Influencer Marketing for Brands
There are enough influencer marketing platforms for brands to become overwhelmed figuring out where to turn to build influencer networks and programs. While influencers invest years of hard work creating and sharing online content, conducting offline networking, and generally building their overall influence with incessant elbow grease, brands often decide overnight when they are ready to play their own influencer marketing card.
Influencer marketing is no longer a fledgling strategy and now requires an organized and informed approach. The really smart influencer marketing agency Mediakix noted:
“At the start of 2013, Google’s Keyword Tool measured search for “influencer marketing” at less than 50 average monthly searches. Now, influencer marketing is searched well over 4,400 times on average each month. Additionally, Google Trends also charts the immense rise in popularity for influencer marketing as a search topic [achieving peak Google Rating popularity in the last thirty days]”
Most brands relied on traditional online and offline advertising and marketing strategies over the past decade and are just beginning to experiment with their own approaches to influencer marketing. In almost all legacy marketing cases, assigning responsibilities to an agency or staff member with the right experience and measuring campaign ROI was a reliable path to effective communications. There are few experienced experts in today’s influencer marketing arena and as usual, ROI determination remains a top challenge in influencer marketing too.
But the #1 challenge, as reported by brands in this E-consultancy study, involves finding the right influencers. As niche industry influencers (e.g. design influencers with textile or kitchen/bath or antique foci) take the place of celebrity endorsers, the job of piecing together multiple influencers that in aggregate represent a brand’s target audience involves analytical research, networking, and extensive outreach.
Recently Design Bloggers Conference changed its name to Design Influencers Conference. Home Accents Today recently shared the news of the conference’s new brand track, a collaboration between High Point Market Authority and Esteem Media (the founders of first the Design Bloggers Conference, now freshly branded the Design Influencers Conference).
“This new track, launching at the February 2019 conference, will provide educational programming geared toward those on the other side of the equation, the home furnishings manufacturers and brands who are looking to connect with design influencers. It will be focused on providing the tools needed to succeed with this new mainstream marketing strategy that is driving sales and revenue while creating awareness and building trust for savvy home furnishings marketers.”
When I was asked about this initiative, I shared that “Our work with the High Point Market Authority’s leading blogger and influencer marketing tours proved that there is a significant marketing and sales advantage to be had once brands and manufacturers actually engage with the design industry’s influencer community. This addition to the conference was a logical next step in order to strengthen the event’s connection-making potential and further strengthen the design influencer community as a whole.”
So this year’s 9th annual Design Influencer/Design Blogger Conference is taking the large step of making it simple for design brands and manufacturers to invest three days in Atlanta to connect with the design industry’s leading influencers in-person and simultaneously increasing influencer marketing expertise through the scores of educational sessions and networking events now being programmed. And, at the same time, the conference will continue on its regular mission of helping influencers connect with the most logical brands that align well with their loyal followers.
If you are interested in attending the brand conference track or the influencer track, feel free to visit the registration page to learn more and sign up while there is still room!