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Abstract

making these commercials do whatever they can to burn through the entire budget they’re given, regardless of how much of it they actually need.</p><p id="4cd4">Companies are relying on the specialisation of the production company, without realising that they have as little connection with your customer as you do.</p><p id="bb2e">If I’m a white male, and my marketing specialist is a white male; how am I supposed to create the bond necessary to sell my line of dresses aimed at young African American women? The inescapable answer is that I’ll never relate to this consumer, and no strategist with a fancy presentation will ever persuade me that adding <i>“sho’nuff”</i> to my targeted ad will ever convince my customer to choose me.</p><p id="69b9">With a lack of tracking options, and firms escalating their prices and lowering their effectiveness, it’s high time we embrace the future.</p><figure id="34a5"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*x_rDODMNjlL_Rj-unKZlRw.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@contentpixie?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Content Pixie</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/celebrity?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="ed11">Influencers Do It Better</h2><p id="dc53">According to <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/influencer-marketing-statistics/#10-most-important-influencer-marketing-statistics-for-2020">Big Commerce</a>, in 2018, 39% of marketers increased their budget for influencer marketing. This year that figure has grown to 65%.</p><p id="dc71">Marketers are catching on, and it’s because influencer marketing takes away the need to tailor each ad to the individual customers. The commercial only needs to be on message for the influencer, who’s job is then to tailor it to their audience.</p><p id="5fcb">One of my favourite YouTube channels is ‘Internet Historian’, a comedic channel that recounts important events in internet history.</p><p id="c0e4">He has millions of subscribers, and his channel is sponsored by the mobile game ‘Raid: Shadow Legends.’ When writing this article, I didn’t even have to go back and check whether I got the title of that game right, because it’s burned into my mind after watching it advertised on Internet Historian’s videos. I even downloaded the game and gave it a try; <i>it isn’t for me.</i></p><p id="8af7">How did he achieve it? Because he didn’t treat the advertisement as an advertisement. During the video, he stops what he’s talking about and shifts the attention to Raid: Shadow Legends for about 2 minutes, but despite the shift in message, he doesn’t change his style.</p><p id="2d81">He continues making hilarious jokes, but simply incorporates Raid: Shadow Legends into the jokes. The jokes are so funny I would never skip it, so now the game is imprinted into my mind because I watch and re-watch his videos religiously. This is effective advertising at its finest.</p><figure id="92ef"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*aqOidsBF--CnXXIRXVp6Uw.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@visualsbyroyalz?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Anasta

Options

se Maragos</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/celebrity?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="591b">Find the Influencer Who Knows Your Audience</h2><p id="8c40">It’s easy enough to find influencers for your business, simply search for your industry on YouTube and you’ll find dozens of videos made by influencers with thousands or millions of subscribers.</p><p id="d434">Some companies choose to approach smaller influencers directly so that they can offer cheaper rates than those offered over conventional sites that connect influencers with brands.</p><p id="ffa7">If you do want to go the conventional route, new sites that facilitate influencer/brand relationships pop up every year to service the growing need. But as more companies jump into the influencer marketing trend, the prices are bound to go up.</p><p id="3676">Many influencers showcase their email addresses on their platform and are happy to negotiate deals on the side; although this deal won’t bag you a Kardashian.</p><p id="c761">If Raid: Shadow Legends can find success with this style of marketing, so can you. Influencers have a well of data at their fingertips that are provided by the platform they’ve built their audience on, and are happy to share this data over meetings. Platforms <i>(such as YouTube)</i> pay terrible rates for views, so influencers are counting on the rise of influencer marketing to turn their channel or Instagram feed into a career.</p><p id="ff85">The death of cookies means the end of traditional tracking-based social media campaigns. Why give Facebook thousands of dollars to hit the mark only a fraction of the time? And forget professional strategists in expensive suits who only know as much as you do.</p><p id="acc0">If you’re selling to 14-year-old girls, find an influencer who identifies with 14-year-old girls and pay them to communicate your message. You may find that the audience who ignored your Facebook ads are now your best customers.</p><div id="f4a2" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/hbo-max-spent-billions-to-attract-your-attention-2743b7272fff"> <div> <div> <h2>HBO Max Spent Billions to Attract Your Attention</h2> <div><h3>It takes a lot of money to take down Disney</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*HXQTtndnn8cKucakcjruoQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="9fc4" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/why-a-car-loan-is-the-worst-decision-youll-ever-make-f1491fd9af77"> <div> <div> <h2>Why a Car Loan is the Worst Decision You’ll Ever Make</h2> <div><h3>And why there’s always an alternative</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*yh4SUJ3ih83BEcBUMoiSlg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

It’s Time to Take Influencer Marketing Seriously

By 2022, this will be the most popular way to advertise

The world is changing, and by 2022 the world of marketing will be unrecognisable when compared to that of today.

