<img class="wp-image-10579 alignright" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/3-KEYS.jpg" alt="3 KEYS" width="202" height="202" />Influencer marketing is all about making strategic connections with outside parties that can influence people to purchase from you. What does your influencer marketing strategy look like currently? Even if you don't have a strategy in place right now, it's never too late to start.

Optimizing your influencer marketing strategy can start right now when you implement the following 3 tactics that put your business in front of the right buyers.
<h2>3 Tactics to Improve Your Influencer Marketing Strategy</h2>
Put these 3 tactics into your strategy to start getting better results from influencer marketing!
<h4>Target other business owners as influencers</h4>
<img class="size-medium wp-image-6564 alignright" src="https://conversational-itxdesign.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/influencermarketing-300x168.jpg" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" srcset="https://conversational-itxdesign.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/influencermarketing-300x168.jpg 300w, https://conversational-itxdesign.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/influencermarketing-768x430.jpg 768w, https://conversational-itxdesign.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/influencermarketing.jpg 850w" alt="3 keys to influencer marketing for small business owners and managers" width="300" height="168" /><a href="http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/07/ceb-marketing-to-small-business-owners.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CEB</a> looked at the influence of 10 different types of influencers – from channel partners to fellow small business owners. A few things stood out in the study.

“The first thing that stood out was the degree to which other business owners influence their peers in purchase decisions…We looked at the magnitude of that influence relative to, say, channel partners or associations,” Naumi Haque, Research Director at CEB, said.

They found that other business owners hold more influential power than channel partners and professional associations - even more than the suppliers' own sales representatives.

To implement this finding into your influencer marketing strategy, don't reach out to channel partners and industry professional associations for influential power. Instead, look to other business owners. Their audiences trust them and are more likely to engage with their recommendations.
<h4>Steer clear of unbiased influencers</h4>
As the results above show, fellow small business owners are the most effective influencers for small businesses. Part of the reason for this is that channel partners and industry associations are more likely to recommend your business or service alongside your competition - a big strategic mistake.

Yes, channel partners and associations have their audiences' trust, but they’re also committed to being unbiased and offering impartiality in their recommendations. “If every time you talk to them they’re providing three recommendations, then they’re not really great brand advocates,” Haque stated.

Don't ask impartial influencers to recommend your brand unless you want to share the traffic driven from these recommendations with your competitors.
<h4>Take to social media to connect with other owners</h4>
Finally, this small business influencer marketing study found that social media is the best place to connect with other business owners. Marketers have believed in the past that owners are on social media only to promote their business. According to the research, that’s not always true.

Business owners don't mind helping other owners with recommendations and influencer marketing because entrepreneurship is a kind of “exclusive” club. Members of the entrepreneur "club" share something in common and can potentially set up a mutually beneficial collaboration that has results for both ends. Connecting on social media makes it easy to get in touch and network with other owners.

To get the most benefit from this tactic, start reaching out to other small business owners that share a sector of your business' audience on social media. Be genuine when you contact them and offer to reciprocate to get the best chance at a "Yes."