To understand the power of influencers, we have only to look at the 80s hit movie Risky Business. Bausch & Lomb was on the verge of terminating Ray-Ban Wayfarers when Tom Cruise skidded down his parents’ passage and gave them uber cool status that has lasted to this day.

Fast forward to influencer marketing as we know it today. It’s much more strategic and intentional, but the foundation is the same: to influence people through someone who they already admire and trust, and who already has influence over them, making it easier for them to buy into your brand.

Being the face of your own business

As an entrepreneur, you probably use social media to get your brand and product out there. It’s a no-brainer. It’s free and all you need is a phone. New businesses use social media to grow either by establishing and strengthening the brand image or driving sales through a recognisable or charismatic face in the company.

While this works up to a point, it’s not sustainable in the long run. As your business grows and your product or service offering expands, so will your market reach. But it’s possible that new audiences may not identify with the original face of the company. Then it’s time to look at a different approach or to redefine your influencer marketing strategy.

Also consider the purely practical side: as your business grows, so will the demands on your time as the founder. A case in point is Theo Baloyi, the founder of Bathu, who has pivoted from being the only face associated with the brand to working with influencers like Somizi Mhlongo and Lasizwe Dambuza to tap into their respective audiences.

There are other brands that do this very well too, like Distell’s Scottish Leader which signed the popular singer Moonchild Sanelly as the face of its limited-edition whisky carrying her name.

Given the level of competition in the liquor industry, Moonchild gave Scottish Leader access to a brand-new audience. They might not be whisky drinkers but would consider it because they follow Moonchild and aspire to be like her, and that buy-in directly impacts sales.

Finding the right influencer

There are three things that you should always consider when choosing an influencer: the product or service; the target audience; and the business or campaign objectives.

It should be believable that the person uses your product or service. Their following should correspond with your audience or the audience you want to grow. They should be able to deliver work that will answer and contribute to the business or campaign objective, be it driving awareness or purchases.

A great example of good influencer-brand alignment is DJ Lamiez Holworthy for the handbag line Era by DJ Zinhle. Lamiez is well known for her bespoke designer handbags and appointing her for Era’s launch into the handbag market was a perfect match. It resonated with the target audience.

Influencer marketing can be a costly exercise and not every brand has the budget for it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way around it. New York-based beauty brand Glossier has shown that you don’t need big influencers to take your brand to the next level.

Glossier instead uses user-generated content by their highly engaged customers, thus turning their very own customers into influencers. This approach has worked very well for them, so much so that the bulk of their revenue comes from these customers-turned-influencers.

Building out the face of your brand

Brands that started off with the founder as the face of the brand, will have to build a structure that outlines how the founder as influencer would function in relation to its other influencers. Whether the founder or not, there are dangers to basing a brand’s identity on one person.

A brand always needs to stand alone and be able to survive without being tied to a personality, at least in the long run. Cancel culture has shown us how one person can sink the whole ship. Having outside influencers can mitigate this. For instance, the company leader could participate in corporate communications and business events while external influencers front different campaigns or products.

One of the most important things therefore is to ensure that your customers buy into the brand as much as they buy into the personality representing it. In that way the brand will always retain favour with them regardless of who is associated with it.

This article originally appeared in Nine Yards magazine. Read more here.