So you want to be a better influencer? Step one, read this!

Influencers have it all. They have committed followers, the perfect photo filters, get to try free cool products, and always seem to have the best lighting not matter what time of day it is. But you don’t become a successful influencer overnight. It takes time, strategy, and commitment to the work. But, being an influencer is worth all the work and it is something that is going to last!

Influencer marketing is one of most popular forms of marketing in the advertising space, with Google searches for the topic growing 1500% over the past 3 years. Additionally, marketers know that influencers work to help drive campaigns with goals ranging from brand awareness to sales conversions. Because of that, it has become a popular marketing strategy for brands looking to amplify their reach on social media, get the word out about their company, and increase sales.

But it can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how to successfully navigate the influencer landscape. There are so many more influencers than there was 3 years ago, but there are also more brands looking to work with influencers than ever before. How do you best make yourself stand out among a very crowded field and snag those deals?

These tips can help you understand the workings of a successful social media influencer.

1. THEY BRAND THEMSELVES

Who are you? Inquiring brands want to know! Branding yourself isn’t as complicated as it may seem and you won’t need to outsource it. Successful influencers brand themselves in simple ways like separating their influencer account from their personal account. This way you can still post that picture from your cousin’s wedding without interrupting the layout of your totally awesome color scheme or posting outside of your niche. You can tag your personal account in your bio if you want, as well. The more people connect with your brand, the more they’ll want Behind the Scenes content too!

2. KEEP IT SIMPLE

Most of the best in the biz use the same name or handle across all their channels. This makes it easier for people to find them and their awesome content on the web. Sometimes it can be hard to get the name you want, trust me I know (if you don’t have a number in your gmail address, I am very jealous). There are like a bajillion Megan’s. But you can get creative and think outside the box. If you are into style and @styleking is taken try @EmperorofStyle of @KinglyStyle. Emperor has a nice ring to it though!

3. SUCCESSFUL INFLUENCERS OPTIMIZE THEIR BIO’S

If you don’t have some descriptive info about yourself in your bio then you are missing out. The easiest way to increase opportunities as an influencer is to put some relevant info in your bio. Keywords like “Fitness Blogger”, “Fashion Photographer”, “Foodie when moody” are all simple ways to make it easier for a brand to select you. Keep it updated as your interests grow and add your location and contact information. If you’re wanting to keep some privacy, just be sure to keep your DMs open. Many brands will reach out that way to get your info as well!

4. OF THE PEOPLE!

To be a great social media influencer means to be social with those you influence! Brands look through your posts to see how engaged you are with your followers. When they ask questions great influencers try to reply to as many as possible or direct them to places for more information.

5. THEY HAVE GREAT FOLLOWERS

It’s not all about quantity. Quality is often more important when it comes to an influencer’s appeal. If you have 10 thousand followers but 7 thousand of them are just following you because you followed them they are less likely to care about your niche. So make sure to keep your engaged followers by engaging with them! Social media is supposed to be social after all.

6. THEY KEEP IT REAL

If you are Vegan but post images of meat snacks, there’s a bit of a disconnect. Posting or promoting products you have no intention of trying helps no one. Even though a brand may like the exposure your own brand is mixed up and your followers will think you were just in it for the pay off. In the short-term, it might mean a decent payday, but in the long term it means your followers will feel distrustful and disconnected from you.

Additionally, if you loved the product, say so! People value your opinions. Don’t forget to tag the brands, even those you aren’t working with. This could lead to a partnership as well and provides valuable insight for the brands!

7. THEY HAVE A BLOG

Blog’s are still where it’s at. Not only do blogs offer influencers opportunities to make money from ads they also lead to more sales than social media posts. Blogs often allow more more flexibility when it comes to deliverables for a brand, meaning that you have a more power in the negotiation process. Blogs are also a valuable way to crest long form content that fully explores your experiences with a product in ways that a static post on Instagram cannot.

An influencer who can broadcast their message across social AND their blog is sure to be successful.

8. THEY KNOW WHAT TO REQUEST IN COMPENSATION

I know it can be hard to know when to expect or what to expect for compensation. When you are a smaller influencers, you are more likely to be approached by smaller brands who may just want you to review a product or service in exchange for free products or a small payment.

However, make sure to highlight the quality of your followers, not just quantity. If you have a highly engaged following, even small follower counts can lead to lucrative deals. If you have more followers or aren’t sure, see if there are other influencers that are willing to chat! Or you can just ask what their best offer is and negotiate up from there with the brand.

9. SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS SAY NO

Don’t accept every offer you get. The last thing you want to do is spend so much time posting reviews and products that your followers begin to think of you as an extension of Amazon reviews. Don’t neglect your original post style for the sake of a brand’s request. If you aren’t sure whether or not you will follow through on a brand’s requests, be honest about it. It is OK to say you may not post a product if you did not like it. Your feedback is valuable as well. If you promise brands with no intention of following through then brands will stop working with you in the future. Honesty is always the best policy.

10. THEY MAKE VALUABLE RELATIONSHIPS

No one gets anywhere alone. The greatest social media influencers form relationships with other influencers, brands, and agencies alike. These are wonderful ways to get information and create a like-minded community to support and encourage you. We here at LMS love to form relationships with our influencers and brands. We are here to help influencers find brands to partner with, give advice, and help however we can.

Want to see more from us? Check us out on our socials: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

From the beginning, the holy-grail of marketing tactics for consumable products has been customer sampling and awareness. Being able to provide in-person experiences creates memorable moments for any potential customer and allows the customer the comfort of trying the product before committing to it. Additionally, companies find this type of marketing provides instantaneous feedback and direct interactions. Because of these unique factors, field marketing has played an important role in helping companies find success.

So let’s break this down by starting with defining terms. For those who don’t know, Field marketing is a form of direct marketing. Itentails interacting with potential customers out in the world.. The term “field” can be used to refer to offering product samples at your brick-and-mortar shop floor, road shows, or even the distribution of leaflets. Some field marketing goals include brand/product awareness, product education, or increased sales.

In light of recent world events, many stores must either limit the number of customers in store or have to close its doors entirely. Even if they make it into stores, I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting handed a sample at the end of an aisle and then putting it in my mouth. Would you?

We have been re-imagining field marketing with influencers for several years. Why not double down on sampling by working with brand ambassadors that have social followers and content creation abilities as well? Influencers would not only be able to attract in-person crowds, but they’d also be able to digitally amplify brand messages and communicate with the customers on their level. They would be able to connect with potential customers both in person and online.

However, as the lockdowns continue, influencers can ideally fill the gaps left by the lack of in-person marketing. Since sampling in stores is now akin to a COVID nightmare, sampling via social media influencers is the next best thing. Influencers can bring their own insights and expertise to help guide consumers towards the right product matches, without ever needing to be in the same place.

Could it be that influencers have effectively become the reliable digital version of field marketing? We think yes, but let’s explain why.

How Can Influencers Fill-in For Field Marketing?

Although the influencer craze has settled into a more established form of marketing, the impact that influencers have certainly hasn’t diminished. Influencer marketing campaigns can be tailored to meet many of the same goals as field marketing campaigns.

