As thinkers like Seth Godin have been telling us for years, “interruption marketing” is dead. With infinite choices, no one is going to sit still for boring 30 second advertisements anymore. We’re now fully in the era of “permission marketing,” in which consumers have the ability to choose who they want to listen to. But with more choices than ever competing for our attention, trust becomes critical. Consumers don’t want to be sold to. Instead, they want to hear advice from people they already trust – the premise of the growing field of influencer marketing.
Platforms like TrendSpottr track “emerging content, influencers, and sentiment for any topic or search query.” The startup Chasm.io pledges to help “people and companies drive massive exposure to their content using an exclusive network of social influencers who are most likely to consume and share it.” And there are plenty of influencer marketing agencies – many with a general focus and some, like Raynforest, focused on a particular niche (in their case, sports and wellness). Influencer marketing seems poised for growth for several reasons.
