For influencer marketing to succeed, the strategy must be sound

When is influencer marketing a worthy investment?

For Bilal Lakhani, communications and marketing director for Thorn and formerly Procter & Gamble, if you’re still asking if the tactic is a good idea, it’s probably not. That’s because influencer marketing’s success is closely aligned with how well you have defined your strategy.

And to understand influencer marketing strategy, Lakhani brings out the trust sales funnel. “Imagine consumers in a consumption funnel,” he says. “On top is an awareness—then you have consideration, and then there is conversion at the bottom.”

His message to the audience at imre’s Communications Week panel “How to Make the Most Out of Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns” is to focus on consideration.

The classic example of a brand using influencers to get consumers to consider their brand is for a legacy or big-name brand where younger consumers have no attachment with their product. If a consumer demographic thinks, “That’s my mom’s brand”—well, that’s a good time to turn to influencers.