The influencer marketing bandwagon is something everyone wants to get on, and the fashion industry is no stranger to it. D2C brands are leveraging the razzmatazz surrounding influencer marketing to increase their product sales. These influencers play a cardinal role in putting brands on the mind-map of consumers through a series of steps that starts with building trust and sustained advocacy that further leads to product trials. Influencer marketing holds a quintessential position in the e-commerce industry, as it has significantly helped in acquiring more customers for e-com brands, and it is now the most sought-after marketing strategy for companies as not only it helps build awareness but also create an alternative communication channel through which brands can engage with consumers and develop communities of brand advocates within an influencer’s vast circle of followers.
Influencer marketing is on the rise, with market value doubling between 2019 and 2021, growing from 6.5 billion to 13.8 billion U.S. dollars in the three years alone.
The fashion industry witnesses changing trends throughout the year, with newer developments happening every now and then, Influencer marketing has significantly helped customers discover and keep up with these changing trends. Fashion influencers have established their dominion in the digital space. They are responsible for curating relevant content that keeps pace with the changing trends of the fashion industry.
Brands are strengthening their relationship with the customers by leveraging these content creators having high engagement rates. Since they are the KOL (Key Opinion Leaders), they have established their expertise in their niche, as their content looks unplugged and authentic. Target group organically connects with the content feed and that makes it easier for brands to launch and promote their products in front of the right demographic to drive higher sales.
Moreover, influencers are the perfect tool to understand what the audience wants, which provides fashion brands the perfect platform to experiment with upcoming trends and analyze the audience’s needs.
Influencer marketing heightens the approachability quotient making it easier for brands to communicate with the consumers. Communication is an essential step towards building trust towards the brand, which ultimately leads to better conversions. Influencer marketing helps brands achieve this by directly engaging with the audience, thus ensuring reliability. People following these influencers trust and rely on them for the latest trends and developments happening in the fashion industry. The influencers are responsible for curating relevant and up-to-date content for the audience, which ultimately affects their purchases.
A rightful example of Influencer Marketing driving higher sales for brands would be how MamaEarth became a household name through influencer-led campaigns. The brand invested in multiple marketing campaigns over the last few years leveraging influencers across all digital platforms and upped their revenue 5 folds.
As per a report by Statista, It was found that 41.6 percent of respondents believe that product launching benefitted highly from influencers' involvement.
Fashion Influencers are highly skilled individuals that allow their creative juices to flow by creating engaging content for their audience. Brands look forward to collaborating with these influencers for their out-of-the-box ideas while promoting a particular product. They are responsible for developing a need for the product in our day-to-day lives by their ideal and picturesque demonstration of the same. The high engagement rates ensure an engaged audience base that would be highly influenced by these posts and take the required CTA.
There has been a phenomenal rise in the number of social-media influencers in the last couple of years. Consumers look up to these influencers for brand/product recommendations and suggestions. The pandemic accelerated the shift of brands towards digital platforms for marketing ventures. Not only does it reduce the production cost, but it also leads to higher sales and an expanding customer base. The high ROI is a promising factor for brands to turn to influencer marketing.
Brands are able to push forth their agenda via influencers and promote their products and services.