Navigating the Future of Influencer Marketing with a Full-Stack Approach

Influencer marketing is not new.

Lillie Langtry, known for her roles as an actress and producer, made history as the first woman to endorse a brand —  Pears Soap — by appearing on their poster in 1882 🧼

In the 21st century, this has moved online, with social media platforms like Instagram & TikTok. This change is significant, but even with all the tech advancements, new tactics, & a lot more influencers, most brands are still hesitant to fully embrace influencer marketing.

One fact is clear though. If you sell to consumers, you ought to work with influencers. That is where the attention and trust is. Building your business off the back of Facebook Ads is not a viable way to build a brand. A brand is built via trust, and influencers have the trust of your target audience.

In this article, we want to dive into how influencer marketing is done right now and how we believe it’s going to evolve into a more “full stack” version, so you can adapt your strategy accordingly.

Current state of influencer marketing

😥  1 — Siloed approach with seeding

Brands new to influencer marketing typically start with one strategy, such as product seeding, gifting, or affiliate programs. While this is a reasonable initial approach, the problem happens when they just stick to one and don't diversify enough.

There are 5 ways you can incentivize influencers to work with you.  Sticking to just one strategy limits the potential reach and impact. Diversifying strategies is crucial because each method serves different purposes and reaches varying audience segments.

For instance, affiliate marketing can be effective for immediate sales with a direct link to purchase. Still, it might not be as effective in building long-term brand awareness or customer loyalty. By not exploring a combination of strategies, brands risk missing out on broader segments of their target audience and the multifaceted benefits influencer marketing can offer.

The traditional advice you'll find from so-called thought-leaders on LinkedIn or people posting blogs to simply plug their product revolves around showing you immediate results, even if it might leave you scrambling for positive results in the long run.

😔 2 — One Shot Campaigns

Then there are brands that focus on one-shot campaigns.

They usually reach out to a few influencers, provide them with a specific script or set of instructions, and then feel accomplished simply because someone popular is talking about their product. This method is often seen as an easy, quick way to gain visibility.

This 'hit-and-run' style tends to overlook the importance of building lasting relationships with both influencers and their audiences. While this can generate immediate visibility, it often lacks depth and fails to cultivate ongoing engagement or loyalty.

Consumers are now more aware of marketing tactics and can easily discern between genuine endorsements and forced promotions.

Initially, these strategies hit the mark. But now, it's clear we've got to shift things. Consumers are changing, technology is advancing at a crazy pace, and influencers themselves are evolving. We need to adapt to keep up with this ever-changing scene.

🔮 Future of influencer marketing: Full-stack approach

Full-stack influencer marketing represents a holistic approach, encompassing all the diverse tactics within the influencer marketing sphere, building relationships with influencers and investing in long-term tactics and not one-off campaigns.

🧺 Variety of tactics

Full-stack influencer marketing includes everything from product seeding, where products are given to influencers to encourage organic promotion, to affiliate marketing, where influencers earn commissions from sales they drive.

That's because different tactics work best at different stages of the consumer journey. For example, while product seeding might be great for generating initial buzz and awareness, affiliate marketing can be more effective in driving actual sales. By using a multi-tactic approach, brands can engage consumers at every stage, from initial awareness and interest to the final decision and purchase.

Take a brand like Gymshark.

It's success is not because an influencer with millions of followers wore their gear. It's because Gymshark is everywhere. You see influencers on Instagram prompting them. Their ambassadors wear Gymshark attire to their workout sessions — offline or online. There are influencers who put their link in social media account bios for people to buy with a discount.

This isn’t just for the big brands.

Small brands can also be omnipresent.

All they need is to use a full range of influencer marketing and make sure you’re seen and heard in all the right places that matter to your audience. Imagine your brand popping up in podcasts, being mentioned in YouTube videos, and showing up in Instagram feeds. You have to get your story out there in so many different ways that people can’t help but notice and remember you.

It also involves building and maintaining relationships with influencers, as well as diligently tracking and analyzing performance data to measure the success of campaigns.

