Influencer Marketing For Dummies

Chapter 2

Digging Deeper into Influencer Marketing

In This Chapter

Seeing where marketing started

Understanding how influencer marketing came about

Looking at the future of influencer marketing

Determining whether influencer marketing is paid, owned, or earned media

All successful marketing or advertising is reliant on influence. Brands want to influence consumers to become aware of, consider, and eventually purchase their products. Consumers are influenced by all manner of brand communications, whether from the brand directly through traditional advertising (TV ads, print ads, online display ads, radio spots, and so on) or from word-of-mouth endorsements from friends and family.

The entire marketing ecosystem is dependent on influence. But in our current advertising-everywhere climate, where consumers are constantly bombarded with brand noise and competing messaging, who gets heard? How do consumers decide who to listen to? Who actually wields the power to influence?

We answer all those questions in this chapter. But before we talk about influencer marketing, let’s go back a bit ...