Influencer marketing connects a brand’s products or services with customers through social media platforms like Instagram or Youtube. An influencer can be considered a micro-celebrity because their followers are limited to a specific region and category. Influencers are aware of what they are promoting or have had experience with that product. And suppose they don’t know about the details of the product and its services, the influencer should at least have some knowledge of the product. With this confidence, the public will buy the product and favorably improve the characteristics of the brand. Influencers work independently. They create their content to promote a particular brand’s products to a target audience. Influencer marketing for startups is the one of the best marketing strategy to use.

For example, online clothing brands can ask a fashion blogger to promote their products by creating content like a video on it. Or any fashion and lifestyle online shopping site can ask a fashion blogger to promote their app. And hence the brands need to choose an appropriate influencer to promote their product; as it will be giving them consumers.

Influencer Marketing for Startups

Startups are new and young companies. Their goals include the speed and growth with which they aspire to promote their products from small scale to large scale. It has new ideas within existing business concepts or an entirely new business idea. Startups need to be careful when using influencer marketing as they may be showcasing their products for the first time on social media. As a result, choosing the right influencer will bring their product more customers and can create a powerful influence on a small scale, which will then help create the impact of the product on a large scale. Startups should also remember that engaging an influencer in a promotion doesn’t mean people trust the quality of the product. Research by Stefan Zak and Maria Hasprova has shown that a large percentage of consumers believe influencers agree to promote a product simply because they get paid for it. Therefore, startups need to keep in mind that it is not enough to have a successful influencer to implement a good marketing campaign, startups need both: a reliable influencer and a quality product.

How will Influencer Marketing Benefit Startups?

To Reach the Targeted Audience

Consumers quickly trust the product when it is advertised by someone who is already related to the same field. Here influencers have opportunities to interact more with their followers, which will also benefit your startup by showing your products to the targeted audience. So, influencer marketing for startups will benefit when you find the right influencer for your marketing. The right influencer will help your product go from small to large scale.

For example, If you are starting the Sports Clothes and Accessories company for millennials, your choice of influencer should be a youth favorite or a famous sports figure or yoga instructor. The more relevant an influencer is to your niche, the more impact your product will have on your target audience.

To Develop Trust with Consumers

It does matter who is promoting your product. If the influencer is someone who gets caught up in a lot of scandals and receives backlash, this will affect the product. Research done on the role of influencers in consumer decision-making by Stefan Zak and Maria Hasprova has revealed that consumers may not buy a product just because it is promoted by such influencers. Therefore, startups need to spend more time before choosing influencers to market their brand. The comments made by the influencer are considered powerful testimonials. If influencers are respected, product will automatically gain consumer trust.

To Improve Business Circle

Instagram has a Boost Post feature that allows influencers to expose your brand’s products to a wider audience. It will not limit your product to a limited number of viewers. But it’s still important that the influencer you choose is a well-known figure in your business. A micro-influencer will promote your brand to a target audience, so your brand can then become well-known in the market. Then a macro-celebrity can push your product to reach a large audience. This will give you even more consumers.

In Conclusion

Influencer marketing is a strategy in the field of marketing that helps startups reach audiences based on their business niche. Startups should also be aware of the risks of working with an influencer.

Learn about How startups can use influencer marketing to grow their business

References

Guptaa Misshka, Impact of Influencer Marketing on Consumer

Purchase Behavior during the Pandemic, IJIRMPS | Volume 9, Issue 4, 2021

Ida Kristin Johansen & Camilla Sveberg Guldvik, How does influencer marketing affect purchase intentions?, Norwegian School of Economics

Bergen, Spring, 2017