Many marketers are banging their heads against the wall wondering why influencers won’t return their emails or promote their programs. The reason? Small mistakes can often have a big impact. To help make your influencer marketing a winner, we have tapped 15 top marketing influencers for reasons they've not responded to a request and included 25 ways to help you win.

2. If the internet has taught us anything, it’s that when you
fail, everyone from your grandmother to your boss will
know by the end of the day. Maybe you didn’t think twice
about the email that you sent to Janice in Accounting
asking for her to complete a large task with an impossible
deadline. Unfortunately, the joke is on you. She is going
to tell everyone she knows.
Sure, that type of personal experience is painful, but
imagine how much worse it would be if you made
the same type of mistake with an influencer outreach
email. That type of mistake can seriously damage your
credibility with that influencer, their friends and their
online community.
Many marketers are banging their heads against the wall
wondering why influencers won’t return their emails or
promote their programs. The reason? Small mistakes can
often have a big impact.
Marketers, we feel your pain and we want to help!
While we can’t keep Janice from shooting daggers at you
from across the office, we can help you fail less and win
more with influencer engagement.
To help make your influencer marketing a winner, we
tapped 15 top marketing influencers and asked them
to share their biggest reasons for not saying yes to an
influencer request.
TopRank Marketing’s experience creating influencer and
content marketing programs for some of today’s most
successful brands can also help you win with influencer
marketing. We’ve condensed these into snackable tips
to help you create better relationships and provide more
value to the influencers that you’re currently working with,
and those that you want to begin working with.
What do you say? Are you ready to find out how to fail
less and win more with influencer marketing?
WILL YOUR INFLUENCER MARKETING
FAIL HARD OR WIN BIG?

3. INFLUENCER
ENGAGEMENT

4. OUT-OF-
THE-BLUE
ASKS.
ANDREW DAVIS
Founder, Monumental Shift
@TPLDrew
“I get requests from people I know really well every
week. What makes you think I’ll make time to work with
you if I’ve never interacted with you before? Take some
time to comment on my posts, rate my podcast, review
my book. I’ll return the favor in a heartbeat.”

5. INAPPROPRIATE
ASKS.
CARLOS GIL
Head of Global Social Media, BMC Software
@CarlosGil83
“As in asks for promoting your product (books,
webinars, conferences, etc.) in exchange for affiliate
revenue; please DON’T.”

6. TOO SOON.
KIM GARST
Best Selling Author & Keynote Speaker
@kimgarst
“My pet peeve is when someone follows me on
Twitter or Instagram and/or fans me on Facebook and
immediately reaches out to me with a request to check
out their business.”

7. USING THE
WRONG
CHANNELS TO
COMMUNICATE.
JASON MILLER
Group Manager, Content Marketing & Social Media, LinkedIn
@JasonMillerCA
“Sending me a message about LinkedIn
using Facebook.”

8. IMPERSONAL
PITCHES.
CHAD POLLITT
Co-Founder & VP of Audience, Relevance
@ChadPollitt
“When companies send out generic en masse pitches,
like a robo-call, but via email. The personal touch can
make or break an influencer’s decision to engage.”

9. LACK OF
CREDIBILITY.
LEE ODDEN
CEO, TopRank Marketing
@leeodden
“Competition for effective influencers’ time is high,
so reaching out using a Gmail address and pointing
to a little known brand hosted on a hyphenated
domain with poor design isn’t going to motivate
anyone to engage.”

10. LAZY
DUPLICATION.
JOHN JANTSCH
Founder, Duct Tape Marketing
@ducttape
“When you get that really interesting Tweet inviting
you to take a look at something and then when
you click through to it you also see that they have
composed basically the same message to 579 other
people on Twitter.”

11. HEIDI COHEN
Chief Content Officer, Actionable Marketing Guide
@heidicohen
“Reach out to me directly yourself. Do NOT delegate
this critical step to your marketing agency, PR
professional, team member, assistant or intern. Do it
yourself and make your note personal. If you want me
to respond, I expect you to do the asking yourself.”
DELEGATED &
IMPERSONAL.

12. EXPECTING
TO GET
WITHOUT
GIVING.
JOE PULIZZI
Founder, Content Marketing Institute
@JoePulizzi
“Not greasing the skids. Influencer’s are most likely
to add commentary if there is some kind of existing
relationship. This means at least some kind of history
where the person reaching out has already been
sharing the influencer content.”

13. CLOAKED
SALES PITCH.
ARDATH ALBEE
CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist, Marketing Interactions
@ardath421
“Asking for 30 minutes of my time to discuss a
“partnership”– which actually means you want me to
sell your stuff to my clients.”

14. ASK THEM
TO SELL.
GERRY MORAN
Global Head of Social Media, Cognizant Technology Solutions
@GerryMoran
“Your influencer is there to help you increase the
awareness, association and consideration of your
brand in a certain space – not to shill for you.”

15. TOO MUCH
FOCUS ON
THEIR BRAND.
TED RUBIN
Social Marketing Strategist, Evangelist & Acting CMO, The Rubin Organization
@TedRubin
“Don’t tell me your story, let me tell my story. ‘LESS
fabrication, MORE facilitation’ = a boost to your Return
on Relationship, #RonR.”

