Are you a marketing vampire?

This is Colin, the energy vampire from the show 'What We Do in the Shadows'. Colin works in an office and drains energy from his coworkers (unlike the other traditional vampires he lives with in Long Island). We've all worked with a fair number of 'Colins', haven't we? That's why this character is so funny. 

‘Hey, have you heard how many CEOs are asking their employees to return to the office?’ asked my marketing buddy, Jim. ‘They have no research to show that this will make the workplace more productive.'

'But you know why the CEOs say they want their employees back in? The real reason? It’s because the CEOs think – this is making our employees happy! There’s got to be something wrong with it if it makes our employees happy!’

A lot of my marketing friends are struggling. I want to understand why high-calibre professionals with extensive experience feel so dejected about the state of their industry.

One complains about being micromanaged and treated like a child by a CMO who doesn’t understand his job.

Another who almost killed herself for her job – literally gave up her social life – only to be dumped two years into the job – and replaced by someone less experienced and cheaper. 

I'm sure it'll backfire on the company.

However, someone in finance looked purely at the numbers and thought he was a genius for making this decision. I studied finance and worked as an analyst. It can be tempting to strip everything down to numbers, but that approach can be misleading. As Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, says:

'If the data and the stories don't match, I trust the stories'

During industry downturns and times of low macroeconomic growth, CFOs typically increase their influence in organisations. 

However, when finance is focused on cost control, it should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It may be hasty to let go of essential lynchpins in the organisation and lose talent, knowledge, and a culture critical to a company's success. 

As this article demonstrates, Finance & Marketing are trying to achieve the same goals. It's just that sometimes their approaches are different. 

What about my other friend, who confessed that he might consider switching from his career in marketing to becoming a train driver? 😟

Ok, he was laying on a little there! But still, he's had a tough ride recently....

This accomplished marketer has a strong track record and incredible talent. Yet he talks about wanting to leave his profession right now. What’s going on in the marketing world?

Part of it is like the CEO my friend mentioned, making employees return to the office; He suspects his employees must not be working hard if they are happy. 

Have you ever been managed by someone intent on making your job miserable? We all have, right? It's such a wrongheaded and counterproductive approach.

I actually love my job. I love marketing—everything about it. But why does management sometimes seem to want to drain that enjoyment out of it? 

This is what my friend Elizabeth Lotardo wrote about - a fictional character called 'Rudi, a senior marketing manager, who's boss is always changing his mind' 

It is infuriating to be managed like this. Many of my marketing colleagues can relate to Rudi's story. 

If marketing teams are miserable, have little to no psychological safety, and are not valued or respected, they will produce subpar work.

It's human nature - research proves that employees work better with positive affirmation and in a civil and respectful environment.

And I’m afraid that no matter how good the product is or how eloquent the salespeople are, the company will most likely not thrive if the marketing is awful. 

There are countless examples of companies with arguably worse products that beat companies with better products because they had superior marketing, including some of the biggest in the world: Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike and Harley Davidson.

The brand has already been shown to be incredibly important in a company's success. Investors factor brand into their decision-making, and brand has had a value on the balance sheet for a long time. 

Read on to discover why brand is paramount for investors.

And just because your marketing team is enjoying what they do – that’s no reason for concern. In fact, You should be delighted they are doing a good job and having fun!

Many key people think that AI can solve all marketing problems! This is not new—every few years, a new panacea is considered the silver bullet that will solve all marketing woes. 

I've heard many stories about how AI could create fantastic marketing content for virtually nothing (obviously, finance loves this!). 

However, I have yet to see strong evidence that AI-created content delivers results (besides being cheap). 

Will it go the same way as: 

• Big Data
• Agile methodology
• Affiliate Marketing
• Guerilla marketing

Are you 'jumping on the bandwagon'? 

Initially, it was thought that it would solve all ills, but eventually, people came down off their high and realised that it was simply an approach that may work in a limited way if used effectively.

Unlike some of my colleagues, I do not fear losing my passion for marketing. Even in this challenging environment, I am still confident of my future in this profession.

You will always find rewarding work if you are passionate about what you do and are good at your job. At least, I always have. I'm also fortunate because I have a vast network.

I like to remind myself what the genius advertising guru, David Ogilvy once said: 

'Where people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good work'

That is double or triple true for marketing, which relies so much on creativity and ideas. So let's focus on getting the job done, being polite, treating everyone with respect (you don't know what they are going through), and, above all, enjoying it. 

I don't want to end on a down note. I am immensely grateful to have found a rewarding and highly stimulating vocation I love - one that perfectly fits my strange mix of abilities and personality.

But I must re-iterate - beware of Marketing vampires this Halloween (and the rest of the year) - who may drain you of your passion, and will to live! 

The Power of Microinfluencer marketing

             

Suppose you look at where the most significant move in influencer marketing has been in the last few years. In that case, celebrity endorsements like Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Dwayne Johnson or David Beckham are passe—so 2010's

The real action these days is with micro-influencers or even nano-influencers. 

What Is a Micro-Influencer?

A micro-influencer has 1,000 to 100,000 followers who focus on a specific niche or area and is generally regarded as an industry expert or topic specialist.

Micro-influencers have stronger relationships than typical influencers. This is often driven by their perception as an opinion leader of [a] subject matter. Unlike a celebrity or regular influencer, a micro-influencer frequently has a very uniform audience. They are usually far more knowledgeable about the companies they talk about and more relatable to the regular consumer.

Everyone says that to succeed in business, you need an authentic brand. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made. But joking aside, Consumers crave authenticity these days. 

Some large brands have even had to scrap high-quality and expensive videos because they appear too commercial. Imagine a ludicrous situation where a giant brand is paying big bucks to make its videos look like they were taken by a regular person on their Apple phone. I kid you not - this is happening right now!

