5 tips to master influencer marketing

Want to work with influencers but have no idea where to start? No worries! Here are 5 tips to help you do exactly that, from someone who has worked on both sides of the ‘Gram – Jaharn Quinn from social media studio and podcast, Your Creative Start and travel blog Mister Weekender. Plus, Jaharn answers some of our own burning questions about her creative journey as a travel blogger, podcaster and social media mastermind.

5 TIPS TO MASTER INFLUENCER MARKETING

1. Find the right influencers for your brand. Look at their quality of imagery and content, how often they share content, existing brands they work with, how they engage with their community, responsiveness over email, their brand values, overall aesthetic and their online ecosystem.

2. Work with influencers who already have an interest in what you’re selling and have likeminded brand values.

3. Get to know them. Find out what they like. Comment on their posts. Organise a coffee and meet them face to face. Send them a gift. Invite them to an event. Make them feel part of your brand family.

4. Give influencers the freedom to create. Respect that they will know their content and audience better than you will, and they will also know what will and won’t work.

5. Always provide influencers with suitable compensation. Most influencers prefer competitive monetary compensation. Other forms of compensation include gifting, events, experiences and travel.

Tell us about your journey to Your Creative Start and Mister Weekender. Talk us through the baby steps and the major milestones.

After University, I worked hard and built my career as a fashion publicist in Brisbane. After a few years, I decided to move to London to further my career in PR and to spend time travelling around Europe.

Looking back now, moving to London for two years was one of the best decisions I made – I met my future husband, I got to work for some incredible agencies and brands on some amazing campaigns and events, and I made lots of friends for life.

I’ve always loved the dynamic nature of fashion PR, but travel and photography has always been my first love. Living in London really fuelled my obsession with exploring the world and using my camera to document the experience. And it was no surprise to anyone that knew me, that when I returned to Australia and was working in Sydney, I would go hiking on my own on weekends. My father suggested I start a travel blog to document my adventures and so he and my mother could follow along and book their own trips. This was around the time Instagram started getting popular so I would share my favourite photos and a few tips on Instagram, and my blog grew from there. Little did I know it would take me all around the world to far flung places such as Peru, Maldives, Iceland and Denmark.

However, I knew I never wanted blogging to be my full-time job so I always maintained my role in PR and it naturally grew into a Social Media management role. As much as I love to travel and work with some incredible brands, such as Tourism Australia, Qantas and Kathmandu, living out of a suitcase was not very appealing to me. After leaving Sydney and the fast paced world of PR, I moved to the Sunshine Coast to be with my husband and I knew it was time for me to establish my own business and this was when Your Creative Start was born, almost four years ago. My travel blog Mister Weekender has always run alongside Your Creative Start as a passion project, and I still work with brands who send me around the world to share my experiences. It’s quite a fun blend of work and travel! Thrown in with our house we designed and built, and the birth of our son Dusty almost two years ago, life is never dull!

Who in the creative or entrepreneurial world inspires you?

I am inspired by a lot of people, but my parents are my biggest inspiration. They left Sydney and moved to Brisbane to successfully run their own business when I was five years old. They worked hard on their business for almost 30 years before retiring happily. I watched my father work 17 hour days, 7 days a week and my mother, manage the household and work alongside my father as his business partner.

They worked so hard and sacrificed a lot so my sister and I could attend to Brisbane Girl’s Grammar School. I didn’t know until many years later, but my father would walk into our high school with a briefcase full of cash every year to pay our school fees, demanding a discount for paying in cash. And he always got it. What a boss!

My parents are a dynamic force, and along with my sister and husband, they are my go-to people when I have a question about my business and life. My parents are the very reason why I work for myself – I couldn’t envision living my life any other way.

Your work is incredibly dynamic and varied (podcaster, creative consultant, travel writer) – which part gives you the most satisfaction?

To put it simply, I have never wanted to put all my eggs in the same basket. It seems too risky to me! I am all for diversifying my offering; doing one thing for the rest of my life scares me. I guess in many ways that’s why I admire my husband so much. He knew he wanted to be a teacher when he was four years old, and pursued it. He is very happy to be a teacher until he retires. To know and do the one thing for your entire life is such a gift!

As for my very varied career, I always follow my interests and passions, and I love how much they evolve over time. However, what has remained constant is the joy of running my own blog, business and podcast. The days when I am working “on” the business and not “in” the business gives me the greatest satisfaction. And I am so excited to have laucnhed an eco-friendly kids brand Smor Store.

Biggest pinch-me career moment?

There are a few! The first is when I landed a job at Shine Communications in London. It’s one of the biggest, most reputable PR agencies in London and it’s where I met and made so many friends whom I was lucky to work with again in Sydney at Ogilvy.

The second is when Tourism Australia sent me an email in the first year of Mister Weekender and wanted to pay me to travel to New Zealand, and blog and photograph about my experience. It was the first time a brand wanted to work with me and I will never forget it. Even though I have been on some bigger trips since then to faraway places, I am eternally grateful for that first opportunity.

The third is when Johnnie Walker approached me last year to host a podcast for a campaign of theirs. I travelled to Brisbane and Sydney to interview four incredibly creative people and I got paid very well for it. My podcast doesn’t make any money, I simply do it for the love of it, and to help other creatives starting out, so this was a very rewarding experience for me. Non-paid hard work pays off in more ways than I could ever have imagined.

Work life balance or blend? And how?

Life is definitely a juggle, even more so now that I am a mother. My time is so precious and for the first six months, I was working full time from my studio at home whilst taking care of Dusty. It was very tough; I was extremely tired and I also launched my podcast just before Dusty was born. What was I thinking! Looking back now I am so glad I did because it has helped so many people.

The game changer in this life juggle was deciding to put Dusty into day care when he was six months old. I thought I would be one of those mums who would be bawling her eyes out as she sat in the car on her child’s first day, but I drove home with the window down, smelling the salty air, and whooping with joy! A whole day to work without noise or a single distraction? Heaven!

Since then, Jason and I have come to realise that everything is just a phase. We don’t plan too much, we know life will always be a constant juggle and we have learned it takes a tribe of people to raise a child. We are very blessed to have an amazing support group thanks to our family and friends.

Any tips for aspiring young creatives?

Do what you love, don’t worry about being perfect and listen to podcasts. And remember, the secret to getting ahead is getting started.