Let’s say, you are a Nepalese and were scrolling through Instagram. Then you stopped in a video where Selena Gomez was actively talking about a fanny pack made in the country vs a random video or post of the fanny pack, would you likely be influenced to buy after Selena’s video or the random post?
Let’s keep the answer to you, as we probably know what you’d go with? Well, according to a study performed by Neilsen in 2024, 92% of consumers trust influencers more that an average ads on any platform!
Aware on how powerful the realm of influencers can be? Now, lets get you aware on what “influencer marketing” is? The act of getting products or services endorsed or prompted through celebrities, popular people, social median influencers or just any influential personality in general is called influencer marketing.
Since, these influencers already have a loyal base of active followers engaging highly in their posts, a potential target market already exists, but here’s the catch? It should be done right, else, it might just be a dumb move emptying your startups pockets.
If a startup is about men’s sports polo shirts, getting a famous tv host as your influencer to endorse your product would make no sense! Instead, getting a top golfer or a football star would be the ideal choice, isn’t it? A lot of other things do play role in nailing the perfect influencer marketing, especially in context of startups. And in this article we will be talking all about that!
The Undeniable Importance Of Influencer Marketing In Startups
A lot of times we hear, startups fail. Infact, in the first year of establishment, it is estimated that 10% of startups fail. And although over the years, facts suggest 90% startups fail. This isn’t demotivating but rather a brutal fact and the 90% success rate in the first year still exists. This time frame is the real magic period where, a solid foundation for years and years of success can come. But smart work needs to be integrated and here’s how.
On googling reasons why startups fail, ineffective marketing comes in the top 5 reasons! Fixing your marketing strategies can single handedly help decrease failure rates! In-fact, digital marketing is growing by 50-60 percent annually in Nepal. This means more businesses deploying it and startups included as well!
After all, AllTop Co-founder Guy Kawasaki quotes “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”. Influencer marketing is exactly that one missing piece of puzzle you need in your idea’s implementation
Now, let’s identify the types of influencer marketing in startups that can help you soar new heights of un-paralleled triumph.
1. Personal Endorsement
Influencers often have followers in thousands or millions. Mainly, nano, micro, macro and mega influencers. As a startup going with micro influencer would be optimal!
As a company you may either get your promotional videos created on your own with in-house editors or can partner with a digital marketing agency like Creative Zinc who will take care of your entire influencer marketing. From campaigns, creatives, designs, videos, influencer selection to performing marketing everything will be done!
Basically, your promotional content will be posted by these influencers on their active social media pages like Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok. On one hand, a personal post by an influencer helps establish a strong connectivity with their audience. The trust factor is amplified. And on the other hand, the sales come in organic without any ad spent!
Going with niche specific influencer helps 10x your ROI! An added benefit is scope of long term partnership and publicity by the influencer to other people of the same status. This adds greater value to your businesses goodwill.
2. Social Media Ads
Having greater control over marketing campaigns give an edge in future growth. Your influencer marketing campaign might be a part of a bigger picture. Primarily goal might be better sales while secondary goal might be getting a list of people who showed interested but didnt convert, or performed engagement actions like comments and likes but didnt convert.
For goals like these, running and ad featuring your influencer is a better way to performing influencer marketing. As the best practise, the influencer can further shared the ad in their social media or personally engage with the comments in the ad.
In context of Nepal, these ads can be run on less budget in comparison to western countries. Right strategy and these ad campaigns can yield great results!
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is definitely one of the smartest ways to get onboard with influencers. How this works is, influencers promote your products/service with a promotion code.
When these promo codes are enter by purchasers to purchase your service or product, influencers receive their share of profit per conversion that occurs.
This share is called a commission. This is the most cost-friendly way to engage in influencer marketing. How? Well, this model is more like a pay as you go but in reverse. Influencer gets their commissions only when a product is sold. Learn more about how affiliate marketing can help startups earn money through Daraz, by reading this short embed article:
As an example if you’re manufacturing cost for a bamboo keyboard that you make is 500, and your selling price is 1200 you may shape your pricing in 2 cost effective ways with influencer marketing.
