Influencer marketing is an integral part of a brand’s promotional strategy. It ties together various marketing mediums and adds a very personable and realistic flavor to the marketing campaign.
To help you understand the impact that influencer marketing has on a brand, let’s look at how influencers affect the success of a brand’s other marketing channels:
- Advertising
Traditional advertising is facing a decline in readership/viewership. A study showed that only 14% of people remember what they saw on banners, buttons and online advertisements. In such a situation, influencer marketing will help take the product/service advertising a step further by showcasing and reinforcing the presence of a brand’s offerings to consumers.
Toyota once used three European micro-influencers, who were weather forecasters, to promote their all-weather Aygo model vehicle. They filmed the influencers driving the car in various weather conditions and used the video to supplement their TV advertisement and product launch.
- Social media marketing
Influencer marketing impacts social media. It ties together various social media platforms and allows brands to leverage different platforms in their marketing strategy. It also allows brands to access target audiences belonging to various demographics and those having different preferences.
- PR and publicity
It’s been observed that more than 30% of consumers are willing to purchase a product, based on recommendations by experts online. By default, influencers function as a brand’s PR agents and publicists, by providing much needed media-coverage to the brand.
The Balmain and H&M collaboration comes to mind here, where influencers Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and Jourdan Dunn actively promoted the collaboration and the launch of their new clothing line on Instagram and Twitter.
- Email marketing
LinkedIn influencer and Wharton Professor Adam Grant is a genius when it comes to mixing influencer marketing and email marketing. His post on drafting the perfect emails and newsletters was one of the best received on LinkedIn.
Grant is one of the few influencers who actively use emails and newsletters to share management lessons with followers. His emails serve as gateways to his website and social media profiles.
Email marketing by influencers like Grant can help you generate great website traffic and CTRs.
- Content marketing
Customers today prefer to read articles about products, services and ideas, rather than see advertisements. This is where influencers-cum-bloggers like Jeff Bullas come into play. They create (and curate) valuable, SEO-friendly content which can push your brand to the next level.
Additionally, influencers like Bullas add a degree of relatability to the content published. Since they aren’t celebrities, they are more personable and anything they write is taken at face value by customers; making brand marketing easy and successful.
- Events
Events are great places to leverage the power of influencers. The eyes of the media and the world are always on big events, making them perfect spots for launching new products or services.
Take Magnum Ice Cream’s marketing strategy at the Cannes Film Festival. They enlisted the help of influencer Jeremy Scott to market their latest decadent fares on this international platform. The brand had Scott’s fashion label Moschino design an ice cream-themed tote bag, just to market their new range of ice creams. It’s safe to say their strategy worked. Bot ice cream and tote bag sales skyrocketed after the event.
Final thoughts
Influencer marketing has far-reaching impacts on a brand’s entire marketing and promotional strategy. It’s important that marketers leverage this form of marketing to get the best benefits.
If you’re interested in enlisting the services of influencers in your marketing campaign, it’s best to approach influencer marketing companies like ifluenz, who have extensive experience helping brands find the right influencer. They will also connect you to the relevant people and will help you plan your influencer marketing campaign.