Print Content Powered by Influencers
Think influencer marketing is just for digital channels? Think again!
Influencers seem to be everywhere today, with social media driving an uptick in people who
build niche audiences for themselves and who are trusted by those audiences to make product recommendations. Getting “in” with influencers can help your brand feel on-trend and interesting, but it’s not only a digital proposition anymore. Today’s influencer ecosystem is expanding, with more opportunities to explore the overlap between traditional print advertising and buzzy influencer marketing. The possibilities are intriguing and potentially powerful for your brand.
Here’s what to keep in mind when you’re considering this strategy combination.
The Evolution of Influencer Marketing
Although the concept of influencer might be relatively new, the idea behind it certainly isn’t. Influencers have been around for decades, with traditional celebrity endorsements through print ads, TV, radio, billboards, etc. On the less-glamorous side of the scale is classic word-of-mouth advertising, where anyone and everyone might influence their social circle’s purchase decisions.
Social media brought a massive uptick in the concept, plus the idea of an influencer as a separate identity. As social media grew, so did people’s perceived circles, with access to artificial—or digitally-assisted— closeness to infinitely more people and their opinions and tastes. Social media influence certainly seems to be greater with younger generations. According to one study, a whopping 80% of Gen Z says they’ve been influenced by social media to buy a product, as have 76% of Millennials, compared with just 58% of Gen X and 41% of Boomers.
Now, influencer strategies have circled back around to physical mediums like print, especially as part of omnichannel marketing. There are different levels of influencers, too. BenLabs defines the tiers as:
- Nano-influencers 1K to 10K followers
- Micro-influencers 10K-100K followers
- Mid-tier influencers 100K to 500K followers
- Macro-influencers 500K to 1M followers
- Mega-influencers 1M+ followers
Interestingly, today’s influencer sphere appears to have moved away from big-name celebrity endorsements to the more personal-feeling, small-scale approach. Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2024 Benchmark Report found that 44% of brands strongly prefer nano- influencers, with 26% focusing on micro-influencers. Celebrities, in contrast, came in at only 13%. People want to feel more connected to their influencers; in turn, those influencers’ recommendations almost carry the weight of a personal level of trust rather than a more distant mega-celebrity.
Enhancing Print with Influencers
Even in today’s digital-priority world, print marketing remains powerful and highly credible. The shelf life of a direct mail piece is substantially longer than that of emails—an average of 17 days versus an average of two seconds—boosting the likelihood of message retention and further action being taken. Printed material can also effectively reach niche or non-digital audiences, and its tangible, physical presence helps build greater bonds and recall.
Influencers can help elevate your print campaigns. Their sense of storytelling can humanize and personalize brand messaging, not to mention gain audience trust. When 42% of people distrust messaging that comes directly from brands, it can be helpful to have real people deliver the message instead. Influencer campaigns can be as narrow or as broad as you need, with options including:
- Product catalogs with influencer-curated collections or features
- Event flyers and posters featuring influencer endorsements
- Magazines showcasing influencer-driven editorials or spotlights.
The key, as with any marketing strategy, is to pick the right influencers to deliver the right message. Select influencers not just for their potential reach but also for their alignment with your brand’s identity, goals, values, and target audience. Clearly define campaign objectives, what role influencers would be expected to play, and how to best align the influencer content with your brand messaging. Then, look for ways to integrate influencer content into print format, whether it’s visuals like photos and graphics, quotes, or product reviews.
When approached with flexibility and creativity, influencer marketing paired with print can be a powerful combination to build trust and brand authenticity. Influencers can go far beyond digital platforms to expand your reach and enhance storytelling with visually appealing, personally compelling, and high-quality content. Combining print with influencer marketing is an underutilized channel, but you can certainly leverage it to give your brand an edge over the competition.