This change is occurring because Google has decided to follow the path of least resistance and phase out third-party cookies by 2022.

Google has made this decision because of the increasingly strict rules being drafted around the United States that protect consumers from data tracking.

As time goes on, it gets harder and harder for companies to track and collect data on the customers to whom they’re trying to sell. This difficulty in tracking is translating to higher costs for companies who buy targeted data from analytic firms.

Companies prioritise spending their marketing budget carefully, and changing legislation is beginning to influence where those dollars are flowing. There’s only one form of advertising left that can legally and ethically track data, then give this data to anyone he or she likes; this advertiser is the modern-day influencer.

Asleep At The Wheel

Anyone who takes part in online advertising courses knows that influencer marketing has still yet to make it into the mainstream.

I’ve sat through several presentations that preach the rules and strategies for successful campaigns on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. These strategists talk about targeting and wording, but they don’t tell you the fundamental truth. Almost none of us who have a product to sell are actually capable of speaking to our customer on their level.

Many of us don’t have to, so we pass the task on to a marketing department or PR firm to handle it for us. What we’re neglecting to realise is that they’re as incapable as we are, the only difference is that they went to college for an advertising model that no longer exists, so they’re professionally incapable. This is why companies can burn through thousands or millions of dollars and not understand what they actually got for their spending.

Back in my acting days, I spent a lot of hours killing time on the sets of many commercials for big companies. The production companies making these commercials do whatever they can to burn through the entire budget they’re given, regardless of how much of it they actually need.

Companies are relying on the specialisation of the production company, without realising that they have as little connection with your customer as you do.

If I’m a white male, and my marketing specialist is a white male; how am I supposed to create the bond necessary to sell my line of dresses aimed at young African American women? The inescapable answer is that I’ll never relate to this consumer, and no strategist with a fancy presentation will ever persuade me that adding “sho’nuff” to my targeted ad will ever convince my customer to choose me.

With a lack of tracking options, and firms escalating their prices and lowering their effectiveness, it’s high time we embrace the future.

Influencers Do It Better

According to Big Commerce, in 2018, 39% of marketers increased their budget for influencer marketing. This year that figure has grown to 65%.

Marketers are catching on, and it’s because influencer marketing takes away the need to tailor each ad to the individual customers. The commercial only needs to be on message for the influencer, who’s job is then to tailor it to their audience.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is ‘Internet Historian’, a comedic channel that recounts important events in internet history.

He has millions of subscribers, and his channel is sponsored by the mobile game ‘Raid: Shadow Legends.’ When writing this article, I didn’t even have to go back and check whether I got the title of that game right, because it’s burned into my mind after watching it advertised on Internet Historian’s videos. I even downloaded the game and gave it a try; it isn’t for me.

How did he achieve it? Because he didn’t treat the advertisement as an advertisement. During the video, he stops what he’s talking about and shifts the attention to Raid: Shadow Legends for about 2 minutes, but despite the shift in message, he doesn’t change his style.

He continues making hilarious jokes, but simply incorporates Raid: Shadow Legends into the jokes. The jokes are so funny I would never skip it, so now the game is imprinted into my mind because I watch and re-watch his videos religiously. This is effective advertising at its finest.

Find the Influencer Who Knows Your Audience

It’s easy enough to find influencers for your business, simply search for your industry on YouTube and you’ll find dozens of videos made by influencers with thousands or millions of subscribers.

Some companies choose to approach smaller influencers directly so that they can offer cheaper rates than those offered over conventional sites that connect influencers with brands.

If you do want to go the conventional route, new sites that facilitate influencer/brand relationships pop up every year to service the growing need. But as more companies jump into the influencer marketing trend, the prices are bound to go up.

Many influencers showcase their email addresses on their platform and are happy to negotiate deals on the side; although this deal won’t bag you a Kardashian.

If Raid: Shadow Legends can find success with this style of marketing, so can you. Influencers have a well of data at their fingertips that are provided by the platform they’ve built their audience on, and are happy to share this data over meetings. Platforms (such as YouTube) pay terrible rates for views, so influencers are counting on the rise of influencer marketing to turn their channel or Instagram feed into a career.

The death of cookies means the end of traditional tracking-based social media campaigns. Why give Facebook thousands of dollars to hit the mark only a fraction of the time? And forget professional strategists in expensive suits who only know as much as you do.

If you’re selling to 14-year-old girls, find an influencer who identifies with 14-year-old girls and pay them to communicate your message. You may find that the audience who ignored your Facebook ads are now your best customers.