Influencer Marketing vs. Celebrity Marketing: Which is a Better Fit for your Brand?

There are a lot of things to consider in choosing an ambassador that will represent your brand. One of which is choosing between influencer and celebrity. Influencer marketing and celebrity marketing are two different strategies that can help you position your brand in the market. Let us first differentiate and define what celebrity marketing and influencer marketing are to help you decide what is more effective and fit for your brand.

What is celebrity marketing?

Celebrity marketing is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Having a famous profile to be your brand ambassador is a huge factor in endorsing your product on different platforms, especially TV ads, billboards, and print media. In layman’s terms, celebrity marketing is attaching the brand name to a famous person by making your brand a part of their lifestyle. Hence, if you wish to touch a broader audience, then having a celebrity as a brand ambassador is a sure way to go.

What is influencer marketing?

Meanwhile, influencer marketing is not so new as everyone knows. It started 15 years ago, where famous leaders, group youngsters, and even athletes were the first influencers. They create buzz from what they are wearing up to what they are eating; which drives sales to the businesses. Influencers can motivate and encourage people by recommending the product in their own creative ways. Moreover, they have a large following on different social media platforms with similar interests and profile. If you are looking for a more specific audience, influencers can help you communicate your brand to a particular target market.

To help you decide on what strategy to use, here are the pros and cons of celebrity marketing and influencer marketing.

Pros of Celebrity Marketing

1. Everyone can recognize them

Having a famous profile to be your brand ambassador can reach a larger audience with different demographics. Thus, everyone knows them because of their talent in acting, pretty face, singing, and dancing, etc. Their talents, unique features, and familiarity are what primarily makes celebrity marketing effective.

2. They can help in building customer brand recognition

Since celebrities are well-known, they are adequate about customer brand recognition and establishing brand image. Because of this, people are more familiar with celebrities, and hiring them can also create familiarity with your brand.

Cons of Celebrity Marketing

1. They are more expensive than influencers

Being a celebrity requires significant investment in their brand and image. This makes their talent fee higher than influencers.

2. It can be difficult to reach out to them

Moreover, since they are famous and experienced in the industry due to their numerous endorsements, they are hard to reach with their audience. Consequently, not everyone can relate to their lavish lifestyle and routines, which divides the target market based on their standard of living and income.

Pros of Influencer Marketing

1. Influencers are more relatable

They are reliable and reachable because they are depicted as regular people sharing the same interests and lifestyle with their audience. Hence, they are somewhat displayed as a closer acquaintance telling advice or a mother who shares a tip.

2. Influencers know their audience

They know how to communicate the brand to be relatable with their audience’s lifestyle. Influencers know what kind of marketing they can use. So why is influencer marketing effective? Because influencers channel their creativity and talent depending on the different social media platforms, such as dancing their way to market your product in TikTok, showing photography skills on Instagram, sharing a witty caption on Facebook, etc.

Cons of Influencer Marketing

1. Not all people know them

Unlike celebrities, not everyone can recognize them. They are only famous in their particular niche. They lead different groups of people with different interests and lifestyles. Some are only famous on other social media platforms, limiting the number of people they can reach.

2. Influencers are riskier than celebrities

Influencers as brand ambassadors can also have a greater risk than celebrities because they are more prone to issues and management problems. They are hard to contain, especially if they created an issue online. There is also a risk when it comes to their following base. It is hard to know whether they have real followers or fake ones bought on the dark web.

Takeaways

Selecting a brand ambassador is not an easy job. Both celebrity and influencer marketing strategies can be used together or separately; you just need to know the right one for your brand. Choosing between a celebrity or an influencer without the proper research and analysis can harm your brand. With Verafede Inc., we are committed to helping you with what strategies to execute and serve you with different profiles that will perfectly embody your brand. Talk with us, and let us help build your brand!

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Pauline Mercado

Pauline Alaiza B. Mercado is an undergraduate of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Business Economics at the University of Santo Tomas. She is an intern at Verafede Inc., where she does research and strategies in different aspects. She is an extrovert person who loves to read and explore exciting studies about life and history.

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