The importance of influencers over consumers

From what I’ve observed, success in advertising comes often not by talking to consumers but a much smaller set of people - influencers.

Take the guitar industry for example. Brands like Hofner and Gibson. What’s key to their success is the number of professional musicians who buy into their marketing and as a consequence their products. That’s because regular consumers are constantly watching to see what brands they use and choose theirs accordingly too.

Both Hofner and Gibson have recognised the importance of this group and take pains to enfranchise and persuade them of the quality of their products. Hofner for example is used commonly by Chris Rea and Mick Box, guitarist for rock and Uriah Heep. Eric Clapton’s choice is Gibson as is John Fogerty’s and David Gilmour’s (of Pink Floyd).

Both brands leverage the use. Gibson posts the names of musicians seen using its guitars on Wikipedia. Hofner does the same on its website.

What’s the point of this observation? Brands spend millions talking to consumers when really they should be investing the money in creating relationships with influencers. They hold the key to persuasion and long term commercial success.

Nike – the game has changed
Take Nike as another example. Nike built its success using influencers – emerging and established sportsmen and sportswomen.

This approach was extremely powerful but has become less so in recent times.

The reason for this is the Nike brand has faced a whole new set of challenges; the use of sweatshops in Asia for example and in more recent times the design appetites of new generations which are a lot different to older ones.

The issue – the influencer set for Nike has changed. While sportsmen and sportswomen still give the brand the credibility it wants in the area of performance they don’t address the brand’s new challenges.

To combat the “sweatshop” issue, Nike should have engaged with individuals in whom social activism was alive and involved them in a strategy to ensure its activities were audited and above board. From a design perspective it would do well to explore relationships with personalities who actively contribute to youth culture – artists, poets, painters – and the like.


Influencer marketing - a two way street
Developing an effective influencer strategy will always be a two way rather than a one way street.

Unlike traditional advertising where a consumer is told why they should buy a particular brand or product, with influencers the goal is to get their feedback as well. And once it’s received, to use it to adapt and improve their products so they meet the needs of user groups.

In this way products are continually evolved and their relevance to audience groups always high.

Influencers exist in every category
Some influencing groups are obvious and have indeed been used for years by brands. In the dental care category for example, dentists have always played a key role in the success of brands. Both Colgate and Crest in the US have leveraged this group to successfully establish themselves in the minds of consumers.

However influencing groups have been more creatively selected and used in other categories.

There was a wonderful campaign done by Australian supermarket Woolworths for example a few years ago. The goal of the campaign was to reinforce Woolworth’s position as the best place for ‘quality fresh produce.’

The campaign used an orange farmer as its spokesperson. The script: Farmer: “I always buy my apples from Woolworth’s. Because I know what I have to go through to sell my oranges to them.”

What a great way to create an influencer that didn’t previously exist and use them creatively to achieve a positive brand outcome.

Influencers can be ordinary consumers or professionals
It’s all dependent on the category.

Say you’re marketing a brand of laptop. What do you do when you buy a laptop? A lot of people consult the IT manager at their place of work. Creating a strong franchise with IT personnel even in the case of the consumer market is key to a brand’s success in this category therefore.

It’s one of the reasons why HP is so successful today. IT people swear by the brand like in the old days they used to swear by IBM. It works. More people buy HP today than any other brand of computer.

Say you’re selling baby powder or baby lotion however. What is the category dynamic? Young mums tend to ask other mums about the best products to use. The key influencers in this category are mums themselves therefore – one’s who are a bit more experienced than others. They are the one’s brand’s need to reach out to and engage with to ensure their products are successful.

Influencer groups differ in every category
The first step in developing an effective marketing campaign therefore is to understand who the influencers are. Once this has been done, a strategy to engage with the influencers – in a way that is interactive, relationship and dialogue based – needs to be developed.