it remains as one of the most effective ways to generate new leads and get users back to your site time and again.

Speaking of email, the success of any email campaign depends on the open rate. But the fact is that while when you send your email is important, the what and the why are just as integral to your success. Finding the perfect day for your email doesn’t mean much if the email isn’t an intriguing value add to your subscribers lives. And while Tuesday’s have the highest open rates, they have the highest unsubscribe rates, too.

These stats show something we’ve always known and focused on—people really are looking for content. There’s a lot of data out there showing why blog posts are an important part of any marketing strategy. Frequent posts can help bring clicks to your website, thanks to organic search and SEO. A wide range of content, and making sure to focus on building your voice, will help build your brand’s online voice. And as is the case with all of our digital content, authenticity is key: consistently sharing fresh, engaging and quality content is just as important as the content quantity.

This stat shows that the app is clearly the leader when it comes to mobile social media use. No other social media network comes close to the mobile referral traffic that Pinterest has. Pinterest reported having 322 million monthly active users worldwide at the end of last year and 71% of global Pinterest users are female. In the United States alone, Pinterest reaches 83% of women ages 25-54, the same group who make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households.

Audience relationship is one of the most important factors to consider when running an influencer campaign, which is one of the many reasons we frequently pair our brands with micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are passionate content creators: 77% publish content daily, with nearly half (48%) publishing at least twice a day. Nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels. And a recent survey found that 42% of daily U.S. Instagram users bought something because a blogger or influencer they trusted recommended it.

Audiences are hungry for locally inspired content from a business they recognize: For one of our clients we generated local brand awareness through a campaign of co-branded assets, supported by local social ads. This campaign was a powerful lead generator for the companies, and outperformed all of their other content for the year.

Out of all the 2020 marketing stats out there, this one surprised us the most: only 30% of marketers say their content strategy is effective. We can’t imagine not being part of that 30%.

If you’re looking for guidance on putting together a solid and smart content marketing strategy in 2020, let ultraviolet help.

Social Climbing: Why Partnering With the Right Influencer Matters

As an agency that works with both brands and influencers, we’re always striving for authenticity in partnership building. We want our brands and influencer partners to align so seamlessly that one seems a natural extension of the other.

For example, one of our clients, Polycor, quarries natural stone, so we would not pair them with a designer who uses a lot of manufactured materials like quartz. But if you are a design influencer who uses organic materials in your work and frequently speaks about sustainability, then their natural stone is for you.

Eva Amurri—mom, actress, entrepreneur, and founder of lifestyle blog Happily Eva After—is a natural stone lover. See what she’s excited about in the world of design for 2020.

We know that thoughtful, relevant and real campaigns provide value to an audience: they allow influencers to provide useful tips and give helpful advice while providing a platform for brands to reach the influencer’s enrapt audience. But there’s a line that’s easy to cross here: irrelevant, ill-conceived or insincere partnerships can alienate an audience. And too many brand sponsorships can have the same effect.

finding the right influencer

The kind of influencers you want to partner with care about their reputation and the authenticity of their content. When sponcon, aka sponsored content, is done right, it’s a golden opportunity leveraged perfectly, where everyone from the brand to the influencer to the audience, benefit. But when it’s not, it can be awkward, disengaging and in the worst case, a PR disaster.

With this potential for problems, why do we think brands should partner with influencers? According to a study commissioned by Snap Inc. with Sparkler, 31% of people say influencers and celebrities inform their purchasing decisions. Influencers are expert communicators who build brand awareness with their engaged audience. They drive traffic, convert leads and generate sales. And when you’re working with micro-influencers, they’re an excellent value providing great opportunities for smaller brands. The bottom line is this: influencers are called that for a reason: they are influential.

how audiences perceive influencer sponcon

One of our design influencer partners, Kate Pearce of Kate Pearce Vintage recently asked her followers on Instagram what they think about branded content. Here are a couple of the responses she received:

Kate Pearce features her eclectic mix of unique vintage pieces and maxed out color and prints.

suzannerian: The only time I get turned off by branded content is when every post or almost every post is branded and it becomes clear that the voice of the page and the art that drew me there is no longer authentic and fun.

thegoatabode: Sometimes ads do seem forced, but most of the time I actually like seeing what people do with the products. I’m all for artists and creators getting paid by big companies for their ideas! When big companies get behind creators, I think good things happen.

brooksandstone: There are a few accounts that I follow that suddenly started promoting Walmart for example and I just can’t get behind that knowing it’s 100% about money.

curlydawn: I think if it’s unique and not forced, it’s so much less annoying. Can I tell you how sick I am of watching every IGer and blogger open the same damn Fab Fit Fun box? Unique, authentic content won’t ever annoy me.

