Pierre Fabre is the 2nd largest dermo-cosmetic laboratory on the earth and the 2nd largest non-public French pharmaceutical group. Within the US, Pierre Fabre USA has an in depth portfolio of prestigious manufacturers similar to Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, René Furterer, Glytone, and extra.
Within the article beneath, Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising and marketing at Pierre Fabre USA shares how she constructed its influencer program from scratch throughout a time of unprecedented uncertainty and alter.
How Pierre Fabre USA Constructed a Profitable Influencer Program
Crafted a tailor-made technique with the power to pivot
“After I joined Pierre Fabre in 2019 there was no inside PR division and no influencer program. The technique felt very straight from the normal ‘playbook’, together with issues like giant gifting campaigns, minimal analytics, and no in-person influencer occasions. When the COVID pandemic hit and every part modified. The rationale why we have been in a position to shortly and efficiently pivot was as a result of we did the arduous work of clearly defining our targets and key areas of differentiation, and didn’t permit ourselves to get distracted by competitor noise.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising and marketing at Pierre Fabre USA
Constructing an influencer program for a big model from scratch is not any small feat. There are sometimes a whole lot of issues and transferring components, and it may be overwhelming to construct a technique that’s measurable, predictable, and (if profitable) repeatable. To deal with this problem, Elena and her crew:
Outlined and prioritized key areas of differentiation. Every model has a novel persona and differentiation level, and, in response to Elena, understanding and clarifying these two issues can present a powerful however versatile basis on your influencer program. This may also help you establish who you accomplice with, what content material you set out into the world, and extra. For instance, Avène is a portfolio model with a French pharmacy heritage, and is rooted in dermatology with merchandise which might be focused in the direction of delicate pores and skin. With a view to craft Avène’s individualized influencer program, Elena first frolicked researching who was educating and speaking overtly about delicate pores and skin points on social media. This led her to search out skincare and dermatologist influencers — most of which have been keen to attempt Avène’s merchandise as a result of they have been already carefully aligned with their viewers’s wants and pursuits. Elena’s recommendation to different entrepreneurs? Don’t waste your time pattern chasing or copying competitor methods. There isn’t one option to construct an excellent influencer program, so it’s necessary to search out your personal path to success!
Set clear key efficiency indicators. When Elena kicked off Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer program, she knew it was necessary to set key efficiency indicators (KPIs) so they may simply measure success and establish areas of enchancment. For the reason that authentic influencer program was meant to construct model consciousness and affinity, her and her crew set common KPIs like variety of activated influencers, video views, common engagement charge, and distinctive hashtag makes use of. Then for extra particular campaigns like influencer product seeding, Elena set related “quantity” or exercise targets. For instance, she would monitor the variety of new influencers connections or product sends. When she began Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer product seeding campaigns, there have been solely 15 influencers per week (roughly 60 a month), however since then it has quickly expanded to a listing of over 1,000 influencers that continues to develop.
Tip: Be taught extra about methods to set targets and KPIs on your influencer program.
Created room for adaptability. The unique influencer program technique that Elena set out for Pierre Fabre USA in 2019 included basic components like natural influencer product seeding, sponsored content material, and in-person occasions. Nonetheless, a whole lot of this needed to shift when the COVID-19 pandemic took maintain in 2020. Fortunately, lots of the targets, targets, and key messages that the crew had outlined for his or her influencer program may very well be translated into different initiatives. For instance, in-person influencer occasions have been now not allowed as a result of shelter-in-place mandates, so the crew morphed them into academic Instagram Lives. Equally, influencer product seeding campaigns remained a staple, however turned extra advanced. Elena and her crew wished to keep away from waste and likewise weren’t positive how a lot area every influencer needed to retailer merchandise — this meant they averted doing mass sends, and as an alternative chosen influencers rigorously and requested each to opt-in to receiving merchandise. (Extra on this within the subsequent part.)
Developed numerous and inventive partnerships with prime influencers
“I’m actually passionate in regards to the relationship part of influencer advertising! If you wish to construct up a powerful community of companions on your influencer program you have to be scrappy, personable, and inventive. That is very true in case you are making an attempt to construct long run model advocates on a funds! I’m all the time difficult myself and my crew to repeatedly put money into their influencer relationships, even when it could take a while to see the return.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising and marketing at Pierre Fabre USA
Influencer advertising is, at its coronary heart, all about constructing robust relationships. If you happen to don’t have a powerful community of companions, then your influencer program will fall brief. Elena and her crew did a number of good issues when constructing their community of companions for his or her influencer program:
Leveraged use instances to personalize influencer product seeding campaigns. To keep away from waste and inefficiency, Elena and her crew wished to be sure that they have been strategic about how they gifted merchandise. The crew did this through the use of product use instances to search out prime influencers. For instance, they used Traackr to discover influencers that had beforehand posted about challenges that their merchandise assist remedy like thinning hair and eczema breakouts. The crew additionally used Traackr to guage how influencers’ posts about gifted merchandise carried out — influencers that had excessive efficiency have been then thought-about for paid partnerships.
Tip: Do you know that 61% of entrepreneurs report that lower than half of influencers receiving gifted merchandise really publish on social media? Take a look at our current influencer product seeding report back to uncover extra knowledge, suggestions, and methods that may assist your influencer program.
