Abstract

This article explores the evolving landscape of advertising, highlighting the shift from traditional media to influencer marketing. It discusses how advertisements are crafted to capture attention, tell compelling stories, and drive brand perception, while also emphasizing the growing role of influencers in promoting products on social media. The article delves into the advantages of influencer marketing, such as its ability to create authentic connections with audiences, and the challenges associated with finding the right influencers and maintaining credibility. Through best practices like tracking outcomes and utilizing a variety of influencers, marketers can optimize their campaigns. Ultimately, the article stresses the importance of adapting advertising strategies in the face of technological advancements and changing consumer behavior.

Keywords

Influencer marketing, advertising, brand trust, consumer engagement, storytelling, social media, digital marketing strategy

Introduction

An advertisement is a tool brands use to persuade their target audiences to pay attention to their products, services, or ideas. Each advertisement carries different significance depending on the type of product, service, or the objectives of the advertisement. For instance, a TV commercial is a form of communication that reaches mass consumers simultaneously, ensuring the brand or service is launched successfully and seen by a large audience. Meanwhile, many businesses choose online advertising, which can be customized to reach a smaller group of consumers. Although they are more targeted, online ads are a budget-friendly option. Advertising may take various formats and be placed on different platforms, but all share the same goal: making the brand look appealing to the audience.

The Three Adsketeers

The three key tasks advertisers need to focus on when creating a commercial are its ability to catch attention, tell a compelling story, and optimize brand perception. The tasks of an advert are:

Catching Attention: People are naturally drawn to visually appealing adverts. A good advert must grab the attention of its target audience. [Ngaywa, Lilian, 2023]. This is the first step to success, as the ad must attract viewers to pause and engage with it. It acts as an invitation from the brand to spark curiosity in its target audience, ensuring they take a closer look. Without capturing the audience’s attention, the ad’s message cannot be delivered. There are several tactics used to appeal to audiences, such as opening with popular music, employing famous celebrities, or joining a trending event. These gimmicks represent and emphasize the brand’s characteristics, allowing it to stand out among millions of other adverts.

Telling a Story: When audiences watch an ad, they want to know what’s in it for them. Without a compelling narrative, viewers may lose interest and disengage. [Chaves, Laura, 2024] Therefore, a good ad must entertain and convince its viewers to believe in the message, often related to product quality, performance, or brand values. Before saying anything, marketers must first understand their target consumers’ interests. When they know their audience, storytelling becomes as simple as “telling what people want to know on the platform they prefer.” Interesting creative ideas are necessary to enable an advert to tell the right story, which must both entertain and convince the audience. A good advert must hold the audience’s attention through the entire storyline. Viewing the whole ad is crucial because the brand can elaborate on its attributes and deliver information only when the advert is fully viewed. An ad with a good style of storytelling will be powerful, as it can emotionally engage the audience and build trust in the brand.

Prompting Interest to Buy: The ultimate goal of every advert is to deliver a positive brand perception and drive purchase intent. An entertaining ad is not necessarily effective if it doesn’t turn viewers into buyers or fails to enhance the brand’s image.

The Meaning of Good Content is Changing

A good advertisement usually blends creative elements such as visuals, copy, storyline, and

music & sound to deliver commercial messages in an interesting and memorable way. Later, media planners will strategically design channels to broadcast the advert so that it can reach as many target audiences as possible at the right time. The advertising needs to be placed on suitable media, so it effectively reaches the brand’s target audience.

Advertisements work efficiently only when they appear on the right outlets, meaning the media that relevant people use. Individuals will only feel engaged when they believe the commercials are designed to communicate directly with them.

Traditional media like TV commercials, radio spots, print, and billboards have regularly been used because their coverage is broad. Brands using traditional media not only expect wide coverage but also aim to earn credibility from nationwide broadcasts.

However, creating traditional commercials is increasingly time-consuming, as it involves identifying strategies and objectives, conducting research to test ad messages, ideas, and storyboards, and then selecting the best one for production. The production process involves many people, such as an art director, copywriter, production director, insight manager, and client service personnel. All these efforts are aimed at ensuring the client gets the most effective advert.

As a result, marketers are always looking for alternatives to create ads more quickly that can still convey messages effectively and be placed on the right screens to reach their audience. One alternative is using recommendations from real people with a large fanbase, which seems to work well for promoting products or services. Consequently, more brands are now choosing to communicate with their audiences through “real people” who have the power to influence others, with some even replacing traditional advertising on old-style media.

Influencers Are the Game Changer

Today, advertisements and media planning are changing and will never be the same. The process of making a commercial for traditional platforms is gradually shifting due to the mentioned pain points, which are mostly related to unworthy investments in cost and time. In this highly competitive environment, brand owners need content that delivers the highest productivity in a shorter time, and they need to know how to track the efficiency of their ad spending. Additionally, marketers are less likely to invest as much in ad production as they used to. They’ve learned that advertising can come in various formats and platforms, while its goal remains the same: persuading audiences to buy.

Influencer marketing is the most popular strategy on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. There is currently a vast amount of online content on these platforms. [Yuen, Meaghan, 2024] Online content creators become powerful when they consistently create appealing content that attracts fans (or followers/subscribers). As their fanbases grow large enough, they inevitably become ad creators, and marketers will use their content as a marketing tool.

The tactic used by online creators to promote a product or brand is called “Influencer Marketing.” The content is usually created in the influencer’s style but remains relevant to their fans. Influencers’ creativity allows them to commercialize a brand/product/service to their fanbase. Fans see sponsorships integrated into the program, while they are seamlessly influenced by the host to trust the positive attributes of the brand. Some brands even require the program hosts to try the product on the show so they can endorse it based on real experiences.