Apps like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and even newcomer Shoploop have noticed the increased reliance on online marketing, especially influencer marketing, for connecting with potential customers. Shoploop especially focuses on trialing and testing new products for users to view in under 90 seconds. This is coupled with integrated ecommerce tools, making it easy to convert casual viewers into customers.

Technology will only continue to facilitate these kinds of digital interactions, allowing for a similar atmosphere of testing and reviewing products before purchase. Not only does it allow for field marketing at scale, it also allows authentic relationships to take the center stage rather than a salesperson.

The flexibility of these campaigns make it convenient for marketers to partner with multiple influencers at once to reach the same goals.

Product Sampling Campaign

As of this moment, consumers are less likely to be out and about sampling products directly, lowering the chances for customer interactions. That’s where influencers can come in and act as a conduit for thousands of potential consumers. Many influencers have developed the skills to accurately communicate to their audience about the feeling, taste, smell, and other descriptives when it comes to a product. Utilizing influencers allows you to create a similar atmosphere as providing in-store samples; and it’s safer and much easier to scale up for larger audiences.

Additionally, many influencers are regarded as thought-leaders and experts in their affinity categories. They interact, review, and test plenty of products/services that are related to their niche. This also lends validation and security to any recommendations they may give their audience, because they have an existing rapport with their followers for trustworthy insights. Trust in the influencer creates customer loyalty for your brand and product. Consumers want to know that their preferred influencer is delivering honest opinions, whether they agree with it or not. A trustworthy figure-head is vital to generating intrigue for your products, especially when customers cannot interact with it personally.

One notable instance of this product sampling marketing strategy was the partnership between Fuze Tea and selectedTwitch streamers. Fuze Tea, a popular beverage brand, partnered up with several streamers to sponsor a “Fuze Tea Pause.” Influencers agreed to try the product during their streams and talk through the experience with the live audience. Half of the streamers saw their highest viewership during the scheduled pause. About 13,000 viewers watched the pause segments across many channels. To maintain trustworthiness and build loyalty, streamers had ad breaks during multiple stream sessions. This led to a long-term partnership with Fuze Tea and a curious audience.

Brand Awareness Campaign

Partnering with influencers can also help you achieve widespread product and brand awareness. Influencers can leverage their following and introduce your brand to thousands of people. If you work with an influencer for an extended period, or with multiple influencers at once, the potential audience size continues to increase over time. Even if you start with micro-influencers instead of macro-influencers, influencer campaigns of any size can lead successful and intriguing marketing campaigns.

Many influencers are familiar with brand awareness campaigns and will be comfortable executing them. Here at LMS we’ve worked on many brand awareness campaigns. Most notably, we worked with Rao’s Homemade, an Italian sauce brand, to build brand awareness and help grow their social media presence via influencer relationships. We reached out to influencers and got the products into their hands. The influencers utilized Rao’s sauces for recipe tutorials, taste tests, and general brand awareness, while communicating their experiences with the product along the way. Through this initiative, we were able to generate over 9 million impressions to increase the awareness of the brand and the products they offer.

Product Education Campaigns

While it’s common for marketers to educate customers out in the field, there’s a new way to consider consumer product education. Influencers can also reach out and communicate with potential customers in a way that their audience will resonate with. They offer buyers insight and knowledge on a personal level, based on their own experiences. Many influencers have tried numerous products within their affinity and can recognize quality quickly. Influencers can also make relevant recommendations, identify potential pitfalls, and make honest product comparisons. Product education is also a useful tactic for gaining product feedback, allowing you to constantly improve and focus on the areas that are most appealing to your customers.

But, product education can be especially important when a product is getting ready to launch. Kite Hill, a plant-based food company, partnered with various influencers to reach their target market for valuable feedback. Together with the influencers, Kite Hill was able to gather feedback from 350,000 people before the launch day. Through these partnerships, influencers were able to provide customers insight on the product, where to buy it, and answer any questions their followers might have had. Kite Hill was able to successfully launch their product on strong footing.

Geotargeting Campaigns

Another great marketing campaign strategy to consider is geotargeting. Geotargeting, or directly delivering content to a person via their location, is a scalable and effective tactic to execute with influencers. Partnering with influencers that have large audiences in the location you’re targeting simplifies some marketing efforts on your end. It’s a local way to connect with consumers without interacting in-person.

Influencers can also direct potential customers to local stores in their area, which can help successfully raise in-store sales. Sabra, a food company primarily known for their hummus and other dips, partnered with influencers to drive awareness and sales for their new Sabra Snackers product. The company focused on New York and New Jersey as their target market to help drive traffic to drugstores as the main point of sales. The influencers created images and stories on social media, with an emphasis on easy snacking. They’d include Sabra’s new products in their content which led to a successful campaign. The food company saw an increase in engagements that were 113% higher than their original benchmarks and were able to create a digital media value 1.4x higher than traditional marketing strategies. Using influencers to target hyper-locally allowed Sabra to focus on one specific market for conversion and sales.

Influencers Can Still Make a Big Impact

As digital spaces continue to impact the daily lives of many, digital marketing should be thought of in a new light. Especially in times where physical interactions can be limited, influencer marketing can bridge the gap between a brand’s product and a consumer, allowing the buyer to gain insight into the product before purchasing. When done well, influencer marketing can actually empower the consumer to make informed choices. This increases their own connection to the brand through positive interactions and trustworthy recommendations. With the impact of influencers still going strong, it’s time to reimagine sampling and awareness techniques beyond the traditional route.

When it comes to online advertising, Millennials and Gen Z overwhelmingly command the conversation. These demographic groups have highly digital lifestyles, a willingness to try new products, and a robust decision making process, making them perfect candidates as potential life-long customers. Baby Boomers, by comparison, have been slower to adopt online shopping habits in the same numbers. However, with the unforeseen arrival of the lockdown orders surrounding COVID-19, the use of social media and online activity spiked within the Baby Boomers in ways that were not seen previously. It’s official. Your future customer is here, and they were born between 1944–1964.

For a long time, the Boomer generation have been the largest demographic in the U.S., until the Millennial generation came along. Yet, Baby Boomers still hold an outstanding amount of spending power. As a group, they control about 70% of the entire nation’s disposable income. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, spending habits looked a little different for the Baby Boomers. 84% of the older generation preferred shopping in-stores, and 67% of them reported they would prefer to purchase at their local retailer, even if the product was available online. However, studies also show that on the occasion Boomers did shop online, they tended to shop big. Their average spend for an online order comes out to $203, surpassing the Millennial’s average spend of $173.

With all this spending power, but their usual shopping methods unavailable and even dangerous for them, Boomers have begun embracing online shopping in unprecedented ways. How long will this shopping style last and will it change the way they purchase products even beyond lockdown orders and COVID-19?

Baby Boomer Shopping Habits And How They Have Changed

It’s no surprise that with the increase in coronavirus cases, in-person grocery shopping was no longer a viable option during the lockdown. By the end of March 2020, 37% of survey respondents were purchasing groceries for online delivery or click-and-collect. But the online shopping didn’t stop at the necessities.

Online shopping also increased across the board for home projects, hobbies, and more. For the younger generation, this is not a new phenomenon; but 57% of Baby Boomer survey respondents foresee themselves purchasing more goods online in the future. The trend seems to have seeped into their daily lives as a matter of convenience and accessibility.

