You’ve heard the phrase, but have you ever considered what and how important it actually is? A few years ago, the term “influencer marketing” would never be considered to be a persuasive strategy in your marketing campaign. Flash forward to 2021 and 75% of marketers are using influencers in their digital marketing strategy and 90% believe that influencer marketing has been an effective marketing tool. In addition, 80% of customers have bought something recommended by an influencer and 41% of customers discovers new products through influencers every week.
So, based on the statistics above, should you be using it in your marketing strategy? Short answer, yes, without a doubt. Let’s begin.
What exactly does it mean?
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that uses an “influencer” to endorse a product or service to promote to their audience. Influencers usually have a substantial following and are often seen as experts in their field.
Influencer marketing leverages the existing influencers, that are following, to increase brand awareness, tap into new markets and drive sales.
What do you get out of it as a business?
The answer is simple. Authenticity and credibility. Influencer marketing makes your offering more relatable, humanises your marketing campaign and assists in reaching a wider audience.
Some other benefits include:
- There is a high amount of trust associated with influencers as they are seen as experts in their field.
- They are speaking to an existing following.
- It’s a powerful tool for social proof.
- Builds brand awareness.
- Reaches new audiences for your brand.
- Improves credibility and brand advocacy.
- Generates leads and drives sales.
How does the influencer benefit?
Now that we’ve informed you of all the benefits of including influencer marketing into your strategy, you’re probably wondering what’s in it for them? Well, there are different ways of making sure that your influencer marketing campaign is beneficial for both sides.
- Affiliate programmes: This is when the influencer encourages the audience to buy a product from your business and gets a percentage of the revenue. An example of an affiliate programme is “use my discount code and get 20% off.” This is the most common method used by businesses as it’s easier to track the success of the campaign and you can see exactly how much revenue each influencer is generating.
- Paid promotions: These are when you pay per post for the influencer to promote your business. Paid promotions are hard to measure and are not a clear sign of how well your campaign is performing.
- Partnerships: This works for big brands with an existing following and offers exposure for the influencer. It’s more of a collaboration than a paid promotion.
- Gifts: The influencer is paid in free products or gifts from the brand.
