It’s been no secret that spokespeople, ambassadors, and affiliate marketers provide a huge profit boost to big-name companies. The increase in social sales has raked in an average of about 82% more buyers due to the influence of the endorsement. Brand awareness is now so easily accessible through the presence of things like social media and brand partnerships. And with the continued presence of commerce stores, this number doesn’t seem to be dropping anytime soon – because no matter how successful your marketing campaigns get, nothing beats social proof selling.
Since the beginning of sales, we’ve had affiliates and recommendations from high-end clients to bring in new consumers who will do the same. Round and round we go with word-of-mouth sales. It has become a highly effective strategy that proves to work time and time again. For the impressionable individual, it doesn’t take much more than their favorite actor, singer, performer, or influencer to pick up a common household item and stamp their seal of approval – for the consumer to then go out and purchase the item and rave about it to their friends and family.
Did you know? “Gen-z” is the most susceptible buyer group based on celebrity/influencer endorsements – 54% of 18 to 29-year-old users determine their purchasing habits based on the authority of their favorite influencers/celebrities. This is by far the least shocking statistic as Gen-Z is the generation to have internet purchasing habits the most. Social media backing is becoming more common, purchasing platforms have received more notice, and commerce usage is leading to more consumers.
Yet despite these factual realities of endorsement sales, other consumers have become more aware of the lack of authenticity from influencer partnerships. This could be due to:
- The commissionary profits received by brands to the endorsers.
- The overexposure a brand faces from a well-known celebrity.
- Another lesser-known reality we as consumers subconsciously use to decide whether to buy the product or not.
We’ll be exploring all 3 issues in detail, and then we’ll discuss how companies and brands are changing the affiliate game to combat these 3 negative purchasing habits.
Let’s first get into the commissionary profits an endorser receives for endorsing a product:
Hiring a celebrity endorser or influencer partnership engages the party in what is called “brand ambassador status”. This is the title they receive to solidify their standing with their chosen brand while the brand has given this title as a path for payment and tax purposes. The contract a brand agrees to is to pay the endorser for their word – this can be a percentage of sales (ie. affiliate marketing) or a whole payment for an ad or video (ie. brand partnership).
One way these commissions spark controversy is their use of the title “partnership”. The implications from the perspective of business ownership can mislead the consumer into thinking they’re associated with the brand on a higher level than the average “affiliate”. “Partner branding” could be considered a share-stakeholder within the brand, a creator of marketing affairs, or another version of involvement within the brand that requires risk.
Some would also argue that due to the monetary value of the endorsement, the celebrities/influencers may not be committed to the product but to the paycheck that comes with it. Therefore the trust they put into the endorser dwindles significantly. When it comes to endorsement selling, the line can become blurry on whether the affiliate genuinely uses the product, or if they’re selling this product to gain commission.
The overexposure a brand faces from a well-known celebrity:
When using a well-known celebrity to endorse a product, the overshadowing quality of using a popular or highly-loved face can damage your brand image. Producing ads to use social proof and relatability can have a negative quality if the focus remains on the endorser and not the product. This is being proven by consumer usage. How many ads have you seen where you over-analyzed the storyline or focused too much on the main character? Or how many ads have you confused for a different product/brand when the story/endorsement becomes too complex? When an ad becomes too saturated with a celebrity appearance, the brand is overshadowed and the consumer doesn’t truly believe the brand’s importance. This decreases the likelihood of purchases because of consumer confusion or the celebrity overpowering without valuable information.
The lesser-known reality we as consumers subconsciously use to evaluate a brand and its ambassadors/affiliates/endorsements:
The last purchasing problem when it involves an endorser is the subconscious evaluation consumers use when deciding if the celebrity/influencer is good enough to be endorsing a product. The harsh reality of a brand leaving an endorser to create buzz is the possible failure of the endorser’s pure, public image. The human condition is to be flawed, and that also includes celebrities. When a celebrity messes up their reputation, they also sacrifice the consumer’s trust in the brand. This is a rising conflict, proven by “cancel culture”, that’s made it more difficult for a brand to fully trust the endorsing process – considering how delicately the celebrity public image can be corrupted.
How are companies and brands changing the affiliate/ambassador/endorsement game?:
More companies have changed the game and begun hiring multiple ambassadors. Whether it’s to convince the public they have more credibility or more care about their image, it tends to improve consumer-brand relations. We see multiple endorsers through brands such as Apartments.com, Samsung, Lux, and Fabletics. The more endorsers they use, the less likely their brand will face the fallout of an influencer/celebrity mess up. There has been evidence of brands facing an extreme uphill battle after the demolition of an influencer’s/celebrity’s image. This is demonstrated by Subway, BudLight, etc. The resolution when it comes to endorsers is 1 of 2 ways:
- Either use natural marketing – create funnels and let the brand speak for itself
- Or use multiple faces to support your message – that way, if anything were to happen to one of the endorsers, you have several to fall back on.
Affiliate sales are a huge market profit for companies willing to give up a percentage of their sales. A lot of the same negatives apply to affiliate marketing, but it becomes less of a “sleazy” transaction since most consumers use these to sell products their currently investing in. There’s less risk for more reward when it comes to both parties participating.
As online marketing and affiliate sales become more and more popular though, we’ll begin to see more companies taking bigger risks to endorse their brands and ensure they are number one on the list. Even now, we see the beginning stages of AI marketing and its use of social selling. Ideally, natural marketing would take the forefront to these brand’s sales strategies, but it’s becoming more improbable due to the saturation within the market. Paid advertisements are also a hit or miss since the expensive branding doesn’t bring in nearly as much revenue as it costs.
So what does the future hold for these sales?
Endorsement sales aren’t the worst thing in the world, but a few bad apples could poison the load when it comes to trusting your brand with a celebrity’s/influencer’s public image. I, for one, am excited to see what comes next in endorsement marketing. Maybe we’ll have robot ambassadors? Or maybe spokespeople will become a thing of the past? However, it’s doubtful that we’ll see that future, as sales don’t seem to be going down anytime soon due to public image failing. Brands and companies are always bouncing back and creating new avenues for revenue recuperating.