Roman Zrazhevskiy’s firm, Mira Security, sells protecting fuel masks. It launched in 2018, concentrating on customers, medical suppliers, regulation enforcement, and navy personnel. The masks defend towards tear fuel, chemical substances, and, sure, viruses. Nonetheless, reaching prospects was a problem.
“We did a whole lot of influencer affiliate internet marketing,” Zrazhevskiy instructed me. “We reached out to trade specialists and mentioned, ‘We’d love so that you can try our product and write an unbiased overview.’”
Quick ahead to 2021, and Mira Security has thrived. Covid-19 created unprecedented demand. However Zrazhevskiy’s influencer advertising program unfold the phrase. A Hollywood film added much more publicity.
He and I not too long ago mentioned his journey. Our total audio dialog is embedded beneath. The transcript that follows is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: I’m guessing 2020 and 2021 have been good for Mira Security.
Roman Zrazhevskiy: Sure, we had unbelievable years.
Bandholz: How did individuals discover you?
Zrazhevskiy: It was one step at a time. We began promoting on Amazon. We funneled the cash we made on Amazon to construct a strong web site. And we did a whole lot of influencer affiliate internet marketing. We reached out to trade specialists and mentioned, “We’d love so that you can try our product and write an unbiased overview, no matter you are feeling concerning the product.” We’re very assured. We stand behind all the pieces we promote.
Crucial factor is to have a superior product, know the market, and what else is on the market. The entire influencers that obtained it have been like, “Wow, that is nice.” We manufacture at a protection contractor, which has been making related merchandise because the Nineteen Twenties or so.
Bandholz: How does influencer advertising work for private protecting gear?
Zrazhevskiy: I went via a course of known as analysis hacking, the place I might put myself within the footwear of somebody researching this product area of interest, on the lookout for a product like this, and see who’s speaking about merchandise like this and who the key gamers are.
For fuel masks, I might search on Google for “greatest fuel masks,” “fuel masks for youngsters” — all these key phrase variations. I might listing on a spreadsheet all the blogs I discovered. Then I might personally attain out to every one. I might describe our product and invite them to affix our associates program.
It’s important to be clear. Give them the assets they should write good content material, together with high quality pictures and technical specs. Ship them a product. We give them entry to our affiliate vendor folder that has product-by-product information, 360-degree pictures, all the pieces.
Influencer outreach has a cascading impact. When a number of large guys characteristic you, others need to. Now we’re getting cool individuals reaching out to us, saying, “I like your model. I like what you guys are doing. I feel my viewers can be receptive to this. They might like to study it. Might you ship me one thing, and I’ll create some content material?”
Bandholz: Do you might have necessities, such at the least variety of followers or area rank?
Zrazhevskiy: Sure. Twenty thousand followers per channel, with engagement. We’re on the lookout for somebody sturdy in at the least one channel. It’s uncommon to be sturdy in all channels. Our deciding issue is whether or not they create high quality content material. We’ll use a few of that content material and chop it up into adverts afterward. Nobody’s ever had an issue with it.
For instance, I would take their video and divide it into mini segments of adverts on Fb. It’s been profitable for us. We don’t have to supply the content material ourselves.
With promoting, you must hold creating contemporary content material. Should you cease, your adverts die. Then Fb sees that engagement goes down, they usually penalize you as a result of they assume the advert is now not related to the viewers.
Creating content material takes somebody working full-time. Concentrating on is straightforward. What’s arduous is producing the creatives.
Bandholz: Again to the influencers. You’re reaching out one after the other. What are your objectives?
Zrazhevskiy: I’ll determine every day what to work on. I’ll get up and determine, for instance, to deal with influencer stuff. I’ll do a full day of influencer sprints — analysis, outreach, sending out a bunch of emails.
I’ll create a collection of templates. I customise these templates. And I begin reaching out via e-mail. I hold a pipeline of those influencers in HubSpot as a deal. That approach I do know who I reached out to. I take notes in the event that they reply. My aim is to maneuver it from outreach despatched to merchandise despatched to overview posted.
