‘Brands must trust influencers and give them creative freedom’

Brands should give influencers the creative freedom to build content to extract the maximum benefits of the outreach, said influencers at the 13th edition of the annual India Public Relations and Corporate Communications Conference (IPRCCC).

During a panel discussion on the importance of influencer marketing and PR strategy for a brand, travel influencer Nitika Panjwani said influencers know how to sell a product and brands must trust them with it.

“Brands should give us the power to create content that is true to us and the audience. They should give us the creative freedom to create content because we know our audience better than the brand. We know how to sell or promote a particular product,” Panjwani said.

Sharing his experience with brands, food influencer Gurpreet Singh Tikku said, for influencers, viewers are first and everything else is secondary.

“Evolution of brands and influencers is happening at a fast pace. If an adventure sports brand reaches out to me, I know it will not engage my audience. That must be remembered. But otherwise, you always customise for the brand and ensure viewers are first, rest of the things are secondary,” he said.

Also present at the discussion was fashion influencer Itika Kamra, who asserted that a right connection between a brand and an influencer is vital for better outcomes.

“First thing is to understand what the brand wants from us. But it is very important for a brand to understand our niche as well because everybody is doing different stuff. They have different audiences. It is important to have the right communication and connect with your brand. It is a win-win for both the brand and the influencer,” Kamra said.

She also stressed on the need for a brand to be patient with an influencer as sales cannot happen immediately.

“Brands must understand that sales cannot happen as soon as an influencer puts out the content. They should give time, especially to budding influencers,” she said.

Sharing another challenge, Panjwani said that brands should have exclusive contracts as sometimes two to three brands of similar products reach out and it can confuse the audience.

“The contracts should be exclusive because as a creator I get two-three brands of the same niche every day. Maintaining exclusivity is important as it can confuse my audiences if I promote the same products from three different brands. For example, jewellery. If I promote three jewellery brands, my audiences will get confused and question it. So, exclusivity is important,” she said.

Speaking to Jagriti Motwani, Co-Founder and Chief, Cha Chi, who was moderating the discussion, Gagan Talwar, Managing Director, Businesswire India, said influencer marketing has picked up in last couple of years as brands want to connect with the audience in a much deeper and stronger way.

“One can change the content as per requirement. Today technology has helped a lot. This influencer marketing game will pick up. This is just the beginning. It will do wonders in the coming years,” he said.

According to Talwar, identifying the right influencer is the key.

“Identifying the right influencer is the key. That’s the secret story behind every marketing campaign. The audiences nowadays, be it the youth, millennials or GenZ, want a real connection. They don’t want direct advertising or PR. That’s the format everybody is looking forward to,” he said.

Talwar also said that marketers should discuss the RoI (return on investment) with the influencers in the initial conversations.

“If you decide upon the RoI, the marketing game changes,” he said.