Influencer or Celebrity: Who Is Best for Your Business?

So, you’ve decided to promote your products and services – but who do you go for to endorse your brand; influencer or celebrity? Each offers unique benefits to your business, we discuss why the smaller influencers may be a better choice for your business.

Celebrity Endorsement

If you just want large exposure, then celebrities are definitely the way to go. Their massive international audience will open your brand to a wider audience and have a massive reach. But, as a result of their reach, sometimes the price tag attached to that endorsement is simply cost prohibitive. The overall cost of celebrity endorsement may be more than your companies marketing budget, and that’s without considering any additional fees for lawyers, PR and agents.

Another thing to consider is that although they have a significantly higher following than many influencers, they also have a relatively low engagement rate. Celebrities are often seen as an unreachable goal by the public, meaning although they are aspirational they are not relatable. If your business aim is to create successful conversions or promote conversations about a particular product or brand, influencers are the way forward.

Influencer Marketing

We know what you’re thinking; if celebrities have a much higher follower base than many of the largest macro influencers, then why go for the latter? Well, despite their lower following they are currently a hot topic in the marketing game, with many companies wanting to get in on the action.

Although having fewer followers sounds like a negative, this means their audience is more concentrated and engaged than they would be with a celebrity. As such, when an influencer gives an opinion, their audience is more likely to be receptive to it. This comes from the influencer being seen as a specialist in that area, building their community up from a niche space and resulting in their opinion meaning something to an audience. At Social Media Week Bristol in February, Celebrity Intelligence touched on this, stating that brands saw a high Return on Investment (ROI) of 17:1 when using digital influencers rather than celebrities.

Through building their own community, influencers massively increase their engagement compared to a celebrity, establishing a running dialogue with their audience. For example, celebrity endorsements are usually a one-way message, meant to reach a lot of people and generally not to be interacted with. With influencers, they are constantly answering questions and getting people engaged with a point of interest long before a brand comes into the picture. This results in sponsored content getting a greater reception than it would with a celebrity endorsement.

The Influencers Low Down

If you have decided an influencer may be the best direction for your brand, there are a few more things you should take into consideration. Since there is a big market for influencers at the moment, there are many to choose from. If this sounds daunting, why not check out our post on Different Influencer Types & How to Choose Which To Work With. Not only that, but there are two main classifications: micro or macro. Each with their own benefits and negatives, there’s so much to say that we could write a whole other post on this – which we have, check it out here.

All in all, you have to look at what is core to your business, and who you want to target. Only then can you truly decide if a celebrity or an influencer is the right way to go. If it’s influencer marketing that tickle your fancy, give us a call on 0117 403  3125 or email us on brands@collectivedge.com to discuss how we can help!