First method is keeping the price as it is and deciding certain commission to the influencer. Product manufacture for 500, sold at 1200, influencer keeps 200, your revenue is 1000. You’re still putting 500 profit in your pocket.
Although your profit scaled down from 700 to 500, in the long run as more products will get sold when influencers promote, the higher order number would still lead to more profitability with Rs 500, in profit, per order in comparison to low order number but Rs 700, in profit, per order!
4. Contests And Giveaways
Eye candies get people hooked immediately! People love participating in contests and giveaways hoping to bring home some free rewards. Pairing this desire of individuals with influencer marketing and what happens is pure magic. There are two primary ways to initiate contest and giveaways. This is a very influential, influencer marketing in startups move you can perform.
Firstly gift hampers, surprise gifts, 1st 2nd 3rd prizes, money prizes, movie vouchers can be advertised in photos and videos having the face of the influencer. This enable high targeting spending massive budget as well as overall control, the content campaign is heading towards.
The 2nd and highly anticipate method is providing influencers with products/ services that they have actively advocate in their socials. This will be a giveaway to the followers of the influencer declared through reels, stories, or declaration in a live video. Certain CTA’s like follow, like the page, comment below are powerful CTA’s that drive real growth to your brand powered by influencer marketing.
5. Brand Ambassadors
Top of the mind brand recall! Heard this term? Let’s understand through an example! When I say football athlete who wears nike, what comes in your mind? Cristiano Ronaldo! This is top of the mind brand recall works. Selecting s suitable influencer and making them your long term brand ambassadors helps with 2 things.
Initially brand recall occurs while the sweeter part of the fruit is actively sharing of band’s content by the ambassador influencer in their social media. Purely organic way maximized reach, impressions, engagement and sales is achieved.
The contract can either be terminated as per the clauses agreed upon or can be lengthened for years. Irrespective of termination or extension, the goal boil downs to ambassadors who uplift your brand to untapped heights!
Now that the question pond on which marketing next? has been addressed through influencer marketing, let’s absorb some refreshing figures for startups
Facts On The Growth Of Startups
- A study shows that a 60 year old individual is 3x as likely to build a startup than a 30 year old in 2023.
- Success is just one brilliant idea yet to be revealed from the curtain. Holding on to this thesis, founders who have failed previously have a 20% chance of success and glorification in the 2nd attempt.
- 1% of startups eventually nest out and bloom into unicorns like Uber, Stripe, Airbnb, Canva, and so on.
- Espirit De Corps, my friend! Two founders amplify a startup’s success rate to 30%, uplifts customer growth rate 3 times and also keeps the growth pace mild, avoiding any scenario of rapid rise, rapid decline.
- Did you know that there are over 1200 billion-dollars Unicorn startups as of 2025 globally.
- Between the recent days between 2022 and 2024, a grand sum of $31.1 billion has been invested in fintech startups globally
- AI startups are one smart move, having secured $19 billion in Q3, 2024. This amounts to 28% of all VC funding.
How Can Zinc Bring Your Start-Up Influencer Into Action
Creative Zinc specializes in tailoring the perfect blends of influencer marketing in startups there and then. Speaking of influencer marketing, we dive from the basics of A’s and Z’s to higher refinement in performing the best influencer marketing.
From listing the best influencers, to detailed influencer profile study, their metrics and overall score as in influencer, niche is all seamlessly sorted. Reaching out to these influencers, setting up partnership and execution different ways of influencer marketing is all performed by Zinc, without you needing to break a single droplet of sweat.
Creating a startup takes huge mental discipline, bulletproof mindset, rigid dedication and dedication while sacrificing all those fun activities like partying, clubbing and hanging out. You owning a startup itself reflects the true winning mentality you have! Signing off on a note “Play by the rules, but be ferocious.” – Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike.