April 10, 2025

influencer marketing

Hey! It’s me, Chris again. Today we’re talking about influencer marketing—it’s getting a lot of attention in the marketing world, but marketers are wondering what they can do to use this approach when they don’t have much money. So first, man, here’s the inside scoop on getting influencer marketing for free! Are you ready? Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. Let’s look into cost-effective influencer campaigns!

The Budget-Friendly Influencer Marketing Revolution: Maximize Impact, Minimize Spend

You might be thinking that because influencer marketing is expensive, it’s not worth considering for smaller brands with small budgets. But, on the contrary, with a clear strategy, you can create great campaigns on a budget. Here are a few ways to leverage your influencer marketing budget for more impact.

The Magic Number: How Much Should You Really Spend?

So what’s the right budget to allocate to influencer marketing? First things first, it depends. According to a report by Influencer Marketing Hub, the average spend on influencer marketing is 10 to 20% of your entire marketing budget. To avoid severe sticker shock, know that you can start with as little as a few hundred dollars and gradually build as you see results.

Here’s a breakdown of average influencer costs based on follower count:

  • Nano-influencers (1,000-10,000 followers): $10-$100 per post
  • Micro-influencers (10,000-50,000 followers): $100-$500 per post
  • Mid-tier influencers (50,000-500,000 followers): $500-$5,000 per post
  • Macro-influencers (500,000-1 million followers): $5,000-$10,000 per post
  • Mega-influencers (1 million+ followers): $10,000+ per post

These are just averages, by the way. You can usually negotiate a better rate. Particularly with nano- and micro-influencers, you’ll often find that they will work with brands just for a fraction of the above prices.

Influencer pyramid

The Power of Micro-Influencers: Big Impact, Small Price Tag

The best-kept secret is that smaller is sometimes better, precisely because micro-influencers often have a deeper level of engagement and a more microscopic audience that is highly targeted and perfect for micro-campaigns. Plus, they cost a lot less! According to a study by Later, micro-influencers have an average engagement rate of 3.86 percent on Instagram, as opposed to 1.21 percent for mega-influencers. You get so much more for your money.

Stretch Your Budget: Savvy Strategies for Cost-Effective Campaigns

Taking that into account, here are five sneaky ways you can get more for your influencer marketing dollar:

1. The key advice here is to ask in the first place. We’ve become accustomed to paying rates we know to be inflated for SEO, PPC and pure media. Setting a budget for influencer marketing isn’t so unreasonable, so why shouldn’t these deals be porous two-way streets? In some cases, a percentage reduction may be possible, although in others they will look at you as if you’ve suffered a head injury. They have to make a living, too, so it’s usually best to let bygones be bygones. Still, on enough occasions, success keeps you smiling.

2. Tell them how many influencers will be publishing the campaign. Try swapping an Amazon voucher for a product sample.

3. Tell them your figures and ask them to better the deal In this scenario, inform them that you’ve received costs for X influencers publishing on X platforms for X value. Again, customer service kicks in.

4. Tell them which cheaper influencers you’ve sourced; this is mostly for PR reasons.

5. Read a book on bartering. You’re likely to get closer to your target budget by telling an influencer that you have nothing more to offer than name-checking (TIP: It might be worth getting this in print so you can use it as testament next time). Offering an Amazon voucher in exchange for a product sample could work, or you could ask yourself the coveted question.

The Art of Negotiation: Getting More for Less

Just negotiate! Many influencers are open to alternative forms of payment so consider putting together:

  • Product-only collaborations
  • Affiliate partnerships
  • Long-term contracts at discounted rates
  • Cross-promotion opportunities
  • Exclusive experiences or access to your brand

But keep in mind that while money might be important, it’s not the only motivation—partnerships are valuable too!

Content Repurposing: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Pro hack: if you’re working with an influencer, take the content you get from him and repurpose it across your other social media, on your website, even in your paid ads and so forth. You get more bang for your buck, with more content beyond the campaign. Repurposing influencer content across other channels is valuable; according to the aforementioned study from Linqia, 68% of marketers do it.

