Marketing with influencers – Andrés Pineda
Andrés Pineda is the CEO of the influencers marketing platform, Fheel. A startup created in 2016 that was a pioneer in getting Youtubers and Instagramers in touch with companies interested in their services.
Andrés tells us about his career, which began as a graduate in Fine Arts in graphic design and illustration that decided to become a entrepreneur after the closing of the company in which he grew and experimented in the field of communication and marketing.
How does a graduate in Fine Arts end up being the CEO and marketing expert of Fheel?
25 years ago, studying advertising in Seville was not a striking goal for most students. The faculty had just opened in our city and there was much ignorance about the profession.
I, due to my dyslexia, was a bad student and in the only subjects that I highlighted were the ones related to plastic arts. I studied fine arts without having a clear professional objective, I began my career in the area of graphic design and illustration, working for large studios and agencies like El Golpe Cultura del entorno, Publici, Leglez, Tve, etc.
In 2004 I was the responsible of communication and publicity of the Arance Group, during those years I had the opportunity to develop myself in the marketing area. Being a responsible at a national level for the creative and communicative strategy of a company such as Arance, which was invoicing more than eighty million euros a year, gave me the opportunity to grow and experiment in that field.
Years later, the company closed due to the crisis and I decided to start on my own.
¿When and why did you create Fheel?
Fheel was launched in April 2016. Before I had three companies, two related to the fashion industry, in which I started to collaborate with bloggers, and another related to youtubers musicians.
This allowed me to see the great opportunity that was coming with the relationship between influencers and advertisers. As in any startup, we were few and had to touch several areas per person. I was in charge of marketing and communication, always supported by expert collaborators in each area.
“in the future we all will be influencers because all of us has influence power”
What is Fheel? How does it work?
Fheel is a tool to create marketing campaigns with influencers. We operate as a large community formed by youtubers, instagramers, network, representatives, advertisers and advertising agencies.
We offer a safe and fast site to carry out collaborations between them.
How does marketing with influencers work?
The marketing with influencers is based on the recommendation of a product or service by the influencer in his or her channel. There are different types of collaborations, in video or image.
The great potential of a strategy with influencers lies in the fact that the audience of the influencer comes to this because they are interested in knowing their recommendations and suggestions on a weekly basis.
Although marketing with influencers is the order of the day, there are still certain companies that do not trust them to promote themselves. Why do you think that happens?
It is due to the difficulty involved in reaching an agreement on prices, dates, product delivery, briefing, etc. In comparison with other types of strategies where you do not interact with people but with a machine, the marketing with influencers is the most powerful strategy, but you also have to know how to treat it.
How do you negotiate with an influencers?
In Fheel we make it easy, since advertisers have a direct messaging system with influencers, where the negotiation depends first of all on the product that the advertiser will give them.
There are collaborations where the influencer does not charge anything because the product he or she receives in exchange has a great economic value. In other cases, for example in the recommendation of an app, the influencer sets a base price. However, 80% of the collaborations are by way of barter.
How do you manage to have a portfolio of influencers?
In the first place, because we have been in the sector for more than two years and we were among the pioneers. Secondly, because one of our partners is the great media group Grupo Zeta, which allows us to have a presence in portals and magazines such as Woman , Coure, Stilo or El Periódico. At the same time, interviewing the influencers of our community allows us to have great diffusion among them.
What guarantees do you need to be part of Fheel?
All influencers accept certain conditions where they promise to not publish the work until the advertiser publishes it.
We also have a penalty system in case the influencer delivers the work later than the agreed date.
Is the marketing with influencers of good for all sectors? In which there are better results?
The sector that works best is retail. To highlight everything related to fashion, beauty, home, family, etc. However, any sector works, in Fheel we work with all sectors, from areolines to vehicle brands.
