In today’s hi-tech world, customer is undoubtedly the ‘king’. As on date, social media platform is aiding customers to set up alerts for a company or industry they are interested to target, follow prospective customers and industry leaders on social media like Facebook (FB, Financial), Twitter (TWTR, Financial) or LinkedIn (LNKD, Financial) and keep up-to-date industry news.
So, in today’s market, customers are well informed about the products they intend to buy even before they formally buy it, either online or by visiting the conventional stores. With the advent of content marketing, companies are trying to pass the information regarding their products using the “inverted pyramid” approach – a story structure that puts the most vital information up front, and then provides the backdrop.
Companies and especially brands don’t want their customers to spend much of the valuable time digging into the content of the product and are furnishing most of the precious information up front leading to customer’s delight. Having stated all this that is now an on-going practice in the marketing domain, let’s take a break and look into what is the major trend being pursued by marketing companies to reach their customers in the least timeline possible.
Brand influencer concept
A marketing research conducted by McKinsey states that marketing-inspired word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising, and such customers have a 37% higher retention rate. And social media has enabled peer recommendations to play a vital role in the relationship of customers with brands. Given the importance of social media, influencer marketing is a concept majorly being discussed recently in all parlances. This is especially true taking into account the presence of influencers in the growing “millennial” and “mom” demographics.
In this form of marketing, there are individuals called influencers who can lure potential buyers to purchase the merchandise from the store. Currently when a brand identifies influencers, they also look into the number of followers whose identity is available through social interfaces. Larger companies are using celebrities who are respected entities to endorse their products –the most common form of influencer marketing being strategized to kick off sales of products off the store shelves.
Who is employing influencer marketing???
According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, brands are mentioned 3.3 billion times on a daily basis in America. People keep talking about everything from snacks to industrial products. So, in such an environment, any business can drive customers to think of their products by creating a conversation around their products.
Small business houses usually use inexpensive online tools to connect with influencers. For example, a new restaurant might encourage patrons to discuss the review online. Larger companies develop comprehensive influencer marketing strategies which stretch across platforms.
They often form expensive partnerships with celebrities or other brands to position their products. The marketing for such companies is exhaustive, and it’s an ongoing effort to maintain existing influencer relationships.
Some key examples
Influencer marketing has been employed by several companies to grow the sales of their products. Let’s discuss a few companies who have employed this trend of marketing to improve their sales.
- Redwood Creek Wine – The winemaker created a social platform called Blaze the Trail to position the brand as committed to sustainability and natural living. The platform features in-depth information about wine making and includes interactive sessions with wine makers. By providing a wealth of information on wine making, Redwood Creek is controlling the message being spread by influential wine drinkers.
- Barilla Pasta – The company promoted the “Test Kitchen” packages that contained pastas, sauces and any other Barilla product recipients would need to host a dinner party. The recipients cooked the packaged food, served it to their peer group and then uploaded the photos to a website. This method was undertaken by the pasta maker to organically spread the word about Barilla pasta. The photos that were submitted to the website were finally used to create advertisements that featured real Barilla customers.
- General Motors (GM, Financial) – The carmaker has set up an exclusive web site with access limited to “GM Insiders.” These are customers having deep knowledge on cars and affinity for GM's several iconic brands. The website features exclusive news and offers. By catering to the passionate group of customers, GM is being able to reach the broader spectrum of their friends and family.
The brief conclusion drawn
With the technological world becoming more diverse, companies are adopting various marketing styles to keep customers hooked to their products. Influencer marketing is a hot topic in the market as on recent times, and there are surely more advancements down the road. As customers are growing brand-conscious day by day and companies are leaving no stone unturned to grow their customer base, the day is not far when the power of a brand to pull customers will be discussed as one of the several pillars driving a company’s success rate.
