What if we told you that you can do influencer marketing without much expenditure? Yes, it’s possible, and its name is product seeding. 

Don’t worry, we will dive deep into the topic and provide you with helpful insights, which you can leverage for your brand.

Following are some key highlights of the blog, 

• Product seeding offers maximum exposure with minimal investment.

• Companies are sending out seed packages of 1-5 to influencers.

• Finding the right influencer with your target audience is the key.

• KOLs and Micro-influencers are mostly targetted influencers. 

• More and more brands are trying product seeding.

What Is Product Seeding?

Product seeding or seeding strategy is a marketing strategy when businesses gift their products to people in their target market. These influential people can be either celebrities or influencers. 

They do this hoping these people will use the products, like them, and talk about them on places like Instagram, Twitter, or their blogs. It's almost like advertising but without much payment involved. The idea behind this is simple. To make promotion feel more authentic and relatable to potential customers. 

If the product is so good, it'll prompt these influencers to share their thoughts on social media platforms. Therefore, it makes the recommendation feel genuine and trustworthy, making more people interested in the product. 

According to a recent study by Traackr, almost 55% of companies send seed packages of 1-5 to influencers every year.

7 Astounding Benefits of Product Seeding

Though product seeding has countless benefits, the following are the ones that have the most effect on your marketing efforts. Let’s have a look.

1. Minimal Investment, Maximum Exposure 

Product seeding is a standout strategy for its low-cost investment. Unlike traditional advertising or influencer partnerships, sending products to influencers for potential showcases is comparatively inexpensive. This approach offers a viable pathway for brands with limited marketing budgets to reach large audiences. 

When influencers share these products, they endorse them to their followers. This amplifies your brand’s visibility without the hefty price tag of paid campaigns​​. 

2. Boosts Brand Awareness with Precision 

Product seeding is often done with influencers in the target market. Therefore, it places your products directly in front of potential customers. This strategic alignment ensures that your brand is showcased to those most likely to buy what you offer. 

Why does it matter? This precise targeting helps in efficiently increasing brand awareness and affinity within your desired customer base. As a result, it maximizes the impact of your marketing efforts 

3. Facilitates Authentic User-Generated Content 

Influencers sharing their true experiences with your products create authentic user-generated content (UGC). This authenticity is crucial as today’s consumers value and trust genuine recommendations over traditional ads. 

Also, authentic UGC enhances credibility and fosters a deeper connection between your brand and potential customers. This could potentially influence their purchasing decisions positively. 

4. Enhances Brand-Influencer Relationships 

Through product seeding, you are offering the influencers a chance. As the man says, "They can choose to accept it" or leave it as such. So, if they are promoting the product, it means they genuinely like the product. Therefore, it can lead to more heartfelt endorsements. 

This approach also signifies a brand’s trust and respect towards influencers, laying the foundation for long-term collaborations. 

5. Drives Direct Customer Acquisition 

Influencers possess the unique ability to sway their followers’ purchasing decisions directly. They usually have a greater following with a highly engaged audience. So, an endorsement can trigger or drive direct sales. This is an effective way to tap into a new revenue stream.​​ 

6. Gathers Valuable Product Feedback

Product seeding is a smart way for you to get valuable feedback about your products. They can hear what's good about the product and what could be better, straight from the influencers and their followers. This honest feedback helps you understand what people like and make the products even better. 

And when you get positive comments, it's a thumbs-up for what you are doing right. 

7. Targets Niche Markets Effectively 

Product seeding is also great for reaching specific groups of people. By choosing the right influencers, you can get the products in front of your target audience. 

These influencers have followers who trust their opinions and are interested in similar things, making it a perfect match. This way, your efforts are more focused, connect better with the target audience, and make a bigger impact in those specific circles. 

As you can see, it's a key strategy for any brand wanting to stand out and connect with its customers in a meaningful way.

5 Examples of Product Seeding Campaigns

Here are some notable examples of successful product seeding campaigns.

1. Animal House Fitness Grows Big Fast:

This fitness company went from making no money to earning $7 million in just one year! How? They teamed up with over a thousand people who are popular on social media. These influencers talked about the company's products in more than 3,700 posts, making the brand really popular and trusted. 

2. Fy! Teams Up with Decor Influencers:

Fy!, a company that sells cool things for your home, worked with people who are famous online for their home decor tips, like Salomé Maisonnoire. They got these influencers to talk about their products, helping the company get more people to know about them. This was a win-win because it also helped the influencers get more followers. 

3. Blogilates Launches New Protein Powder: 

Cassey Ho, known for her fitness advice, introduced a new protein powder by sending it to other popular fitness folks on social media. The way they presented the protein powder was so unique that it caught everyone's attention and made people remember the product.