Prioritized a various set of influencer companions. The sweetness trade is a extremely saturated area, particularly with regards to influencer advertising. Elena and her crew knew they wanted to work with greater than conventional magnificence influencers, so that they created influencer “subcategories”. A few of these embody: pores and skin specialists (physicians, dermatologists, and different pores and skin professionals), “skintellectuals” (common shoppers and influencers who’re enthusiastic about all issues skincare), comedians, and mothers. These influencer subcategories have been activated in response to every model’s tone and desires. For instance, portfolio manufacturers Avène and Glytone are centered round training and science — so the crew partnered with physicians.
Invested in relationship constructing and inventive campaigns. To make sure alignment, earn model love, and enhance creator retention, Elena and her crew centered on constructing robust relationships with every influencer. A part of this was achieved just by spending time with each influencer, and a part of it was achieved by discovering distinctive methods so as to add worth to their influencer companions. Through the pandemic the crew wasn’t in a position to put money into a whole lot of conventional sponsored partnerships as a result of low funds, so that they discovered a option to assist causes that their influencers cared about. For instance, #AskAvene was an Instagram Reside collection that centered on the tutorial side of the model. Dermatologist companions like Dr. Mona Gohara, Dr. Ted Lain. Dr. Adeline Kikam, Dr. Elyse Love, Dr. Onyeka Obioha, Dr. Latanya Benjamin, and Dr. Jenny Liu have been requested to come back on each week and talk about a subject and pores and skin concern. In return for taking part on this phase, the crew despatched Avène merchandise to a charity or hospital of the physicians alternative. By the tip of the collection, there have been over 10K merchandise donated to totally different charities whereas additional creating an excellent relationship with key opinion chief (KOL) physicians.
Embraced a performance-driven influencer advertising mindset
“Knowledge is essentially the most highly effective instrument accessible for influencer advertising groups! For this reason it is so useful to see that we’re getting extra platforms (like Traackr) to assist us measure and analyze efficiency metrics, spend effectivity, and value equivalency. At Pierre Fabre USA, we use knowledge to grasp what we’re doing effectively, set benchmarks for ourselves to work in opposition to, and to uncover the place the “grey area” or alternatives for enchancment lie.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising and marketing at Pierre Fabre USA
One of many trickiest and scariest components of beginning a brand new influencer program is that you simply don’t have previous knowledge to base funds or projected efficiency on. Fortunately, Elena was in a position to make use of her prolonged expertise in influencer advertising to approximate what “good” efficiency appeared like for the totally different campaigns that the model was operating.
As soon as the model accomplished its first few campaigns, one of many first orders of enterprise was to do a full efficiency audit. For instance, with a few of its early influencer product seeding campaigns, the crew evaluated:
- Which influencers talked about them essentially the most?
- Which influencers carried out greatest? (earned essentially the most engagements, most video views, and highest engagement charge?)
- Which influencers included the messaging and tone that match the model?
- Primarily based on the above, which influencers would cross the “spend effectivity” take a look at in the event that they have been to be introduced on as sponsored companions?
One other instance was the model’s first TikTok marketing campaign, which had over 25 influencers. On this case, the crew evaluated:
- Variety of mentions per influencer
- Efficiency metrics per influencer (whole posts, engagement charge and views)
- Spend effectivity per influencer (price per view, price per engagement, and so forth)
- Value equivalency per influencer utilizing Traackr’s Model Vitality Rating (VIT)
Tip: If you happen to’re simply getting began and are not sure methods to measure or report on success, now we have a template for the final word influencer program report.
Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer program outcomes to date
“Our main objective has all the time been to make sure that we’re rising model consciousness, whether or not it is by natural or sponsored campaigns. As we glance to our future campaigns, we’ll proceed using a data-led technique, whereas guaranteeing that we’re staying aggressive with our KPI’s, and leveraging a wholesome mixture of platforms and traits.” — Elena Suarez, affiliate director of PR and influencer advertising at Pierre Fabre USA
On condition that Pierre Fabre USA’s funds was small for its first marketing campaign, the crew initially set conservative KPIs. However as a result of model’s potential to choose the suitable companions, develop actually partaking content material, and leverage a number of social platforms, their outcomes far surpassed their targets:
- 15 energetic influencers and posts (67% over objective)
- 7,434,611 video views (1387% over objective)
- 9.6% engagement charge (380% over objective)
- The marketing campaign additionally resulted within the creation of a brand new hashtag (#30secondstosoothe) which when first launched had 6.7M views on TikTok however now has 9.1M views
This was the start of Pierre Fabre USA’s paid influencer campaigns, and since then the group has continued launching totally different ones throughout all of their manufacturers, difficult themselves with aggressive KPI’s every time. Two standout successes embody:
- Avène’s Cicalfate+ Restorative Protecting Cream marketing campaign earned a 2.7M attain, 4.66% engagement charge, and a spike in gross sales that helped shift it to the present primary product inside the Avène portfolio.
- Klorane’s Nationwide Dry Shampoo marketing campaign highlighted the cult favourite Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk, activating 98 creators and leading to 41M attain and a 7.3% engagement charge. This product remains to be a favourite and prime performer inside the model portfolio.
Elena and her crew additionally use Traackr’s Model Vitality Rating (VIT) metric to repeatedly glean new insights and monitor the efficiency of their influencer program. For instance, in 2022, regardless of having a decrease variety of activated influencers, the model efficiently elevated their VIT as a result of robust content material efficiency and influencer loyalty. This yr, the crew is trying to improve that VIT success much more by sustaining its robust model advocates whereas additionally placing further emphasis on activating extra influencers.
If you wish to keep updated on the wonderful work that Elena and her crew are doing at Pierre Fabre USA, observe the manufacturers on Instagram at @aveneusa @glytoneusa @renefurtererusa and @kloraneusa!
