Influencer Marketing: A Powerful Strategy

Introduction

Influencer marketing includes a marketing technique that fore grounds influential people ahead of the market so as to tap into their followers directly, in complimenting a product. The baseline is that through these influential people a wide range of other people all across the globe are reached with concerns to a particular product. Newberry (2018: 1) highlights that influencer marketing involves a collaboration between a business organization with an influential individual in order to effect the promotion of a particular product, service or campaign. In most instances the influential individual is known for positive achievements and as such is an inspiration to a litany of individuals who follow his every move in all platforms. A survey conducted highlights that 86% of marketers used influencer marketing in 2017, 92% of whom found it effective (Linqia, 2017: 2). Based on its widespread adoption all across the world, Influencer marketing is becoming an integral part of the marketing mix and as such I am in agreement that influencer marketing is an effective strategy when trying to build brand image and develop long-term customer relations.

Influencer Marketing

Influencers can be in a variety of ways important to an organization. They will not only help in the marketing of the brand as other traditional ways would, but they will do it in a more effective and influential manner thereby gaining the organization of business entity a wider market, a lasting positive reputation depending on the influencer they associate themselves with and an improved personalized advertisement. This type of marketing also attracts increased criticism of the product as well as offers a social proof as to its existence within the market (Haran, 2018: 5).

ROI

One of the best indicators of the effectiveness of influencer marketing involves the return on investment of influencer marketers. While no definite performance indicators have been specified for the use of influencer marketing, investors have developed different performance metrics that they use in being able to measure these returns including: customer engagement, clicks, impressions created as well as conversions and product sales as highlighted by (Linqia, 2017: 4). Marketers cite engagements, clicks and conversions as top performance indicators for the effectiveness of influencer marketing (Appendix I) and in the analysis of full consumers’ journey Linqia (2017: 4) highlights that influencer marketing has been able to drive lower funnel metrics in addition to creating awareness and engagement. Thus much more effective than the traditional metrics.

Awareness

Wiley (2018: 4) points out that influencers have a unique and incredible sway when it comes to familiarizing their audience with your brand. Due to the personal touch that they have with their own fans, influencers can utilize storytelling and presentation skills that are guaranteed to leave their followers in a state of awareness and knowledgeable about the functioning of a product. Through sharing of their photos and offering personalized stories involving their own authentic and firsthand experience with the product, their fans and now consumers of the product, are likely to get as attached to the brand as the influencers demonstrate, and thereby effectively lead to the development of the brand image and a long lasting personal relationship with the consumers. This is much easier especially in the technological age and with the use of social media platforms. Influencers adopt the most popular of these platforms: including Instagram, Facebook, personalized blogs and YouTube (Appendix II) in order to be able to reach a wider audience and therefore makes it much more effective than other marketing techniques (Linqia, 2017: 8)

Working with Influencer Marketing Partners

Influencer marketing in addition is much more effective as it allows a business or organization to work with influencer partners in being able to maximize on their efficiency. Linqia (2017: 6) highlights that influencer marketing programs are time consuming when it comes to their management, as such up to 42% of marketers employ the use of influencer marketing partners, 18% rely on Agencies while 19% manage the influencer marketing programs in house while another 14% use blended approach.

Dig deeper into Enhancing Organisational Efficiency with our selection of articles.

Optimum Marketing

In lines with the efforts involved in the search engine optimization to include social media, digital marketing and advertisement, influencer can be described to be the nearest consolidation of all marketing techniques into one. The premise is that influencer marketing, optimizes marketing by combining all the forms of marketing in an effective manner and ensures the purpose of the marketing is fulfilled completely (Baker 2017: 4). The nature of influencer content used for marketing being unique and authentic increases its effectiveness and as such marketers have taken up its use in other channels to further enhance their effectiveness. Linqia (2018: 9) highlights that 81% of marketers are currently using Influencer content in other channels, 51% of who reported that it outperforms Brand – created content which is highly presumed to be exaggerated for publicity by the public and as such making influencer marketing much more effective. Baker (2017: 4) Further emphasizes that influencer marketing has the potential of beating all other forms of marketing and ensuring the success of a business over night. In addition the use of influencer marketing enables the minimization of the cost of internet ads which are not guaranteed to reach the right market. Influencer marketing can be specified to a specific market for the product by choosing an influencer that appeal to that specific demographic. This enables the development of a long term relationship with the customers.