🤝 Brand-Influencer relationships beyond the transactions

This is a key element of full-stack influencer marketing. Relationship with creators means that you're not just seeing them as your salespeople or advertisement mediums only. It means you see them as individuals with unique personalities, interests, and motivations

When influencers are treated as partners rather than just marketing channels, they're more likely to become genuine advocates for your brand. They understand and believe in your brand's values and message, which allows them to promote your products or services more authentically and passionately.

Building relationships leads to long-term collaborations, which are more beneficial than one-off campaigns.

You treat them as brand advocates, people with their own aspirations, style and motivations. When you do that, they'll promote your brand more authentically.

means engaging directly with influencers to create more authentic and personalized marketing campaigns.

💡 Examples of brands that have adopted the full-stack influencer marketing approach

Many brands have already adopted the full-stack influencer marketing approach, and it's no surprise that they're among the successful and well-regarded names amongst consumers.

By adopting this strategy, they've managed to create a strong presence across various platforms. Their influencers' content resonate with audiences in a way that's both impactful and memorable.

🛍️ One such brand example is Obvi. Obvi's influencer marketing involves:

Product seeding

Affiliates

Whitelisting influencer content

Repurposing influencer content

And most importantly, genuine, long-term relationships with influencers.

Ashwin Melwani, the co-founder and CMO of Obvi, beautifully encapsulated their unique approach in an interview. He said —

Don’t treat influencers as a source of revenue, treat them as an extension of the brand.Treat them like you would your VIP customers. Keep them updated with upcoming products and launches. Let them be the first to try new products out.If they feel a part of the brand they’ll want to go above and beyond for you and in turn the content they produce for the brand comes across as more genuine to their following. This is where brands will see the greatest returns.

☕ Another example is — Javy, the coffee brand. Javy Coffee influencer marketing involves:

Collaborating with bloggers

Collaborating with YouTubers

An affiliate program

🥣 Magic Spoon's influencer marketing approach is also full-stack. They've collaborated with podcast hosts.

Magic spoon sponsorship of Tim Ferris' podcast

They've sponsored posts to boost their Target sales when they launched in those stores.

They also do affiliate partnerships for long-term engagement.

🛠️ Tools needed to adopt a full-stack influencer marketing approach: SARAL, your Influencer OS.

For emerging brands, especially those with tight budgets and small teams, embracing full-stack influencer marketing can be daunting. You need to balance your investment across various strategies, and not overstretch resources.

✨ That's why we're working on a vision to develop SARAL as an 'Influencer Marketing OS.’

The concept of an Influencer OS is the same as the operating system of a computer. An operating system is the backbone that manages and orchestrates all the functions and applications of a computer, providing a user-friendly interface and letting different applications work together.

Similarly, SARAL is being designed to become an Influencer OS,  a central hub for all influencer marketing activities. You just plug your brand, and you will be ready to start with influencer marketing even if you have just one person dedicated to it.

Here are 3 reasons that already makes it a great contender to become your full-stack influencer marketing OS:

• Instead of using separate tools for different aspects of influencer marketing, you can use SARAL as it integrates all functionalities into one platform. This means managing campaigns, communicating with influencers, tracking shipments for product seeding, and analyzing campaign performance data can all be done from a single platform.
• By automating various processes — such as communication with influencers or generating reports — SARAL saves time that would otherwise be spent on manual work. This efficiency allows your marketing team to focus more on strategy and creative aspects.
• Just like an OS can run many different types of programs, SARAL is versatile. It can help you manage various types of influencer marketing tactics, whether it's product seeding, affiliate marketing, ambassador programs, or other strategies.

As we continue to develop SARAL, our journey is only beginning.

💪 We're committed to not just helping you keep pace with evolving trends in influencer marketing but to putting you at the forefront, enabling you to adopt and leverage these trends proactively. Our focus is on innovation and foresight, ensuring that as the landscape of influencer marketing shifts, SARAL equips you with the tools and insights to stay ahead of your competitors.

Being ahead is the only place to be. And if you're ready to lead, come see what we've built at SARAL — get your free trial.