Tag Archives: advertising

How Influencer Marketing Could Benefit Your Business

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Influencer marketing focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the market. Rather than marketing directly to this large group, you instead hire or pay these influencers to inspire and get the word out for you.

According to McKinsey, Influencer Marketing generates double the sales of paid advertising, as well as three times the amount of “word of mouth” messages. Furthermore, it results in recommendations – where people are up to fifty times more likely to purchase.

Influencer marketing could benefit your business in a number of ways, and you should consider using it because:

  • It’s more authentic than an advert.
  • It’s more cost effective than many other marketing channels.
  • It provides shareable content, which could amplify results exponentially.
  • You can effectively target a new audience.
  • It’s a way to create real-time engagement.
  • It’s an easy way to build trust with your customers and future customers.

Two cases come to mind where Influencer marketing benefited the business and the influencer, such as Youtube star PewDiePie teaming up with the makers of horror film ‘As Above, So Below’ – creating a number of videos in which he completed challenges and tasks set in the catacombs in which the film was set. This resonated with his then 27 Million subscribers, and received nearly double the views that the trailer for the film did.

The other, according to Neoreach, is American retail giant Walmart teaming up with former Vine star Meghan McCarthy. Meghan posted on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube, putting her stamp of approval on the promotion that she was promoting. Her posts gathered hundreds of follow up posts and tweets, an impact that no television ad campaign could make.

The Big Influencers for 2018

According to Forbes, some of the top influencers of 2017 are going to be even bigger in 2018. 

If the budget is there, then these are the kind of people that you want influencing customers to buy into your product or brand.

These include gaming maestro Markiplier, Keynote speaker and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, cooking whiz Rosanna Pansino, six-year-old Ryan ToysReview and powerful lady Lilly Singh.

Whilst all of these people have the majority of their following on YouTube, they are also influencers on the likes of Instagram and Facebook and could cost a hefty sum.

Some of these people may be out of your price range, but if you can find a local influencer to promote your product, then that may be worthwhile to your business.

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Regan Foy (Twitter / LinkedIn)

Staffordshire University Students’ Union

MSc Digital Marketing Management Student (Full Time)

If You’re Marketing to Millennials, Get on Instagram

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There were over 600 million Instagrammers in 2017, and 400 million of those users were active every day according to Softpedia.

Those numbers alone should be reason enough to get your business on the social media platform – but if you’re marketing to Millennials, otherwise referred to as Generation Y, or in simple terms anyone born between the early 1980s and late 1990s – then you should already be on there.

In March of 2017, over 120 million Instagram users visited a website, found directions or contacted an Instagram account or business based on an Instagram ad says Wordstream.

Not only this, but according to the Instagram Blog over 50% of users on the app follow a business and 60% say they learn about a product or service through the app.

Why not make one of those businesses yours? We’ve produced the definitive guide to getting your business set up on Instagram below.

Getting Started

The first thing you’ve got to do is establish your presence on the platform with three main tasks, adding a profile picture, writing a bio and connecting your website. For an example of doing this the correct way, take a look at fashion retailer JD’s Instagram Feed.

Your profile picture should be something memorable and representative of your business – usually your logo.

Over time, people remember your profile picture when scanning through their Instagram news feed – especially if your logo is eye catching.

Your bio gives you under 200 characters to tell the world why you’re worth following and what your service or product is. Enhancing your bio by encouraging users to share content relevant to your business or brand using a hashtag can always be worthwhile.

It’s also important that your followers follow the path to purchase or learn as much as possible – and your website is generally the avenue where this takes place.

Ensuring your website URL on Instagram directs to a mobile friendly site is incredibly important.

How can I Market Effectively?

 Once your profile has been created, you’ve got to identify what kind of content your target audience will be interested in.

Brand storytelling, or Brand Centered Content whether through photos of products or photos of the results of products effectively showcases what the business or brand has to offer.

Skate and footwear brand Vans do this quite well.