Working with Influencers

A business can further build a network of influencers who not only collaborate with each other for the advantage of marketing a business’s product but also represent different demographics across the globe. Linqia (2017: 7) points out that as marketers build on their experience working with influencers, they also get involved in scaling up their influencer marketing programs. Up to 63% of marketers work with 10 or more influencers per program within their organization in order to improve its impact and effectiveness. In this way a business expands its market to different demographics with specific features of their product that appeal to different specific demographics and in this way enable the establishment of a reputable brand (Linqia 2017: 7).

Continue your exploration of Employee-Centered Work Environment with our related content.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is not only the new way of marketing but the future of marketing, with already existing proof of its functioning as well as its increasing adoption by individual businesses in promoting their products, its exploitation is bound to be improved and adopted as the most effective way of marketing. Influencer marketing not only creates awareness of a business’s product to the market but can also be used to develop unique business brands and develop long lasting relationships with different customers for the benefits of the growth and development of a business.

Appendices

Appendix I

Appendix II

Appendix III

Environmental Audit: BMW

Introduction

Environmental audit involves the application of measurements tools that can be used to quantify a company’s performance against environmental factors. It involves the critical examination of the Micro and Macro environments of an organization and determining its efficiency in terms of administration as well as operations. This environmental Audit looks to highlight the Micro and Macro environmental factors of BMW Automobiles Company.

Company Profile

Internal/Macro Environment

Macro environmental factors involve internal factors within an organization that affect its business strategies, decision making as well as its performance (Farooq, 2018: 4). Some of BMWs Micro environmental factors include:

Employees

BMW boosts of a wide pool of highly skilled employees from different countries across the globe who are tasked with ensuring efficient customer service and maintaining the growth and development of the company in terms of earning of revenue. According to the Annual reports (2017: 4) the company has up to 129,932 employees working for them in addition to 4750 apprentices in over 30 countries. 117,664 employees making up 90.5% of the employees work in the automotive segment of the company, while 3,506 work in the motorcycle segment, leaving 8,645 employees in the financial service segment.

Customers

While BMW faces a huge competition in the Automobiles market, they have developed strategic ways of ensuring they maintain their customers all across the globe. This has been done through trending in technological automobile production that are sustainable and durable within the market and as such satisfy the customers’ needs (BMW Blog, 2013: 3).

Brand Value and Perception

BMW enjoys a reputation within the global automotive industry as being one of the top five automotive companies. The company has developed a brand name over the years which influence their customers to stick with them and thereby help maintain their popularity. The company does not only sell merchandise to their customers but also a worthy and good experience that has made their brand popular, this in turn enables the continued increase in revenue earned as well as further development of their brand (Quek, 2015: 29).

Innovation

BMW is renowned globally for its superior engine engineering and innovation that repeatedly takes into utilization theoretical accounts like Gina and Hydrogen 7, thereby revolutionizing the construction and development of premium luxury automobiles. Quek (2015: 29) highlights that the company’s implementation of technological innovation in addition to bearing a responsibility in the usage of resources are some of the internal factors that separate BMW from its competitors and advance its growth and development.

Macro Environment

The external environmental analysis of BMW can be carried out with the application of the PESTEL analysis to determine the Political, Economical, social, Technological and Legal Factors surrounding the company’s growth and development.

Political Factors

The political factors generally highlight the legal rules and regulations that will not only apply to BMW, but the entire automobiles industry as a whole. They include the government laws and regulations as well as security measures and legislations within different jurisdictions and countries that BMW operates in. Some of these include: Laws and Regulations that revolve around environmental norms such as pollution, the company must ensure conservation of the environment during the manufacture process. Taxes and foreign government policies are among other political considerations that can substantially affect the company’s success in the global market. In addition to this, Hill (2008) highlight the introduction of new schemes in the international automobiles industry that allow production of high mileage vehicles which came along with increase in BMWs automobiles production and sales.

Economical Factors

A wide range of economic factors including exchange rates as well as economic growth of a particular country has the effect of significantly affecting the operations of automobiles companies including BMW. For instance the increase in the Global GDP from 2.0% to 3.1% in the year 2008 as highlighted by the financial times (2011: 6) is as a result in the improvement of some of the major sectors in the global economy including the Automobiles industry.

Social Factors

Social factors including changes in culture, tastes and preference as well as demographics in the global scale have the impact of affecting the buying capacity of the customers and as such significantly affecting BMW. This is due to their impact in the capacity of the customer as well as their buying patterns. For instance a customer may change their predilection from preferring status symbols and known brands of cars to preferring fuel efficiency and low emission cars thereby impacting their change in the brand preference. Due to market recession as well as inflation, or awareness of environmental issues such as harmful emissions by certain automobiles, customers might change their buying patterns as well and significantly affect the automobile industry.

