Alana Sandel is a Chief Experience Officer at Marketing For Wellness, an agency committed to supporting brands that stand for well-being.
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Have you checked Instagram lately? Wellness and beauty sponsored posts may be overflowing your screen. From soul-searching courses and yoga exercises for your face to spirulina supplements, influencers are creating content to promote wellness that once took months to produce. New tools and gadgets have enabled influencers to bring products to life in mere minutes, making the once impossible seem effortless.
Just as Edward Bernays, the founding father of PR, made smoking desirable by featuring gorgeous women smoking a cigarette, today, many influencers are inspiring people to rethink how they approach their health. With an estimated 129 million people in the U.S. having chronic health issues, influencers are making wellness messages desirable in many shapes and forms, like broadcasting from doctors' offices in real time while getting procedures.
The wellness industry is set to grow from $5.6 trillion in 2023 to over $8 trillion globally by 2027, and influencers are at the forefront of this movement. Their ability to inspire a genuine desire for wellness, youthful looks, radiant skin and sustainability is moving the wellness industry from lecturing about wellness to inspiring consumers to want it.
Create authentic relationships and campaigns with influencers.
My company has been at the forefront of influencer marketing, and over the years, we learned that the most authentic campaigns are possible when an influencer is using a product and connects with a mission and values of the brand.
Here is our checklist to identify the perfect match between the brands we represent and influencers we are looking for.
• Consider values. Look for influencers whose values align with a brand. This means that the influencer will be passionate about sharing why they love the brand but also align themselves with the team behind the company, including community engagement and beyond.
• It's about relationships. When you find your "golden influencers," nurture those relationships. Continuous engagement helps in creating trust and credibility. We enjoy collaborating with influencers over time—cooking classes and events of any kind where an influencer shows up and acts as a brand ambassador are great examples.
• They got this. When the influencer understands your brand, they can contribute beyond authentic content. We appreciate the feedback our influencers bring to the table as a result of interactions with their followers about the brand. We channel this input back to our clients to give them valuable market research.
Influencers can help people learn about and appreciate other cultures.
Influencers are leading the way beyond brand endorsements. The trust they cultivate with their followers position them as an authority.
For example, in 2016, we created a campaign for brands from Taiwan, and we extended the campaign by bringing to life a sustainable pop-up store in Seattle. The pop-up store would not have been a success without influencers, who bridged Taiwanese culture and transformed our pop-up store into a vibrant cultural experience. Through an evocative music performance by renowned musicians with international following and baking and bubble tea demos with a celebrity chef and best-selling author, visitors discovered and engaged with Taiwanese lifestyle products.
When introducing new products to the U.S. market from other countries, consider following these tips.
• Make it delicious. Conversations start at a dinner table, and so can discovery. We've found success pairing marketing of unfamiliar brands with culinary discoveries to introduce people to another culture through food and flavors.
• Engage through stories. Use storytelling to connect cultural elements with the brand’s message. Influencers can share personal stories or travel experiences.
• Include interactive elements. Incorporate interactive elements such as live demos or interactive exhibits to create immersive experiences.
Consider influencers for roles as cause ambassadors.
Charities are also embracing relationships with influencers to energize their communities and extend their voice to new members. A few years ago, we had the opportunity to collaborate with an organization bringing together thought leaders supporting the eradication of Polio. I experienced firsthand how a charitable cause can go viral with a campaign through storytelling.
Influencers have important voices and can endorse and support a charitable cause by sharing their personal stories of how a charity played a big part in their lives. From fundraising to attracting volunteers, influencers can lead the way for your charity to create a meaningful impact and amplify your brand.
Building trust for big and small brands requires three key elements.
While listening to the giants of marketing at a conference in Miami, it became clear to me that whether you are managing any influencer marketing campaign or a med spa next door, it all comes down to the trust the influencer can evoke from their followers and back into your brand.
The keys to building trust include:
• Consistency: Ensure consistency in messaging and brand values across all influencer collaborations.
• Transparency: Be transparent about your sponsorships and collaborations. Honesty builds credibility and trust with the audience.
• Genuine endorsements: Work with influencers who genuinely use and believe in your product. Forced endorsements can be easily spotted and can damage trust.
In influencers, we trust.
Influencer marketing campaigns can drive higher conversion rates, with 37% of consumers trusting influencer recommendations over traditional advertising methods. Furthermore, businesses are experiencing a $5.2 ROI for every $1 invested in influencer marketing, and 86% of consumers have purchased a product online at least once a year after seeing it promoted by an influencer. Often, consumers are more likely to discover new products or brands through social media, making it a crucial platform for these initiatives.
I have seen a transformation enabling niche startups in the wellness industry to launch brands in months and debut concepts at expos and trade shows. The speed to market and proof of concept is exponential, thanks to social media and influencers.
Wellness is no longer a niche; it’s a movement, and influencers are a huge part of it, making hard work seem seamless as they get procedures done on the screen to get your attention, while thinking about the next soundtrack to appeal to all of your senses.
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