• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 21, 2017

According to Influencer Marketing: the good, the bad, and the ugly from ClickZ, by Marcela De Vivo, consumers in today’s world are focused less on advertisements, and more on content. They don’t care that your product is the best on the market. Rather, they want to know what value your brand brings them. If you told customers that your product was the best, why would they believe you? You’re as biased as they come.

However, if a trusted authority says your product is awesome, consumers are more likely to believe them. That’s influencer marketing encapsulated, says the report. People with large audiences on their blogs, social media, YouTube channels, etc, use their influence to promote your brand. As simple as it sounds, getting it right is time consuming and requires a lot of energy, effort, and attention to detail.

Consumers want to know what value your brand brings them. Building up your brand involves cultivating content that people want to consume. Red Bull, the energy drink brand, nails this idea with their constant stream of video content, says the report.

88% of B2B businesses are using content marketing, with B2C companies putting up similar numbers. With this much competition, staying ahead of the game is difficult. One way certain brands are forging ahead in the content game is through influencer advertising. You’re able to benefit from organic content that drives your brand engagement, without creating it yourself. It’s an excellent way to save on content creation costs. In fact, not only are you saving on cost, says the report, but you’re generating positive return on investment as well. Businesses on average generate $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. That’s a more than 600% return on investment.

Influencer marketing opens the floodgates to an audience you otherwise wouldn’t have access to, opines the report. You want that audience to be relevant to your product or service. This access to their following lets you focus in on consumers who in all likelihood would never have seen your brand message. Social outlets are crowded with other brands vying for customer attention. Influencer marketing skirts this noise and gives you direct access to an existing base of consumers.

And people trust other people more than companies. 68% of consumers look for product information from other consumers, says the report.

The final benefit from influencer marketing is turning your new audience and content into conversions and sales. These people still need to actually purchase your product to complete the ROI cycle. Email marketing is six times more likely to get a click-through than marketing on Twitter, says the report. Influencer marketing excels here because of how easy it is to leverage an audience with content. You can have your influencer advocate for their followers to join your email mailing list.

The report from DeVivo goes into more detail to fortify the benefits, the weaknesses and the things to consider in developing and managing campaigns. You’re invited to connect to ClickZ here for additional information.