Influencer Marketing seems to be the new marketing tactic for brands worldwide, so what is it and how can it help drive your brand? Essentially, Influencer Marketing is a blend of old and new marketing techniques using an endorsement of a product by a person of interest to drive content and ultimately, sales.
The beauty of influencer marketing versus celebrity endorsement is that influencers can be anyone, anywhere, any time, selling anything and in most cases, it’s far less expensive than using a celebrity endorsement. Another key benefit of influencer marketing and influencers is generally they are defined by a target demographic or industry.
What makes someone influential is that they have a large and engaged online following. The main goal of influencer marketing is for a collaborative effort between a brand and an influencer which results in a surge in sales of one or more particular items.
For influencer marketing to effectively drive your brand, both your marketing team and the influencer must carefully consider their approach. It’s unwise to make your following feel ‘sold to’ especially as they are regularly unaware that they are in fact being targeted for sales. This depends a lot on an influencer’s ‘voice’ and how they communicate with their audience. For example, is the goal to sell a product by telling it’s audience how it makes the influencer feel or having the influencer tell the audience how it will make them feel?
One of the keys to successfully driving your brand through influencer marketing is creating a schedule. How often and on which medium or platforms does the influencer engage with their following? Does their schedule match up with the ideal schedule for maximising brand engagement? Do schedules need to be altered to meet the desired time for driving the brand, website traffic, sales or delivery of information? All these factors are integral to driving your brand.
One of the key things to remember when creating an influencer marketing campaign is this: Influencer marketing is marketing to influencers. Ultimately a brand is attempting to reach the audience of the influencer, however, due to the follow-ship and interaction of influencers amongst other influencers, the target market for brands often includes the influencers themselves. This allows brands to interact with their audience in a constructive and positive way without making their target audience feel as if they are being ‘sold to’.
This achieves the ultimate goal of visibility and brand awareness to your audience meaning that when you propose a collaboration, the influencer will recognise your brand. They will know whether you’re a good fit for their audience. If you have researched and presented your brand well, you can be confident when reaching out to them that you have made the right choice.
When researched and delivered properly, Influencer Marketing is one of the best available tools to drive your brand. It is the ultimate hybrid of marketing techniques and allows brands to engage with any audience, anywhere, any time.
Comment