Technological Factors

Advancements in technology in terms of production techniques, use of new and highly sophisticated designs as well as effecting modifications on designs in line to new technology has the effect of gaining BMW competitive advantage.

Environmental Factors

The increased awareness of the effects of global warming and green house gases has inspired BMW to shift to more ecofriendly cars such as electric vehicles, hybrid cars fuel cell cars so as to maintain a competitive advantage over the other brands and appeal to the taste and preference of customers looking to use more eco friendly cars.

Legal Factors

Legal restrictions especially concerning environmental conservation and minimization of pollution in the global scale effectively affect the strategies of automobiles companies including BMW and significantly affect their decision making and business strategies.

Conclusion

BMW is no doubt one of the most valuable automobile companies within the car industry, not only for its highly differentiated and unique products in car technology which ensures the customers receive a great experience, but also for its management techniques that ensures it always posses a competitive edge over its rivals as highlighted in the environmental audit. The company maintains a functional internal and external environment that further fosters its growth, development and competitiveness within one of the most competitive and capital intensive industries in the world.

BMW is a German Engines, Automobiles and Motorcycle Company launched in 1916 as Bayrische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) a company that developed and produced Aircraft engines for World War I. it later changed its name to Bayerishe Motoren Werke (BMW) which translates to Bavarian Motor works in 1917. The company engages in developing and manufacturing Engines, Automobiles and motorcycles, and has over the years developed a trusted brand in the global market that has earned them considerable revenue over the years (Economic Times, 2011: 2). According to the Annual Reports (2017:4) the company which registered an increase in the number of employees to 129,932 in 2017, delivered approximately 2,463,526 automobiles in BMW, Mini and Rolls Royce motor cars as well as 164,153 motorcycles all across the globe earning up to 98.7 Billion Euros in revenue in the recent financial year of 2017. This has shown a considerable increasing pattern over the last 4 years with the company registering an increase in revenue from 76.1 Billion Euros in 2013 (Annual Reports, 2017:4). The main growth strategy adopted by BMW include BMW iNEXT a visionary development of a vehicle combining all the key technologies including: intelligent light weight designs, autonomous driving and digital connectivity as well as electrified vehicles to improve the driver experience and therefore retain their customers and stay a top of their competitors such as Ford, Chevrolet and Mercedes Benz (bmwgroup.com, 2018:1).

Business Environment (PESTEL)

Political

Political factors highlight various government laws and regulations, especially with regards to the protection of the environment from pollution. They often apply to all manufacturers in the Automobiles industry. As such BMW in launching new vehicles has to provide proper safety guidelines highlighting the measures taken to conserve the environment from pollution (Rodrigo, 2012: 3). The company has to also comply with taxation rules and requirements in foreign companies that they operate in.

Economic

Global economic factors such as inflation rates demand for vehicles with high performance and efficiency especially with concerns to fuel impact on automobile producers including BMW. The company according to the Economic Times (2011: 8) has resorted to developing electric vehicles and more fuel efficient ones as well as small sized vehicles so as to appeal to the customers taste and preference as well as their economical capabilities in order to stay atop of the competition.

Social

Social factors that would affect BMW include changes in cultures and demographics globally including changes in consumer tastes and preference as well as buying patterns and capacity of individuals in different countries. This sparks a response in BMW designing modern brands with fitted technology. According to BMWBlog (2013: 5) the company incorporates consumer feedback into their latest designs including developing smaller, electrified vehicles so as to meet the social factor demands of the industry.

Technological

This is the use of increased technology in the development of vehicles in order to gain a competitive advantage. The company’s business strategy includes developing BMW Vision iNEXT which aims to combine a wide variety of technologies for the individual premium mobility of the future.

Environmental

Environmental factors affecting the automobiles industry include increasing awareness of the effects of global warming, and the green house effect developed by emissions by vehicles. In being able to combat these effects BMW indulges in developing electric cars with minimal emissions as well as hybrid and Fuel cell cars that have been designed to greatly minimize the effects of pollution caused by the emissions (Bhasin, 2018: 6)

Legal

Automobiles Industry (Porters 5)

Threat of New Entrants

The automobiles industry in addition to being a high capital investment sector due to the cost of setting up manufacturing plants as well as facilitating assembly liners, has highly efficient and quality brands including BMW, which are quite competitive and as such the threat presented by new entrants is limited.