Sarisa “Risi” Munoz, the insta-famous creative guru behind The Indigo Leopard Home, was a style match for global home décor brand SmithHönig.

Instagram has been around since 2010, so it’s reassuring that followers understand being an influencer is a real job and that the people they follow deserve to get paid for what they do. And while being an influencer might seem like it’s all island vacations and avocado toast, it comes with real responsibility: the Federal Trade Commission is constantly updating the guidelines for social influencers and brands.

Most influencers will say that they genuinely like and use the products they promote in their sponsored posts, but since those posts are designed to blend with organic content, it raises some questions for their audience: Is this a genuine post or am I being sold to right now? Am I supposed to believe this is their real opinion and not ad copy? If your authenticity is a commodity, is it even authentic even more?

Some other influencers weighed in on Kate Pearce’s branded content post, too:

Joanna Hawley of jojotastic gets real about her life as much as she does about the products she endorses on social.

jojotastic: I always make sure any partnership I take on is the right fit because honestly… readers can smell BS a mile away! It’s not worth it!

design.playbook: I always try to work with brands that relate to the content/subject matter I’m creating. I always ask myself if the brand aligns with my mission/goals/reason for why I have the account. If it’s questionable then I don’t do it.

From the consumer, brand and content creator perspectives, it’s clear that pushing product on the wrong audience is worthless. Which is why it’s so important to us that when we play matchmaker between brands and influencers, we set them both up for success.

Looking to assess your current influencer marketing strategy? I’ll be speaking at the Design Influencers Conference, the premier conference and experience for professionals interested in learning about social media and digital content marketing in the interior design industry. Join me and countless influencers, designers, social media practitioners, traditional media, leading brands, new media innovators, and industry leaders in exploring where the worlds of interior design and new media converge.

Think you’ve found the perfect influencer to showcase your products? Let’s help you kickstart the relationship on a positive, professional note.

How to Get Your Design and Remodeling Business Noticed on Instagram

With an eye for design and a steady stream of likable images, architects, remodelers and home builders have emerged as strong players on Instagram, using the platform to drive traffic to their websites and create a buzz where they live and work.

“My own growth was exponential because of Instagram because I was able to reach a broader audience,” said Jen Laurens, the Philly based designer behind Tiny Anchor Studios.

Though Laurens primarily works in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, one of her current clients is in Chicago. The client was a referral but the contractor, the cabinet maker, and even the guy making the floating shelves, came from social media connections. “The whole job could be dialed back to Instagram. When I got the job I followed a contractor in Chicago and he followed me and I said, ‘Think we can make this work?'” And together they have been doing an entire condo reno together.

Laurens says one of the things she loves about Instagram is that it gives her a platform to show her process and speak to her audience authentically, more than platforms like Houzz which she notes are two dimensional.

“It’s more insightful. I don’t talk a lot on Instagram, it’s mostly pictures of tiles and designs, but when I do, I speak from the heart, and when I meet people they say, ‘You’re exactly how I thought you be,'” she said. “So when I go to their home they already know my style. They know how I work. They know what they’re getting, which just helps my cause.”

“Instagram is the best online resume you could ask for,” said Laurens.

Building that online resume isn’t intuitive for everyone, but there are some simple guidelines and best practices that any designer or remodeler can apply to their business.

If you’re on Insta and want to use it to drive more business, read on because today we’re going to cover how to get noticed on the platform.

In our work for building product brands, we’ve found that the most successful business accounts follow these six best practices on Instagram.

They each:

Engage with the audience and create a culture around their company or personal brand
Focus on their target audience, not their company
Stay consistent by staying true to their message
Use professional photography and video when possible
Have a hashtag strategy
Review Instagram insights and pivot when needed

House Seven Design (a UV influencer partner) is on a steady rise in Indianapolis where the husband and wife design and remodel team live and work, often using their home and their IG as a lab for product partnerships.

Optimize your profile for your audience

Before they become fans and followers, users will check out your profile as a litmus test of your relevance to their needs.