Pick Up in Store has also become a popular method of online shopping. Buyers can shop online, then pick up their items in-store. During the pandemic, the most common methods of Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) used by Baby Boomers were picking up at a store’s register (58%) and curbside pickup (30%). Regardless of their preferred method, an overwhelming majority of respondents (80%) have found their experience to be convenient. The convenience of these online methods quickly became the key factor to their adoption of the services.

Additionally, when Baby Boomers shop for goods online and have a positive experience, they tend to continue to shop online thereafter. Over one-quarter of Boomer respondents have used a delivery service like Shipt or Amazon Prime at least once within the past three months. Two out of ten have even done so multiple times! They are becoming more comfortable with the process of online shopping, and trusting that they will be able to receive the same amount of customer care as they would in-store. One-quarter of respondents who are hesitant in using a delivery service are interested in trying it out, but have yet to do so.

All in all, while many Boomers were corralled by COVID-19 into trying online shopping, it seems that their efforts put into learning this new process has left a positive impact. Baby Boomers now have an increased willingness to continue online shopping. But why is that important to know?

Baby Boomers and Their Relationships with Online Services

Although it may not seem obvious — overlooked even — Baby Boomers are actually a growing demographic on social media. 82.3% of Boomers belong to at least one social media platform, with YouTube and Facebook at the forefront. Additionally, 84% of Boomers that responded to a Forbes survey stated that they feel like social media is likely to improve their lives. More and more of the older generation are finding value in using social media platforms for entertainment, human connection, and shopping. This trend continues to grow as socialization increasingly migrates to digital spaces.

During the pandemic, Baby Boomers are a part of the group that are the most likely to experience serious symptoms and side effects from COVID. This led them to rely on online shopping for their necessities at home. Soon, they began to see the convenience and accessibility of remote services. 71% of Baby Boomers surveyed by First Insight, Inc., a software company providing data analytics solutions, stated that COVID-19 impacted how and where they now shop. To protect themselves from a major health-risk, Boomers quickly adopted online services as their main form of shopping.

Companies are now realizing the increase in Boomer users, and have begun to cater to those who aren’t as tech-savvy as the younger generations. Ordering processes have become more simplified, with detailed steps clearly explaining how-to order an item before committing to a purchase. Companies have found success making each step easy to understand, while maintaining customer transparency along the way.

Businesses that can guide the user throughout the buying process without overwhelming them will find a sweet spot that will be well received by Baby Boomer customers. By keeping the buyer journey as stress-free as possible, you’ll not only gain more business overall, but you’ll also see an increase in purchases from older generations.

As such, Baby Boomers should be given more credit for their online usage and tech capabilities. There are some technologies that they have adopted more than any other generation, like voice assistance and technology. Voice technology is undoubtedly on the rise across all generations, but companies are noticing that it is increasing particularly amongst older generations. The convenience of voice technology means that Boomers are not fidgeting around on their phones trying to type out a message. Rather it’s the closest action to a normal phone call, meaning it has built in ease-of-use with older generations. With the various technological adaptations that Baby Boomers are now implementing, social media is starting to be seen as a great place to connect with Boomers — companies just need to make sure messages are specifically tailored to them.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Baby Boomers!

Overall, the Baby Boomer generation has shown their might and shouldn’t be a forgotten customer demographic. Their generation still has quite a bit of purchasing power and disposable income at their fingertips. Now, they no longer feel limited to shopping around in-person; they’re also beginning to migrate online to buy groceries, home necessities, hobby items, and beyond.

The key to tapping into this spike in potential customers is to make sure to meet them where they are and communicate in a way that addresses their specific needs. Marketing messages need to be targeted and tailored to their preferences and delivered to them in a way they would understand. Boomer behavior in response to online ads versus offline ads may look different, so messaging will need to be adjusted.

Now that Baby Boomers realize how simple it is to shop online, this will unquestionably become an ongoing habit in the future. Whether it’s due to a pandemic, a flu season, or plain convenience, this is a new online community with strong purchasing power waiting to be tapped into.

So you want to be a better influencer? Step one, read this!

Influencers have it all. They have committed followers, the perfect photo filters, get to try free cool products, and always seem to have the best lighting not matter what time of day it is. But you don’t become a successful influencer overnight. It takes time, strategy, and commitment to the work. But, being an influencer is worth all the work and it is something that is going to last!

Influencer marketing is one of most popular forms of marketing in the advertising space, with Google searches for the topic growing 1500% over the past 3 years. Additionally, marketers know that influencers work to help drive campaigns with goals ranging from brand awareness to sales conversions. Because of that, it has become a popular marketing strategy for brands looking to amplify their reach on social media, get the word out about their company, and increase sales.

But it can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how to successfully navigate the influencer landscape. There are so many more influencers than there was 3 years ago, but there are also more brands looking to work with influencers than ever before. How do you best make yourself stand out among a very crowded field and snag those deals?

These tips can help you understand the workings of a successful social media influencer.

1. They Brand Themselves

Who are you? Inquiring brands want to know! Branding yourself isn’t as complicated as it may seem and you won’t need to outsource it. Successful influencers brand themselves in simple ways like separating their influencer account from their personal account. This way you can still post that picture from your cousin’s wedding without interrupting the layout of your totally awesome color scheme or posting outside of your niche. You can tag your personal account in your bio if you want, as well. The more people connect with your brand, the more they’ll want Behind the Scenes content too!

2. Keep it Simple

Most of the best in the biz use the same name or handle across all their channels. This makes it easier for people to find them and their awesome content on the web. Sometimes it can be hard to get the name you want, trust me I know (if you don’t have a number in your gmail address, I am very jealous). There are like a bajillion Megan’s. But you can get creative and think outside the box. If you are into style and @styleking is taken try @EmperorofStyle of @KinglyStyle. Emperor has a nice ring to it though!

3. Successful Influencers Optimize their Bio’s

If you don’t have some descriptive info about yourself in your bio then you are missing out. The easiest way to increase opportunities as an influencer is to put some relevant info in your bio. Keywords like “Fitness Blogger”, “Fashion Photographer”, “Foodie when moody” are all simple ways to make it easier for a brand to select you. Keep it updated as your interests grow and add your location and contact information. If you’re wanting to keep some privacy, just be sure to keep your DMs open. Many brands will reach out that way to get your info as well!

4. Of the People!

To be a great social media influencer means to be social with those you influence! Brands look through your posts to see how engaged you are with your followers. When they ask questions great influencers try to reply to as many as possible or direct them to places for more information.

5. They Have Great Followers

It’s not all about quantity. Quality is often more important when it comes to an influencer’s appeal. If you have 10 thousand followers but 7 thousand of them are just following you because you followed them they are less likely to care about your niche. So make sure to keep your engaged followers by engaging with them! Social media is supposed to be social after all.

6. They Keep it Real

If you are Vegan but post images of meat snacks, there’s a bit of a disconnect. Posting or promoting products you have no intention of trying helps no one. Even though a brand may like the exposure your own brand is mixed up and your followers will think you were just in it for the pay off. In the short-term, it might mean a decent payday, but in the long term it means your followers will feel distrustful and disconnected from you.

