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WHY INFLUENCER MARKETING IS KEY FOR RETAIL BRANDS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS03 Why Influencer Marketing is Key for Retail Brands

04 Four Ways Influencers Are Important To Retail Brands

08 How Walgreens Used Influencers to Generate a Positive ROI

What Do Influencers Have That Brands Don’t?

• Trust

• Authentic consumer experience

• Bigger reach

• Better, faster, cheaper way to produce content

• Ability to share content with their targeted audience

• Easy to scale up or down

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WHY INFLUENCER MARKETING IS KEY FOR RETAIL BRANDS

1 US Digital Ad Spending will Approach $60 Billion This Year, with Retailers Leading the Way.2 3 Understanding How U.S. Online Shoppers are Reshaping the Retail Experience.

For more than 50 years, retail marketers enjoyed a distinct advantage when it came to understanding and influencing consumer behavior. In the past, retailers had access to detailed research on consumer habits, values, interests, opinions, behaviors, and other psychographic data that helped them drive purchase behavior and product preference.

Retailers were able to leverage a wealth of knowledge about marketing channels like television, magazines, direct mail, and radio, but as consumer behavior shifts from offline to online, it’s increasingly challenging to reach, engage, and influence that behavior. And it’s not that retailers aren’t investing in online marketing - digital ad spending by the retail industry will total $12.91 billion this year, which far outpaces spending by all other industries1.

To add to the challenge, in-store loyalty doesn’t always translate to online loyalty when online retailers like Amazon draw more of the consumer’s repeat attention. As a larger percentage of consumer purchases happen online, multi-channel marketing has become paramount to the success of brands looking to create a consistent experience for customers, whether in-store or on their laptops, tablets, or smartphones. In fact, a PwC study found that 65 percent of U.S. consumers use at least two channels, with 21 percent shopping from four or five channels.2

One of the strategies being adopted by retailers to help stay connected to the online consumer purchase path is influencer marketing. Influencer Marketing is partnering with social content creators, those with key audiences on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram, to help brands connect and engage with consumers through an authentic and trusted source. This exploding industry is attracting millions of dollars from brands looking for solutions that help them drive value and loyalty between both existing and new target audiences.

Web-savvy consumers now require greater engagement and information before making a purchase. They want meaningful content and relevant information to help them make purchase decisions and they want opinions from people they trust, such as influencers. According to Nielsen, trust is the #1 factor in any buying decision with conversions increasing by 90 percent when someone trusted suggests a product.3 In this paper, we’ll discuss why influencers are important to retail brands and how they can engage consumers.

Consumers are having conversations with their peers online long before they make a purchase. To be effective, brands need to be part of that dialogue.

Product Launching

Content Promotion and Distribution

Events/Webinar Promotion

Crisis Management

Corporate Communication

22%

76%

44%

57%

50%

Scenarios In Which the Influencer’s Role Is Highly Strategic

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All intenet usersMenWomenWhite, non-HispanicBlack, Non-HispanicHispanic18-2930-4950-6465+High school grad or lessSome collegeCollege+Less than $30,000 yr.$30,000-$49,999$50,000-$74,999$75,000+UrbanSuburbanRural

71%66777167738773635670717477697472717269

2324212127253725121016243020212727252317

262229213834532511

623312428232626282619

2813423212212428271722303222283034252930

2828272928182331302112225015213144322914

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, 2014

Percentage of Adults Using Social Platforms

1. Influencers Reach a Very Targeted Audience

Marketing to a broad audience might raise awareness, but if people aren’t interested in what you’re trying to sell, much of your investment is wasted by not targeting the right audience. Targeting the right influencers means targeting the audience most likely to be interested in your brand.

For example, if you sell running shoes, partnering with a marathon runner with a strong online following gives you direct access to the people most likely to buy your product. Influencers can be segmented by demographic (i.e. millenials, baby boomers), by vertical (fitness, fashion, entertainment), platform (YouTube, Instagram, blogs), geography, or a powerful combination of all four.

FOUR WAYS INFLUENCERS ARE IMPORTANT TO RETAIL BRANDS

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2. Influencers Create Trust

75 percent of consumers don’t trust ads and won’t base their buying decisions on them. When they want information on a product, they look for like-minded individuals whose advice they trust.

Influencers garner large, loyal followings because people know they will get real, honest information from them. Building a relationship with these influencers means gaining the inherent trust of their audience, which is harder for brands to do on their own. And while 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from those they know, 70 percent still value online opinions from people they don’t know.

