Reading Time: 2 minutesMarketing is more complex than it ever has been. With the emergence of the internet, branded digital content is ubiquitous, and ads seem to always find their way into every browser tab they can get their paws on. And let’s not forget the fact that traditional marketing and advertising are still at play. Consumers still see countless billboards on their way to work. Television commercials still plague primetime TV, and telemarketers are increasingly getting better at finding everyone’s phone number so that they can interrupt our daily lives with insignificant products which they purport that you can’t live without. And amongst all this complexity, marketers are still using ineffective outdated attribution models to determine which marketing ploys are responsible for converting customers. Was it the TV ad or the billboard? Was it the influencer program or the display ad? Attribution is more nebulous than ever with attribution companies selling marketers on their complex proprietary methodologies for determining which campaigns and vendors should get credit for a sale. To throw a wrench into all of that, Google is removing cookies which will limit the pool of vendors that are able to provide cookie-based attribution tech to ONE!
Let’s put all of that aside and focus on another way we can look at modern marketing and advertising: synergy. Per the initial tone of this post, it’s hard not to notice the countless touch points a brand might have on any given consumer. And it’s important to realize that the activities involved in pushing a consumer over the edge to the point of purchase transcends any particular tactic. It’s the cumulative effect of all these marketing activities that consumers have been exposed to which lead to an eventual purchase. Influencers are a fantastic softening tactic that when added to a traditional marketing mix, you start to see magic happen. Studies have shown that most consumers would prefer to see an influencer posting about a brand versus a banner ad by that same brand. Influencers provide real-world exemplification of particular products that traditional ads just can’t provide. The uncanny nature of the amateur-esque content that influencers produce provides marketers with a unique angle from which they are able to capture consumers. While the days of deceptive influencer tactics are long gone, a new paradigm is emerging in which brands are realizing how powerful influencers can be in maximizing traction holistically across all channels. Throwing an effective influencer strategy against what you’re currently doing elevates your other marketing efforts to maximize connection with consumers; a new dimension in which you’re able to maximize intimacy with consumers. And now that it’s required that influencers are upfront about the posts in which they’re being paid to produce, it lays a stronger, more trusting foundation, empowering brands to build longer lasting, more authentic relationships with customers.
It’s never too late to start integrating influencer marketing as a longterm strategy. The companies that realize how important it is to lock down relationships with the top influencers in their space will build a tremendous edge against competitors that are dismissing the power of influencer marketing.
