Why pay for a celebrity when your best influencer could be right under your nose?

Is your business looking for a celebrity influencer to help with your marketing? No, I’m not offering my services, I’m about as “celebrity” as your Nan (even less so) and if you think for one minute I’m prepared to take a selfie in the mirror while dressed scantily, pouting and holding your product, then think again. That’s something the world does not need to see.

The point I’m making is that many businesses these days believe a celebrity influencer will be a silver bullet for their marketing strategy, that it will transform their fortunes to previously unseen levels.

But is that true? In this blog, I’ll attempt to dispel the thinking that an influencer must be a celebrity to make a difference. That, in fact, an influencer can come under many guises and can return results equal to, or even better, than any famous face.

Are influencers worth the investment?

There’s no doubt that influencer marketing works, whether it’s with someone famous fronting the campaign or sans celebrity.

In a recent influencer marketing study, Tomason found that “marketers unanimously voted influencer marketing as their fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel, surpassing traditional methods such as organic search and email marketing.”

However, if you’re going down the celebrity route, you need to remember that it’s expensive, there’s no guarantee that the potentially millions of people an influencer could reach are going to be relevant to your desired audience, and will your target customers, if they even see it, actually be impressed?

You may have seen the story recently about Wild, the deodorant people who paid up to £1million to high-profile figures such as Stacey Solomon, Emma Raducanu and Molly-Mae Hague to promote its products on Instagram. According to Wild’s co-founder Charlie Bowes-Lyon, it was money well spent and he proudly claims influencer marketing is his “secret sauce”.

But come on, let’s be real. Have you got £1m lying around like a bad smell? No, not many businesses do. So, there must be other ways…

If not a celebrity, then who?

Indeed, there are other ways. Many of you will have been in meetings where discussions revolve around a new product launch or service, or how to boost engagement or grow your audience, and the answer to all these dilemmas (and many more) has been a resounding: “Let’s find an influencer”.

Coming up with the idea is the easy bit, but following it through is when the hard work truly begins. Especially when you consult the CFO and learn the coffers won’t stretch towards landing that big-name celeb from that most-watched TV show or whatever.

So here’s something to think about. What if the person who’s going to represent your brand effectively, and who isn’t a celebrity with millions of followers, is someone more down to earth, more real, and exudes trust, confidence and credibility?

Real people, real results

Rather serendipitously, shortly before I knew I was writing this blog I stumbled across a post by Instagram growth coach and online entrepreneur Brock Johnson, and it kinda hits the nail on the head in many respects.

Brock compares what we perceive as stereotypical influencers ‘then’ versus ‘now’, which is a shift towards genuine, real people. So rather than the aforementioned influencer posing in front of the mirror, instead it’s a more mature fella or lady, or someone who looks just like your neighbour. And they’ve all got a hefty number of people following them, people they can reach, because they’re authentic.

As Brock points out: “Influencers used to be fake, photoshopped, inauthentic, wannabe celebrities. Now, influencers are real people, small business owners, moms with a side hustle – they’re genuine, real and honest.”

An alternative for your business, from within your business

Here’s the crux of the matter. The reason why we’re talking about this today. Your ideal influencer could be someone who is already happily sat within your business. A credible employee advocate who is oozing trust, knowledge and expertise.

With that in mind, I introduce you to Kathryn Turner, director of product development at M&S Food. Note: this is not a formal introduction, as I only know Kathryn by reputation. We have never met!

With more than 25 years of experience at M&S, Kathryn is something of a recent social media sensation and, as it turns out, she is the perfect example of an employee who has built a large personal following and effectively removed the need for celebrity endorsement.

With the help of a strong team supporting her, Kathryn has seen her TikTok account explode from 30 followers to more than 100k, while she has gone from almost no Instagram presence to more than 80k. All this in just eight weeks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kathryn Turner (@kathryn.lturner)

How, and why, has this happened? How has Kathryn become the face of M&S Food? Because she’s authentic, that’s how and why. Whereas celebrity influencers are famous people who then use social media, Kathryn is an influencer who has become famous because of social media.

Consider this, too. If you’re deliberating, cogitating and digesting whether or not to purchase and devour an M&S Red Diamond Strawberry & Crème Sandwich, are you more likely to be persuaded to do so by a famous person with no ties to M&S, or by someone you trust, who actually really knows what they’re talking about and endorsing, a la Kathryn? Of course you are!

Consumers will trust people who:

• Use the product in the first place
• Have a deep knowledge and understanding of the business
• Will have the relevant know-how to answer your questions
• Have first-hand experience of the products
• Are 100%, undeniably credible

Don’t ignore the talent under your nose

Credible, authentic internal people, whatever their role may be within your business, are just waiting to be given the opportunity to shine, to market your business and influence your audience, without even a fraction of the cost you would expect to pay a celebrity to endorse your products or services.

The same is true of the person who leads your business, whether they are a director or CEO. Founder-led content is advocacy at its most potent, you just need the gumption to give it a whirl. It’s not as if there’s a whole lot to be lost, is there? Whereas paying a celeb will, without a shadow of doubt, prove costly AF.

Unearthing someone within your business to influence your audience is, ultimately, more affordable and more trusted than an outsourced celebrity, has genuine connections to your products and services, and means you totally and utterly own that content.

It’s also true that nano influencers – those with 1k to 10k followers, and the type of person that is likely to come from within your business – delivers the highest engagement of all the varieties of influencers. That’s because their audience is small enough for the relationship to feel personal – it’s like a friend speaking directly to you.

So, please, don’t spend gazillions looking for a famous face to spearhead your campaigns. Instead, let your own people do the talking because, after all, they’re the ones who are already trusted by your customers.

Not sure how to put this plan into fruition?

We’d love to help! Whether it’s talking through this with you in more detail or helping you put a strategy in place or providing the resources to support you, we can work with you. We can be your team. Please get in touch by using the contact form below.

Article posted by Jonathan Paul

Jon loves anything to do with the written word. With more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist in both newspapers and digital media, he understands the value of a good story – especially if it’s a well-written story. Jon has covered many high-profile events during his career, and is privileged to have been right in the middle of the action, enabling him to tell a story exactly how he sees it. Now translating those skills into the marketing world, Jon helps LikeMind Media clients tell their own stories in a way that will get them the very best results.