Building Long-Term Relationships With Influencers In Ecommerce

Do you want influencers to truly connect with your brand? Stop treating them like billboards!  Think of influencer marketing like a great friendship—it’s built on trust, not just transactions. Do this: “Hey [Influencer], I love how you [specific thing they do]. Your content on [topic] really connects with your audience, and we think our brand aligns perfectly with that. Let’s create something amazing together.  Don't do this: “Hi, we’d love for you to promote our product. Here’s the brief. Let us know your rates.”  Do this: Give influencers creative freedom! “We love your storytelling style. Here’s our vision—how would you bring it to life in a way that feels natural to your audience?”  Don't do this: Micromanage every post. “Use this exact caption, pose like this, and make sure to show the logo in the first three seconds. (Yikes!)  Do this: Engage before you pitch. Comment on their posts, share their content, and build a relationship first. When you finally reach out, it won’t feel random—it’ll feel genuine.  Don't do this: Cold DM without context. “Hey, we love your content! Can you promote our product?” (No relationship = No response.)  See the pattern? Personalization + Trust + Respect = Authenticity. When influencers feel valued, they create content that’s real, not just another #ad. And guess what? Their audience feels it too! So next time you reach out, remember: It’s not just business—it’s a partnership. Build relationships, not just campaigns.  Your brand will thank you later. Follow Makarand Utpat for insights related to Digital marketing, business and leadership. #influencermarketing #management #communication #culture

The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing. We rebuilt our entire creator strategy around this idea. Here's our exact playbook for becoming part of the feed (instead of interrupting it)... First, forget everything you know about the typical "influencer marketing." This isn't about paying for posts and asking them to look into the camera and say “I like this”. It's about building genuine partnerships that compound over time. Let me share what actually works for us: 1. How we find aligned creators 2. Content that actually works 3. Building real partnerships 4. Scaling without losing authenticity 1. Focus on depth over reach Look for creators that are highly aligned with your brand and engaged with their audience. Then help them pick ONE product that will truly resonate. Don’t just throw your catalog at them. Specific stories > Generic promotion 2. Arm them with knowledge, not rules We send creators extensive product knowledge when we start out. But it’s not to control their message. It’s to arm them with the information, background, and assets that they need to succeed. Let them tell your story their way. 3. Trust their creative instincts That video with "poor lighting" or "bad framing"? It often outperforms our polished content. Why? Because it feels real. Like it belongs in the feed. Stuff people would watch if it was their friends or family. 4. Think long-term We don't just send a product + a brief and be done with it. We nurture the relationship: • Do monthly product sends • Share launch previews • Include them in campaign planning • Ask for their input Creators become partners. Partners become advocates. This compounds over time. But here's the challenge: Managing these deep relationships with 100+ creators? It's chaos if you’re doing it manually. Between emails, direct messages, product sends, follow-ups, asset management… It’s a huge amount of friction. And we were dropping balls daily. That's when we use SARAL - The Influencer OS to manage our creator relationships. Their platform lets us: - Build genuine relationships at scale - Track every conversation - Manage product sends - Monitor performance - Process commissions Now we can focus on what matters: Building real partnerships instead of managing spreadsheets. Remember, the future isn't about interrupting the feed. It's about becoming part of it through genuine content that feels true to the platform. #proudpartner

If a brand wanted to get their message out to NBA fans, they wouldn’t say, “Hey, let’s sponsor Lebron during one Lakers game and see what happens.” Instead, in traditional advertising channels, deeper integrations over long time periods are the standard because they work. LeBron wearing Beats headphones before every game and giving them out as gifts to his teammates has a very different impact than LeBron showing up in a single commercial wearing a cool set of headphones. Yet, for some reason, brands approach creator partnerships differently. They throw money at a single MrBeast video, a one-off TikTok campaign, or a short-term Instagram push, and then wonder why it doesn’t drive results for the long term. The reality? It takes the average person hearing something at least seven times before it actually sticks. Even a well-placed ad in the best MrBeast video is going to be erased from the average teenage mind the second the next video starts. Ask any parent. Say something once, it’s ignored. Say it seven times, maybe it gets through. Say it constantly, and suddenly, it becomes second nature. I see some brands are starting to get it. Sephora, for example, has built long-term ambassador programs where creators seamlessly integrate into their campaigns over time. They don’t just pay for fleeting impressions, they build relationships between their brand, creators, and their audiences. But I’ve been surprised how slowly this thinking has been adopted across other segments like retail and automotive. Why aren’t more brands investing in consistent, long-term creator partnerships? It’s a conundrum I’m highly curious to understand (and fix) as creators' channels are the new TV networks (with bigger and more loyal audiences). Insights?