Additionally, if you loved the product, say so! People value your opinions. Don’t forget to tag the brands, even those you aren’t working with. This could lead to a partnership as well and provides valuable insight for the brands!

7. They Have A Blog

Blog’s are still where it’s at. Not only do blogs offer influencers opportunities to make money from ads they also lead to more sales than social media posts. Blogs often allow more more flexibility when it comes to deliverables for a brand, meaning that you have a more power in the negotiation process. Blogs are also a valuable way to crest long form content that fully explores your experiences with a product in ways that a static post on Instagram cannot.

An influencer who can broadcast their message across social AND their blog is sure to be successful.

8. They Know What to Request in Compensation

I know it can be hard to know when to expect or what to expect for compensation. When you are a smaller influencers, you are more likely to be approached by smaller brands who may just want you to review a product or service in exchange for free products or a small payment.

However, make sure to highlight the quality of your followers, not just quantity. If you have a highly engaged following, even small follower counts can lead to lucrative deals. If you have more followers or aren’t sure, see if there are other influencers that are willing to chat! Or you can just ask what their best offer is and negotiate up from there with the brand.

9. Successful Social Media Influencers say No

Don’t accept every offer you get. The last thing you want to do is spend so much time posting reviews and products that your followers begin to think of you as an extension of Amazon reviews. Don’t neglect your original post style for the sake of a brand’s request. If you aren’t sure whether or not you will follow through on a brand’s requests, be honest about it. It is OK to say you may not post a product if you did not like it. Your feedback is valuable as well. If you promise brands with no intention of following through then brands will stop working with you in the future. Honesty is always the best policy.

10. They make Valuable Relationships

No one gets anywhere alone. The greatest social media influencers form relationships with other influencers, brands, and agencies alike. These are wonderful ways to get information and create a like-minded community to support and encourage you. We here at LMS love to form relationships with our influencers and brands. We are here to help influencers find brands to partner with, give advice, and help however we can.

Want to see more from us? Check us out on our socials: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

If you’ve been a part of the business world for the past decade, you’ll notice that celebrity founded businesses have sky-rocketed onto the scene.

They span across industries ranging from food and beverage, to fitness, to CPG, to hair care. Pick any category and you will find a successful celebrity business. For example, Skinnygirl was founded by Bethenny Frankel in 2011, beginning with a focus on low-calorie cocktails before expanding into skincare, hair care, salad dressings, and others. Now the brand is involved in multiple categories but all which ladder back to the core mission of Skinnygirl: being able to live in the moment without guilt, whether that’s through low-calorie drinks or responsibly sourced skincare.

But, you may begin to wonder why some celebrities choose to establish new businesses. While there are endless reasons, I have found a few that always ring true. Celebrity entrepreneurs can leverage their narratives, flex their business acumen, diversify revenue streams, or explore new creative outlets when creating a business.

The Unique Aspects of Celeb Founded Startups

Businesses with a strong founder narrative are successful in their efforts. Celebrities just so happen to have a vast platform to share those narratives. More often than not, these types of businesses are founded to meet an unfulfilled need in the market, based on personal experience. And it’s becoming apparent that the business landscape has drastically changed from a detached relationship with the consumer to a personalized one. By sharing those stories from celeb founders, their audiences will resonate more with the brand overall and can build connections with consumers early.

Additionally, business credibility has been on the rise within the entertainment and sports industry. Celebrities within those industries are vying for ripe opportunities to demonstrate their business acuity amongst peers. It gives them a chance to gain respect as a boss and leader with an influential voice in a new industry their peers have yet to tap into.

Starting a business is also a financially strategic play, as it diversifies a celebrity’s revenue stream, outside of their core career. On the other hand, some celebrities are simply discovering new creative outlets to share their passions with the world. Beginning new projects outside of their primary income source allows them to exercise their additional talents, hobbies and passions.

They can also help fill gaps in the market with ideas that cater to specific audiences that may have been left out. Such is the case with Pattern Beauty. Founded in 2019 by Tracee Ellis Ross, star of the hit show Black-ish, Pattern Beauty is all about helping people with curly, coily, and textured hair achieve their best hair day. But it goes beyond great formulations — she also focuses on making products affordable and in sizes that make sense. Through her brand, Ross has identified a gap in the market and offered solutions for those who often have to “make do” with what’s there.

Whatever the reason may be, celebrity-founded businesses occupy a unique place in the startup community. They bring a variety of actionable assets into the business, but may also face challenges other founders may never encounter.

Challenges a Celebrity Entrepreneur May Face

Celebrities carry an existing reputation with them at all times, which also comes attached to the businesses they create. Successful celebs ensure their business values are aligned with their philosophies and public image. They also understand the wants and needs of their fans and deliver accordingly. Where the two intersect, magic happens. A successful celebrity entrepreneur is aware that their star power can’t be the only selling point of their brand. Celebrities are held to a higher standard of doing the utmost best. If they’re a passionate advocate for the environment, but their products are shipped with packaging waste, it creates a contradicting image. Having a strong reputation can be used to the brand’s advantage, but it can also feel limiting. While they may feel “typecast” into an image, identifying what they have in common with their audience can be an extremely significant business value add.

One celeb who has leaned into his image to create a successful brand is Chris Hemsworth. Known for his superhero physique, he’s leveraged that image to start a fitness and wellness app called Centr, to bring his workouts and meal plans to a larger audience. Through the app, you are not only getting an inside look into his own workouts, you’re getting advice from the same people he is. It’s both a personal experience while offering advice that many in his audience find worthwhile. After all, who doesn’t want to look like Chris Hemsworth?

Furthermore, the business world is very different from the entertainment and sports industries. Each industry has their own rules, procedures, and best practices that vary greatly from the business world. When a celebrity is brought into the mix, their image still matters. As difficult as it may be to detach from that image, the focus is often on their philosophies more than the product they’ve created. Forbes writer Steve Olenski proclaimed, “Today’s celebrities realize it’s not about them. It’s what they stand for and bring to the brand. They must reflect what the target audience really wants.” Developing a deep understanding of the brand’s main mission and its alignment with the celebrity will lead to an honest connection with the consumer audience.

Celeb Startups Are Here To Stay

Celebrity startups bring with them distinctive challenges, but also unique benefits to those brands. By working together to make a great product that builds on a celebrity’s known passions, brands can achieve great success. These businesses are not just momentary fads or one-off passion projects. They are businesses looking to disrupt, change, and challenge the existing consumer landscape.

Want to know more about Celebrity founders and startups? Reach out to me on social media, either through LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also check out other aspects of celebrity deals and negotiations on our podcast — you can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Editor’s Note: This post was written in conjuction with the LMS Blog, which you view here!

For many of us, we’re now stuck at home with more time on our hands than ever. And considering many have a lot more time to spend on social media, we definitely are taking advantage of it. Social media is a platform for sharing important information to best protect ourselves, a place we escape to when the world is too much, and a vital tool for continuing to connect us to our friends and family.

Video sharing apps were incredibly popular, even before stay-at-home orders were in places. Now, users and usage time are growing faster than originally predicted, with TikTok leading the charge. It was already a hit with Gen Z and some brands and, now nearing a billion users globally, it is becoming a staple of people’s social media consumption. Instagram and Facebook have also expanded their video and live streaming capabilities as more people turn to social networks to keep in touch.