You can set yourself apart from competitors with three points of distinction:

Geography
Style
Expertise and awards

See this example from Bob Borson, an architect and influencer. He’s hits all the points: Dallas, modern and Young Architect of the Year. And because he’s Bob, the magic point 4: humor. If being cheeky fits your personality and your brand, go for it.

Keep your feed lively and relevant

Posting beautiful pictures is important to generate a following, but it’s not the only driver of followers and engagement. We’ve found a direct correlation between a company’s engagement and their ability to capture and share images of their own work. Even pretty pictures can feel sterile when there isn’t an authentic connection to your work, your team or your community.

Our favorite architect, builder and designer accounts all:

Cultivate a connection to their location
Showcase their points of difference from competitors
Get personal
Have a sense of humor
Feature their skills and expertise
Give a behind-the-scenes look into the work and process

A few examples:

Patterson Custom Homes in Newport Beach, California uses their images to connect with history, locale and style.

Polycor, a quarrier of natural stone for countertops, works with designers like Holly Hollingsworth of The English Room to showcase how its products hold up in real life.

Architect Bob Borson gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse that’s both artful and indicative of a hard working office with big projects.

Blogger and design-build professional Sarah Gibson has created a personable voice for her account Room For Tuesday by regularly sharing her handsome pets. Even if your audience is full of cat people, they’ll love the (occasional) cameo from your good dog.

The husband and wife duo behind The Handmade Home are humble and approachable, and that endears them to their audience. Who wouldn’t want to hire a design-build team that’s both talented and grateful?

Jen Laurens from Tiny Anchor Studios uses her account to highlight her design process and the work of her expert contractors who bring it to life – even (and especially) when the job doesn’t go as planned. (I think you can guess which shoes belong to Laurens.)

Craft a consistent look on your feed

Think of your feed as a series of 12 panel art installations. Each post should stand on its own for attractiveness and relevance, AND it should be part of a cohesive look.

Check out Tiny House Basics’ feed. It features a consistent palette of colors – soft blue, green and earth tones – and a nice mix of installation and people images.

The simplest way to do this is to plan your posts a month out. You can Rubik’s Cube the images around in your gallery until you’ve created a layout that’s balanced (we suggest the Preview app). And if you’re using a filter, stick to one for consistency.

But what about those not-so-pretty process pics? That’s where Instagram Stories come in.

If you’re onsite for demo day, you’ve got a great opportunity to let your audience go behind-the-scenes of one of your projects. Audiences love getting a glimpse behind the curtain to see the wizard at work. But those images of busted sheetrock and ugly before kitchens don’t look awesome on a feed.

Let IG Stories be your home for everything from demo to install days and all the trials and triumphs along the way.

For more insta-inspiration, check out our post: Behind the Scenes with ultraviolet Influencer Ariel Garneau of PMQ for Two.

Interior Designers, Bloggers Get Honest About Tech at #WNWN

We were curious, too, which is why we sat in during the What’s Next in Tech panel. Hosted in the Odegard Carpets suite, the discussion was one of dozens offered throughout the day during the New York Design Center’s 9th annual What’s New What’s Next event.

The session was sponsored by Dering Hall. DH’s Executive Editor, Dennis Sarlo, moderated a panel of design luminaries, including: Katie Curtis, Kati Curtis Design, Paloma Contreras, Patrick Dragonette, Dragonette Ltd, and Joe Human of designs by human — all of whom laughed and groaned the entire way through their panel.

Here’s the hot list of what they shared (we heard):

Instagram is the preferred platform for interior designers, especially now that there are so many enhanced features that support enhanced storytelling, especially behind-the-scenes of their design choices and installation. Designers also use Instagram to connect with each other and as a way to get to know colleagues.

It’s always a thrill to meet in person at events like these after ‘getting to know’ each other on Instagram. — Paloma Contreras, Founder of La Dolce Vita Blog

Pinterest is growing in popularity — quickly. Designers are loving the ability to browse and see what other designers are doing with materials. They’re also using the app to research how people are sharing and saving their own work. Plus to see how design-minded users are loving and sharing with each other. Contreras and Curtis use the app to “give clients homework”. They ask clients to make boards on Pinterest to help better identify their likes and dislikes and help guide design choices.
None of the designers felt like they spend enough time or attention on their social platforms. All expressed trepidation about adding more social media work to their plate.

