Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?

1. CHAPTER1
CAROLE LAMARQUE

2. chapter 1
Influencer Marketing?
What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

3. A WHOLE NEW WORLD…
The digital revolution mainstreamed
information distribution.
People from all around the world
now find knowledge just a mouse
click away. Search engines process
billions of queries every day from
users looking for information to
empower themselves with.
This same revolution also allowed
networks of people to branch out in
ways that no one could have imag-
ined. Boundaries of time and space
were lifted and platforms like blogs,
reviews and social media
mainstreamed one-to-many
communication.
Ordinary individuals that would
never have been heard before
became content creators whose
opinions and word of mouth
impact large audiences.
Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

4. This so-called
display fatigue
has made
traditional
advertising
less powerful.
… THAT HAS BECOME
NUMB TO TRADITIONAL
MASS MEDIA MARKETING
Research has shown that consumers
have become more critical of
traditional advertising:
They fast-forward through commer-
cial breaks on television and install
ad-blockers to get rid of display ads.
This so-called display fatigue has
made traditional advertising less
powerful.
In contrast, 92 percent of people say
they tend to trust recommendations
from other individuals.
Consumers also specifically use
modern media to inform themselves
before deciding on a purchase.
Therefore, a lot of the content they
are exposed to is no longer
controlled by brand managers and
might not necessarily fit the brand or
product strategy they were aiming
for.
Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

5. GOOD ADVICE IS
BEYOND ALL PRICE
This new reality is not something to
be feared or ignored, but one that
should inspire innovation.
Consumers may no longer be open
to traditional marketing methods,
but they can still be reached by
word-of-mouth: Research by Deloitte
and Murphy states that consumers
who receive recommendations from
other clients have a retention rate
that is 37% higher than average.
McKinsey found that word of mouth
generates 2 times the sales of paid
advertising. When consumers are
digging around for information on a
specific subject, they are looking for
authoritative, trust-worthy material.
They do not want a brand telling
them how awesome their product is,
they want to hear an honest opinion
from a fellow user.
Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

6. TAPPING INTO
THE NETWORK
Word-of-mouth advertising is not
easy to manage, but if done right, it
is an incredibly powerful marketing
strategy. For companies and brands,
however, it is very hard or even im-
possible to build the necessary per-
sonal relationship with the target
audience.
That is where influencers come in.
Influencers are people that have
managed to connect and develop
a bond with an audience through
the content they create.
They have an influence over that
audience; they can affect their
audience’s behaviour.
Because of the bond they have
formed with their readers/viewers/
etc., users are much more receptive
to what the influencer is saying than
they would be to any kind of mes-
sage that is being put forward by the
company itself.
Marketers have picked up on this as,
according to a study by
Tomoson, 59% are planning to in-
crease their influencer marketing
budgets over the next 12 months.
And it is paying off: every $1 a com-
pany spends on influencer marketing
gets them an average return of $6,50.
Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
59%
9% of Marketers are planning to increase
their influencer marketing budgets over
the next 12 months.
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

7. LOOSENING THE REINS
DOES NOT EQUAL
LOSING CONTROL
Of course, an influencer is not the
same as an ambassador.
The messages they spread about a
brand are not by definition of a
positive nature, but even then they
can generate interest around the
company’s topic.
Should an influencer cease
collaboration with a brand, this does
not undo the effect their previous
actions had on the audience.
Moreover, because they are so
closely connected to the audience,
influencers can help companies
produce content that truly meets the
needs of their buyers:
A good company-influencer
relationship can open doors that
neither of them even knew existed.
WHERE TO START?
You may want to explore influence
marketing further, but where to be-
gin? How do you identify successful
influencers that match your brand?
How do you engage with them?
What does an influencer marketing
strategy look like? In this book we
will explore all these questions and
more.
Get yourself a nice cup of
coffee or tea and delve
into the next chapter on !
Influencer Marketing? What is it, where did it come from and why bother with it?
July 2016 . Carole Lamarque

8. PLEASE DROP ME A
MAIL IF YOU WANT TO
PRE-ORDER THE BOOK
CAROLE.LAMARQUE@DUVALUNION.COM
CAROLE LAMARQUE
Duval Union Consulting
Founding Partner
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