But, before TikTok reigned supreme there was another massively popular video app — Vine.

Vine took the world by storm when it launched in January 2013 and defined internet humor and culture for the entirety of the 2010s. Turn to your millennial friend or coworker and ask them what their favorite vine is. Even if they didn’t have the app itself, they probably know at least one of the popular 6 second clips. They were ubiquitous, shared and re-shared across multiple platforms for years.

Which is why when Twitter announced it was officially shutting Vine’s door in 2016, people were confused. It was a popular app, with a growing number of talented users on the platform that had become successful on other platforms as well. But the biggest problem that faced Vine was how to leverage it’s popular and viral content into a viable income strategy. Even with it’s massive popularity, they never managed to come up with a system for both advertisers and popular users to make the platform financially sustainable.

But does all of this have to do with Byte? Turns out, one of the original founders thought there was still a place for Vine, even in this TikTok dominated world, and set out to bring Vine into the new roaring 20s.

So what is Byte? Is it exactly the same as Vine was? How are they going to make themselves stand out in a much more crowded field? And how do they plan to make money this time?

A Byte of Background

Let’s start with the basics.

Byte was first announced by former Vine co-founder, Dan Hoffman, in November 2018 as a successor to Vine. After a period of beta testing by users invited to the platform, it officially launched to the public on January 24th, 2020 becoming the most popular app in its first week. While it may seem unsurprising, it shows that Vine’s popularity continued to hold strong even after it was officially closed in 2016 and that people are still hungry for short-form video content, even in a ‘byte’ sized format.

There is little that is surprising about Byte’s interface. Upon loading, you are met with your home page, which displays videos from anyone you follow as well as videos Byte thinks you would enjoy. The camera is also simple, with the ability to record and stop as you please though with the ability to delete the previous chunk you recorded. There is also now “Ghost Mode” which takes a screencap of your last frame and makes it slightly transparent in order to keep consistency between different takes. But other than those two new features, Byte appears to be picking up almost exactly where Vine left off in 2016.

Byte also continues to use Vine’s signature 6 second videos as standard, which is much shorter than TikTok’s 15 second allowance, although videos can be as short as 2 seconds if you really want a challenge. And while there are some cool features users can incorporate into their vids, Byte is still fairly stripped down compared to the more feature-filled TikTok or Instagram. While there is no doubt there are going to be updates to the platform over the coming months, it may also be a strategic decision to limit the number of tools users have access to.

Byte’s tagline is “Creativity First” and many early users have taken to that with gusto. Byte is planting it’s flag in the idea that their content will be all original and more self-contained than TikTok’s endless stream of dances. In fact, as some TikTok users moved to the platform and continued to post the content that does well there — music heavy commentary, dance videos, and the like — users on Byte have rejected it.

Many on Byte wish to keep it in the same style as Vine — less music and dancing and more comedy and short sketches — and work actively to keep that content popular, citing it as “keeping it creative.” And implying that TikTok is the exact opposite.

Overall, Byte is attempting to bring the style and culture of Vine into the 2020s by keeping the short format and limited editing tools but updating it to better match user expectations for video content today. And their early success shows that people are still interested in making and watching that kind of content.

Byte-ing Off More Than They Can Chew?

While Byte is definitely off to a good start, the real question is whether they can continue to grow. After all, the short-form video world is no longer limited to one app. Even excluding TikTok, other social media giants have moved into the short-form video format over the years in various ways. Snapchat, founded in 2013, pioneered the upright video format and Instagram and Facebook soon followed up with their own versions in Stories.

But Byte knows who it’s main competition is: TikTok. TikTok has risen to be one of the most popular apps in the world and largely built itself on similar kinds of content that Vine originally made so popular. But it also has built up a large community using music, dance, and other audio in order to make memorable and memeable content. In other words, the TikTok app works to make content easy to consume but also easy to riff on and repeat by its users — quintessential tools for making a long lasting meme.

Byte is viewing its growing community in a different way. They are not looking for users to create constant iterations of the same dance or meme over and over again. They want their users to fully lean into the old culture of Vine with it’s short skits and snappy edits. While they are steadily updating to include features that many have become accustomed to — text over video and looping music to name a few — they are working to maintain that distance from other video apps.

The Future of Byte

While Byte will probably never be the next TikTok, it is creating and nurturing a community all it’s own. There will always be people who miss the heyday of Vine and will be drawn to the app. Others will be turned off by TikTok’s origins and owners (the ironically named ByteDance, based out of China) and look for other platforms with similar vibes. But, are there enough people willing to give it a try? How successful with Byte truly become?

Time will ultimately answer those questions. But, it worth nothing that even the smallest communities can be a valuable place for marketing campaigns. Looking to target a specific niche? Byte may be a place to consider for an influencer campaign. Wanting to establish a competitive edge? Being one of the first brands on the platform will make you stand out and give you more time to test to find the best strategies.

We at LMS always believe in trying the latest trends, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on Byte and the potential it has to offer. What do you think about Byte? Do you think it will fizzle out quickly as it tried to compete with TikTok? Or do you think it brings something new and different to the table?

Let us know by reaching out on any of our socials: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Or, if you feeling old fashioned, feel free to email us at imgame@wearelms.com.

If you haven’t heard of Pinterest by now, you are definitely missing out on a different kind of social media experience. Pinterest is a place where users can save, or Pin, images and videos to a specified, user-created board. The boards will display the pins in a pleasing visual format, making it easy for users to come back and view what they have saved. Content can vary from recipes to home cleaning tips, DIY builds to art projects, and so much more. The popularity of pinning and sharing tips has ranked Pinterest as the third most popular social platform, following Facebook and Instagram. Plenty of users rely on this social site as a discovery tool for new brands, consumer goods, and ideas.

Out of the 335 million monthly users on Pinterest, the platform has a big reputation amongst women. 80% of their users skew female whose age ranges from 18 to 64 years old, most of whom have children. That’s a highly targeted demographic that many brands can utilize to their advantage, all in one place!

Additionally, according to a Pew Research Study, the majority of Pinterest users earn more than $75,000 a year. This may indicate that users have a high-degree of expendable income and are ready to shop whenever they come across something interesting. In fact, the platform upgraded its marketing and ad services for its business users for this very purpose. The social site’s revenue topped $1 billion in 2019 due to the rapid expansion of its ad capabilities. Marketers and brands should not underestimate the power of Pinterest by any means! Many opportunities for successful advertising campaigns lie in the world of Pinning.

Is Pinterest Actually a Social Platform?

Some may argue that Pinterest isn’t considered a ‘true’ social media platform. It’s not exactly like Facebook where you can share general updates with friends, nor is it like Twitter where you can exchange thoughts and opinions rapidly. While that all may be true, Pinterest is quite similar to Instagram. The social site is mainly used as a discovery tool by users, similar to Instagram’s explore page and easy searchability. Also like Instagram, it’s a highly visual site that aims to capture attention via quality content, with an emphasis on inspiring, educational, skill-building, or how-to topics. Unlike Instagram where comments matter for engagement rate, comments within Pinterest are rarely used, relying instead on views, repins, and shares to measure engagement.

