As marketers, we hear it all the time:
Building a strong, long-term relationship with your customers is vital to the success of your business.
Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to forge such intimate relationships with their individual customers. Loyalty amongst the modern consumer is fading in many industries; they aren’t going to stay with a brand just because they’ve always done so in the past.
But this isn’t to say that the modern consumer is disloyal by nature. Rather, it’s that most brands simply aren’t doing what it takes to keep said modern customer coming back for more.
In fact, 77% of brands could disappear tomorrow and it wouldn’t make a difference. That’s not all that great for small to mid-sized businesses.
Brands that do know the importance of establishing meaningful relationships with their customers – and, in doing so, generate ongoing loyalty – see some major gains, including:
- 9x share of wallet
- 24-point increase in purchase intent
- 39-point increase on customer advocacy
One of the key ways these brands are establishing such strong relationships with their customers is through ongoing influencer marketing campaigns.
For these brands, working with influencers isn’t about getting quick wins. Rather, it’s about leveraging the influencer’s relationship with the audience to build trust in your brand – and to generate the increasingly-elusive loyalty that has become invaluable to businesses today.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at five examples of brands using influencer marketing to forge new relationships with new audiences, maintain and improve their current customer relationships, and repair customer relationships that have faded over time.
Without further ado, let’s dig in.
Audible Enlists the Help of Authors and Celebrities to Spread Brand Awareness
Audiobooks have seen a massive increase in adoption over the last five years.
Incidentally, 2015 was the year that Audible dove head-first into the realm of influencer marketing — and the team hasn’t looked back since.
Audible’s initial influencer marketing campaigns revolved around well-known YouTubers and their respective channels.
Jack Douglass of Jacksfilms got the ball rolling with a silly-yet-memorable sponsored segment within a video titled “The Best of JACKASK”. In the video, Jack provides a number of ridiculous answers to the question “What is Audible?” — before ultimately explaining what the company is all about.
Getting more niche-specific, Audible also began working with Grace Helbig, who often posts book reviews on her YouTube channel. Within these videos, as well as in their captions, Grace not only mentions Audible, but provides a 30-day free trial of the service, as well.
In more recent years, Audible has expanded its influencer campaigns to other popular channels on the web. For instance, the brand has worked with reality TV star Carole Radziwill to create content that is both personable and informative.
In this Instagram post, Carole talks about specific moments in her life where Audible comes in handy — leading her audience to think about how the service might fit into their lives.
In other posts, Carole talks about the benefits of treating yourself to a nice book in any format.
In each of these cases, the goal was to use the common ground Audible’s influencers and their audience stands on to spread awareness of what Audible is, and the value it could bring to the consumer’s lives.
One thing to note is that each influencer’s content makes clear that Audible is sponsoring the message being communicated. Still, the influencers are the ones that actually created the content, each using their own unique approach to do so. This allows the message to be delivered authentically, and in a way that actually matters to the consumer.
By using influencers to get on their target audience’s radar, Audible is able to get new customer relationships started on the right foot. From there, the team simply has to deliver on the promises their influencer made to the new customer.
DeeMuesli Works With Food Bloggers to Spread the Word
DeeMuesli is another example of a company that knows the importance of getting a good “in” with your target audience – especially when catering to a niche market.
To get their product in front of the right eyes, DeeMuesli partnered with a number of food bloggers to create some tasty (and healthy!) new recipes. The influencers then posted the recipe on their blog, specifically mentioning DeeMuesli in a way that adds value to the content.
For example, the team worked with plant-based food blog, The Little Plantation, to develop a recipe for vegan apple muesli muffins. To accompany the recipe, TLP introduces the “ethos” of DeeMuesli – essentially explaining the brand’s outlook on healthy eating and living.
The Little Plantation then promoted the blog post on its various social media channels, spreading even more awareness of DeeMuesli in the process.
Now, remember, The Little Plantation has a highly-specific audience (those interested in vegan food and living). For DeeMuesli to get its products in front of a niche audience of over 87,000 … well, it’s certainly going to generate the right kind of attention from the right kind of people.
Another key thing to note about the above Instagram post is the mention of small, food-related startups in such a positive light. The idea is to forge a connection not between the brand and the customer, but between the people behind the brand and the people they serve.
Sparking new relationships with brand new customers isn’t easy – especially if your target audience isn’t really sure what your brand is all about.
So, it just makes sense to enable trusted influencers to make your introductions for you – while you stay focused on providing for your new audience’s needs.
Butcherbox Establishes Authority Through Health & Fitness Influencers
If you’re a meat-lover, you’ve probably heard of Butcherbox by now.
