How to team with influencers for more marketing home runs

Dentist with Slugger and giant toothbrush

Photo / Courtesy of Greg Glynn Mainly Veterinary Dentistry in Windham recently teamed with Slugger the Sea Dog on a marketing video that went viral. In this photo, the beloved mascot poses with Dr. Jennifer Keaten, owner of Mainely Veterinary Dentistry.

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By Greg Glynn, guest columnist

Heading into 2026, the term “influencer marketing” continues to evolve, so if you’ve been thinking about working with influencers, now could be the perfect time.

Provided photo

Greg Glynn of Pliable Marketing

According to one estimate, brands routinely generate around $5 to $6 in revenue for every $1 invested in influencer campaigns.

So how do you tap into this opportunity and get that type of return on investment? It starts with understanding what a strong influencer partnership should look like.

In Maine, some of the most effective influencers often aren’t celebrities with millions of followers. They could be a food blogger, a wellness content creator or a local high school or college athlete.

You also don’t need a national celebrity, but rather someone who will resonate with your current and potential customers.

Ideally, the person has developed a loyal following by being authentic, relatable and trustworthy. In fact, it doesn't even have to be a person. Mainely Veterinary Dentistry in Windham recently joined forces with Slugger, the mascot for the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team, to create a marketing video that went viral. The partnership was a home run.

These five tips will help put your marketing team on the path to a perfect New Year’s resolution to start working with local influencers to raise your own marketing game.

Decide on the problem your company is trying to solve

This could be to increase midweek bookings during the winter, share new products or services, launch a new menu item, attract younger customers, drive more e-commerce sales for your Maine-made products, provide education and more. If you don’t have a clear objective, it becomes more difficult to measure the results.

Think about who your company needs to reach

Identifying your target audience and then an influencer that will resonate with your target audience is key to attracting like-minded people to influence their decision-making. Determining your exact target audience and what action you want them to take is critical. Be sure to identify the demographics and psychographics of your audience you are trying to attract and what you want them to do.

Decide how you will measure success

Tracking the success of a partnership can include increasing website visits or click-throughs, a promo code for online orders, new leads, bookings, or email sign-ups.

You can also track in-store foot traffic on specific campaign day are all good metrics. The more you measure, the more data you will have to show the success of the partnership to your boss.

Find an authentic influencer

In a relationship-driven and authentic state like Maine, people can see right through a fake influencer. Now with artificial intelligence, there are fake people online selling things. Moving forward, authenticity of the influencer is going to matter more and more.

Currently, a local example of an authentic influencer marketing campaign in Maine is from Aroma Joe’s. Their community ambassador campaign partners the brand and local shop owners with local high school or college athletes from Maine through name, image and likeness (NIL) partnerships.

When working with local influencers, don’t just look at their follower count as the only criteria. Marketers should look for someone who is a good “fit” and generates high engagement. Other things to consider are the influencer’s content style, values and content quality.

Set the expectations

Working with influencers means setting clear expectations of what the influencers will do. One key element is to outline the exact style and type of content they will produce. The contract should also spell out compensation and the scheduled payment amounts.

Influencers will often perform content creation for cash or in-kind products or services. You can also create affiliate commissions or revenue sharing using custom links or codes, or a combination of free product and sales commission. Local influencers also tend to cost less than national influencers, which can help you start with a smaller budget.

Don't drop the ball

Creating an influencer marketing campaign for 2026 is a great way to engage new audiences and drive measurable results. Don't drop the ball on this idea; the only ball that should drop in 2026 is in Times Square.

About the author

Greg Glynn is the founder and CEO of Pliable Marketing in Augusta. He can be reached at Greg@PliableMarketing.com.

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