16. ABUSING THE
KINDNESS
OF AN
INFLUENCER.
BRYAN KRAMER
President & CEO, PureMatter Brand Marketing & Interactive
@bryankramer
“Set the tone and rules upfront. Influencers can’t be
expected to take part in everything you do, so say that.
Set the ground rules and expectations.”

17. SPAMMING
INFLUENCERS.
GLEN GILMORE
Principal, Gilmore Business Network
@GlenGilmore
“Signing up for an app that spams your “top
influencer” with automated messages is a sure path to
a rocky relationship.”

18. FAILURE TO
FOLLOW UP.
REBECCA LIEB
Principal, Conglomotron LLC
@lieblink
“Not following up with that blog post, ebook, or
copy of the interview the influencer contributed to.
Influencers are indeed interested in seeing the fruits of
their labors.”

19. INFLUENCER
ENGAGEMENT

20. “To build
confidence
with influencers,
show the
credibility of
your brand,
yourself and
the project.”
- @TopRank

21. “To make it
easy for
influencers
to respond
to your ask,
get to the
point of your
request quickly.”
- @TopRank

22. “Making sure
your request is
directly related
to the influencer’s
expertise will
inspire more
‘yes’ answers.”
- @TopRank

23. “Want to motivate
influencers to
act? Make the
value exchange
for participation
crystal clear.”
- @TopRank

24. “To build real
relationships,
show respect
and develop
legitimate rapport
with influencers
before getting too
‘chummy’.”
- @TopRank

25. “Make influencer
participation
easy by asking
questions that are
clear and don’t
require extra
explanation.”
- @TopRank

26. “Manage influencer
expectations
by providing
a reasonable
deadline according
to the complexity
of the ask.”
- @TopRank

27. “To build
influencer trust
and advocacy, help
them experience
the positive results
of your product or
service.”
- @TopRank

28. “Patience is
a virtue. Give
influencers
adequate time
to respond and
always follow up
respectfully.”
- @TopRank

29. “Create genuine
connections with
influencers by
interacting at both
offline events and
online.”
- @TopRank

30. “Build a solid
foundation
with influencers
by showing
appreciation
for their
contributions.”
- @TopRank

31. “Sometimes,
you get what
you pay for. Big
commitments with
popular influencers
often require
compensation.”
- @TopRank

32. “To instill
confidence in
the influencer
relationship,
always follow
up once they
respond.”
- @TopRank

33. “Make your
influencers
look good by
providing copy
edits that help
provide clarity of
message.”
- @TopRank

34. “Always give
influencers
appropriate
credit for their
contributions.
The appreciation
will inspire more
shares.”
- @TopRank

35. “Make
collaboration
natural for
influencers by
allowing them
to cover topics
that resonate
with their
community.”
- @TopRank

36. “Being thankful
for an influencer’s
contribution
goes a long way
towards a lasting
and productive
relationship.”
- @TopRank

37. “Create a good
experience
for influencers
by managing
communications
in an organized
way with clear
direction.”
- @TopRank

38. “People work for a
living, but they will
die for recognition.
Influencers are
no different,
so always
give positive
reinforcement.”
- @TopRank

39. “If an influencer is
not responding to
standard outreach,
get creative
with a 3D mailer,
customized web
page or video.”
- @TopRank

40. “Manage influencer
expectations by
properly preparing
them for handoff
communications
when needed.”
- @TopRank

41. “In between
campaigns, share
and comment
on influencer
content to open
doors for future
engagement.”
- @TopRank

42. “If you want
to optimize
influencer content,
it is better to
optimize for
people than for
search engines.”
- @TopRank

43. “Build a positive
relationship
with influencers
by following
through on the
commitments that
you’ve made.”
- @TopRank

44. “Make it
easy for
influencers
to amplify
the content
by providing
them with
pre-written social
messages.”
- @TopRank

45. Learn to Win at Influencer Marketing:
Social Media Marketing World
Learn why companies like Dell, LinkedIn and Traackr
trust Lee Odden and TopRank Marketing for influencer
marketing consulting.
Lee will provide insight into best practices for influencer
content marketing in his presentation “The Influencer
Marketing Playbook”.
In this presentation you’ll learn about:
• An influencer marketing framework
• Influencer marketing tools
• Best and worst influencer recruiting practices
This presentation is sure to make your next influencer
marketing program a game winner.
GET EVENT INFO
Presentation Details
Title: Influencer Marketing Playbook: How
to Identify, Qualify & Recruit
Effective Influencers
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Time: 1:30pm - 2:15pm
Track: Social Strategy
Room: 28ABCD

46. Your Influencer & Content Marketing Experts
TopRank Marketing has created successful influencer content marketing
programs for some of today’s most successful B2B and B2C brands. If you’d
like to learn more about how adding influencers to your content mix can
improve marketing performance, we’d love to chat.
results@toprankmarketing.com
www.toprankmarketing.com
877-872-6628
CONTACT US