Marketing Perspective

Marketing Perspective and its Impact on Relationships

    It's easy to change the channel when commercials come on, filter unwanted inbound marketing emails to your spam folder, and ignore the unknown number calling about your Kia's extended warranty. It's impossible to not be influenced by someone or something on social media whether you know it or not. Even if you're one of those "social media and marketing tactics do not work on me" type of people, you can identify at least one person who you admire and might subconsciously emulate, and there's a good chance they are not even a major celebrity. Influencer marketing is the "collaboration between brands and content creators that allows businesses to expand their reach across their buyer personas" (Baker 2021). Let's break down influencers, marketing perspectives, and the impact on relationships.

What do you notice about this type of marketing?

    

    You can't escape the word influencer in the world of digital and social media. If you are online, you are being influenced to buy something in one way or another. If you are not, chances are you are the product (looking at you, Facebook). According to HubSpot, in 2021 80% of marketers say influencer marketing is effective, and 89% say it works just as well (if not better) than other marketing channels (Baker 2021). This is a staggeringly high percentage when you think about it. The most apparent thing about this type of marketing is...well...it works. Word-of-mouth marketing and social proof are the key components of successful marketing strategies (Baker 2021). It's easy to dismiss major celebrities and micro-influencers endorsing a product, but when you see your peers, family, and friends post about a product or service, that is hard to ignore. Customers trust who they know and admire more than the companies selling the product or service (Baker 2021). It's part of the inherent tribalism within us all.

What strategies are they employing?

    Typically, influencers or micro-influencers partner with a brand and are compensated or receive free items for the promotion of a brand or specific product (Baker 2021). This strategy removes the brand from advertising their own product and allows for more targeted audience engagement within smaller communities, providing an authentic feel (Baker 2021). User-generated content (UGC) is a similar approach but typically content created outside of brand endorsements where people tag and post product related content without compensation (Lahey 2021). In the image above, Starbucks simply shared a post of someone who engaged with the brand with creative and stylized content. This did not cost the company any money, it is engageable content, and they create a buzz in their brand community by giving someone their "15-minutes of fame" while encouraging others to gain those though to get internet points.

What role do these influencers play in marketing?

    

    Influencers are your content curators who have a dedicated social following, often viewed highly and trustworthy within their communities (Chen 2020). Testimonials and "real people" interviews are now a thing of the past. Social media has become the tool for reviews of products, services, trips, and anything that can be sold to a consumer and it is often real people doing the selling. Consumers prefer peer recommendations so brands no longer have to do the talking (Kastenholz 2021). Influencers create their content, native ads, and because they appear seamlessly amongst our family and friends posts, it is easily digestible and increases engagement, and ultimately transactions (Kastenholz 2021). Authenticity is the name of the game.

How does the use of marketing perspective impact the relationship between the company and consumer?

    The main impact between the company and consumers is the building of brand loyalty. By building relationships with customers, the company's reputation will grow and potentially gain a customer for life which ultimately becomes part of the brand's image (Johnston 2022). Brands being able to grow this loyalty with grassroots-style influencer campaigns give them perceived separation from the customer while simultaneously strengthening their name by word of mouth. The opposite effect can happen if UGC is created in a way that misrepresents your brand but becomes how people perceive it. Although this is more common on sites like Yelp, even one negative review can sink a brand or business if there isn't enough positive momentum when establishing your brand. In this digital age, your presence and reputation on social media might mean more than how it's perceived in the real world.



References:

Baker, K (2021, Nov 30). What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2022? HubSpot. https://tinyurl.com/HubSpotRLC

Lahey, C. (2021, Sep 10). How User-Generated Content Can Help Your Content Strategy. Semrush Blog. https://tinyurl.com/SemrushRLC

Chen, J. (2020, Sep 17). What is influencer marketing: How to develop your strategy. Sprout Social. https://tinyurl.com/SproutRCL

Kastenholz, C. (2021, Mar 2). The Importance Of Influencer Marketing In The 'New Normal' Digital Sphere. Forbes. https://tinyurl.com/ForbesRCL

Johnston, K. (2022, Aug 4). The Impact of a Relationship Marketing Strategy on Customer Loyalty. Chron. https://tinyurl.com/ChronRCL