We work with an influencer company for the large guys. They’ve gatekeepers, handlers. With the large guys, you must pay for movies, they usually create the content material. There’s no assure of efficiency.
Bandholz: What number of of these emails do you ship every day?
Zrazhevskiy: Round 20 to 30. It’s all about high quality, not amount. You don’t need to blast via, make errors, and write one thing that’s impersonal or doesn’t learn effectively.
I’m a scholar of neuro-linguistic programming. I write issues in a sure approach, after which I take a look at it by the response. I attempt to craft my messages to entice a reply.
Bandholz: What topic strains get probably the most response?
Zrazhevskiy: One in all my large ones is “Product overview with 15% commissions.” I’m telling the influencer what I need and the fee proportion.
Generally I negotiate the chances, however sometimes it’s 10% to fifteen%. Individuals who we actually need we’ll provide 15%. However roughly 95% of influencers get a ten% fee.
Bandholz: What affiliate software program do you suggest?
Zrazhevskiy: For something out of doors — tenting, mountaineering, health — I might go along with AvantLink. It’s an affiliate community. AvantLink has monitoring know-how. They present click on charges, earnings per click on, all the pieces. They make 3% on each sale.
Some affiliate networks take extra, some much less. However an important issue is discovering a community that’s sturdy in your area of interest. For my area of interest, it’s AvantLink.
Bandholz: How typically do you pay the commissions?
Zrazhevskiy: Each month. AvantLink takes their reduce and pays the influencers.
I supposed to say one other advantage of affiliate internet marketing past rapid gross sales. It’s a type of social proof. I put affiliate movies on my product pages.
I give guests all of the analysis they want on these pages proper there after which. I present them with a Q and A piece, which fits deep into frequent questions. I give them my Instagram feed, which has the product on Instagram in use by clients. I embrace 360-degree spins. Most significantly, I embrace my YouTube feed. A few of our product pages have 15 movies from influencers. And, additionally, I embrace user-generated evaluations.
That technique has labored for us. We offer a lot data that someone might spend hours on that product web page with out having to look elsewhere.
Bandholz: Can we speak about your Hollywood win?
Zrazhevskiy: Positive. In Could 2019, I obtained a voicemail from Warner Brothers. I first thought it was a rip-off. However I known as again. I spoke to a woman, a product placement specialist with Warner Brothers. She mentioned they have been engaged on a brand new movie by Christopher Nolan, the director of “Inception.”
She known as the brand new film “Merry Go Spherical.” That was the working title. She mentioned Chris likes our masks.
Then we negotiated. It’s crucial to barter phrases earlier than sending something, even when it’s an thrilling alternative, particularly in Hollywood. It’s a must to have all the pieces in writing. We negotiated the credit. They initially didn’t need to embrace us within the credit. We insisted on it. We despatched them round 300 masks and filters. That’s quite a bit contemplating each retails for $250. Nevertheless it was a dream come true, a once-in-a-lifetime factor. So we despatched them the merchandise. The film launched in 2020. It’s science fiction, known as “Tenet.”
Bandholz: It’s such a cool film.
Zrazhevskiy: For positive. A ten-minute part within the film featured 300 individuals in a battle scene carrying our masks. It was proven to lots of of thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide.
Bandholz: The entire premise of the film was carrying these masks.
Zrazhevskiy: Sure, precisely. It’s a blessing. I really feel it was God who formed that entire alternative. It was such a humbling, thrilling expertise. It’s unbelievable. Since then, we’ve had three to 4 different films, main blockbusters, which can characteristic our masks.
Bandholz: How can listeners be taught extra about you and your organization and attain out?
Zrazhevskiy: Our web site is MiraSafety.com. We’re on Instagram @MIRASafety or #MIRASafety. I’m on LinkedIn.