Influencers can generate brand trust among their fans faster because they provide proof from real users—the person they are following. In any case, creators with larger fanbases are more powerful and can make more money. When content reaches a broader audience, marketers are willing to pay more. Advertising created by influencers today allows brands to customize messages to focus on the specific needs of the target audience. Even if some influencers don’t have enough reach, marketers simply address this by hiring multiple influencers to capture a wider range of followers from different profiles.

Challenges

However, using influencers for marketing comes with challenges. Firstly, choosing the right influencer for your brand is not easy. Though there are many influencers in the market, it can be difficult to pick one who can truly support the brand sustainably. Background checks, such as reviewing their lifestyle, habits, interests, and reputation, are necessary when planning to commission an influencer. Additionally, a high number of followers can be misleading. Marketers must check how the influencer gained those followers and assess their profiles to ensure they are the right target audience. Lastly, influencer marketing can be unsustainable. An influencer’s fanbase can grow or disappear overnight if they exhibit inappropriate behavior that disappoints their fans, fail to create engaging content, or if their popularity naturally declines over time. Since their reputation is often unstable, it can impact the brand they represent. Despite these challenges, marketers continue to use influencers as an option to promote brands. There are some practices that might help marketers overcome these challenges.

Best Practices

Test & Trace the Outcome: Online influencers can be tracked for the number of engagements and viewership, so marketers should monitor audience engagement while the influencer is promoting the brand. Online platforms also allow marketers to trace actual sales over a specific period to see if the influencer’s content generates sufficient incoming revenue as expected. If it works well, the marketer might repeat the same influencers; however, if it fails, they can simply explore other options.

Consider a Variety of Influencers: Marketers should consider using influencers on a one-time basis. When an influencer promotes a product or brand for the first time, it appears more natural. However, if they frequently speak positively about the brand, their followers may notice the intention to promote rather than perceive it as a genuine endorsement. When this happens, the trustworthiness of the influencer may start to decline. Marketers must maintain a list of quality influencers so they can switch to another online personality quickly enough to retain brand visibility.

Focus on Effectiveness More Than Cost-Saving: In terms of cost, although there might not be clear production costs, using influencers may still not be more cost-effective than traditional commercials. Each content creator has their specific fanbase; therefore, if a brand expects wider coverage, the marketer must spend more money to engage a larger number of influencers to promote the campaign and reach broader audiences.

In Sum

Marketers must consider employing different advertising methods depending on their objectives. Traditional media can reach national audiences, making it suitable for brands that wish to raise brand awareness widely. While traditional commercials (like TV ads) may require more investment, they have also proven effective in generating both sales and brand awareness.

According to a study by HubSpot in 2023, a significant number of marketers use influencers; over a quarter of marketers work with influencers to promote products and services, and almost 70% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations.[Deyo, Jessica ,2023; Bodnar, Kipp, 2023]. This trend is believed to be growing constantly around the world.

We cannot stop the transformation in the advertising business; as technology improves, there will always be better ways to address marketers’ pain points. Marketers can only adapt to these changes and consistently manage to create successful advertisements for their brands. Therefore, using influencers is no longer just an ‘alternative’ but a ‘must-consider’ option when planning marketing communications.

REFERENCES

Chaves, Laura (2024); 15 Best Storytelling Ads & Examples in Marketing

(https://vidico.com/news/storytelling-ads/#:~:text=What%20are%20Storytelling%20Ads%3F,and%20creates%20a%20memorable%20experience.)

Dunn, Nic | CEO – Charle Agency (2024); Top 20 Influencer Marketing Statistics You Need to Know!

(https://www.charleagency.com/articles/influencer-marketing-statistics/)

Bodnar, Kipp | CMO – HubSpot (2023); The State of Marketing, Marketing Trends in 2023, from AI to Z (https://www.hubspot.com/hubfs/2023%20State%20of%20Marketing%20Report.pdf)

Deyo, Jessica (2023); 81% of Consumers Embraced Influencer Marketing in the Past year, Study Finds

(https://www.marketingdive.com/news/influencer-marketing-success-matter-study-2023/643310/)

Ngaywa, Lilian (2021); 12 Important Elements of an Effective Advertisement

(https://sparkdms.com/blog/12-important-elements-of-an-effective-advertisement)

Yuen, Meaghan (2024); Influencer Marketing Is the Most Popular Strategy on YouTube (https://www.emarketer.com/content/influencer-marketing-most-popular-strategy-youtube)

Author:

CHARKRIT DIREKWATTANACHAI, MR.

Executive Vice President , Corporate Affairs and Communication

BEC World Public Company Committee and Secretary

Marketing Association of Thailand Vice President, Association of Thai Digital Television Broadcaster

Charkrit is a professional marketer and successful communicator with a proven track record spanning 29 years in market research, marketing, and communications in the retail and media industries. His primary focus has been amplifying customer voices to develop successful corporate and marketing strategies, strategically promoting products and corporate achievements to a wider audience while strengthening the corporate brand image.

He has earned recognition as an outstanding member of the Marketing Association of Thailand and the Association of Thai Digital Television Broadcasters, leading organizations in the Thai business and media industry. In addition to excelling in his career, Charkrit has made significant academic contributions by teaching Market & Advertising Research, Consumer Behavior, and Storytelling subjects at Thai universities for over 20 years.