Designers prefer to get better at using what’s already working for them than adopt new social channels.

Designers use social media to spot trends and see how products and buyer tastes are developing. However, panel members cautioned against “jumping on trends” and posting content about trends, “just because you think people are looking for that”.

If I told you I didn’t care about trends…didn’t know them, I’d by lying. But we need to be authentic, always, and stick to posting about things we truly care about.– Kati Curtis

The panel’s favorite tech tools to stay on top of project management and improve team communication are: Asana, dapulse, Slack, Google Docs.
Everyone on the panel groaned and agreed the number one pain point for them regarding tech is finding a system that makes keeping track of hours, easy. Everyone agreed it’s one of the most time consuming tasks, no one had a tool that worked brilliantly, and they (themselves) all do it badly!
Blogging is critical, and almost no one feels they commit enough time to do it as well as they’d like, or post as regularly as they’d like.
Websites are less and less important vis-a-vis building audience for products and services, but they’re still a “nice” place to direct people to once you’ve connected with them online.

As the media strategist for design product brands like Polycor natural stone and Vetrazzo recycled glass, we experience some of the same pains and observations these designer do (hello time tracking…), and we’ve got a few takeaways from our experience with design industry clients:

Company websites will continue to be critical for doing business, but it’s conversation and relationship that grow a business. Making connections with clients, suppliers, brands and professionals on social media is where companies will see the most business growth in the next few years.

Social media requires a strategic approach that incorporates relationship building, lead generation and press relations. The designers and brands that see the most revenue growth are those invest in professional social media marketing (and save their energy for creative design).

Not all social channels are necessary for a company to have an effective social media presence. That designers tend to stick to those that are working makes sense. So long as they have analytics to prove it. When we analyze a company’s website referral traffic to see which channel gives the most powerful referrals, we uncover new opportunities to grow leads and customers.

If you’re looking to grow your brand’s reach (and revenue) consider influencer marketing. Download our guide to brand ambassadors.

What is a tweet chat? One Hour of Killer Lead Gen. Don’t Miss It.

What is a tweet chat? One of my favorite social media tools and an exciting way to discover new people, products, partners and… prospects.

These are live Twitter events focused around a general topic and often scheduled for the same time and day, and held weekly or monthly. They’re about an hour long.

Chats are moderated and engaged by a media outlet, individual, company or organization. You can host a tweet chat or participate in one. For instance, #KBTribeChat, a kitchen and bath industry event, is hosted and moderated by Garcia Cabinet Makers. My team and I participate in these weekly chats on behalf of our materials clients, Polycor and Vetrazzo, both countertop companies.

Tweet chats offer quick opportunities to gain access to the key players on social media in your industry. People who can influence others and talk up your products or services.

What make tweet chats unique?

The people on the chat aren’t necessarily the same people you’re going to see at a networking event anytime soon (or ever). You can save the plane or subway ticket and talk to them right on Twitter. It’s a great place to showcase your industry knowledge. You’re not going to bust out a pic, video or blog in that cocktail party but on the tweet chat you can.

During a tweet chat at an ICFF industry event I mentioned my agency’s colorful office design and designer Bobby Berk liked the tweet. Months later I engaged Bobby again on Twitter connecting him with the building’s interior designer and scheduling a visit the space, a midcentury Eero Saarinen iconic structure called Bell Works.

And true to his word, Bobby Berk paid us a visit. Here he is with Paula Zamudio of NPZ Style + Decor, and Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset Development and the creator of the Bell Works project. I love when social media leads to social in real life!

Great connections and social visits aren’t the only benefits of tweet chats. Here are 10 more reasons your company should participate in a weekly chat:

Increased blog visits
More followers
More engagement
More opportunities for press coverage
Better relationships with bloggers and brand ambassadors
More opportunities for backlinks
Invitations to participate in industry events and conversations
More conversions on your website
Sales opportunities
Content ideas (What are people interested in and talking about?)

Pretty great right?

In many cases, companies sponsor and/or moderate the questions in a tweet chat. Through pics, links to blogs and conversations, they soft sell products, gauge interest in potential products, connect with social influences and prospective brand ambassadors, and boost attendance at events. Last week’s #KBTribeChat was sponsored by The International Surfaces Event, a materials trade show, and we tweeted from our client @Polycor’s account.

