You can improve your marketing strategy by deciding whether to focus more on online or offline marketing campaigns. The differences are clear between online influencer marketing and offline influencer marketing. But which one best suits your brand?
First, think about what type of advertising you want to try out and who it will benefit from. Next, create an execution plan which outlines each step of your strategy. Finally, you’ll need to analyze your data to see what worked and what didn’t.
Online influencer marketing and its benefits
Online brand marketing is the process of advertising and marketing a brand’s products and services through online channels. There are many different ways to do this, given the highly digital world we live in today. You can use various online platforms to reach your target audience. Online influencer marketing is the most common strategy for influencer marketing. Influencers have big platforms on the internet, like Instagram and YouTube, and there is where their fanbase is.
The biggest benefits of online influencer marketing are:
Easy to measure
Thanks to analytics and insight tools you can track how well your online influencer marketing campaigns are doing. If your goal is to achieve more website visits then you can check through Google Analytics how many visitors are coming from the influencer placement. If the goal is to reach more people online, then Instagram and TikTok provide their insights to the influencer that can later share them with you. By measuring their performance, you can figure out which methods are bringing in the best results so that you can use them in future campaigns.
Long-Term Exposure
Depending on the type of online influencer marketing campaign you are running, you can have clear results on the long-term exposure. For example, a feed post can be on the influencer’s feed as long as the account is activated, being exposed to the followers of the influencer.
There are some types of online marketing that will give you long-term exposure, such as SEO and some sponsored adverts. These types of marketing are very cost-effective because you will benefit from the results over a long period of time without spending too much money.
Easy to Target Key Audiences
When planning your online influencer marketing campaign, you can select the influencers based on the audience they are targeting. If you are a pet food brand, you will want to target influencers who have pets, for example.
If you want to also use the influencer for paid ads, when creating an online ad, you are able to choose who will see it. This way, you will not waste money by showing your ad to people who are not interested.
Build Relationships with Customers
Most people who see your online ads and influencer placements will see them a few times. This will help them start to recognize your brand. By partnering with influencers, you will be seen as an important part of the influencer’s life, which will build trust in the influencer’s community. This will help your brand reach a loyal audience.
Offline influencer marketing and how to do it
Alternatively, we have offline brand marketing. This is when companies use different types of media, like billboards and events, to help boost their brand’s awareness. Basically, this is all the marketing that companies have been doing for years – before the internet became popular.
Digital content is very accessible and versatile, but it still can’t replace the special connections you make at real, physical events. Experiential marketing has grown a lot in the last few years because audiences are looking for more genuine, human authenticity in their content.
Live Events and Brand Activations
Live events and activations are a great way to have valuable face time between your customers and your influencers. They are also a great opportunity for creating lots of compelling and insightful content.
If you want to promote your event, you can ask influencers to talk or perform at the event. This will help draw in more people, and their audiences can help promote the event as well. You can also invite influencers to your activation to create content for their followers. This will help promote your event to a wider audience.
If you give attention to influencers, you can create content that other people will believe. This will help you reach more people without spending a lot of money. You can also build stronger relationships with the influencers who are important to your brand.
Outdoors and billboards
Generally, influencer marketing is done through social media platforms. The followers are the audience, which is limited. However, billboards target a larger customer base since it is an offline platform.
Even during unusual times like a pandemic, billboards will never go out of style. This is because they have been around since 1904. With their adaptability, billboards continue to grow and adapt to the changing landscape and styles, making them more attention-getting outdoor advertising.
And influencers love to be on billboards!
Adidas had a unique way of advertising their new sneakers in 2019. They put up billboards in Los Angeles and New York that were specifically addressed to individual influencers with their social media handlers. The message was for them to go to a specific Adidas store and pick up a pair of trainers.
They thought the idea was cool and unique and it also worked well in getting online conversations with their chosen influencers and their followers.
Behind the scenes and meet&greet
If you invite one or a group of people with a lot of influence to tour your business, they can help promote it to their audience. This is better than just giving them a product to post about on social media.
Mixing that experience with a meet&greet for the fans of the influencers adds up to that count, as the followers have the opportunity to meet their favorite creators, and your brand gets recognized as the intermediary that made that happen.
This strategy also allows you to share your company’s story in a way that is personal and shows your values. You can explain how your products go from the people who make them to the people who buy them.
Bold Creators Club can help you reach your goals
To have a successful Instagram account, you need to put in the time and effort. You can’t just set up your account and expect people to start clicking on your links. You need an engaged audience that is interested in your brand. This is why running Instagram ads is still a good idea – it will help you build up a following and figure out what engages your target customers best.
Dealing with social media influencers is not always easy. Actually, most of the time, companies and influencers can’t communicate clearly, as there is a lack of a cultural, linguistic, and social bridge that connects both.
When it comes to Latin influencers, this communication barrier is even bigger. Not only because a lot of people in countries like Brazil or Colombia don’t English, but also because these countries are highly multicultural, with cities with completely different styles, slang, social and cultural movements within the country.
In the case of Brazil, this aspect is so strong that there are even completely different cultures within the same city, in big metropolises like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.
It is really hard to keep up with the constant changes in the pop culture and in the internet world, so contacting an agency whose job is to always be updated about what the influencers are doing, how is the stability in the country, and more important information for your company, is the best strategy.