Influencer Marketing

Over recent years, influencer marketing campaigns have continued to be a popular communications tactic for marketers to explore – both from a trade and consumer point of view – and there’s really no wonder. The data truly does speak for itself.

According to the Digital Marketing Institute, almost half (49%) of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, with 40% saying they have bought something after seeing it on social media. Ultimately, if someone trusts an influencer and sees them recommending a product, they’re more likely to go away and explore purchasing!

With this in mind, many organisations are turning to influencer marketing to increase brand awareness and drive sales, to name just a few. At Refresh, we have experience working with influencers in B2B and B2C.

B2B influencer marketing

Influencer marketing in the heating and plumbing sector

Did you know that some of the UK’s leading heating installers have thousands and thousands of social media followers, and more importantly huge levels of engagement across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and more?

Did you also know that Refresh began engaging with these leading social media influencers over 10 years ago, and for the past few years has worked with them on a day-to-day basis?

Access to plumbing and heating installer influencers

Generated from our work on the Heating Installer Awards, we have a database of thousands of installers, who are all accessible for our clients. More importantly, as the awards showcase the best-of-the-best in the sector, we have built up an enviable list of winners (over 60 of them!), who we are in contact with regularly.

Our recent focus in late-2021 on installers of heat pumps and other renewables also means we can access media-friendly, credible and trusted niche installers who are open to working with renewables brands for mutual benefit.

Using social media influencers to promote plumbing and heating products

We understand that brands within the heating and plumbing sector are increasingly aggressive when it comes to marketing – it’s an exciting space to work in! Does it feel like your competitors are shouting louder than you – and drowning out your news sometimes? Does your product have a real USP but is struggling to gain cut through against products that have been around for years? Or do you simply want to add influencer marketing to the mix to ensure you stay ahead of the game?

All of the above are reasons to use influencers in the fiercely competitive heating and plumbing sector.

The knowledge we’ve built up means we understand which brands the installers are loyal to, what they are open to discussing, how they work (and how quickly they work!) and how to get the best out of the relationship when it comes to influencer activity.

In addition, we know different installers’ tones of voice. This means we can match clients up with installers who share similar values and viewpoints, helping in the delivery of a seamless campaign.

We also understand the ideas that will – and won’t! – work for them and for this social media audience, making us very well placed to advise our clients.

Recently we’ve delivered campaigns focused around:

• Reviews of new products
• Promotion of the Heating Installer Awards
• Gaining insight from influencers (privately) on new products prior to development
• The promotion of training courses
• And more!

Delivering influencer marketing campaigns to plumbers and heating installers

In the same way we approach PR campaigns, we will always sit down at the start to understand the objectives of the work before injecting creativity and buzz into a results-driven plan. We’ll understand the metrics you need us to achieve and what a successful campaign truly looks like to you. Then we’ll get to work!

From helping our clients to narrow down a target list of installers through to drawing up contracts, helping to get product to the installer and filming/editing, we’ll do it all.This means our clients are free to get on with their day jobs as we push activity through at our end.

Please be aware that we will be honest with clients (new and existing): if a product doesn’t cut it in terms of its sustainable credentials, or if the service to be promoted hasn’t had good feedback in the past, we won’t pursue an influencer marketing strategy. Simply put, it won’t work for you, for us, or for the influencers.

B2C Influencer marketing

What to plan first when it comes to influencer marketing

If you’re considering approaching influencers to promote your new product or service, make sure you understand exactly what you want to achieve first. Do you want influencers to simply promote your product on their social channels a number of times, or does your business need to see clicks back to the company website from the activity to know it delivered value for money? How will this activity integrate in with everything else?

Once the objectives and KPIs are set, the rest of the plan can be laid down. Don’t forget to include a bucket load of creativity too! In this sector the posts that are interacted with the most are often humorous or private personal experiences, so have a think about how you can stay within your brand guidelines but still grow a campaign with strong engagement. Ask yourself: ‘How can you get help from the influencers to tell your unique story on social media?’

When to use an agency for influencer marketing

Working with influencers can be time consuming, which is one of the reasons why we don’t run influencer marketing campaigns for every sector. We stick to what (and who!) we know, to ensure we’ll deliver for our clients every time.

Clients use us for this work as it frees them up to work on other activity. They also use us for the in-depth knowledge we’ve built up while working with this social-media savvy community – they know we’ll brainstorm workable ideas, and they know that their brand is in safe hands with us.

If you’d like to find out more, visit the contact us page and tell us a bit more about your business – and we’ll be in touch shortly afterwards!