Despite the lack of comments and user-to-user interaction, Pinterest still maintains a high user satisfaction score of 80, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). ACSI measures customer satisfaction across various industries within the U.S. The site surveys roughly 500,000 Americans on their consumption habits, brands, and preferences. To maintain their high score, Pinterest provides quick reactions to customer issues and constantly makes appropriate changes on their site according to user feedback. Most notably, during the recent COVID-19 situation, Pinterest took immediate action to limit the spread of medical misinformation surrounding the virus and related topics. The site stopped producing results to queries associated with vaccinations, which was a major step that prompted other social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, to follow suit. As a result of this high user satisfaction, Pinterest users also enjoy sharing ideas with friends and family, as well as planning for the future. Sharing pins is a key feature on Pinterest, and it sets it apart from other platforms because of this. Users like to keep shared boards for home projects, home goods, or other shoppable items.

From Discovery to Purchase — Pinterest’s Updates

One thing Pinterest does well is utilizing its image-based search capabilities. The platform knows how to work that to its advantage, which differentiates them from other social sites. It has one of the best image-based search engines on the internet, and using it to your benefit is a great way to find success, especially considering up to 80% of searches on Pinterest are unbranded. This gives marketers an excellent way to connect with their customers who are looking for inspiration but not sure where to find it.

Because of this, they recently expanded and improved on their ad and selling capabilities for brands. On the business end, its ad management is designed to help marketers cater their campaigns to specific KPIs and goals with ease. The ad platform is intuitive enough for both amateur and professional marketers to successfully use. On the user end, Pinterest uses image search to help users stumble upon ads that are relevant to their search queries. The site will automatically push ads to their users in a way that feels like natural discovery, making it simple for brands to get their name out there.

Another great feature to note is the addition of shoppable pins. This is a pin option where brands can directly link items featured in the pins and redirect users to their website to purchase. This feature minimizes the user journey from discovery to purchase at the click of a button — great for conversion driven campaigns!

The company has also introduced four new features for users to shop specifically for home goods and fashion, which include shop from a board, shop from search, shop from Pins, and style guides. These new shopping options allow users to see in-stock products directly on their boards, use the newly added shop tab during search, click on a Pin to purchase an item, or use style guides for recommended decor ideas that match cohesively. The platform also recently launched a verified merchant program, which helps build trust and rapport between merchants and users. Pinners will now see a verified blue checkmark for brands that have met Pinterest’s guidelines for a trustworthy experience, giving customers peace of mind when ordering online.

At the release of the shoppable pin updates, Pinterest made a statement saying, “As we continue to make improvements to the shopping experience on Pinterest, we’ve increased the number of shoppable Product Pins by 2.5x since last year, while driving a total increase in traffic to retailers by 2.3x. And, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping on Pinterest has increased 44% year over year.” That kind of growth is worth paying attention to!

Keep Pinterest On Your Radar

With high user satisfaction and high user retention, Pinterest is definitely a platform to keep on your radar. The social site has certainly proven its value as a marketing tool for brands looking to add a new platform to their social media mix, no matter the kind or size of your business. This site is great for any young direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand looking to be discovered or seasoned online/eCommerce brands aiming for customer loyalty. Year over year, Pinterest’s user base is steadily increasing as more and more people come to understand the benefits and utility of visual search. From a strong visual search engine to an intuitive ad platform to a new integrated shopping experience, users and brands alike will find themselves seamlessly immersed in the world of Pinterest.

Looking to introduce a Pinterest strategy for your brand but not sure how? Contact LMS at imgame@wearelms.com!

Securing a celebrity partner can be a major hurdle for any brand. But for a startup, the task can seem insurmountable. Though it is true that there are many nuances to facilitating a successful and mutually beneficial celebrity partnership, especially for a startup, it is obtainable.

As the Founder and Chairwoman of LMS, celebrity matchmaking is my daily bread. It is the foundation on which I built my career and ultimately, my marketing agency. At LMS, we’ve coordinated many successful partnerships for our clients including Beyoncé with beverage startup WTRMLN WTR, Serena Williams & Gwyneth Paltrow with frozen smoothie company Daily Harvest, and Ellie Goulding with Core Water. Over the years, I have crafted a particular method to ensure the most effective partnerships. I was recently invited to Harvard Business School’s “Moving Beyond DTC” Short Intensive Program as a guest lecturer to speak on this unique skill. Given the reception of the talk, it was apparent that this is a topic of great interest that often carries many misconceptions, and not a lot of transparency. I want to take the time to share my experience and knowledge beyond the halls of Harvard Business School. In this 3-part series, we will delve into how to best build celebrity partnerships that are successful and effectively navigate the selection, negotiation, execution processes.

A celebrity partnership can be extremely alluring for a business, and for good reason. Their star power can bring awareness, amplification and validation to a brand with a single mention. For a celebrity, partnering with a startup brings great opportunity outside of their primary income streams. A well-designed partnership can give a celebrity the ability to showcase their unique impact on a company’s growth, exercise their talents in creativity or business acumen, gain respect as a boss and leader, and offer the potential to earn outsized wealth. For the consumer, seeing celebrities representing small startups is refreshing, genuine, and validating. Traditional celebrity endorsements have lost their luster as consumers smartened up enough to see the big paychecks looming behind every billboard. Instead, they are valuing authenticity and discovery. In fact, a 2019 study by IMPACT found that 78% of Generation Z consumers view authenticity as a key quality in the brands they choose. As a startup, this plays into your hand well. While you may not have deep pockets, you have big upside, and that’s something that both celebrity and consumer can appreciate.

But how does a celebrity partnership happen and how does a startup navigate those deals?

Generally, celebrity partnerships generally follow these three steps:

• Selection — Research, identify and connect with the celebrity.
• Negotiation — Build, negotiate and finalize an offer.
• Execution — Implement the agreed upon services and deliverables.

In this article, we will focus on step one: Selection.

Selection is often mistaken as the hardest part of securing a celebrity partnership. This is not only inaccurate but could lead to one of the most severe mistakes: reciprocal liking. If you think it will be hard to get a celebrity to consider your business, you could easily fall victim to partnering with someone just because they were the first to “like you.” This is called reciprocal liking. If you truly have a great product, getting in front of the right celebrity will not be as hard as you presume. One of your first steps should be building an archetype of the celebrity that is the best fit for your company and the goals you wish to achieve.

But before you begin dreaming up your ideal celebrity partner, focus on your ideal customer. Compile an analysis of the demographics & psychographics of your target customer. What influences their purchasing decisions? Where do they discover new brands? How do they interact with brands on- and offline? Consider this through a lens of pop culture, as well. Who are their favorite celebrities? Where do they follow them? To which media outlets are they most attune? Where and how to reach your target customer, as well as where the celebrity already produces content, will be extremely important as you begin to build out your list of deliverables. For example, if your target customer is an eco-conscious female millennial, a partnership with outspoken environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio may be a great fit, but don’t include deliverables on the quirky GenZ-focused app, TikTok, just because it is the new cool social platform.

Next, consider the value exchange with which you are comfortable. What are you willing to offer to get this celebrity to partner with your brand? How much equity? How much control?

