Fire before product! Therein lies the new power in influencer marketing

At a certain point in human history, people had to be told how to use baking soda. They didn’t know beforehand. We can all imagine what that looked like: A too-long black and white film, probably from the early 1960s, a model family with an even more presentable wife, who describes in dignified rhyme, but only with the help of her husband, how she survives Sunday thanks to Dr. Oetker – from today’s perspective, to be consumed as nostalgia at best. Otherwise, however, it’s boring in every way, backward and certainly pretty annoying overall. What can I say? The average influencer marketing from 2021 makes exactly the same impression on me.

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von LAURA JOELLE (@laurajoelle)

The feed as a shopping spree

The first TV commercial that flickered across the box, the first jingle that played on the radio, the first advertising pillar that stood in someone’s way – they certainly attracted attention back then. However, the measures have lost some of their intensity over the decades. As groundbreaking as the first discount code that readers of a blog once found somewhere was, it no longer stops today’s users from scrolling on.

Instagram has also officially been an online store since the last major app update in November 2020. We encounter influencer marketing more often than we see ourselves in the mirror. The outcome of such a partnership is correspondingly uncertain for companies. Influencers are no longer a guarantee for greater reach and the development of new target groups. Why is the collaboration still more exciting than ever?

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von N a t a l i e ✨ Mamaalltag 👶 (@nallilore)

The influencer as a brand

From “I would like to introduce you to a new project” to “I have been testing it for 3 weeks” to “With the code 0815 you get 10 percent” – the good old influencer co-op at best provides the attention that one of many shop windows in the shopping center gets. If, as in the marketing of the 1960s, the focus is on the products, their application and evaluation, it is mainly the users who are interested in the product group anyway who are activated. The opportunity to reach an influencer’s entire community and create completely new points of contact with a target group is not being used to its full potential.

The simple solution is: fire before product! And this does not mean the company’s brand, but that of the influencer. What is it that unites all of an influencer’s followers? It is the love for the person, the love for the content of this person. And this is exactly the content we want to see.

Crisp time

For my part, I love Caitlin Reilly. The actress got her start as a TikToK comedian during corona and has since established video after video with numerous characters who talk about their lives in crazy monologues. How does influencer marketing work with her? Does she do an unboxing story and then list the benefits of the product? Fortunately not!

The example shows that the provider was not interested in talking as much as possible about the product. Rather, Crunch has understood that an influencer cooperation means the opportunity to see its own product in the guise of another brand. The result is not only better placed this way as a kind of content collaboration. As a follower of Caitlin, I see exactly what I want to see, despite the advertising partnership. Of course, the first step in influencer marketing is to select influencers who have a recognizable brand in the first place.

The NoAngels are also doing it righ

It wasn’t the comeback of the year, it was the comeback of the millennium. The NoAngels are back. To mark the band’s 20th anniversary, BMG, the Angels’ record company, really stirred the nostalgic advertising drum. And where better to do that than at galerie arschgeweih?

What was the collaboration like? The same goes for all postings by the three Viennese. A clip from the early 2000s is put into a new, everyday context with just a few words, making it suddenly funny. The post fits seamlessly into the feed. While product-oriented collaborations always run the risk of reach and interaction suddenly flopping, a brand-oriented collaboration guarantees that the respective influencer’s community is addressed to the same extent as the rest of his or her content.

Beauty Koops can also be cool?

If you are looking for innovative content, you will often find it in the fashion scene. This is also the case with the Young Emperors. The outrageously attractive “Matching Couple” from New York became famous for making the most of the reels and filters Instagram provides. What does it look like when the two of them promote make-up?

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Young Emperors (@young_emperors)

What ingredients the product contains, what the packaging looks like, how much it costs – no idea! There is not even a discount code or competition. Have the people in charge at NARS Cosmetics been asleep? No! They, too, have understood the playgrounds that open up for their products when they allow their cooperation partners to do what they do. The reward: you see your product in a completely new light.

Influencer-Marketing 2.0

The truth hurts, but the followers of your cooperation partners didn’t wait for you and your product. The feed of one or another is therefore no longer suitable as a place to show all the facts about the product. If the content is convincing, they are just a click away anyway. These examples show that influencer marketing remains exciting and full of possibilities and that the real challenge is to choose the right partners. Your future customers will thank you for it. They have outgrown the traditional form of influencer cooperation – just like our grandparents outgrew the Dr. Oetker commercials. Apropos: