Influencer Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising

What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a part of marketing that involves communicating with social media-based influential individuals also known as influencers to promote a brand or service. Due to their large following it is easier to target the audience on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even TikTok towards the service or product a business has to offer via these influencers. Confused about choosing which approach is best for your business? Well, we’ve got your back, in this comprehensive guide we have covered all the advantages and disadvantages of both influencer marketing and traditional marketing. Reading this will for sure clear all your doubts.

The primary approach on which influencer marketing relies is the credibility that has been built between these influencers and their following. Influencer marketing campaigns can take alot of forms depending on what a business’s overall goals and objectives are and additionally what niche the product or service belongs to. Let’s dive deeper into these various forms;

Sponsored Posts: New or old brands that are introducing their brand or are launching new products can pay influencers to promote through many forms such as social media posts, video, live, and blog posts.

Affiliate: Ever seen influencers posting about a product with their discount code? Did you know that this type of influencer marketing is called affiliate partnership and influencers get paid for every purchase that is made?

Freebies and competitions: Influencers partnering with businesses have the potential to make things more exciting by hosting a giveaway that requires followers to engage with the brand tag their friends in the comments under the post posted on the brand’s page in order to win free products or vouchers.

Ambassadors for brands: Working with an influencer who serves as a consistent representative for the brand involves a longer-term investment. To ensure authenticity, these ambassadors usually consist of creators who already have shown a strong connection to the company and will frequently collaborate on campaigns and activations.

Event Sponsorship: Contributing to an event can draw attention to an organization by choosing relevant individuals to give presentations at or host events that cater to their target demographic.

Discussing traditional marketing:
Have you ever seen those commercials on the television while watching a show or those huge billboards sitting on the passenger seats? Those are all forms of traditional advertising. Traditional advertising implements the usage of old-school advertising techniques to advertise a brand, product, or service. Unlike two-way influencer marketing, this marketing is a one-way communication where the product or service is displayed without any means to interact or clear ways to provide input. Like influencer marketing, traditional advertising also comes in various forms depending on the budget, the product or service, and the industry. These forms include;

Printed form: This comprises direct mail campaigns, pamphlets, flyers, and ads in newspapers and periodicals.

Media broadcasting: When we talk about traditional marketing the two famous advertising means are television and FM/ radio commercials. Before influencer marketing, people would buy airtime for television advertisements or radio advertisements if they wanted to reach a larger and greater audience.

Advertising on the roads: This is the most common form of advertising that all of us have seen from our childhood. The usage of billboards, banners, and posters to promote the brand at a location where it could catch viewers’ attention.

The Rise of Influencer Marketing:
Influencer marketing has been gaining popularity for quite a long time now particularly since 2010 because of the rise of Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and other influencer-centric social media platforms. The widespread use of such platforms offered ordinary individuals an opportunity to express themselves creatively and allowed them to create and share material, drawing a significant number of people engaged in their specialized areas. As a result of this, internet-savvy people quickly began making use of online platforms and social networking sites to consume their content since they were so easily accessible and the content they engaged with was more pertinent. However, it is important to note that this differs from niche to niche but fashion, gaming, beauty, lifestyle, and fitness witnessed a significant surge in brands turning to influencers for the promotion of their products or services. Due to this influencer marketing started to grow and is still rapidly growing as businesses want new and cheap ways to promote themselves.

Understanding the difference between the cost of influencer marketing and traditional marketing:
There is a drastic difference between the cost of both influencer marketing and traditional marketing because it is dependent on many different factors.

Charges related to Influencer Marketing:
Charges: Influencers typically charge money based on the sort of reach, engagement, and extent of influence they have. The higher the engagement rate and following the higher the charges of that influencer. Additionally, the charges of influencers with higher reach and following are higher than those of micro or nano influencers who tend to have less following.

Promotion via product exchange:
This is another option that is generally accepted by an influencer. In this, payment is not to be made rather products are exchanged by the influencer and business. The influencer accepts a free package and advertises or promotes the brand. This serves as a budget-friendly option in contrast to monetary payment but involves providing the influencer access to the worth of the product or services being advertised.

Additional expenses:
Apart from the payment that is made to the influencer, other charges are involved too with the influencer marketing campaigns. This cost covers the following aspects
Photography and Videography of the Product.
Shipping charges are involved with every purchase.
Other costs are particular to the campaign.

Charges related to Traditional Marketing:
Fees for media placement: Media placement costs are commonly incurred by advertising mediums like newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television. Depending on the time slot, length, publication, or the communication channel selected, these costs could vary.

Costs of production: Traditional marketing frequently calls for the development and production of promotional materials or ads. Production costs must be taken into account, including the price of hiring graphic designers, entertainers, copywriters, and advertising firms.

Printing and distribution: Printing materials like leaflets, flyers, posters, and direct mail campaigns might incur expenditures for print media campaigns. Postage and delivery fees, among other distribution charges, might also be involved.

Which kind of advertising works best?
When comparing influencers with conventional marketing, the effectiveness of marketing methods is contingent upon several factors, including the target demographic, industry, campaign objectives, and money. In the present-day marketing landscape, influencer advertising and traditional marketing both have their place, but according to all of the previously listed considerations, influencer marketing is probably the most adaptable and easy to put into practice for a variety of firms.

Many expensive companies, like Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Celine, and many others, have taken a hybrid approach, working together with younger, popular creators on Instagram to expand their appeal while still maintaining a fairly substantial presence in traditional billboard and commercial advertising. Traditional advertising might be more successful for startups that cater to the local community or have an older clientele. Instead of trying to work on a website that doesn’t appeal to their audience at all, local eateries and businesses might find it more advantageous to advertise on the streets and distribute fliers to the houses of their core consumers.

Influencer marketing vs. traditional marketing is a personal choice, but emerging companies that target younger demographics, have an online shop, and have fewer resources at their disposal may find that influencer marketing is the most fruitful and practical option for their marketing strategies.