Interview with Fátima Martínez, prominent digital marketing professional

Her career has been marked by extensive experience in the media, where he has worked for renowned publications and media groups such as El País. ABC or Vocento.

Currently she advises large companies on marketing and social media strategies. She also provides training at different Universities and national and international conferences.

Fátima is the author of several books, including "Tres Damas con Marca", published in 2019 by the Maseras publishing house (in which I was lucky enough to participate), and "The Book of TikTok: the essential guide for entrepreneurs, professionals and companies" , published in 2021 by Anaya Multimedia.

On September 19, I did not miss the opportunity to attend the presentation of her third book "Influencer Marketing" Practical course for agencies, influencers and brands "

It turned out to be so interesting that I had the need to share it with you and go into a little more depth about it:

Ana: What inspired you to write a book on influencer marketing?

Fátima: Due to the rise and rapid growth that influencer marketing has had in recent years as a strategic marketing and communication action, and seeing that it is a rather controversial topic among a sector of the population, I thought it would be good to share my experience, both from the point of view of an agency that works with influencers, and on a personal level creating content for brands.

Ana: How would you define influencer marketing in a few words for someone who is starting out in this field?

Fatima: Influence Marketing is an advertising strategy that is part of a Strategic Marketing Plan. Influencers collaborate with brands and become their speakers, their prescribers, and even their brand ambassadors, to publicize a product or service and share it with their communities.

Ana: In your book, who is it mainly aimed at: agencies, influencers or brands? Because?

Fátima: The book is aimed at all those people who are interested in learning or better understanding the world that surrounds Influencer Marketing.

For agencies and brands because they know their work very well, but I think that many times they are unaware of the influencers' point of view and by listening to them first-hand, the day-to-day work can be improved.

For influencers because many do not understand how an agency works, the times, how the sector is organized and many times they are unaware of the different jobs that agencies do, the figure of representatives and brands and everything involves their intermediation.

And also for all those young people (40% according to statistics), who want to be influencers. We must show them the true face of influencers, the importance of training, of working hard and that getting there is not as easy as most think and it is much more complicated to maintain it over the years. Nowadays, for many influencers, their work is their profession and they dedicate all their time and effort to it, in addition to creating their own companies to build a long-term future.

Ana: What do you think are the main benefits of the influencer compared to other marketing strategies?

Fátima: When I worked in the press, we were clear that a report by a prestigious journalist was much more effective than any advertising campaign. The same happens with influencers. If an influencer is credible and respected by his or her community, the message will be much more effective than a conventional advertisement.

In many cases, what brands are looking for is to associate the good reputation of an influencer with their own (values, principles, ethics, security, honesty...)

Furthermore, many influencers end up being the brand image in such a way that when you view any of their content you are unintentionally remembering the brand they represent.

Ana: What advice would you give to brands looking to collaborate with influencers effectively?

Fátima: The ideal is that they train their marketing departments in this area, while at the same time they should have a specialized external consultant, or go to an Influencer Marketing agency to help them with the entire process.

It is true that many brands with a good marketing department work directly with influencers who do not work with any agency, nor do they have a representative, and it also works perfectly, especially when it comes to very specific products.

There are many agencies specialized in lifestyle, beauty, fashion, health products, travel... but very few that control other sectors of influencers with topics such as technology, training, employment... In these cases, the brands usually contact the influencers directly. influencers who know that they work for this type of products or services because they have very related and sectorized communities.

Ana: What is the role of agencies in influencer marketing, and how can they optimize their services to meet the needs of brands and influencers?

Fátima: Influencer marketing agencies play a decisive role, since they are the ones who will help the brand develop the most effective briefing, search for the most suitable influencers for the action (since they work hand in hand with influencer marketing agencies, representation), are in charge of contact and relationship with it, the preparation of contracts and those who will carry out the monitoring, not only so that the content is published under the conditions and dates indicated, but also to evaluate the metrics and results obtained by each influencer.

Ana: What are the key strategies readers can learn from your book to be successful in influencer marketing?

Fátima: Without a doubt, choosing the right consultant, agency and/or influencers for each brand, as well as leaving freedom to content creators to express themselves according to their profiles, their communication style and with their words, without impositions or advertising messages that they have to repeat like parrots.

Many brands do not realize that including purely advertising slogans in the influencer's content eliminates the influencer's naturalness and also insists on also adding multiple brand hashtags, which is sometimes counterproductive because it saturates the message and the platforms also penalize it. .

It is not about turning the influencer into an actor who reads a teleprompter because you break the entire meaning of the action.

But, for a strategy to work, we must follow a lot of steps that we explain in the book, not only from my own personal experience, but also by reading the heads of agencies and brands who share their experience and also the recommendations that influencers tell us. who have collaborated in it.

Ana: Do you have any advice for people who want to start in the influencer world as a career or business?

Fátima: The first thing I would tell you is that practically no influencer, at least those we know and respect today, began to create content with the aim of being an influencer.

Whatever you do you have to do it because you like it, because it excites you and you enjoy it and above all because you believe that the content you share can help others.

Becoming an influencer is a consequence of good work done, although we must also keep in mind that someone who becomes an influencer is not because he/she perceives himself/herself as such, but because thousands or millions of people They give them that nature card.

To achieve this you have to know how to communicate, have a lot of perseverance, be honest, know what you are talking about and take care without disappointing your community.

Ana: What are your recommended resources or sources to stay updated in the world of influencer marketing?

Fátima: To stay up to date you have to follow specialized publications that report on the sector, know what agencies do, pay attention to campaigns and brands, as well as news and movements on platforms and tools. You also have to keep an eye on the influencers, follow their work and detect possible new talents.

Ana: Finally, in the presentation you mentioned that you are already preparing your fourth book. How do you organize your time? A successful blog "Lights and Shadows", very active networks, the rest of the collaborations... You don't stop!!

Fátima: My intention is to publish a book every two years, so possibly my next publication will be ready for 2025.

You have to let the TikTok book and the influencer Marketing book roll, I am not one to burden my readers with book purchases, I like them to enjoy reading slowly and for the books to be dynamic and lively that are enriched by the evaluations that they readers make and complementing them every week also sharing the news with them on my blog and on my social profiles.

To write a book you have to have time to research, be focused, and when you launch it, be sure that it will provide new knowledge to many people. At the same time, I need time to be able to develop my daily work developing strategies for brands, instructing professionals, to teach at the University, give conferences, collaborate with brands creating videos to publish on my own channels, write on the blog... in short, a wonderful madness that makes me feel alive ;)

In 2012 Fátima received "The Valle Suchil Award for professional career." I am sure that in this role as a writer, consolidated with her third book, many more will come. For my part, I already propose to the Norwegian Nobel Committee that they expand the categories of their awards and include "The Nobel Prize in Marketing", it is a very different discipline from economics, but fundamental in today's world. Can you imagine Fatima receiving a Nobel Prize? At this point in my life I already believe everything...remember, if this happens, I ask myself to accompany you to Sweden to see how they grant it to you. Don't forget it, friend!!