Introduction to Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has to be one of the most recent developments in marketing tools and types. This was especially popularized after the popularity of social media rose to become one of the most consumed entertainment platforms.
Even though influencer marketing is thoroughly a new concept the idea of getting influential people to launch or advertise products has always existed in the form of endorsements on televisions and print media.
A lot of social media-based marketing has been overtaken by influencer marketing and is now spread across multiple mediums.
Confluencr.com, an influencer marketing agency has made its way through to connect any brand/company with influencers who can market them through influencer marketing campaigns.
HOW ENDORSEMENTS DIFFER FROM INFLUENCER MARKETING-
The difference between endorsements and influencer marketing is their reach, efficiency in targeting, and the nature of the presentation.
The traditional marketing tool of endorsements has a lesser reach to a specific audience. Although television and newspapers are widely consumed, it cannot reach a specific audience as efficiently as influencer marketing does.
Influencer marketing, on the other hand, has the liberty to choose influencers that are followed by the specific group of consumers that they want to target.
Influencer marketing is more effective when it comes to marketing communications the message is delivered rather subtly. The two most popular modes of influencer marketing are sponsorship and product placement.
Sponsorships are when a company sponsors a video or pays the creator a certain amount of money for them to recommend this product to their consumers, add the links to this product under their direction. This leads to better visibility and acceptance of a product and ensures direct reach.
Product placement is slightly more creative and requires that the product be placed in the middle of content most naturally and organically as possible. This is also known as product integration. Here, the message is communicated in a natural flow.
If this is done the right way, then the audience creates a bond with the product due to the connection that they feel towards the content or the actors in the content.
Product integration was also used with traditional mediums like movies and serials but the content on the internet is far more suitable for product integration as they are smaller in size and easier to consume and share.
HOW INFLUENCER MARKETING HELPS A START-UP
One of the biggest things that any start-ups need is an influential marketing strategy. They need a breakthrough to the market where the competitors giving similar products and services have already established a market for them.
To penetrate this market and create loyalty for a completely new product means that there needs to be an extremely communicative and real form of marketing involved.
Even if the product is first of its kind and something that the local audience is utterly unfamiliar with, the company will need a believable and convincing form of marketing to introduce the product to a new market.
When this company is especially a start-up, they have certain financial limitations and the need for quick gains from their marketing efforts.
Keeping all of this in mind, the following are the reasons why influencer marketing is ideal and gives the best results for a start-up.
AFFORDABLE AND NEGOTIABLE
The biggest reason why marketing on the internet is generally way more suitable for small and businesses in comparison to the traditional forms of marketing is its affordability. Endorsements on televisions are done by big celebrities who often charge a fortune.
On the other hand, influencers on the internet are more affordable and charge much lesser than mainstream celebrities.
The mainstream endorsements are official deals signed by celebrities to be a part of the marketing campaign. Outside this, the production cost for the marketing including the advertisements, camera set-up, payments for the staff will also have to be invested by the company.
Influencer marketing on social media is much more cost-effective. The partnership is not strictly official and sometimes is a result of great networking.
A lot of times, companies can send gifts and product coupons to the influencers to get their products mentioned by them on social media.
Apart from the money that the influencers directly charge you to promote your product, there are no other expenses involved in influencer marketing.
MORE ORGANIC AND BELIEVABLE DELIVERY:
With television, all advertisements look like an advertisement and the consumers know that the content is made to promote a product.
When this is known, the effectiveness of the message goes far down. It is said that the best marketing efforts are the ones that do not look like marketing efforts.
With influencer marketing, the companies can hit that mark. Unlike the scripted and acted out advertisements, influencer marketing is communicated most organically and believably.
The content creators communicate the message as themselves without the barrier of a played-out character.
It is unscripted so it seems like the creator is genuinely communicating and recommending the product to their audience.
The audience already has an established bond with the creator, which is why the same conviction and trust is directly carried forward to the product being marketed.
For eg- A creator with millions of followers that make fitness videos and work-out content, endorsing a healthy-tea as something that they consume themselves will instantly build trust for the product.
A channel that reviews technical appliances, recommending a certain smartphone is instantly credible.
EFFICIENT TARGETING:
The consumption of content on the internet is easier to study and thus the feedback for the marketing efforts is also easily available.
Unlike the TRP, which was used to measure the traffic in the television content, the internet and especially social media can further research on who is consuming the content concerning demographics like age, time, duration, influencer, and location.
So with influencer marketing, it is easy to figure out how to reach exactly the audience that they want to target.
For example, the latest influencer marketing statistic reveals that 50% of the consumers fall under the age group of 18-25, followed by 24-30.
Influencer marketing is especially effective for companies looking to reach youngsters in metropolitan cities as they are the most ardent consumers of social media.
Another trend observed is that most of the 50% of influencers that participated in this research were female, which indicates that there is a higher rate of female content creators.
This also indicates that the most consumed channels are often lifestyle-based content, which is ideal for the placement and promotion of many categories, especially start-ups.
FAVOURABLE ASSOCIATIONS:
The biggest benefit of influencer marketing as explained above is that the company can market themselves based on the credibility and already established market and consumers that they have.
This is especially true for product placements, where the products are integrated as part of the story with a relevant reason to be there.
A successful Indian influencer marketing, for example, is-
TVF TRIPLINGS AND TATA MOTORS-
TVF tripling is one of the most popular web-series. It is a series where road-trips are given a lot of symbolic significance.
TATA motors used this storyline to promote their latest launched automobile called the TIAGO.
Throughout the series, the car is referred to as “Tiago” and not a car. This is one of the most successful brand integrations.
That was all the reason why influencer marketing is ideal for a start-up looking for the most-suited marketing strategy to launch and promote their products.
Author Bio: Shweta Singh
I am an aspiring Lawyer and a Content Writer.
I believe that every business has a story and I thrive to tell that story to the world through my writing.
I have been writing for influencer marketing for a long time and have grown exponentially with the industry.
With Confluence, I have learned that quality content + targeted marketing can do wonders not only for businesses but for any individual.
If you are looking for the best influencer marketing agency, your search ends at Confluence
