Marketers say that they waste 26% of their marketing budget on the wrong channels or strategies.
Ouch.
Since the digital space is changing, brands struggle to combat three costly marketing challenges:
- Brand communication is lacking trust.
- More and more people use ad blockers.
- Ads get more and more expensive.
But just when the future of marketing and branding looked bleak, a new discipline came to the rescue:
Influencer marketing.
It has proved to be worth the investment since it can drive 11 x ROI compared to other marketing channels.
If I got your attention now, this blog post is right up your alley.
In this, I’ll go through the three above-mentioned most common costly marketing efforts – and why you don’t have to worry about them if you bank on influencer marketing.
#1: Influencers are more trustworthy than brands
Regardless of the media type – whether traditional, digital, mobile, or social media, people are suspicious of the trustworthiness and authenticity of ads displayed.
Only 4% trust advertising to be honest and accurate.
Consumers often see ads as a desperate attempt to convince them to buy. While advertising used to be an effective method, today’s conscious and savvier consumer is simply skeptical of strong claims and exaggerated titles.
‘Cause buyers today are empowered by the internet.
This means that they can do fact-checking and find out what other consumers think of or say about the product. Consumers insist on making decisions on their own, which makes it much more difficult for a brand to influence the consumer’s mind (in a beneficial direction).
But that is not the case when it comes to influencers.
63% of consumers trust influencers’ messages more than brand messages.
Why?
People follow influencers because they identify with, admire, and/or are inspired by them, and, by that, trust the influencers.
For that reason, the followers are also more willing to follow their advice and recommendations – even though they know it’s paid ads and a collab between the influencer and a brand. It’s the word-of-mouth effect.
#2: Influencer marketing gives you the upper hand towards ad blockers
Studies found that 42.7% internet users worldwide use ad blockers.
For businesses, ad blockers lead to budget waste and losses in resources.
There are several reasons why the popularity and usage of such technology are growing.
Firstly, consumers feel their private space invaded when being displayed an ad related to a previous search on Google (“hey, get lost, you creepy spy!”).
Also, more and more users find digital ads noisy and something that interrupt their focus or smooth user journey. Especially because most of them see ads as irrelevant.
Moreover, digital ads can slow down the browser, leading to a poor user experience and something we can all relate to: The urge to throw the computer out the window or to use our mobile phone as a trampoline.
So, aiming to gain control over their browsing experience back (and privacy), consumers are turning to ad blockers.
And the control aspect is exactly why influencer marketing is the $hit:
People have made an active decision to follow influencers. They actually want to see them in their feed, engage with them, and, in some cases, be like them for the reasons I mentioned in #1.
So, where traditional advertising is push marketing (and is, which you might have guessed, pushy), influencer marketing is similar to pull marketing: They’ve shown interest in and sought out the influencer and might also be interested in the products and brands they talk about.
It’s the reason why businesses earn $5.20 for every $1 they spend on influencer marketing.
#3: Influencer marketing is your goodbye to costly and limited exposure
A trend, that has been here for a while, places focus on the reduced organic reach by various platforms.
Even with a bunch of frequent posting of captivating content, marketers can hardly reach the optimal number of people within their audience.
Unless they pay for it.
The number of active people and created accounts on social media is growing every day worldwide. This might be an excellent opportunity for advertisers, but nothing comes for free.
If brands want to stay relevant and competitive, they have to dig out their credit card. And when the demand for digital ads grows, it cannot surprise anyone that the price – and thereby the CPM (cost per mille) – is on the rise as well. It’s a vicious circle.
But investing in influencer marketing is a way to break that circle.
If you find and choose the right influencers from the start, you have the best chance to turn the collab into a strong, long-term partnership. And these kinds of collabs are the most profitable and will grow exponentially.
If your brand or product pop ups ongoing and in a natural way for a longer period on an influencer’s profile, the followers – including your dream customers – get curious. And convinced.
‘Cause whether we like it or not, it takes time (and patience) to push your target audience through the sales funnel. But this approach to your influencer marketing is worth it. Here’s a figure – and finally a customer case – that proves it step-by-step:
Content
Studies show that people have to be exposed to a sales message 7 times on average before they make a (buying) decision.
It takes repetition before your target audience actually consciously notices your product or brand.
That’s why the content part needs the most focus and effort from you, as the funnel visualizes.
Awareness
Soft conversions
This is where your audience gets curious and interested and wants to get to know you (better). You’ll know if they sign up for your newsletter, follow you on social media, and so on.
This is your chance to keep them in your loop, be top-of-mind, and build trust.
Hey, wait…. Trust?
Didn’t we talk about that already?
Yup. And in case you forgot, trust rhymes with sales.
Sales
Show it, don’t tell it, they say. So, instead of telling you that influencer marketing is worth it, we’ll show you instead by using this case from our customer Flying Tiger Copenhagen:
A TikTok influencer went viral with a DIY Christmas mug from Flying Tiger Copenhagen.
The effect?
The mug was sold out in five days.
Case example: The (sales) effect of influencer marketing
Gotta love a true success story, amirite?
If you wanna kick off your influencer marketing strategy like Flying Tiger Copenhagen, I have a a lot of colleagues who’d be happy to help you.
Wanna be set up with one of our specialist?
