Affiliate marketing: Building community on influencer’s existing audience

Mumbai: Within the ever-changing field of marketing, companies and brands are increasingly turning to Affiliate Marketing as a key strategy to connect with their target audience. This innovative approach involves compensating external parties to promote products and services, creating a promotional link without a direct association between the promoter and the brand. By leveraging individuals as intermediaries, brands can effectively tap into their target market. This trend has significantly influenced the buying behaviour of Indian consumers, who now rely on recommendations from trusted sources on social media, personal blogs, videos and embedded advertisements within the content.

This emerging marketing approach empowers businesses to engage effectively with their target audience, fostering increased sales and transactions through affiliate marketing. It not only cultivates trust but also wields influence, compelling more buyers to choose the product. This boosts return on investment by cultivating good relationships between businesses and their clients.

India presently is the world's second-largest internet market, with over 800 million users. Hence, businesses have adopted new marketing strategies such as display banners, paid search, SEO, and video ads. Notably, Social Media reigns supreme, commanding a significant 30 per cent of the expenditure share among digital media advertising formats. Within this diverse array of advertising formats, Influencer Marketing emerges as a prominent social media trend, reflecting the dynamic shifts in the realm of digital marketing.

Influencer marketing: An emerging trend

In the realm of social media, Indian businesses leverage popular and influential figures boasting a substantial follower base to effectively promote their brand, products and services. Influencer Marketing proves highly successful for companies seeking to expand their reach and cultivate brand trust. Whether partnering with micro-influencers or macro-influencers, businesses benefit from their specialized and committed fanbases. Engaging with influencers aligned with their brand values allows companies to foster confidence among their followers and establish meaningful connections.

According to research, Instagram effectively connects with the 25 to 29 age group, while Facebook excels in reaching individuals aged 60 and above. In contrast, influencer marketing taps into a dedicated and specific fan base, showcasing its unique ability to benefit businesses :

Extensive Audience - Connecting with a broad audience becomes effortless through influencer marketing. The content an influencer generates resonates with their diverse fan base across Tier 1, 2, and 3 demographics. Regardless of specific demographics, followers engage with influencers, making it a seamless way for businesses to reach a vast target audience simultaneously.

Regional Connect - Incorporating influencer marketing enables businesses to connect with diverse regional audiences, particularly in a linguistically diverse country like India. Leveraging regional influencers helps overcome language barriers, fostering trust, and expanding business reach among diverse regional groups.

Authentic and Expert Recommendation - Advertisements inform people about a product, but influencer marketing goes a step further, building trust in the product, brand and service. For instance, for cookware and cooking ingredients, a food influencer plays a crucial role in establishing trust and driving purchases. When consumers connect with a product through an expert or authentic recommendation, it significantly influences their purchasing decisions.

Integrating influencer marketing has emerged as a successful tactic for businesses to connect effectively with their target audience. To succeed in this, businesses must do thorough market research to pinpoint and connect with their distinct target audience. The chosen influencer's ability to relate to the business's target audience is also crucial. Long term, this improves return on investment (ROI) and contributes to the efficacy of marketing plans.

Anticipated to grow at a 31 per cent compound rate, social media is projected to account for 29 per cent of expenditure by year-end. This surge presents a valuable opportunity for businesses, to leverage existing influencers' audiences to establish a widespread customer base. The impact extends beyond online realms, aiding both online and offline enterprises in enhancing sales and cultivating a robust customer foundation.