It wasn't all that long ago that television ads were the best way to get a consumer to buy something. As consumers, we tend to think about whatever is in front of us and there was a time that television was America's favorite time-passing activity. But thanks to the invention of streaming channels and social media, commercials are a thing of the past for small, or even midsize, brands.
Traditional marketing has had to make way for another way to reach out to consumers: influencer marketing. And in more ways than one, influencer marketing is taking over the marketing game from traditional marketing one swipe at a time.
Traditional Marketing Vs. Influencer Marketing: What's the Difference?
Traditional marketing goes beyond television ads, of course. It comes in many shapes and sizes: banner ads, youtube ads, sponsored ads on your favorite social media platforms. Essentially, any effort a brand makes to seek out their customers in a less organic way is considered traditional marketing.
Influencer marketing is a different beast entirely. This is a way to position your brand so that it's combined with something your target audience already loves: popular people on the internet, usually Instagram.
Instead of running a targeted ad, brands reach out to popular influencers and offer them something in exchange for being featured on their curated feed, usually in pictures or even testimonials.
How Do They Reach Leads?
For traditional marketing to reach leads, marketers have to discover entire strategies on their own. There are tools in place that can help marketers guide their ads to the people who are more likely to see them, but ultimately there isn't much control outside of that.
Traditional marketing requires a lot of upkeep. The rules and trends of traditional marketing are always changing.
Influencer marketing allows your brand to infuse itself into an entire community all at once. Every time an influencer posts about a product, viewers find it organically, and it reaches them in a different way.
Most social media algorithms are stacked against marketing in favor of allowing consumers to interact with posts that have higher engagement. So, the more engagement your chosen influencer gets, the better likelihood that more people will see it.
This, along with careful studying of an influencer's reach, will ensure that your brand will reach the right audience every time.
Content Longevity
By the time your ad is done running, that's it. You won't be able to find it online anymore. Any hope for reaching leads and garnering engagement ends as soon as your advertisement window comes to a close. However, with influencer marketing, it's there for good. Once your promoted post goes up, it stays, even when the influencer starts to work with other brands.
Consumer Opinion
When it comes to traditional marketing, the odds aren't great that your target audience is even going to look at your banner ad anyway. An older study showed that almost 43 percent of internet users don't pay attention to banner ads. This is a phenomenon called "banner blindness." The trend of users being blind to banner ads has only grown since then and isn't helped by increased ad blockers and the elimination of 3rd party cookies.
Consumers aren't intentionally ignoring your ads. The human brain is just exceptionally good at understanding where the important content on a screen is located.
So, when it comes to influencer marketing, their eyes are going to be trained to go exactly where your brand is. After all, engagement with the influencer is exactly what they came for.
Additionally, there is a level of trust when it comes to influencers and their community. Influencers are amazing at building trusting relationships with their audience. They build an authentic connection.
Budget Considerations
In order for your brand's traditional ads to run for a while, you'll have to have a steep marketing budget. It's not cheap to tailor your ads to a wide but specific audience and get your content in front of them.
Whether it's pay-per-click or an entire ad campaign, running traditional ads is expensive.
Influencer marketing is different. There are influencers with audiences of all different sizes, which means there is an influencer who is willing to share your content without breaking your marketing budget in half.
Micro-influencers are a great way to generate word-of-mouth buzz about your product, and smaller influencers don't charge as much.
Versatility of Content
You're fairly limited when it comes to traditional ads. You don't have a whole lot of room to experiment in. Algorithm woes mean that you have to follow a formula to get your content in front of the right people.
Influencer marketing's bread and butter come from new, exciting, and experimental content. There's virtually no limit to how you can get your brand's message across.
You can connect with influencers all across the internet, whether it's Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram, to create a marketing campaign that is truly unique and attention-grabbing.
SEO Improvement
Lead generation isn't the only benefit you'll experience from influencer marketing, either. The more your brand is talked about and linked back to, the better your SEO is going to be.
These valuable backlinks tell Google and its algorithms that your brand is trustworthy and notable, so it will push your content higher up the search rankings. Both traditional marketing and influencer marketing can both increase searches for your brand, business, product, service, or name if done correctly.
Influence is King
There is still something to be said about traditional marketing, of course. Tried and true traditional marketing a great way to announce a promotion or something new in your brand and it's a tried and true method of reaching customers. But don't discount influencer marketing: it's a way to reach a wider audience of excited new consumers through a person they already trust.
If you're looking for more information about how to bootstrap your business, keep reading for more marketing tips! Visit the Influencer Marketing and Digital Marketing sections of the Bootstrap Business Blog to compare influencer marketer and traditional marketing results for yourself!
