Hi friends,

I was in Croatia this past week for our yearly Modash offsite. On top of getting to spend time with each other, we also celebrated one of our colleagues' birthdays. (Hi Whitney!)

I was sitting next to her when she opened her gift, a very cute, very plastic toy skeleton duck, and saw her eyes light up.

Her face reminded me that a good gift makes the receiver feel seen, understood, and “known.”

I mention this because the last few Return on Influence issues have been about influencer gifting. If you’re just joining us, I already covered:

• The reasons that marketers are still using gifting! 

• When to use no-strings gifting vs barter deals

The next question that arises is the one I’m going to dig into this week.

What do you gift?

Typically, you’ll have three options.

• Offer the entire product catalog

• Offer a curated selection

• Offer a specific product

How do you choose?

As always, it boils down to your goals for a campaign.

Reasons to open up your entire product catalog

Your goal is brand awareness/relationship building

If you’re a relatively new brand or you’re entering a new market, brand awareness will be top of mind. By letting influencers choose products from your entire catalog, they’ll find the ones that best suit their personality, aesthetic, or needs.

The happier they are with their choice, the more likely they are to post organically and share with their family, friends, and audience. 

You don’t “know” your influencers very well 

One thing I didn’t mention about my colleague Whitney is that the first thing you notice in her home office background is a skull. Whitney loves skeletons, horror movies, and Gothic architecture. 

A skeleton toy duck was an “obvious” gift choice. 

If you’re running larger-scale influencer gifting campaigns. The kind where you don’t have the time to learn about every influencer’s specific tastes, then asking them to choose a gift from your entire product catalog is the safest option. 

Content is more authentic & trustworthy

When influencers can choose from your entire product catalog, chances are you’ll get a more real and more authentic piece of content. And, their audience is far more likely to believe that this influencer really like the product. 

Like Dragos Sebastian, Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Specialist at Ana Luisa Jewelry told us:

Takeaway: Letting influencers pick from your entire inventory means they’ll probably be more likely to post. But they might pick something you know doesn’t sell especially well.

Reasons to offer a curated selection

Logistics don’t make sense

What happens when the logistics or your product categories don’t make it feasible for you to open up your entire product catalog? 

In slow fashion, for example, you must be vigilant about checking your stock. An alternative is to select a few products for influencers to choose from. Influencers still get to pick something they like, and you don’t need to worry about availability.

Fits into a broader campaign

If you’re taking an integrated approach to influencer marketing, you’ll have campaigns running across multiple channels. In these cases, it makes much more sense to ask influencers to pick something from a limited selection. This hits two birds with one stone. The products they choose fit into your broader marketing campaign, and you get all the benefits of gifting them something they like. 

More likely to post 

Marketers consistently say that when an influencer has a choice, even if it’s from a smaller selection of products, they are more likely to post. If your goal is to get as much content as possible live - make sure that influencers can choose what they like.

Takeaway: If you want maximum sales via codes/links let influencers pick from a curated selection of your products. You can prevent them from choosing the products you know aren’t as popular, while still giving them the freedom to choose something they can create content around authentically.

When to offer a specific product

You’re launching a new product or promotion

New products deserve their spotlight. In these cases, it is almost always best to gift influencers that specific product or line of products.  This also works if you’ve got a special promotion or want to introduce audiences to your best-selling product/s. 

Matheus Ribeiro, an Influencer Marketing Coordinator at Cia. Hering told us that these are usually the campaigns that are the most successful in terms of sales. 

You want more control 

When you ask influencers to choose something from your entire catalog, the process can quickly become messy. Sending products and tracking results? Even messier.

You give up a lot of control to get the positive outcomes of the “open catalog” approach. 

When you’re the one choosing the gift, you exchange those positive outcomes for more control. 

Dana Bilodedenko, an influencer Marketing Manager at DRESSX describes this process: 

Takeaway: When running targeted campaigns, offer a specific product to your influencer. You might get fewer accepted products (and potentially a lower posting rate), but you have more control over the campaign.

HANDPICKED JOB OPENINGS

• Henkel Consumer Brands is looking for an Influencer Marketing Manager in Culver City, California. 

• Peachies is looking for a Social Media & Influencer Manager in London, UK. 

• Taylor Morris Eyewear is also looking for a Partnerships & Social Media Assistant in London, England. 

See you in the next issue of ROI!
Eleni Zoe xx
Marketing @ Modash. Say hi on LinkedIn or visit Modash.

📌A NOTE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ

The tips in this newsletter might not be right for your specific case. Use good judgment when deciding whether to take advice from the internet—even mine. My team and I survey & interview influencer marketers whose advice and observations come from their direct experience. ROI is meant for you to connect the dots and be inspired or challenged to think about your influencer marketing in a way you haven’t before.