Personal branding was first introduced as a concept in 1937, featured in the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. When you hear the term, you probably think of bloggers, vloggers, entrepreneurs and the like, but personal branding can apply to anyone. But what if it can be applied to anything? How you present yourself has the potential to impact all aspects of your life, both social and personal. So, what if you were to apply marketing tactics to yourself? What if influencer marketing could actually help you save a relationship?
Well, it doesn’t hurt to wonder…
The First Step Is Admitting There’s a Problem
Self-awareness is key to improving brand wellness, whether you’re talking about a business or you. If your business is failing to reach a specific marketing demographic, then you need to address the issue and find a way to connect. The same goes for your spouse. You’re throwing out signals but they’re not picking up, so what’s the deal? Once you know there’s an issue, you need to get to the bottom of it. Why are your efforts going unnoticed or falling flat? If you’re coming up empty on your own, then you might just need to try influencer marketing and find yourself an influencer.
Influencer marketing focuses on key individuals who have a proven effect on a given market. Once you find an influencer, you can begin marketing activities and actions around them. This approach is less about making a direct argument and more about creating interactions between various parties in a given community. These interactions can then be seen by your target demographic, and they can be influenced that way.
If your audience sees something (whether a brand or a person) they know and trust interacting with someone or something else, they are more likely to trust that person or thing. That’s the power influencer marketing has on perception. In order to connect brands with influencers, you have to reach out to them once you find them. It makes sense in business, so why wouldn’t it make sense in your marriage?
If You Wanna Be My Lover…
If you listen to the Spice Girls, they’ll tell you that you have to get with their friends if you want to get in good with them — and that totally applies here, too. Who else does your spouse know and trust more than their best buddies? These friends are now your influencers.
But some friends are worth more than others, right? You don’t want to waste time and energy getting good with your SO’s frenemy or their one work friend they only keep on the backburner in case they need someone to go to a corporate function with so they don’t look or feel awkward. You want to find the people in their life that matter, the ones who have the potential to make a real difference.
When it comes to finding influencers, there are some things you want to look out for. Determine value by looking at:
- Social reach – who else could they know and potentially influence?
- Original content – is their friendship with your SO strong enough that they have inside jokes even you aren’t allowed to know the origins of, or are at least of the “You just had to be there” variety?
- Consumer trust – would your SO jump off a bridge if this person did? Or, would they at least take their Netflix suggestions seriously?
Putting Plans Into Action
Once you identify your influencers, what do you do next?
Remember, it’s all about organic interactions and building a rapport. After you identify influencers, you can begin marketing to them, through them, and with them! Become such good friends that even they are going on about you to your spouse…well, maybe not so much so that your SO suspects that you’re secretly dating. Whether you become great friends with the people special in their life or realize you might actually need something different, your marketing strategy was successful — even if you didn’t meet the goals you expected to.
The bottom line is, you went through the trouble of getting to know and reaching out to your significant better. There’s room for growth and understanding.
Main image by Tom Pumford/Smart Photo Courses