How do tweet chats work?

A hashtag is used to filter all the tweets for the chat’s single conversation. i.e. #ModernMonday which is run by Dwell and Design Milk. The moderator will pose questions tagged Q1, Q2… to prompt responses from participants who will answer with A1, A2.

Here’s an example of a predetermined question gave us an organic way of introducing our client’s product into a conversation.

In the same chat we had the opportunity to strengthen our client’s relationships with one of its distributors, Walker Zanger. Here, as Polycor we, tweeted our support of Walker Zanger’s charity efforts to recycle luxury home building materials. Good for the planet, good for the partnership and good for the people helped. That’s the kind of cocktail party like conversation and collaboration you only get when people have a place to interact online.

The best way to get comfortable engaging in a tweet chat is to watch one first and then jump in yourself next time. (You don’t have to answer every question but when you do, don’t forget the tweet chat official hashtag or your tweets won’t be part of the conversation).

Proper tweet chat etiquette

A chat is not about the sell. It’s about showing up and communicating. Relating to people in your industry, being helpful and supporting one another. Your product or service is secondary to the relationships you are starting and sustaining in these weekly conversations. (Often you’ll find many of the same people coming back every week.) Showing up regularly will keep you top of mind.

One way to engage with people is to retweet with a relevant quote / comment. Thank people who retweet, quote, like your tweets. Thank people for following you. Follow people back who you have interest in. You will not always be able to know if this person is valuable to you until later. More here on how to develop serendipitous relationships via Twitter.

We connected with the cabinet makers who run the KBTribeChat tweetchat.

Their social media manager often shares our content, and we’ve also been able to have the opportunity to host two tweet chats and provide our own questions. A great opportunity to connect with designers and to gain visibility and awareness.

Respond to the questions with the hashtag and relevant answer. Ie. start a tweet with the answer to their question. These will most likely be numbered. See example below.

How to choose a chat

If your industry is say, cyber security, you want to find a chat where CIOs and IT professionals are hanging out. You can visit Tweetreports to find ongoing tweet chats relevant to your industry. (It’s not a great directory, but I haven’t found one better.)

You will first need to lay out your goals for participating. Like anything, don’t waste time or money investing in the work with no end goal. One of our goals with our client Vetrazzo, makers of recycled glass countertops, is to connect them with designers who love to use bold color in their designs. Through a chat we connected with DIY Network host of Big Beach Builds Marnie Oursler.

Marnie is very active with the Vetrazzo brand online and represents a huge opportunity to showcase and use our product. Our continued communication on Twitter and tweet chats led to a phone call and a confirmation that they will use the materials in the near future. Score for social pr!

Download our guide to finding Brand Ambassadors on Instagram

Is that tweet chat worth your time?

Use these four questions to help qualify a tweet chat as worth your effort:

How many followers does the tweet chat host have? Note quality can be more important than numbers. Review the participation and the host’s followers to gauge whether the chat is right for you.
How much engagement does the tweet chat hashtag get? Retweets, answers, questions.
Are large companies participating? If yes, that’s a good indication that the host is credible and offers value to its sponsors.
Are your target personas on the chat? Are you trying to reach brand ambassadors or your consumers directly? Know your target market, media or brand ambassadors and if they are on the chat. More on brand ambassadors here.

Who should do the chatting?

The person who should be tweeting should understand your company, growth goals, strategies and trends. It also helps if they have a genuine love for the subject matter. Shannon and I take turns writing answers for tweet chats based on our expertise related to the topic. We both are design lovers, but Shannon has very recent remodeling and DIY design experience to pull from, and I have an art background that helps me with color and trend topics.

Who should the participate in your tweet chat? Whoever owns your social media marketing, whether your internal pr rep, agency or marketing associate, this representative on Twitter should also be the one to manage collaborations that develop out of social media work, like brand partnerships.

Being active on Twitter is great for business, but it’s not enough. Twitter only provides lead gen when you are engaging regularly with your target audience. Carefully chosen tweet chats are opportunities for leads in pr, marketing and sales. Whether it be as a source for a blogger or news outlet, or as an expert in your industry for a referral.

Hop on a tweet chat this week and see for yourself all the conversations happening in your industry, and next week, you’ll be ready to start your own Twitter lead gen.