You may need to be honest about having a champagne taste on a beer budget — even when it comes to equity. If you are only willing to give up a minimal percentage of your business in year 1, an A-list celebrity like Jennifer Lopez is likely unrealistic. Rather, a reality star or influencer-turned-celebrity would be a better choice.

Now for the fun part: brainstorming potential celebrity partners. This can be a great exercise to do with your team, friends and family. Cast a wide net and come up with an initial list of 100 names. Then, put each name through the following exercise.

1. Is this choice emotional or rational? Do I want this celebrity because I’m a fan or does this celebrity really have the ability to impact my target customer?
2. Does this celebrity reach the target consumer? On which marketing channels would this celebrity be most effective? Where do they already share their life and exert their influence? Do these channels align with your target customer and brand goals?
3. What is the realistic benefit? Will we both benefit? When my company exits, would this celebrity make life changing money for them based on the amount of equity I’m willing to give up?

This exercise is equal parts art to science. You won’t have enough accurate information to be 100% precise, but taken as a data set it will help you identify the top celebrities you should target for your brand, as well as a celebrity archetype for you to measure against.

Now that you have your list, it’s time to take action and get in touch with the celebrity. This is where brands presume their efforts will dead end. But contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be über-connected to get your product in a celebrity’s hands. In fact, the contact information for about 95% of celebrity teams lives online on platforms anyone can access for a small fee. Some examples of these are Who Represents, IMDBPro and The Handbook. Through these types of sites, you’ll be able to access agents and managers and, if navigated well, those contacts may allow you to reach the celebrity. However, if that route proves difficult, there is a subset of gatekeepers that could be your secret to success. Assistants, hairdressers, stylists, best friends, family…these people offer a backdoor into the celebrity’s circle and direct access to their ear.

Once you’ve got the celebrity’s attention, it’s up to your brand and product to prove its worth. If you’ve effectively navigated the selection process and your product or service is one that the celebrity will truly enjoy and want to support, then hopefully it will soon be time to move on to the second step: Negotiation.

In the second and third installments of this series I will detail my most effective practices for the Negotiation and Execution stages of celebrity partnerships. Don’t miss out! Head to wearelms.com/blog to sign up for our blog notifications to get access to influencer and celebrity marketing information directly to your inbox.

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” — Fred Rogers

Life is immeasurably different than it was just a few days ago. It has been incredible to see people come together, while at the same time, practicing responsible distancing. Like many people, we are struggling with how to help the world, our friends, our peers, our colleagues, at a time when we feel so helpless. It doesn’t feel like enough to sit in our respective homes and go about our work without contributing to the efforts to curb the impacts of this virus.

LMS has always had an affinity for small businesses, start ups, mom & pops, and early stage companies that are putting it all on the line to bring an innovative brand new product or service into the market. It has been heartbreaking to watch so many small businesses impacted by the ripple effect of this pandemic. By doing the “right thing” for health and safety, many small businesses are forced to do the “hard thing” for their employees and loyal customers.

Our super power at LMS has always been to help connect the dots. We thrive off of it, it brings us joy. While we have settled into our new normal of self isolation, we feel compelled to use our super power to shine a light on small businesses. To call in our network of incredible influencers (who are also moms, dads, bosses, friends, employees, practitioners… HUMANS) and ask you to join us in spotlighting small businesses.

Here are 5 simple things that influencers can do to support small businesses

**Regular humans can do them too!

Share & tag businesses in your local community

The best way to help during this time is to find local businesses who are staying open and spotlight their efforts. There may be local restaurants that are moving to delivery only. Other businesses may be reaching out to provide transportation or shopping services to those who are the most vulnerable. No matter how they are helping, showcase them. Many of them are already advertising their services on social media, so lend your support and help them go farther!

Spotlight a DTC brand and link to the company website, not Amazon or Target

We are all so grateful to Amazon, Walmart, Target, aka “the big guys” for working tirelessly to get us what we need in a safe and effective way. But they are the big guys for a reason! If you LOVE a brand that sells DTC, highlight the company website so that these businesses don’t have to share the margin. This could be the difference.

One of our favorite brands is Kopari. They are a clean beauty brand known for their coconut oil based products that delivers a high standard of quality while not compromising on their ingredients. All of their products are free of sulfates, parabens, and phthalates while also being cruelty free and vegan. They also pride themselves for working to source their coconuts directly from sustainable farmers in the Philippines in order to keep their impact on the environment as low as possible!

Highlight companies that are not only great solutions, but are also DOING good.

Take &Pizza, for example. They implemented new policies of no delivery fees and contactless deliveries, which they put in place to encourage others to stay home and healthy. They are also giving free pizza to employees and their families, as well as providing funds to help cover Lyft costs, in order to keep as many people as possible off public transport. Additionally, they are working with local hospitals to deliver free pizzas to nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals.

Repost, Restory, Repost

Too much to handle to create new content right now while you are homeschooling your kids and trying to help your elderly neighbor? How about repost, restory and highlight your peers and favorite brands. The amplification effect and the support could make all the difference.

Those with influence: you can lead the “positive sharing” movement. You have incredible power, and therefore incredible responsibility. My responsibility is to help make this easy for you, including sharing incredible companies with you.

What brands have you seen doing good work in your community? Please share them with us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, so we can spread their messages even further! Also, sign up for our email so that you get up to date information on the influencers and brands doing what they can to keep everyone safe, healthy, and connected. Together, we can help each other weather this storm.

Retail sales have been having a tough go of it recently. Mega brands like Sears, Toys ‘R Us and Macy’s are closing up shop(s) due to an increase in online shopping — largely led by industry giant, Amazon. Today’s consumer can order everything from waterbeds (somebody’s still into those, right?) to bottled water in a few clicks, without having to leave the couch. While this can be a concerning change for brands and retailers alike, we find the media’s adopted term of “retail apocalypse” to be a tad dramatic. Instead of worrying about department store zombies, let’s focus on how brands can embrace and reap the benefits of this change in consumer behavior, specifically consumer packaged goods (or CPGs) in the food and beverage industry.

Shopping in-store? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Less Talky, More Shoppy

The for retail locations is certainly lacking. A physical space in which to shop is now more of an experience than a necessity, and to some it’s just plain inconvenient compared to the ease of online. Younger generations that have grown up with the internet expect the ability to have all their needs met through their smartphone and any opportunity to avoid real-life human interaction is a bonus.

Apart from the freedom from forced social interaction, shopping online offers many enticing features that in-store simply cannot. Reviews, informative videos, flash sales, social sharing, the ability to connect (virtually) with the brand itself, and more are found with a quick scroll. Additionally, innovation in the online space just. won’t. quit. Not only can you search for and find just about any product imaginable, you can test it out through augmented reality, zip through an abbreviated check-out, ship it to your door in 2-days, 1-day or even within the hour by a nifty little drone, then! To top it all off, set up an easy breezy subscription so you don’t have to lift a finger when it’s time to re-order. At this rate, why would consumers ever leave the cozy warmth of their newly delivered down comforter?