Threat of Substitutes

While BMW in itself is a reputable, quality and durable brand in the car and automobiles industry and has developed continuous growth over the years, it is positioned in a wide industry of exclusive car ranges from, Mercedes Benz, General Motors and Toyota all of which have their own merits and growing market share. The threat of substitutes within the industry is therefore quite high (Byun, 2014: 3).

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Given the advancement of select brands within the industry who all offer differentiated products with significant advantages the buyers have a wide range of cars to choose from in the industry which suit their specific needs. Based on the pricing techniques as well as quality and efficiency especially considering the emerging issues of environmental conservation, the bargaining power of the buyers is quite high for BMW and the car industry (Adamkasi, 2017: 5).

Competitive Rivalry

The car industry represents one of the significant contributors to the global GDP and has a cut throat competition among the few brands available globally. Dudovskiy (2016: 4) highlights that given the everyday advancements of technology car manufacturers are continuously upgrading their designs in order to suit their consumers’ tastes and preferences as well as in consideration to environmental conservation. As such demand for performance is on the top level as well as the competition

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

While the products required by BMW in the manufacturing of their cars are quite unique, the organization has 13,000 suppliers all across the globe that produces these products and services (Dudovskiy, 2016: 6). As such BMW is important to these suppliers whereas it can use any of the suppliers. The threat presented by suppliers is not significant therefore.

VRIO Analysis

The VRIO analysis enables the analysis of a company’s unique resources that offer them a competitive advantage over the rest within the industry. These are resources that are valuable and rare to only the organization in question and are as such impossible or difficult to imitate enabling adequate organization of their operations (Jurevicius, 2013: 2). Through developing athletic innovations the vehicles were assured high performance, however in the long run were quite harmful to the environment due to emissions as such their competitive advantage was temporary due to development of more advanced designs and models by other companies such as Mercedes and Toyota. BMWs strategy involves reducing emission while increasing performance of its vehicles. They therefore have Efficient Dynamics which ensure reduction of emissions while at the same time maintaining vehicle performance. This includes among the technology that BMW possess that is Valuable, Rare, Inimitable and organized enabling the maintenance of the companies competitive advantage (Grant, 2010: 7).

Strategic Position (SWOT Analysis)

The SWOT analysis highlights BMWs strengths and Weaknesses within its internal environment operations as well as Opportunities in the external environment to pursue, with the threats that come along with them.

Strengths

BMW is one of the most reputable automobile firms all across the globe with a wide market share and high position in terms of branding and performance. Given its lucrative hub of exclusive cars with the latest in terms of technology the company is capable of maintaining its market share. Quek (2015: 31) further highlights that the company has an exceedingly qualified labor force, advanced technology and a strong relationship with its suppliers and customers.

Weaknesses

The company’s overall image and reputation is less conscious of the incoming younger generation compared to the options provided by the competitors. The brand has also been negatively impacted by the recalling of up to 1.0 million vehicles due to airbag concerns as highlighted by Bhasin (2018: 7).

Dig deeper into Pilot Training Challenges in Australia with our selection of articles.

Opportunities

The growing demand for environmental friendly vehicles is a great opportunity especially with regards to the company’s advanced technology, the company can also efficiently increase their product portfolio by introducing new designs thereby giveingf their customers a variety to choose from (Pratap, 2016: 5)

Threats

Some of the threats the company faces within the automobiles industry as highlighted by Jurevicius (2016: 6) includes: increasing cut throat competition, increasing government regulations as well as the increasing fuel problem within the global market.

Conclusion

BMW is among the most reputable brands within the industry and command a significant fraction of the global automobiles market. Its continued performance and innovation is among the key strategic factors that enable it to maintain a lead ahead of its competitors and maintain a continuous growth in revenue. This in addition to the investment in technology and production of electric cars as well as the low cost, fuel efficient and differentiated cars, is guaranteed to maintain its competitive position all across the globe.

References

Grant R. M. (2010) ‘Contemporary Strategic Analysis’ A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Publication

Quek E. (2015). Building & Sustaining Strategy: Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) – Automotive Industry. TMC Academic Journal. 10(1), pp 29-46

Appendix I

Key Non-Financial Performance Indicators

Appendix II

Key Financial Performance Indicators

Appendix III

Appendix IV

What Makes Us Unique

24/7 Customer Support
100% Customer Satisfaction
No Privacy Violation
Quick Services
Subject Experts

Influencer Marketing: A Powerful Strategy

Introduction