Influencer Relations vs Influencer Marketing

Influencer rela­tions is not the same as influ­en­cer marketing.

Organisations reach­ing out to influ­en­cers often make mis­takes. However, most con­fu­sion can be mit­ig­ated by simply mak­ing the prop­er distinctions.

To cla­ri­fy these dis­tinc­tions, I’ve defined the four types of influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing in this blog post.

Here goes:

Influencer Marketing vs Influencer Relations

There are three main types of influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing (digit­al mar­ket­ing) and one primary type of influ­en­cer rela­tions (digit­al PR):

Influencer Relations (Part of Digital PR)

Influencer out­reach (earned media) = the influ­en­cer receives invit­a­tions, demos, or exclus­ive mater­i­al without strings attached.

Influencer Marketing (Part of Digital Marketing)

Influencer advert­ising (paid media) = the influ­en­cer will pub­lish the brand’s pre-made con­tent in their channels.

Influencer spon­sor­ship (paid media) = the influ­en­cer will read a script to con­vey an offer­ing fol­low­ing the brand’s instructions.

Influencer col­lab­or­a­tion (paid media) = the influ­en­cer show­cases the brand’s offer­ing by cre­at­ing con­tent sim­il­ar to the influ­en­cer­’s reg­u­lar content.

Advertising, spon­sor­ships, and col­lab­or­a­tions are typ­ic­ally referred to as influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing, and out­reach is typ­ic­ally referred to as influ­en­cer rela­tions.

Organisations look­ing to util­ise the poten­tial reach of rel­ev­ant influ­en­cers will be wise to pay atten­tion to these dis­tinc­tions. ¹Silfwer, J. (2020, January 15). The Influencers in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Learn more: Influencer Relations vs Influencer Marketing

Distinctions Matter: Influencer Trust

“Instead of one-off col­lab­or­a­tions, in order to cre­ate valu­able real rela­tions, you have to build long-term rela­tion­ships. Although not easy, it can be a bet­ter solu­tion than the clas­sic approach.”
Source: BrandMentions ²BrandMentions. (2024). What are Influencer Relations? Brandmentions​.com. https://​brand​men​tions​.com/​w​i​k​i​/​W​h​a​t​_​a​r​e​_​I​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​_​R​e​l​a​t​i​ons

Being clear about your inten­tions is vital because it helps to build trust with the influ­en­cer. If you’re not upfront about what you’re look­ing for, the influ­en­cer may feel misled or used, harm­ing your rela­tion­ship with them and poten­tially dam­aging your brand’s reputation.

In addi­tion to being trans­par­ent about your inten­tions, it’s also import­ant to be upfront about your expect­a­tions. This includes the type of con­tent you want the influ­en­cer to cre­ate, the mes­saging you want them to con­vey, and the timeline for deliv­er­ing the content.

Setting clear expect­a­tions ensures that you and the influ­en­cer are on the same page and work­ing towards the same long-term goals. This helps you max­im­ise your budget and ensure you get the most out of your part­ner­ship with influencers.

Being trans­par­ent can also help avoid poten­tial mis­align­ments or con­flicts with influ­en­cers who may not fit your brand.

Influencers Appreciate Business Transparency

In today’s digit­al-first land­scape, influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing and influ­en­cer rela­tions have emerged as for­mid­able strategies for busi­nesses to dis­sem­in­ate their mes­sage to a broad­er audience. 

Brands must nav­ig­ate the com­plex­it­ies of influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing, which neces­sit­ates a pre­cise under­stand­ing of one’s object­ives and anti­cip­ated out­comes when col­lab­or­at­ing with these digit­al mavens.

To optim­ise the effic­acy of influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing cam­paigns, organ­isa­tions must foster trans­par­ency and estab­lish can­did dia­logues with their chosen influencers. 

By adopt­ing such an approach, busi­nesses can har­ness the full poten­tial of this influ­en­tial mar­ket­ing medi­um, thereby pro­mot­ing organ­isa­tion­al growth and ensur­ing a fruit­ful return on investment.

The Influencers in Public Relations

In pub­lic rela­tions, influ­en­cers are indi­vidu­als who have man­aged to grow a sub­stan­tial audi­ence, which has the poten­tial to affect a spe­cif­ic organ­isa­tion either pos­it­ively or negatively.

Influencers = inde­pend­ent con­tent cre­at­ors with influ­en­tial plat­forms and fol­low­ings of poten­tial import­ance to a brand. ³Silfwer, J. (2020, January 15). The Influencers in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Establishing and main­tain­ing good rela­tion­ships with stra­tegic­ally chosen influ­en­cers for the organ­isa­tion is often crit­ic­ally important.

“Influencers in pub­lic rela­tions are emer­ging stake­hold­ers who gen­er­ate a state of opin­ion in the digit­al com­munity that sur­passes tra­di­tion­al pub­lic opin­ion.”
Source: The Role of Prosumers in the Interactive and Digital Processes of Public Relations ⁴Polo, M. (2020). The Role of Prosumers in the Interactive and Digital Processes of Public Relations. 161 – 174. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​4​0​1​8​/​978 – 1‑7998 – 3119‑8.ch012

How To Categorise Influencers

There aren’t stand­ard­ised ter­min­o­lo­gies for influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing and influ­en­cer rela­tions, and no gen­er­al fol­low­ing sizes or engage­ment ratios exist. However, it’s pos­sible to make approx­im­ate distinctions.

I recom­mend using the fol­low­ing tiers and nam­ing con­ven­tions for cat­egor­ising dif­fer­ent types of influencers:

Learn more: The Influencers in Public Relations