Authenticity is the quality of being true to oneself and one’s beliefs. Branding means presenting an honest representation of what your business stands for and how you want customers to perceive it. This includes conveying clear values and messaging and building trust with audiences through consistent communication and interactions.

When businesses are authentic, customers feel they can trust that their products and services are genuine. This helps you, as the business owner, build authentic relationships with your audience, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.

Additionally, authenticity helps brands stand out from the competition by allowing them to show their unique characteristics. When you're true to yourself, you trust your judgments and decisions, and others also trust you. They'll respect you for standing by your values and beliefs. 

And let’s face it – who do you really believe uses and loves l’Oreal shampoo, a celebrity who is paid millions of dollars for saying that and will probably be advertising another shampoo brand next year?

Or a beauty influencer who has been raving about how much she loves L’Oreal products for years without being paid for that? And whose blog or TikTok channel is devoted to that one topic (Beauty or even shampoos).

I talked about branding with Henny Frazer, the ex-head brand at Hyatt Hotels. She impressed upon me the idea that branding is not purely about a ‘logo’ or a company's image or colour palette. That is actually just a tiny part of the picture.

A brand is embedded in your employees and your culture—how they work and interact. Secondly, it is highlighted by your most passionate customers—the ones who evangelize your company and often tell others exactly why they love your brand. And if you have those types of customers, surely your company should help them get their message out?

From my experiences working in marketing, I know nothing is more potent than a delighted customer—no ad campaign, powerful celebrity endorsement, or even a mesmerising brand or silver-tongued salesperson.

But don’t just listen to me: Tech companies, including Adobe, Monday.com, SAP, and Squarespace, among many others, are well known to engage in micro-influencer marketing campaigns. 

Dunkin' Brand (Dunkin' even named a new drink, 'the Charli' after a Microinfluencer) has been doing this for years, as have many sports brands like Nike, which, for example, sponsors thousands of college athlete micro-influencers. 

Airbnb, Shopify, HelloFresh, Warby Parker & Audible are other well-known brands that are currently investing in micro-influencers.

Below: The return on investment is almost three times higher for brands that invest in micro-influencers than those that pay for celebrity endorsements.

Micro-influencers can help a business grow by:

> Targeting a specific audience

Micro-influencers often have a niche audience, so they can help brands reach the people most likely to be interested in their products. For example, a brand could work with a cake-decorating influencer to promote a new line of piping tips.

> Building trust

Micro-influencers often have a deeper relationship with their audience, which can lead to more effective endorsements and higher call-to-action rates. When influencers are accurate and transparent about products or services, their followers are more likely to purchase.

> Make Genuine Connections

Do you think there’s no such thing as the wrong client? If you’ve ever had a client who was a lovely person but just totally not aligned with you, you’ll know that there is! Not every client is the right client. If you’re not being authentic in your business, you’re not going to attract the people (clients, team members, partners) you’ll thrive with.

Authenticity builds strong connections with the right people who will become life-long customers and sing your praises to others. Micro-influencers can help potential customers determine if your brand is right for them.

One major issue most brands face right now is a decline in loyalty. With that comes the dreaded customer churn issue: companies lose long-term customers.

But suppose you build authentic relationships with customers who start out with shared values, goals, and aspirations. In that case, you will likely retain those customers and grow your business faster and more straightforwardly. Micro-influencers are your bridge to that end goal.

> Increasing brand visibility

Micro-influencers can help increase brand visibility by retaining followers and hooking them with their content.

> Boosting credibility

Working with popular influencers can help a brand's credibility within an industry. This can help the brand land new partnerships, attract talent, and develop meaningful industry relationships.

> Creating dynamic, and exciting new content

Influencers know how to create content that stands out on social media. Some of the hands-down best brand content I’ve seen over the last five years has come from small-time influencers (take Lauren Cella*, a schoolteacher influencer who works with Adobe and Dunkin’).

Monitoring content performance can help a brand determine what's working and what's not. This can help a brand adjust its strategy and decide whether to continue working with specific influencers or partner with new ones.

Should Your Brand Leverage Micro-Influencer Marketing?

Micro-influencers have a comparatively smaller following and don’t often boast celebrity status. Because of that, brands can bank on their followers' interest in whatever made the micro-influencer "internet famous.” 

In addition, smaller influencers tend to be more grateful for a brand's attention, produce far better results (in terms of actual sales revenue per spend), and are more cost-effective, on average, than celebrity endorsers. 

Some well-known micro-influencers include:

• Alina Gavrilov, a fashion micro-influencer with 99,800 followers

https://www.instagram.com/alinagavrilov_/

• Lauren Cella*, education micro-influencer (Millennial teacher who talks about her Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, who now partners with Adobe), 140,000 followers

https://www.instagram.com/laurencella/ 

Check out her hilarious history lesson on the French Revolution, designed to entertain and captivate Gen Z and Alphas. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSpNZnVdsX8   

• Anndrea Celleste, 198,000 followers, travel and culture micro-influencer

https://www.tiktok.com/@anndreacelleste/video/7372243586991066401

• Francesca Newman-Young, a travel micro-influencer with 84,900 followers
• Lonni Smith, a beauty micro-influencer with 64,000 followers
• Russ Crandall, a food micro-influencer with 40,400 followers
• Francesca Newman-Young, travel micro-influencer with 120,000 followers

A tweet from travel micro influencer Francesa Newman-Young:

Micro-influencers will often cost far less than macro-influencers. “[Micro-influencers] give you the best bang for your buck. They have a following, but typically don't charge the same rate as those with a larger following.”

For further reading: how to Build a micro-influencer marketing strategy by Shopify.