Recommendations from people I know 84%

Branded websites 69%

Consumer opinions posted online 68%

Editorial content such as newspaper articles 67%

Ads on TV 62%

Brand sponsorships 61%

Ads in newspapers 61%

Ads in magazines 60%

Billboards and other outdoor advertising 57%

Ads on radio 57%

Emails I signed up for 56%

Ads before movies 56%

TV program product placement 55%

Ads served in search engine results 48%

Online video ads 48%

Ads on social networks 48%

Display ads on mobile devices 45%

Online banner ads 42%

Text ads on mobile phones 37%

*Not included in Nielsen 2007 Global Survey.Source: Nielsen Global Survey of Trus in Advertising, Q3 2007 and Q1 2013.

To What Extent Do You Trust The Following Forms of Advertising?

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3. Influencers Generate Active Engagement

Print and television tend to be inherently passive mediums. People see ads, but that doesn’t mean they’re engaged. An influencer, however, thrives on active engagement. An influencer’s content lives or dies by how much it’s shared, discussed, and replied to. People who follow an influencer on Facebook are much more likely to act on a post simply because of the medium. If a brand is looking to stand out in the online sphere and gain followers on its own social media accounts, this type of engagement is key. As a result, budget dollars are shifting from interruptive banner ads to collaborative, engaged mediums like influencers and brand ambassadors.

NINE ALARMING STATS ABOUT BANNER ADVERTISING (DIGIDAY)

1. Over 5.3 trillion display ads were served to U.S. users last year. (ComScore)

2. The typical Internet user is served 1,707 banner ads per month. (Comscore)

3. The 468 x 60 banner has a .04 percent click rate. (DoubleClick)

4. An estimated 31 percent of ad impressions can’t be viewed by users. (Comscore)

5. 8 percent of Internet users account for 85 percent of clicks. (ComScore)

6. Up to 50 percent of clicks on mobile banner ads are accidental. (GoldSpot Media)

7. You’re more likely to survive a plane crash than click a banner ad. (Solve Media)

8. 34 percent don’t trust banner ads at all or much, compared to 26 percent for magazine ads. (eMarketer)

9. 25-34-year olds see 2,094 banner ads per month. (ComScore)

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4. Influencers Help Drive ROI

As influencer marketing becomes more sophisticated and more widely adopted, measurements and tracking have followed. Influencer marketing has been proven to not only drive more engagement and trust with consumers, it produces those results at a much lower cost than banner ads or other forms of digital marketing. A recent study by RhythmOne Media showed that retailers earned $10.48 in media value for every dollar spent on influencer marketing.

Retailers need to reach millions of target consumers with peer-trusted content that can be distributed at scale across the web

Agencies need social solutions for brands that go beyond banner advertising

Influencers want authentic partnerships with brands they love

Consumers want relevant, useful content from people they trust

Earned Media Value for Every Dollar of Media Paid by Advertiser Category

$11.33$10.48

$7.04

$4.80 $3.70

$3.31

$0.64

$2.10

Total Burst Media

Average$6.85

RhythmOne, formerly Burst Media; 2014 Influencer Marketing Benchmarks Report

CPG Food Retailers &Apparel

Tourist Destinations

& Travel

Grocers &Supermarkets

Shoes Toys & Games Home & Garden

SingleAdvertiserCategories

INFLUENCERS

RETAILERS

AGENCIES

CONSUMER

S

INFLUENCERS

Influencer Eco-System

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Goal: Walgreens wanted to drive awareness and engagement for their Motions line of ethnic hair care products and specifically did not want the campaign to just be product reviews. Instead they utilized content creators and influencers to share their authentic opinions and experiences using Motion products.

Campaign: Walgreens enlisted the help of Blogalicious, a TapInfluence network partner, to engage 30 influencers that had audiences similar to Walgreen’s African-American and multi-cultural demographic. The influencers had a total reach of 800,000 on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

Results: With the help of targeted influencers, Walgreens’ Motions campaign generated over 200 individual pieces of social content on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. They reached 800,000 people in their target demographic with a ROI of over 1200%!

HOW WALGREENS USED INFLUENCERS TO GENERATE A POSITIVE ROI

9 Questions to Determine if an Influencer is a Good Fit:

1. Is their content relevant to your brand?

2. Do they post frequently?

3. Do they have audience data?

4. Is their content high-quality?

5. Do they have high audience engagement?

6. Are they professional?

7. Do they have the ability and desire to build a relationship?

8. Do they have clear expectations, and do they understand your objectives?

9. Do you have similar compensation objectives?

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NEXT STEPS

As a larger percentage of consumers’ purchases occur online, it’s critical for retailers to use content marketing to build relationships with their target audiences. By partnering with social content creators who already have a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram, retailers can engage customers with authentic, customized content. Large retail brands, such as Walgreens, are already using influencers to successfully launch new product lines. Don’t fall behind – learn how your retail brand can use influencers to connect with consumers.

Contact TapInfluence for a demonstration.