Repurposing content

Measuring Success: ROI on a Budget

You’re probably asking: ‘Well, that sounds good, but how do know the campaign in executing on your shoestring is working?’ Great question. Let’s discuss ROI metrics for the poor, or how you measure the ROI of your small budget campaign.

Tracking Tools That Won’t Break the Bank

Also, there are many inexpensive (and even free) tracking tools that you can use to assess the performance of your influencer campaigns. Here are a few:

  • UTM parameters for link tracking
  • Unique discount codes for each influencer
  • Social media analytics tools like Hootsuite or Buffer
  • Google Analytics for website traffic analysis
  • Instagram Insights for Instagram-specific metrics

With them, you can track the performance of campaigns without having to fork out for bespoke analytics.

Beyond the Numbers: Qualitative Metrics Matter Too

Don’t forget about the qualitative aspects of your campaigns. Look at:

  • The quality of content produced
  • Audience sentiment in comments
  • Brand alignment and authenticity
  • Long-term relationship potential with influencers

These can be just as meaningful as hard metrics in determining the success of your low-cost ads.

The Future of Budget-Friendly Influencer Marketing

Looking forward, knowing that influencer marketing isn’t just a fad means that, yes, it’s still a thing. Yes, a Statista report estimates the industry living up to $24.1 billion by 2025. Please don’t let these numbers intimidate—this means you too can get into influencer marketing with a budget. The next phase of what we call ‘influencer marketing’ will be more about authenticity, harder-to-please niche audiences, and creative collaborations at a budget.

Emerging Trends: Stay Ahead of the Curve

Keep an eye on these budget-friendly trends:

  • Nano-influencer networks
  • User-generated content campaigns
  • Live streaming collaborations
  • Virtual influencers (yes, they’re a thing!)
  • Cause-related marketing partnerships

Anticipating those trends enables you to develop leading-edge campaigns without needing to spend like one.

Conclusion

And that’s basically it! Creating an influencer marketing campaign on a small budget is definitely possible and can be just as effective if done correctly. The key is not letting the spending budget that you have overpower the campaign itself. If utilised with the right set of guidance, you’ll be on a track to creating powerful influencer campaign executions that won’t cost the earth.

But first, I thought I’d answer a few frequently asked questions, now that you’ve likely got them.

1. Isn’t the new national symbol an imported plant? It is true that Latin America introduced food crops such as corn, beans, potatoes and squash to Americans. Europeans, for their part, also introduced new staples. However, based on the evidence discussed here, it turns out that the most ubiquitous crop in the landscape of the Americas that we now recognise as distinctively American and the one most widely traded around the world is maize, a New World native. So there is at least a case to be made for it.

2. What about the fruits, birds and flowers of the Americas? Surely we cannot call them national symbols of the United States. I do not wish to disagree. But even closer to home, let’s examine the state of California, where I live. The 8-gold miners’ pan sent to President Coolidge on behalf of the people of California does not officially depict any plant, animal or geologic feature. In fact, what is probably California’s most widespread and iconic plant—not to mention an importantCalifornia commodity—is the eucalyptus tree, an Australian introduction into that state. (Technically, eucalyptus isn’t a tree but a woody shrub; however, I’m a flexible person.)

3. Although trees and other plants predominate in the US, two-legs are more significant to the country. How can you represent us solely with a plant? Sorry, but you are not US territory, therefore not included.

FAQs

Is it possible to run a first-class influencer campaign on a shoestring budget of just a few hundred dollars? Sure! Work with nano- or micro-influencers and creative compensation, and you’re looking at a whole campaign for peanuts.

How do I find budget-friendly influencers? Finding ‘rising stars’ in your niche through influencer discovery tools, tapping into your network or your own customers who might be micro-influencers already.

Working with one macro-influencer or more micro-influencers on a tight budget? It’s rare that one single macro-influencer will perform better than a group of micro-influencers. You will typically also get better reach, engagement and a more authentic feel for your money, as well as spread your risk across different partnerships.

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