In-house Marketing
As a company or brand, most either have an in-house marketing department or an agency partner that they work with. The roles of these marketing teams are critical to the launches of products or services from any company - marketers determine how the brand is perceived, how to communicate with target audiences, and to create lasting impact in the consumers’ memory. As a result, most marketing messages are focused on how the brand’s product or service is different from their competition; this can be through pricing, sustainability benefits, quality, longevity, etc. However, it is inevitable that at a certain point, the customer stops absorbing the marketing message because they’re immersed with so many competing ones. The consumer is then faced with a decision dilemma: “Brand A is communicating stunning results, it sounds too good to be true” and “both Brand B and Brand C claim to be most ‘beneficial’, but which one is really best?” or, perhaps, “Brand X and Brand Y have the same prices, so how do I determine which one is best for me?”.
Word-of-Mouth
Reviews. That is what the consumer immediately falls back on to determine which choice they will make. Many companies offer a comment and review section on their websites; and for services, there are companies such as Yelp that help many choose between brands. This review-based word-of-mouth is so reliable because comments are genuine users/buyers of the brand in question, they are merely sharing their honest experience with the world. Therefore, companies now want - or should want - to make any positive reviews they receive very public, even though consumers are unlikely to see these reviews unless they are already looking for that specific product or service. So how do brands and companies show off their positive feedback independent of their own channels? Enter influencer marketing.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is defined as the partnering up with someone (an influencer) who helps other people buy from you. It’s an elevated version of word-of-mouth. Influencers are a trusted source of information because, like reviewers, they share their personal experiences with their audiences. Even better, their reach is far more significant because they have already built and shaped their own community of followers who admire, are invested in, and listen to them. Additionally, most influencers “specialize” in an area of business and they partner up with companies that already speak to their personal brand and aesthetic. For example, a travel influencer, whose feed is dominated by various destinations, accommodations, and activities, is not going to partner up with a makeup brand, because their followers would question the legitimacy of their knowledge. Influencers don’t stray from their industry for the sake of consistency; this allows them to become a voice of authority in their segment.
It is important to note that not all influencers are authentic, some of them enter arbitrary partnerships with companies to boost their income. However, audiences are quick to pick up on this when the influencer does not have personal experience in the space. Some influencers also buy their followers to show a more extensive reach and demand a higher fee; this can be difficult for clients (especially ones experimenting with influencer marketing for the first time) to navigate. Fortunately, there are platforms which help clients weed out influencers for partnerships that will bring their brand the most authentic and relevant exposure.
New rules of engagement between companies and influencers also state that the influencer must make it clear to their audience that the brand they are working with is, in fact, a partner. Whether this is through a hashtag in their caption, i.e., #ad, or stated elsewhere in the post, “In partnership with…” - These rules allow for more transparency with consumers, so they know that the influencer has personal interaction with the product or service and believes in their value. This additional layer of information adds to the trust an influencer’s community feels in taking on the advice of each post they come across.
Rule of Seven
Influencer marketing is also on the forefront of credibility because the loyal built-in following of an influencer partnership breaks the ‘Rule of Seven.’ An article describes this rule as a marketing concept that states “that the prospective buyer should hear or see the marketing message at least seven times before they buy it from you.” Traditionally, the need for repetition in selling a product or service exists for the consumer to build familiarity - and by extension trust - with the brand in their minds before taking action. However, with the use of influencer marketing, brands utilize a medium that is already touching base with its potential consumers regularly. This means less work and expense on the part of the brand to put out repetitive messaging over one product or service.
Become Trusted
As a company or a brand, investing in influencer marketing in addition to in-house messaging is so critical, not only to your reach but also to your credibility. Take the time to look for influencers whose brand resonate with yours, build a relationship with them, and the result is a long-term brand ambassador that chooses to promote your company, not because of compensation, but because they have personally engaged with your product or service and believe in it enough to share it with their community. As a result, you, the company, become credible in the selling of your product or service to audiences because you have secured large-scale approval and reviews from the voices of authority.