Reactive Storytelling uses timely events or unique insights to generate immediate feedback from their audience – and these tend to be based upon pop culture or memes.

This usually includes an interesting story that is on consumer’s minds, combined with a brand relevant marketing message.

With Behind the Scenes content, people are looking for an inside look at how things are built or done inside your business and brand.

Brands are now looking at how they can be more authentic as it is what consumers are looking for in the modern market.

Overclockers UK are a wonderful, British example of this.

Inspirational or Motivational posts are used to spark emotions in your customers or target audience – and it is also the most effective way to drive engagement with your brand.

The key is to recognise what will resonate with your audience.

From this point onward, you should have a basic idea of how to use Instagram as a powerful marketing tool for your Millennial target audience.

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Regan Foy (Twitter / LinkedIn)

Staffordshire University Students’ Union

MSc Digital Marketing Managament Student (Full Time)

Yes You Can!

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I love a good TV commercial, a good ad. I guess it goes with the territory, being a marketer. In fact I’ve often thought that it should be written into the person specification for all marketing roles; “Must love a good ad”. It’s the ones that elicit a strong emotion that are the best; the ones that make me laugh, cry, squirm, rant, or just sit quietly and contemplate…the ads that I can’t wait to tell other people about. So I keep a board of my favourite ads on Pinterest, and I bring them out from time to time to liven up a lecture or tutorial. The students love it – they love a good ad too!

So here’s a thing. I was watching a programme on TV the other night and along came the commercial break. More often than not the perfect opportunity to get up to put the kettle on or nip to the loo. Not this time. I didn’t move. I was still sat on the sofa, totally absorbed by an advert for the 2016 Paralympics. The new Superhumans Ad features more than 100 people with disabilities tunefully contributing to Sammy Davis Jr’s “Yes I can”! It celebrates disability and all that is good about diversity and inclusivity. A sequel to the 2012 Superhumans ad, it is pure genius.

Now I don’t recall any ads for the Olympic Games this year. I’m pretty sure there were some, but none stand out in my memory as one to add to the Pinterest board. So what is it about the Paralympics ad that makes it so memorable…that etches a permanent “must remember this one” notch in my marketing brain? Maybe it’s just a damn good ad, a powerful creative concept, a strong visual and a catchy tune…or maybe it’s something more.

Do you remember the spectacular opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics; Stephen Hawking’s speech and Marc Quinn’s celebrated sculpture of pregnant disabled woman Alison Lapper dominating the centre stage? It was breathtaking, thought provoking and much applauded by the media Worldwide, over days and weeks to come. With a finale of Beverley Knight singing “I am what I am” bringing tears to the eyes of many in the 62,000 strong audience at the Olympic Stadium, something changed that night in terms of our perception of disability. The nation as a whole suddenly embraced impairment and stood in awe of the achievements of our paralympic athletes.

London 2012 Paralympics was hailed as the best Paralympic Games ever. It began a new era, a Games where “remarkable” triumphed over just “great”. Oscar Pistorious, the blade runner, appeared on our screens sprinting on what became a new generation of prosthetic limbs to be exposed with pride instead of hidden from view. Extraordinary stories were told of triumph over adversity and a nation, indeed a World, watched and listened with respect and pride. Research concluded that 81% of British adults thought the 2012 London Paralympics had a positive impact on the way people with an impairment are viewed by the public. That’s eighty one percent!

We were led into the 2012 London Paralympics with the first Superhumans ad, which I also loved, but which elicited a different emotion in me. There was something shocking about it; the car crash, the bomb, the foetal scan picture. There was also something mysterious about it, with the dark background of unknown territory. Looking back, it feels like an introduction to what is possible, where the new ad feels like a celebration of what we know can be achieved.

If you’ve not seen it yet then watch it on YouTube. You too will undoubtedly feel proud and in awe of these incredible people. I’m pretty sure we’re going to be treated to an amazing Paralympic Games in Rio and I’m pretty sure the World will be watching, echoing the words from the Superhumans ad in anticipation of some spectacular achievements…. Yes You Can!

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