What is Influencer Marketing? Is it a new form of marketing? Does it have anything to do with sales and brand management?
Influencer Marketing is an important, and established form, of internet marketing. It is a topic that has been widely discussed by the most authoritative reporting channels in the industry, including searchenginejournal.com and searchengineland.com. Big brands, such as Nike and Adidas, have already been using the strategy to help them reach out to larger audiences and improve their bottom line. It is a strategy that can easily be adapted to the small to medium sized business level.
If you are looking for more information about Influencer Marketing and what it means for your brand, you have come to the right place. In this blog post, our internet marketing agency in Toronto explores the benefits of Influencer Marketing for small-to-medium sized businesses. We also highlight 4 ways that the influencer marketing can help you grow your business and bottom line.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer Marketing is a hybrid between old and new marketing tools. It typically involves collaborating with influencers (e.g., experts in the industry and consumers with large social followings) for the purposes of brand endorsements and product mentions. The strategy is effective because of the high level of trust influencers have built up with their followers and fans. Any mentions or recommendations from an online influencer will serve as proof that your brand is a trusted business.
Traditionally, Influencer Marketing was used by big brands and multinational corporations with massive budgets. They leveraged the power of celebrities to endorse their products for decades.
The most prolific example was Nike. In 1984, it signed a $2.5 million endorsement deal with Michael Jordan and introduced a new line of shoes, called Air Jordans. This was the first branded shoe that incorporated an athlete’s specifications, but the strategy worked. Selling at $65 a pair, Nike was able to garner $70 million worth of profits within the first year of the collaboration.
Nike is not the only big brand that uses celebrity endorsements to increase profits. Take a look at the examples below. All 3 brands found success and were able to gain a competitive advantage due to the power of Influencer Marketing. Who wouldn’t want to buy a branded product endorsed by a favorite celebrity?
Michael Phelps and Under Armour
Candice Bergen and Sprint
Michael Jackson and Pepsi
The beauty of Influencer Marketing today is that it does not require celebrity endorsements. Influencers can be any regular Joe or Jane with a brand identity and a growing audience. Also, they have built trust with their audience with their authority and authenticity. Today’s influencers’ reach is also larger than big celebrities because consumers tend to trust them and relate to them more. Most consumers are skeptical of big celebrities endorsing brands.
4 Reasons to Get Started with Influencer Marketing
1. It Boosts Search Rankings
Better Search Engine rankings is one of the biggest reasons why our internet marketing agency in Toronto recommends investing time and money in Influencer Marketing. Think about it, your Domain Authority (DA) plays an important role in determining how well you rank on search engine pages. One way to increase DA is to earn high-quality and organic backlinks. Fortunately, you can get high-quality backlinks from Influencer Marketing. What’s more, the traffic that is being generated from Influencer Marketing backlinks is comprised of people looking to buy your products or hire your services.
2. It Creates High-Quality, Influencer-Generated Content
Brands that leverage the power of Influencer Marketing generate a wealth of influencer-generated content (IGC). The best IGC comes from authoritative and authentic sources, that is regular and everyday consumers. IGC comes in many forms, including, videos, stories, and images. They also perform better than traditional forms of content because the quality is better and consumers tend to put more trust in them.
2. It Increases Brand Awareness
Another benefit to Influencer Marketing for small businesses that are just starting out is increased brand awareness. Influencers have their own tried and tested ideas, which small and startup brands may not have. They also have a large following and established credibility, which small and startup brands may also not have. These perks allow for influencers to create buzz, to stir audiences’ interest on social media and to generate sales and leads much more quickly than brands would do organically.
4. It’s a Walking Endorsement
Many businesses and brands struggle to create engagement on social media. It is not easy to get consumers to share content and write reviews on Google, Facebook and other review websites. Influencer Marketing can help brands address these shortfalls. The weight of an influencer’s testimonial or review can give your products/services the extra kudos it needs.
Think of it as the modern form of Word-of-Mouth-Marketing. There are reviews written by faceless, empty profiles. Then there are reviews written by consumers with a face and personality. Which do you think will carry the most weight?
Looking to Try Influencer Marketing?
Nothing improves publicity and brand awareness quite like well targeted, specifically designed internet marketing campaigns that reach audiences that are genuinely interested in your products or services. If you’re looking for a new way to power your digital marketing strategy and smash your targets, then Influencer Marketing may be the tool that you are looking for. Contact our internet marketing agency in Toronto to learn more about how Influencer Marketing can help you boost sales, improve brand awareness, and increase the number of reviews and endorsements you have on your review websites.