All of these tech advances for eCommerce have certainly taken a toll on retail spaces. In 2018, CityLab found that retail location closures by square foot the amount of closures during the peak of the Great Recession. The Department of Commerce that online sales of general merchandise surpassed retail for the first time in February 2019. Looks like the tables are officially turning.

Stop. (Collaborate and Listen)

Retail is back with a brand new edition.

According to , roughly 80% of consumers still go in-store for immediate wants and needs. Amazon, the leader of this online retail take over, is in brick and mortar by opening physical Amazon Go convenience stores and recently acquiring grocery giant, Whole Foods. Think about that… if retail was losing that badly, why would the captain of the other team invest in it?

Let’s take a closer look at those previous negative stats. In a new light, the doom and gloom of the “apocalypse” rhetoric doesn’t quite hold up. In the CityLab study, the amount of closures were calculated by squarefoot, not number of locations. When you factor in that national multi-level mega stores like Sears, JC Penny and Macy’s are included in that number, it’s no wonder the collective total is scary! Additionally, the Great Recession hit small businesses harder than the big guys. Think about your favorite locally owned store…it’s probably smaller than your house.

Next, let’s re-read that second statistic from the Department of Commerce: Online sales of general merchandise surpassed retail for the first time in February 2019. Note: the first time. People, the .com boom was a long time ago. Online shopping has been around for some consumers’ entire lives . The fact that online sales for general merchandise just this year surpassed in-store is actually good news. The rise of online shopping is inevitable, and certainly a threat to stagnant retailers, but it’s been a slow moving transition which means brick and mortars aren’t dying any time soon (read: ever), and in the meantime, there’s of time for some industry evolution.

We must also note that this downtrend isn’t limited to general merchandise retailers and that the internet isn’t the only culprit. Grocery stores, though much more necessity-based, are also taking a hit. Southeastern Grocers (operator of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie supermarkets) filed for bankruptcy and closed close to 100 stores in 2018. Once again, younger generations are making it tough on the market by favoring smaller specialty stores, farmers markets and delivery subscription services to fulfill their grocery needs. With buzz words like “farm to table,” “locally-owned” and no-added-nothings taking over the food industry, Millennials and Generation Z consumers have become increasingly picky about their CPG products, drawing them out of the aisles in search of other options.

Dar-#Winning: Survival of the Fittest

The big question now is, as a brand or retailer, how do evolve so you don’t go extinct? Answer: You have to have a strategy that hits them from all sides and uses factors affecting consumer behavior to maximize efforts. In a nutshell, you need to focus on creative omnichannel marketing.

Omnichannel marketing is a relatively new, but necessary approach to marketing that translates to reaching consumers at all possible touchpoints with a single, cohesive brand strategy. This means, your social media posts, email outreach, in-store experience, et cetera, should all interconnect, share the same messaging, and drive the same goals-ultimately leading the consumer from discovery to purchase (and beyond) with ease. To learn the nitty gritty of an omnichannel approach, check out our write up on that topic

You likely have pieces of an omnichannel strategy already in place, but you’ll want to bulk up your efforts with creative and exciting ways of reaching the consumer. Whether you’re pushing sales online or in-store, consumers live on social media and that’s where you need to be talking to them the most. Let’s assume you already have social media accounts for your brand (if not, contact LMS today. Like, right now. This is urgent). For CPG and retail marketing specifically, take a look at your messaging. Are you including CTAs (Call To Action) that are targeted towards getting consumers in the door? Are you sharing pertinent information like store locations, product suggestions, recipes and pairings, coupons and the like? Get creative and highlight new retail locations with fun announcements, share images of your awesome in-store displays, and encourage consumer engagement with interactive displays that beg to be shared on social (Oh hey, quality UGC!). Take that one step further and generate even positive attention by partnering with a great cause. Think along the lines of a donation for every consumer-shared picture with your super fun, insta-friendly display and hashtag. People love a good cause!

Did We Just Become Best Friends?

Speaking of partners, pairing up with other brands, influencers or retail stores for co-hosted giveaways or in-store events is another great way to entice consumers and reach new audiences. For superfood snack company, on your marketing efforts. One of our recent campaigns showed that Health Warrior , LMS brokered a partnership with Olympic gold medalist, Allyson Felix, to encourage her followers to shop for Health Warrior products specifically at Target stores. Influencers can have such an impact let’s get on it influencer marketing drove an incremental sales increase of $1.2 million in stores! They are essential to any omnichannel strategy, so if you aren’t using them, ! In fact. 49% of consumers said that they depend on influencer recommendations to inform their purchasing decisions.

Social media influencers are the relatable, massively effective extension of your marketing team. For every dollar spent on social media influencer marketing, the average business gets $6.50 in ROI. #damndaniel. Take our work with beverage company for example. After managing an influencer program for WTRMLN WTR for just one month, the brand saw business increase a record 450%! Specifically, purchases at Whole Foods grew by 5xWTRMLN WTR’s business tripled. After 3 months of an LMS-managed influencer program, . We got them to the Beyonce status of the beverage business (oh, and we actually got them Queen B , too.) Want these results for yourself? Work with the best in the biz.

Working with influencers to host branded events is another great way to utilize this form of marketing and draw attention to specific retail markets and locations. For italian specialty food brand, Rao’s Homemade, LMS brokered partnerships with various influencers in their target Texas market to host intimate parties featuring the brand. Our #TexasIsTheNewItaly campaign was a hit. Influencers including Alex Snodgrass of @TheDefinedDish , hosted intimate gatherings that strategically encouraged the purchase of Rao’s Homemade at local HEB supermarkets. The LMS custom designed “party kit” that was sent to each influencer included product, branded party items and an HEB gift card for additional party needs.

Need more incredible stats, tips and insights on influencer marketing for retail? Check our handy-dandy infographic here. It’s free!

Get Tech-y With It

Interesting events and quality in-store displays will certainly catch consumer’s eye, but to really make an impression, get innovative! Technology advancements offer so many opportunities to really wow your customers. Specialized location-specific filters for social media are a great tool to drive consumers to a certain location and then encourage social shares. For example, a noodle company could create a branded filter that activates at Wegmans featuring a floating bowl of ramen with chopsticks. Customers will have fun engaging with the brand by pretending to slurp it up for their Snapchat followers.

Augmented reality (AR) is such a buzzword right now and for good reason — the possibilities are endless. Let your creativity run free and come up with some really fun ways to engage with the consumer in- and out of store. Perhaps customers enter an AR wonderland when they reach your aisle or suggested recipes pop up when a customer stands in-front of your product. Developments are in-progress to potentially direct the consumer to all the needed ingredients using AR arrows for in-store direction. Kids, parents, your grandma — everyone loves a fun, unexpected experience! Think outside the aisle and come up with some great ideas of your own. Or let do the heavy lifting.

At LMS, our favorite pastime is dreaming up innovative, effective digital marketing strategies for our clients and then making them happen IRL (In Real Life. C’mon, get with the Millennial lingo, guys.). Don’t let the retail apocalypse (#therealfakenews) turn you into . You won’t regret it. P.S. Don’t forget to download our free infographic for more awesome info — The Walking Dead . We’re a bunch of optimistic, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt s over here and “We’re alive, Dammnit!” today at imgame@wearelms.com here!

Originally published at https://wearelmsblog.com on November 25, 2019.