4. Herscent Connects Through a Candle Gift:

Image source: Squarelovin Blog

Herscent, a small business that makes bath salts and candles, has also tried a seeding strategy. They got a lot of attention by sending a candle to Seda, a popular lifestyle YouTuber, right after she moved. 

This clever gift got Seda to talk about the candle to her fans, showing that a thoughtful gift can really spread the word about your products. 

5. Rare Beauty's Unique Puzzle Gift:

Rare Beauty sent a beauty influencer, Sylvia Gani, a puzzle of a photo with her best friend on National Best Friend Day. This wasn't just any gift. It was personal and different, making it stand out.  

Sylvia's positive experience and the fun of putting the puzzle together gave Rare Beauty lots of attention without asking for anything in return. 

These examples show us how a seeding strategy to the right people can make more people know and like your brand. It's all about working with influencers to create exciting moments that get people talking about your products, helping your brand grow.

7 Simple Steps to Build an Effective Product Seeding Strategy

Here are 7 simple steps for you to build a product seeding strategy that works. 

Step 1: Find Your Influencer Match 

Look for influencers who really fit with your brand’s vibe. You want someone who talks to the kind of people you want to buy your product. In other words, the influencer should have a follower base that aligns with your target audience. 

What kind of Influencers to focus on?

• Micro-influencers: Those with followers ranging from 10,000 to 100,000. They usually have high engagement rates in specific niches. Here’s a list to help you find the top micro-influencers in the US.

• Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs): These are recognized experts and trusted figures in their fields. Therefore, they can easily influence their followers' decisions on a larger scale. 

• Nano-influencers: These are individuals with fewer than 10,000 followers. They also offer authentic and highly personal interactions with their closely-knit community. 

It's not just their reach and engagement, these types of influencers are cost-effective as well. 

How can you find them? 

You can use influencer marketing tools like impulze.ai. It has over 250 million influencer databases and its AI and advanced filter options make it easier to find the right influencer for your brand.

Suggested Read: Top 10 Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in 2024 

Step 2: Reach Out with a Personal Touch

Once you’ve identified your ideal influencers, it's time to craft personalized influencer outreach emails. Send them friendly emails offering your product for them to try, with no pressure to do anything in return. Remember, you are gifting them. 

How can you do that?  

Write a short email that says who you are, what your brand is about, and why you think they’re a great fit. Be genuine and direct, like sending a thoughtful note to someone you admire. 

Here are some outreach email templates that might help you ease the process. 

Step 3: Make the Unboxing Special

It's no secret how unboxing videos are viral across social media. Therefore, it's important how you present your product. Create a seed package that’s so fun and unique they’ll want to share it with everyone. Think of it as wrapping a present in a way that makes the receiver say “wow” before they even see what’s inside. 

Add personal touches like a handwritten note or design the packaging in a way that stands out. It’s all about making the influencer feel special and excited to see what’s inside. 

Step 4: Follow Up and Engage

Keep an eye on what influencers are saying about your product. If someone hasn’t mentioned your gift, it’s okay to check in, but don’t push them to post about it. You can use tools to keep track of social mentions. 

If you need to follow up, you can maybe ask them about the quality and efficiency of the product. It'll look like you are just collecting feedback to improve your product, nothing else. 

Step 5: Say Thank You and Ask Nicely

Though this may not seem big, it's a major step in a product seeding strategy. Always thank influencers for sharing your product. If you want to use their photos or videos, make sure to ask for their permission. This respect for their work fosters a positive relationship. 

How to do it? 

Send a message expressing your gratitude and gently ask if you can share their content. Respect their response, whether they ask for a fee or happily agree for free. 

Step 6: Propose a Longer Partnership

If you really liked working with an influencer and they loved your product, suggest working together more formally. This could be in the form of an affiliate partnership or as a brand ambassador role. 

Offering a commission for sales generated through their referral can be a compelling incentive. It can lead to creating a mutually beneficial relationship that supports both your brand growth and their content creation endeavors. 

Step 7: Review and Improve

After your campaign, look back at what worked and what could be better. Use what you learn to make your next move even smarter. 

What's the best way to come about?  

Analyze which influencers and content types yielded the best engagement and ROI. Consider what aspects of your packaging, product, or outreach strategy could be improved. Use these insights to refine and tailor your approach for future campaigns, doubling down on strategies that worked well and rethinking those that didn’t.

Start With a Seed, Grow a Partnership

Product seeding is more than just a way to save money. It transforms influencer relationships from mere transactions to meaningful connections. 

It's usually one-time deals with influencers where they post for payment and move on. But product seeding cultivates a genuine relationship between your brand and the influencer. This approach leads to more authentic and heartfelt content, which resonates with audiences. 

The kind of trust this builds is something you can't get with just paying for posts. By really caring about these connections, your brand can create a group of loyal fans who believe in what you share.