Founded back in 2015, the subscription service saw massive growth almost immediately, reaching $30m in just over two years’ time.
Of course, they didn’t do it alone.
In fact, the team acknowledges just how big a role influencer marketing played in its rise to success. As co-founder Mike Filbey tells CXL, “It was clear from the first email that an influencer sent out about ButcherBox that influencer marketing worked for us.”
The first “aha” moment regarding influencer marketing came before the team had even reached their Kickstarter goal. By partnering with well-known health & fitness influencers, such as Chris Kresser and Mark Sisson, Butcherbox was easily able to get the word out — and ended up raising over $200k in the process.
But the team didn’t stop there. Rather, Butcherbox continues to work with these (and many other) influencers to this day. This not only serves to spread ongoing brand awareness, but also builds authority for Butcherbox as the subscription service landscape becomes ever more crowded.
This authority stems from the trusting relationship that has already been forged between the influencer and their audience. Kresser, Sisson, and many other health & wellness bloggers have all proven to their audience that they won’t steer them wrong — so their recommendations are always taken to heart.
Case in point, check out this blog post from a new Butcherbox customer, who also happens to be a trusted medical professional himself:
This new customer makes it plain as day: They almost definitely would not have checked Butcherbox out had it not been for Kresser’s recommendation.
The takeaway?
You can use influencer marketing to not only make consumers aware that your brand exists, but also make them aware of the value you can bring to their lives. Once they trust you enough to open their wallets, it’s just a matter of following through with the services you’ve promised.
College Basketball Stars Keep Buffalo Wild Wings Top-of-Mind During March Madness
The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is huge for brands related to the sport (or sports in general, for that matter).
There are two main issues with this, though:
For one, this means all sports-related brands are going to be competing for visibility and conversions throughout the month-long event. Secondly, many of the games are played during the week – and often even during the workday.
In an effort to both cut through the noise and spur their audience to action, Buffalo Wild Wings took a creative – and rather playful approach to influencer marketing: The brand enlisted the help of various former college b-ball stars to poke fun at their social media followers for scrolling through Instagram, etc., “while the games are on”.
Though the created content was presented as advertisements sponsored by BWW, the inclusion of former players along with individual messages that match each of their public images – provides a sense of realness and authenticity to the viewer.
What’s more, the inherent urgency of “catching the game live” puts the viewer to an immediate decision. At the very least, they’ll consider taking an extra-long lunch break while catching the end of the first round.
(At best, they’ll be there all day…and will call in the next day to do it all over again!)
To be sure, this same campaign idea sans influencers just wouldn’t work. Really, BWW’s audience would likely be insulted had some random brand representative chided them for missing the game.
(Which is why troll marketing is such a touchy subject).
But, when delivered in a playful, personable manner by well-known sports figures, that same message is just what BWW’s audience needed to get off their couch and head to the pub.
Amika Relaunches in Sephora Stores with the Help of Beauty Influencers
The beauty industry and influencer marketing go hand-in-hand.
After all, it’s often these influencers who…influence…the direction fashion trends move in as they take off.
Knowing this, makeup brand Amika understood that influencer marketing would be vital to their relaunch as a DTC/retail hybrid brand back in 2018.
In fact, the company’s revamped business model played a role in who they decided to work with as influencers in the first place.
As Becca King, Amika’s Social Media and Partnership Coordinator, tells Traackr:
“We’ve had a lot of success because (we make) very strategic decisions about who to work with…(knowing that) their audience is most likely to become a customer…For the Sephora relaunch, we (looked for) new influencers who skewed more heavily into makeup than we would normally choose, because we wanted to find those people who not only embodied the amika girl, but also have an audience who would be more likely to shop at Sephora.”
So, Amika not only uses different influencers to target customers with different needs (e.g., different hairstyles, skin tones, etc.), but also targets customers based on where and how they shop. This two-pronged approach to targeting ensures the right products get in front of the right people – and that each consumer can finalize their purchase in the way that works best for them.
More than just presenting Amika’s products in their content, the brand’s influencers deliver instructional content that teaches their audience how to get the best use out of said products.
Finally, Amika has also expanded its influencer marketing initiatives, now allowing their audience to become influencers through a branded program. Not only does this lead to new customers (and new relationships), but it also strengthens the relationship between Amika and its customers-turned-advocates.
For all of Amika’s customers – influencer or not – influencer marketing has become a key part of the branded experience. As Brand President, Chelsea Riggs explains, Amika has transitioned from one-off influencer marketing campaigns to an “integrated practice” of influencer marketing.
Through this more integrated process and branded experience, Amika is able to forge a relationship between brand, influencer, and consumer that will keep the right customer onboard for a long time to come.