The rise and importance of influencer marketing on D2C businesses
So you've discovered your new favourite lunchbox, and it's been nothing short of life-changing. It's made lunch time a delight, lightened your mood throughout the day and even given you a confidence boost to finally apply for that promotion at work... Your newfound cheeriness has even been noticed by your friends and family, who are loving this new side to you. And it's all thanks to a lunchbox.
In fact, you're so thrilled that you start to share your discovery with your friends, colleagues, their friends, their grandmas, whoever you can reach who will listen to you! And people are listening, because your gushy ramblings come across as genuine admiration rather than corporative marketing jargon. They can see the influence that your new lunchbox is having on your life, rather than watching at a model read from a script in TV ad.
This is the philosophy behind influencer marketing. Where traditional marketing can be perceived as lacking authenticity, influencers are perceived to share honest, real opinions that come across as sincere and trustworthy.
The reach of influencer marketing has become so widespread that some influencers have reached A-list status, previously reserved for Hollywood superstars, glamourous rockstars and prestigious TV personalities. It's no surprise that in 2023, influencer marketing has become a multi BILLION dollar industry, expected to grow to over $17billion by the end of the year, and over $22billion by the end of 2025. (Source)
As a DTC business, you're not just discovering the products that you think are lifechanging, you're designing, manufacturing and selling them. But the sentiment remains - you believe your new line of novelty toothpicks could lighten your customer's mood, make teeth cleaning a delight and even give them a confidence boost. Now you need to spread the word. In the past, you may have hoped to impress a few customers who would spread the message through word of mouth (or cleanliness of mouth!) . Now you don't have to rely on chance: Enter the influencer.
At this point, it's worth mentioning that influencer marketing probably isn't going to replace your current marketing strategy, but add another layer to it. It's still important that you present your product in the way you want it to be seen, as you know your target audience and know what will resonate with them. If you don't put your own stamp on your product, or put your own spin on a marketing message, customers may perceive this as a lack of confidence in your own brand. That said, marketing budgets are increasingly moving more and more towards influence based marketing, with one source finding that 80% of marketers find it effective, 70% believe it to generate better quality traffic than other sources and almost 90% believe that RIO is better than other channels (source). On top of this, customers are 2.4 times more likely to engage with user generated content than paid social media (source), so getting your products in front of an engaged audience is easier than ever.
And don't assume that influencer marketing is reserved for the fashion, beauty and homeware industries... Your influencer's followers are chasing a dream lifestyle, and everyone's idea of the perfect lifestyle is unique to them. So find an influencer who shares your values and beliefs, share your vision of the dream lifestyle you can help them attain and show them that your novelty toothpicks can help them achieve all their goals*.
*In order to start you influencer marketing strategy, simply open up a new document, copy and paste this sentence and replace "novelty toothpicks" with your product.
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