At Everywhere Agency, we’re in it to win it. We don’t just build influencer marketing campaigns. We build award-winning campaigns – and not simply for the glory. Ultimately, it’s all about bringing our clients’ vision of success to life. How do we do this, you ask?

The journey toward an award-winning campaign starts by building a solid relationship with our clients, understanding their brand and goals, and working together to develop a campaign that’s on target. Influencer marketing is way more than impressions on social media. We uncover what success looks like for each and every client and campaign – for some that may be improving sales, for others it’s a PR play, or driving visits to the site.

Earlier this month, we won 3 PRSA Phoenix Awards for our work with UP TV, OshKosh B’gosh, and Autotrader. Not to brag, but this wasn’t our first rodeo, so without further ado, below are the keys to creating award-winning campaigns that you and your clients will be proud of!

Stop. Collaborate and listen! Collaboration with clients is key. They know better than anyone what they need to get out of the campaign, and your shared transparency and expertise can be the difference between mediocre and award-worthy. The saying goes that “two heads are better than one,” which couldn’t be truer when it comes to successful influencer marketing. Creativity thrives in a collaborative environment, and today’s saturated market demands out-of-the-box ideas to catch the attention of consumers. Plus, at the end of the day, it’s important to let your clients know that their opinions matter and their voices are being heard.

Be a goal digger! A campaign can’t be successful without something to measure it by. Before starting any campaign, you need to know what your goals are. Do you want to increase sales through coupon redemptions? Is there a particular part of your website you want to drive consumers to? Are impressions and engagement rates really important to you? These are all questions that should be asked and answered in the beginning stages of the campaign development. Once you have your KPIs set, you can determine the best strategy to ensure your campaign is focused on accomplishing the desired outcome.

People, platforms, and posting – oh my! To guarantee the success of your campaign, you’ll need to focus on three things: the right people, platforms, and posting schedule. For example, if you’re looking to increase coupon redemptions for a children’s clothing line, you’ll need to target the right audience that matches the brand’s demographics. This will likely entail a combination of parenting/lifestyle bloggers who can tell vivid stories while showcasing the product and promotional bloggers that perform exceptionally well when it comes to amplification of a message. The mixture of the two will help to not only expand the reach of the campaign’s coupon but also to show the merchandise in a trendy and desirable way – thus leading to increased sales. You’ll also want to be sure that these influencers have a decent following on Instagram, as clothing is a very visual subject matter. Lastly, if your campaign is based on a specific time frame, you’ll want to spread the posts out to cover the whole date range. Posting with a strategic cadence can go a long way when it comes to expanding the reach of the campaign! Regardless of what you’re selling, always tailor your approach to consider these three Ps.

Pay to play! Social media today is more and more so a pay-to-play environment. In other words, in order for your influencers’ posts to be seen, you’ll have to put some promotion dollars behind them. Accounting for this cost in your budgets can help maximize the results of a campaign by increasing the reach and exposure each post will receive. You can also attribute the promoted posts to the goals of your campaign. If you need more traffic to your website, the influencers can share the link and promote the post. The same can be said for coupon codes!

Measure your results Just as it’s vital to set your goals, it’s equally important to measure your results to prove that you’re delivering when it comes to the ROI. A big part of Everywhere Agency’s reporting process is to show that we’ve met our goals, while also explaining the “why” and “how” of the process. We use a tracking software, Tracx, to help us dive into the data and pull the top-performing posts, influencers, keywords, etc. In doing so, we’re also able to identify insights that help us improve along the way and continue to create bigger and better results – hopefully resulting in more award-winning campaigns.

Creating campaigns that are award-worthy is simple as long as you have the right partners. Winning awards for the work you’ve done is beneficial in more ways than one: You’ll increase your visibility, prove your capabilities and effectiveness, and stand out amongst an overabundance of influencer marketing campaigns. Besides, who doesn’t like taking home a trophy, or in our case, a blue plate?