Most modern marketers are aware that the days of advertising through stagnant billboards are no longer. But only recently have the days of targeting audiences solely by location also become a thing of the past. Savvy marketers know it is better to target people by behaviour and persona. What does this mean? The advertising industry has grown from a one-sided conversation into a new kind of narrative–its most organic form yet; influencer marketing.
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
Influencer marketing involves marketing a brand through a popular personality. This personality serves as a leader in their prospective industry. Paige Hathaway, for example, is considered to be one of the top influencers in the fitness industry. Leading supplement and athletic wear companies shower Hathaway in their products, and subsequently, people buy those exact products. Influencers are considered to be so because as well as talking the talk, they actually walk the walk. In other words, they are experts in their prospective industries. And because of this, consumers trust them and the brands they associate themselves with.
How will you implement influencers into your marketing strategy?
Influencer marketing operates through the work of key individuals aligning their values with your products. An influencer can do this through a social media post that either mentions your product in passing, or demonstrates their use of that product in their personal life. Another method might entail an influencer speaking on their expertise at an event you host.
To sum it up, influencer marketing is the grey territory between an official testimonial and a subtle product mention.
Using real people as living billboards might seem daunting, but this method is surprisingly more cost-effective than paid advertising and leads to more credible brand recommendations, which 92% of consumers are more likely to trust.
The key is trust. From all sides. If you trust your influencer, who truly trusts your brand, your consumer will trust both parties. Furthermore, a brand-influencer relationship built on mutual benefit will ensure credibility as well as stability in the long run. As a brand marketer, a good question to ask is: How can we all help each other out? If, as a marketer, you can manage to establish natural relationships with experts in your industry, your brand’s growth will be limitless.
Finally, to ensure you’re choosing the right influencers for your brand awareness, organize influencers into lists that align with your target demographics. More than one influencer might be necessary to target all the angles of your target market(s).
The future of influencer marketing, and why you should jump in
Influencer marketing is more than paying people with followers. This is a call for a new era of marketing beyond influence to improve the journeys for customers and stakeholders everywhere.
A great way to begin pairing your brand with lived-in lifestyles, on a budget, is an influencer marketing software like Neoreach or Tapinfluence. Because at the end of the customer journey, consumers want lifestyles behind their brands they can live in.
