Influencer marketing is revolutionizing the global media landscape today

There are no two ways around the fact that all businesses need a constant brand push to get consumers to trust them. Advertisement remains to be a substantial part of marketing.

As times changed, the traditional marketing model had to be replaced with a newer and more effective form of product marketing, that seemed more relevant & personal, either by riding on social media platforms or by leveraging technology or in some cases both.

The upsurge of social media has paved the way for the rise of data-driven Influencer Marketing and the same seems to be a great bet for marketers looking for a media solution that offers both brand building and performance. Influencer marketing banks on the two key elements of marketing that are of great importance, i.e. Relatability and Relevance.

There used to be a time when Banner Ads ruled our screens and were the primary source of online marketing. A simple click would redirect potential customers to the brand’s website. However simple the marketing strategy might seem, its usage died out as the whole journey was too transactional for both brands and the customer. Banner Ads were unable to provide the relatability that is required for customers to trust brands.

In addition to that, banner ads do not generally cater to a person’s choice of interests, hence it defeats the primary purpose of audience building. Ads are not only interfering but also very annoying to view. Most banner ad clicks are reported to be accidental. Due to this very reason, they’ve suffered a major blow in recent times. More and more people are enabling Ad Blockers, resulting in losses to marketeers. With the advent of Influencer Marketing, brands are able to reach out to the customers directly and help build a channel of communication between them. More and more brands are now investing the lion’s share of their marketing budget on influencer-led advocacy. While there are multiple reasons to support this newfound marketing formula, the most pertinent one remains to be high ROI.

As per a study conducted by Influencermarketinghub in 2020, almost all brands that participated believed influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing and all brands now have dedicated budgets for Influencer marketing activations & advocacy.

How influencer marketing is changing today's media landscape

• Authenticity and Relatability

Influencer Marketing is a great way of getting customers to trust brands as it doesn’t entail a unilateral form of communication, rather it bridges gaps if any. Customers are able to engage with the Influencers, gain feedback and express their candid views. This to & fro dialog helps in creating trust and build a long-term connection with the brand. While in the case of banner ads, a certain skepticism and suspicion are conceived while pondering over the authenticity of the ads. Consumers are growing out to be more aware and conscious, hence a channel of communication is essential to get them to trust brands.

• Target Audience Reach

Influencers are Key Opinion Leaders, and their feedback carries weight as people look up to them for suggestions for products and services. Since they are the leaders of their own niche, their opinions and views are substantial.

Micro-influencers have an upper hand when it comes to a Targeted Audience Reach. Their followers entail people that are interested in their content, providing a better engagement rate. Targeting a more engaged and invested audience proves to be more fruitful for brands.

• Enhanced Quality of Customers

As Influencer Marketing targets a particular niche and demographic, it substantially elevates the quality of customers for brands. The customers that brands get via Influencer marketing are more informed, invested, and interested in the products and services that the brand is offering, whereas the customers that brands get by running banner ads are more likely to reach there via accidental clicks.

How is influencer marketing contributing to cost optimization?

The connection Influencers share with their audience of followers is built on the foundation of reliability and relatability, and this holds true even more so for Micro-Influencers as they have a higher engagement rate. People view these influencers as everyday men and women, just like them, and are more comfortable in knowing their opinions, as the relatability quotient is heightened. While earlier people used to strive to live like their favorite celebrities and purchased everything they endorsed, nowadays people value relatability and trust over fame and popularity.

This can be leveraged by brands as the production costs for Influencer Marketing campaigns is lower than traditional models of advertisement. Since the influencers come with a packaged skillset of their own, Influencer Marketing eliminates the need for hiring professional editors, photographers to create ad campaigns for them. Traditional ad shoots demanded all sorts of resources, ranging from models to renting locations. All these costs are purged when it comes to Influencer Marketing.

Hence, making Influencer Marketing a cost-effective solution for effective marketing campaigns that generate a high ROI.