influencer marketing - carole lamarque

CHAPTER1

CAROLE LAMARQUE

chapter 1Influencer Marketing?What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?

July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

A WHOLE NEW WORLD…

The digital revolution mainstreamed information distribution. People from all around the world now find knowledge just a mouse click away. Search engines process billions of queries every day from users looking for information to empower themselves with.

This same revolution also allowed networks of people to branch out in ways that no one could have imag-ined. Boundaries of time and space were lifted and platforms like blogs, reviews and social media mainstreamed one-to-many communication.

Ordinary individuals that would never have been heard before became content creators whose opinions and word of mouth impact large audiences.

Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?


This so-called display fatigue has made traditional advertising less powerful.

… THAT HAS BECOME NUMB TO TRADITIONAL MASS MEDIA MARKETING

Research has shown that consumers have become more critical of traditional advertising: They fast-forward through commer-cial breaks on television and install ad-blockers to get rid of display ads. This so-called display fatigue has made traditional advertising less powerful.

In contrast, 92 percent of people say they tend to trust recommendations from other individuals. Consumers also specifi cally use modern media to inform themselves

before deciding on a purchase. Therefore, a lot of the content they are exposed to is no longer controlled by brand managers and might not necessarily fi t the brand or product strategy they were aiming for.



GOOD ADVICE IS BEYOND ALL PRICE

This new reality is not something to be feared or ignored, but one that should inspire innovation. Consumers may no longer be open to traditional marketing methods, but they can still be reached by word-of-mouth: Research by Deloitte and Murphy states that consumers who receive recommendations from other clients have a retention rate that is 37% higher than average.

McKinsey found that word of mouth generates 2 times the sales of paid advertising. When consumers are digging around for information on a specific subject, they are looking for

authoritative, trust-worthy material. They do not want a brand telling them how awesome their product is, they want to hear an honest opinion from a fellow user.



TAPPING INTO THE NETWORK

Word-of-mouth advertising is not easy to manage, but if done right, it is an incredibly powerful marketing strategy. For companies and brands, however, it is very hard or even im-possible to build the necessary per-sonal relationship with the target audience.

That is where influencers come in. Influencers are people that have managed to connect and develop a bond with an audience through the content they create. They have an influence over that audience; they can affect their audience’s behaviour.

Because of the bond they have formed with their readers/viewers/etc., users are much more receptive to what the influencer is saying than they would be to any kind of mes-sage that is being put forward by the company itself.

Marketers have picked up on this as, according to a study by Tomoson, 59% are planning to in-crease their influencer marketing budgets over the next 12 months. And it is paying off: every $1 a com-pany spends on influencer marketing gets them an average return of $6,50.


59%9% of Marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets over

the next 12 months.


LOOSENING THE REINS DOES NOT EQUAL LOSING CONTROL

Of course, an influencer is not the same as an ambassador. The messages they spread about a brand are not by definition of a positive nature, but even then they can generate interest around the company’s topic. Should an influencer cease collaboration with a brand, this does not undo the effect their previous actions had on the audience. Moreover, because they are so closely connected to the audience, influencers can help companies produce content that truly meets the

needs of their buyers: A good company-influencer relationship can open doors that neither of them even knew existed.

WHERE TO START?

You may want to explore influence marketing further, but where to be-gin? How do you identify successful influencers that match your brand? How do you engage with them? What does an influencer marketing strategy look like? In this book we will explore all these questions and more.

Get yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea and delve into the next chapter on !



PLEASE DROP ME A MAIL IF YOU WANT TO PRE-ORDER THE [email protected]

CAROLE LAMARQUEDuval Union ConsultingFounding Partner

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