CEO of Next PR, an award-winning, full-service public relations firm with offices across the U.S.
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Investment in influencer marketing has skyrocketed over the past few years as companies recognize the value of inking deals with social media personalities and celebrities to promote their brands. The market has already grown from $9.7 billion in 2020 to $13.8 billion in 2021 and is expected to surge another 17% to $16.4 billion this year alone.
Influencer marketing has become a powerhouse of audience engagement, leading many marketers to wonder if they should adjust their advertising strategy to primarily focus on influencer partnerships. With increased pressure on marketers not only to reach their target audience but to gain their trust, it’s easy to see why influencer marketing has become an area of interest for advertisers, marketers and PR professionals alike.
Here are a few reasons you might want to consider adding influencer relations to your next integrated marketing strategy:
It’s affordable. Some influencers will work with brands in exchange for free products instead of payment, which can be a great option for those with small budgets. Brands can work with a micro-influencer (with a following of 5,000-50,000 users) at a relatively low cost or even have the option to work with multiple influencers, still with little financial investment.
It’s great for reaching niche audiences. Because influencers tend to cater to a specific audience—from cheese connoisseurs to professional truck drivers—it’s perfect for reaching those audiences where traditional ads might be harder to target. You can even work with influencers by a specific geographic location for more targeted and localized campaigns. Be careful not to rely too heavily on narrow targeting—some influencers have a broader reach than you might expect. I recently learned that one of our team members in their early 20s follows my favorite 40-something mom blogger. This team member isn’t a mother or in her 40s, but clearly, we share a common affinity for the mom blogger’s content.
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It builds trust. Nearly half of consumers rely on influencers to make purchasing decisions, largely because they’re seeking testimonials from real humans. They crave an authenticity that conventional advertising just doesn’t provide. Influencer marketing also overcomes two major hurdles of traditional advertising. The first is that younger audiences don’t appreciate or trust advertising like older generations once did, and the second is that some 763 million devices now use adblockers, making it impossible to even reach those users through ads.
It’s actionable. Eighty percent of consumers say they’re more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. When their favorite influencers tell them how much they need that new couch or post to their Instagram with a pair of brand-new sneakers, they’re likely to take immediate action. Influencers tap into the “gotta have it” need for inclusiveness, belonging and having first or exclusive access to the latest hot products. And when followers can use an exclusive affiliate link or discount code to get a deal, that’s even more incentive.
It’s easy to track. While media coverage is valuable for building credibility, not all media outlets will include a link to your website in a story and rarely include a discount code, making it a bit complicated to measure business results. With influencer marketing, brands can easily measure results and ROI based on the code used for each influencer. In our campaign last spring for Living Spaces, a national furniture retailer, we were able to find out which customers found products from influencers and which influencer sent them, making our ROI clear, informing our influencer partnerships moving forward, and helping us better understand the customer journey.
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Despite these great benefits, influencer marketing is not without risk. You might send a free product to an influencer and it turns out they don’t love it. They instead give it a half-hearted review on their channels. Of course, there’s always the risk an influencer partner does something the brand or the public doesn’t agree with. It’s never a good look when an influencer gets “canceled” while working with a brand. That’s when it pays to have a quick-acting crisis communications team on your side who can swiftly issue an appropriate statement or apology, or even end the relationship if needed.
A Note About B2B
While most people associate influencer marketing with B2C brands, it’s growing quickly among B2B marketers. Business buyers’ habits and needs have shifted to mimic their personal shopping expectations. In fact, considering B2B purchases tend to be bigger-ticket with a longer sales cycle, influencers might be more valuable for these businesses over consumer brands. Investing in a new software or system is a big commitment, and decision-makers need to know they’re making the smart choice.
B2B buyers once invested in analyst reports from the big firms like Forrester, Gartner or IC, but now they’re following their favorite analysts on LinkedIn or Twitter to see what they’re reading, advising and writing. Partnering with those thought leaders can be influential in swaying buyers’ purchase decisions.
Business brands can also use a form of influencer marketing for recruiting and hiring. We’ve created a brand ambassador program for our firm using Instagram and TikTok to showcase our agency’s benefits and culture. Our team members create and share posts highlighting company culture and benefits within their sphere of influence, netting us several great new hires over the last two years.
The Bottom Line
With so much competition for consumer attention, marketers need to find new, innovative strategies to reach audiences in a way they’ll appreciate, connect with and trust. While I wouldn’t recommend putting your entire marketing budget into influencer partnerships (or any sole marketing strategy, for that matter), when built into an integrated strategy, it can be a powerful way to build your brand and move prospects through your sales pipeline.
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Author: Heather Kelly, Forbes Councils Member
