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As influencer marketing continues to soar, every brand new or experienced wants in. Influencer marketing is an easy way to expose a brand to a new audience, and if the company picks the right influencer, their target audience will align with the influencer’s followers. While many startups may not be ready to invest in influencer marketing, you will find that the reward is the investment. This is why NeoReach has compiled a list of the 8 best marketing campaigns for startups using influencers.
1. Harry Style X Sleep Stories
- Brand: Calm
- Industry: Tech
Wednesday. #DreamWithHarry pic.twitter.com/nOfvhLjc9B
— Calm (@calm) July 6, 2020
The Calm app is the number one app for sleep and meditation that is currently helping millions experience better sleep, lower stress, and less anxiety. Founded in 2012, the app features guided meditations, soothing music, and sleep stories. According to The Wall Street Journal, half of the users on the Calm app use it for better sleep rather than meditation.
In the year 2020, the year of quarantine, anxiety, and uncertainty, Calm decided to add the singer Harry Styles as one of the narrators in their sleep stories. Sleep Stories, which are essentially bedtime stories for adults, are read by your favorite influencers or celebrities. On July 6, 2020, Calm tweeted “Wednesday. #Dreamwith HarryStyles” his soothing voice generated 1.7 million views on Twitter. This 30-second clip was enough to get excited fans to sign up for the app.
The sleep story narrators include Matthew McConaughey, Tabitha Brown, and Idris Elba. Their use of influencers in marketing campaigns for startups allowed them to have rapid growth and 100 million downloads and four million paying members.
How did Tabitha Brown get on a campaign with McConaughey, Elba, and Styles? Read about her journey from TikTok and beyond here.
2. In The Zone
- Brand: DoorDash
- Industry: Food & Drink
DoorDash launched a multichannel campaign to promote Made by Women, the delivery service’s effort to support women-owned businesses, during Women’s History Month. A national “In the Zone” campaign starred WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike, and spanned TV, digital, and social media. Customers who search for the keywords “women-owned” will see local businesses that have opted in to be listed on Made by Women and that offer home delivery service through DoorDash. The company plans to add more listings in the coming months, including women-owned restaurants that contact the company directly to participate.
3. Undercover Lyft
- Brand: Lyft
- Industry: Transportation
Founded in 2012, Lyft is now the 2nd most popular ridesharing app, right after Uber. Their marketing campaign called “Undercover Lyft” featured mega-influencers and celebrities in disguise as customers have no idea who they are and their true identity is not revealed till the end. The influencers include Shaquille O’Neal, Odell Beckham Jr, and DJ Khaled. Lyft’s marketing was successful as the videos on Youtube and Facebook all have millions of views.
4. Glossier Body Hero
- Brand: Glossier
- Industry: Beauty
View this post on Instagram
Glossier, a beauty brand founded in 2012 that is dedicated to being inclusive to all women, released a campaign for their body hero products featuring WNBA players. Their body hero line extended last year to include an exfoliating bar and dry-touch oil mist. They teamed up with 16 women, 8 of which are WNBA players, of different body types to represent what it means to be your own body heroes.
Looking to run an epic influencer marketing campaign for your startup? NeoReach has the best experience in creating viral campaigns that convert on social media. Sign up here!
5. Airbnb x Cochella
- Brand: Airbnb
- Industry: Travel
View this post on Instagram
Airbnb capitalized on the Coachella craze by providing extravagant homes in Indio to celebrity performers and guests. At Coachella 2017, Airbnb provided complimentary homes to Drake, Martin Garrix, Lady Gaga, Wiz Khalifa, and Stefanie Giesinger, again receiving widespread publicity through both news coverage and Instagram. Martin Garrix, who performed at the festival, received over a 10% engagement rate on his sponsored post. Through 37 sponsored posts with top celebrities in the past two years, Airbnb has received 18 million likes and 510,000 comments with an overall engagement rate of 4%. The total combined reach of its Instagram initiatives thus far is 966 million.
6. Ren Skincare
- Brand: Ren Skincare
- Industry: Beauty
View this post on Instagram
Fashion influencer MelissaWardrobe would often get questions on her skincare routine and decided to share with her audience. When she shared the products from Ren Skincare, the products sold out and her followers started posting the products she recommends under the hashtag #Melmademedoit. Ren skincare decided to team up with MelissaWardrobe to create a kit of her favorite products. The Glow Edit kit contains Ready Steady glow AHA tonic, Glow Daily Vitamin C gel cream, and a Dark Spot sleeping cream. The kit is available to purchase from the US, UK, and France at 33% off with discount code MELMADEMEDOIT.
7. Meals with Mindy
- Brand: HelloFresh
- Industry: Food & Drink
View this post on Instagram
HelloFresh partnered with actress and writer Mindy Kaling. The busy mom of two shares cooking tips and how to have fun while cooking in a four-episode video series titled “Meals with Mindy.” The series began airing across social media and digital ads in January 2021. Each webisode features Mindy teaching viewers, in her humor-filled fashion, about the art of cooking, for the purpose of illustrating how HelloFresh helps her create easy but delicious meals.
9. Beyond the Cart
- Brand: Instacart
- Industry: Food & Drink
View this post on Instagram
Instacart teamed up with lifestyle influencer, and recently The Talk co-host, Amanda Kloots to launch the “Beyond the Cart” Campaign. This campaign is meant to recognize the shopper community for their essential role during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Many essential workers risked their lives to ensure those in their community had fresh groceries. Instacart is celebrating shoppers everywhere by spotlighting the lives, backgrounds, and stories of 59 heroic Instacart shoppers; one from every U.S. state and Canadian province where Instacart is available. Instacart is surprising them with a year of free groceries and also offering $200 in grocery credit to the most active shoppers who have supported the most households throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marketing campaigns for startups can look like working with a nano influencer to directly promote your product or asking a celebrity to help you prank your customers. As long as you are able to reach your target audience, you are making a worthy investment, especially since influencers have cemented their place in marketing.
Want to learn more about creating influencer marketing campaigns for startups? Check out our full guide here.
3 more marketing campaigns for startups
| Brand | Influencer |
|---|---|
| Fabletics | Demi Lovato |
| Savage X Fenty | Megan Thee Stallion |
| Health-Ade | Jackie Aina |