The Publicist’s Essential Guide To Meeting Brand Ambassadors on Social

Ten years ago my answer to the cocktail party question, “What do you do?” was as easy as two letters: PR.

These days that answer is: I help companies in the design and build industry connect with their targets through social media, content marketing, public relations and strategic partnerships (say that after two cocktails). The PR job has changed dramatically in the last decade. The press release, once king of the PR world, has ceded the throne to the much younger, much more persuasive heir, social media and her loyal advisor the brand ambassador.

2016 PR is social PR.

PR has always been about building relationships (with media and industry), but the scope has changed: The tools are better (thank you inbound marketing). The audiences bigger. And the opportunity for connections dizzying. At Marketing Rival the bulk of my work focuses on using the content we produce for clients to connect with and nurture leads with brand ambassadors, and I do it almost exclusively on social media. And it’s a lot more fun.

In this post I’ll use an example from one of our clients to show you how you can find and make meaningful connections with potential brand ambassadors to establish strategic brand partnerships.

Polycor is a mid-sized company which owns and operates natural stone quarries in the US and Canada Their customers are stone distributors, but to drive demand we spend most of our time talking to designers and architects who spec their material.

When we look for a brand ambassador/strategic marketing partner, we’re usually looking for a person (but sometimes a small brand like a boutique appliance company) to incorporate our material into their design and share it with their audience as part of a native ad or with the media (like a designer who frequently writes for Houzz or Dwell).

When I look for a brand ambassador I’ve got more in mind than follower counts. I want authentic coverage for my client that hits on a personal note with actual people. An ambassador for my clients (usually a design blogger) must write, curate and share content that is relatable, emotional, and personal. The right brand ambassador for my client is one that is just as concerned about delivering the right content for her audience as she is about doing good work for my client (and getting the check).

It’s not just about search and increasing web traffic. Brand ambassador relationships are about sales, and you increase sales when you connect with a person. I choose a media partner or brand ambassador based on their natural connection to my client’s product — in this case natural stone, like US marble.

I’m not just looking for a tear sheet of my client’s stone; I want coverage that’s woven into the partner’s life. (Don’t get me wrong, these are native ads, not free spotlights, but I want the blogger’s connection to my brand to be so personal that she might have done it for free.) In other words, we don’t want to force the content.

Instagram is the top channel for designers, and the Marketing Rival team spends a lot of time there following and engaging with designers about their work and their stone choices. That’s where I spotted designer Melinda McCoy from House 214, and her concrete kitchen counters. The dark color and texture reminded me of my client’s soapstone so I struck up a conversation with her.

As the relationship developed I got to know her style better and could see that she was actually a better fit for marble. I sent her a photograph of Polycor’s domestic marble called White Cherokee. This was her response: “I am excited to discuss a possible collaboration. I have been thinking of placing a slab of marble on my dining room table for over a year now, but haven’t found the right fit. When you sent the picture of that kitchen I thought, that is it!”

We look for someone who loves natural stone, wants to feature Polycor prominently in one of their designs, and considers the value of the materials we give as a sizable part of the project fee. Generally this is a design savvy blogger who loves natural materials, has a chic, well written site, and a following.

Our client is an established company but newer to marketing, so we’re open to bloggers with smaller followings and smaller rates because it allows us to grow together. A designer like this has a built-in audience of like-minded shoppers and we can count on them to provide beautiful images, great copy and good traffic back to our site.

We won’t work with someone who favors manmade materials like quartz and porcelain over natural stone. And we won’t pursue a relationship with a blogger who’s writing only about food or pets or fashion. Our native advertising must make sense with the platform — an interior home design blog for instance — and be appealing to the audience who wants to read about design trends and materials.

The most effective way to attract loyal, connected brand ambassadors is to employ those solid inbound marketing principals you’re already following: write great targeted content, publish and engage on social media, qualify and nurture leads.

When you cultivate an audience of people who genuinely love what you’re doing you’re building a pool of loyal, engaged brand ambassadors who will stick with you not just because you’ve contracted with them, but because they truly feel connected to your product and are honored to be associated with the brand.

A version of this blog was originally published on HubSpot: It’s Not About The Release Anymore. PR is Now Social PR.

Looking for some practical examples on finding and connecting with your ideal brand partner? Download the ebook: A Social PR Expert’s Guide to Attracting (And Qualifying) Loyal Brand Ambassadors With Social PR