5 Gig Economy Marketing Tips

First, working with influencers will be crucial when introducing your brand, services, and products to gig economy professionals and millennials alike. Here are some tips on how to engage influencers in your overall marketing strategy.

• Create an emotional connection to your brand, e.g., why would someone use your services/company and work with your staff? What is it that sets you apart from your competitors in the space?
• Generate authentic, engaging, and relatable content that addresses their likes, dislikes, social habits, problems, and needs.
• Identify the right influencer, with a large following, who is similar to your target market.
• Invest in research for the best media to reach your target, i.e., mobile-friendly, video, and images.
• Prepare speaking points about products and services for influencers to experience and talk about.
• Grant the person a free trial service for him/her to experience before providing a review.
• Develop hashtags influencers may use to identify their relationship with you, e.g., #HonestReview #Influencer #Paid #Sponsored
• Read and utilize the FTC’s Endorsement Guide to help keep your firm compliant when enlisting influencer help.

Second, consider how you promote your firm’s corporate governance or charity support. That too is a driver used by those looking for companies that support the same kind of organizations they themselves support. Talk about your strides to end cancer; share personal stories about why the firm’s partners support the organizations they do; and consider your staff’s support of organizations and causes and share them as well.

Third, user-generated content influences people’s decisions to work with a company; that translates to testimonials. Ask current clients to provide a reason why they continue to work with your firm and if they have a specific time when the firm provided guidance that helped them through a tough situation. The more personal and emotion-invoking the story, the more likely people will remember it.

Fourth, if you’re not registered with H.A.R.O. (Help A Reporter Out – https://www.helpareporter.com/), you might consider becoming a frequent guest responder to help broaden your reach and to brand your firm as an influencer itself. The way it works is, reporters from some very high-profile magazines, such as Entrepreneur, WSJ, Forbes, Inc., and others, look for responses to questions. You sign up for the HARO daily question list. If there is something you can respond to in the timeframe needed, then do. Your responses may be placed in the magazine or online site, reaching an audience that already trusts the sources where you’re featured.

Fifth, advertising on gig-economy websites and apps that align with your target audience could prove beneficial. In this sense, you could up your online ad-buying game to include multiplatform and managed-placement strategies. From mobile to apps, websites to games, your message needs to get out there. Where gig employees are. When they are most likely visiting. Consider an ad that is tied to a popular or trending show, and run it during the most watched time frame. For example, “This Is Us” is a very popular, NBC show at 9/8 p.m. central time. You could time your ad to show up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, search, and popular websites during that time frame, with a message tied to the show’s premise, such as “It’s not easy raising triplets. Call us for college-planning tips today.” If you were to leverage this as a social media post, consider the following hashtags too #ThisIsUs, #FirmName, and #CollegePlanning.”

Also, rather than promoting a special service at a discounted rate, create an ad that promotes how you solve a pain point, like healthcare, retirement planning, payroll taxes, savings, 1099s, and networking. Promoting any-time, any-where access will also be important to these workers since they are often motivated by autonomy and flexibility.

With the gig economies expected growth in the next decade, now is the time to consider what your firm offers, how it’s offered, and where you plan to market your services. The sooner you can go to market with your “gig” strategy, the quicker you’ll begin developing a follower base, which will be crucial in the years to come.