As we talk with customers each day about their marketing goals and social media activities, we're constantly reminded of just how confusing the marketing space has become and how many new phrases and buzzwords we now contend with on a daily basis. Back when I started my career in marketing and advertising, the definitions were much simpler and largely based in “push” methodologies. Today, it’s more complex and “pull” methodologies have grown in importance as 82% of Americans ignore online ads and 50% of Europeans and Americans will be blocking them altogether by 2018.

According to a recent study, you are 475 times more likely to survive a plane crash than to click on a banner ad or, as my boss would prefer to point out, you are 112 times more likely to sign up for and complete Navy SEAL training than to click on a banner ad.

A growing lack of receptivity to advertising and inability to control the consumer journey has signaled the death knell for advertising within the next 10 years, but I’m bullish on the demise of advertising. I believe that, as consumers avoid ads and increasingly distrust brands, the industry is evolving into new ways of creating and leveraging influence through vs. to our target buyers.

There are entire business models, large networks, platforms and cottage industries that have come about to support any number of today’s marketing and advertising specialties and sub-specialties, one of them being influencer marketing, a form of advertising that is proven to drive more than twice the sales of paid advertising, and its sibling, advocate marketing. 

With this evolution comes the need for marketers to not just keep up, but to try their best to stay ahead of the consumer, leveraging technology-enabled services to keep the workflow and implementation simple enough to ensure they are being consistent, effective and efficient.   

To help simplify the process of keeping up, VizSense has created an infographic that breaks down key aspects of influencer marketing and advocate marketing. This infographic shares headlines about what it is, when to use it, do’s and don’ts and best practices for using influencer and advocate marketing to build brand awareness and revenue for your product(s).

For the full detail and critical steps to follow when building your influencer and advocate marketing program, I encourage you to read our latest eBook, Your Guide to the Three Essential Elements of Influencer Engagement. This was designed to provide simple steps to help you, the marketer, develop an influencer marketing program.

Also, I encourage you to register for VizSense's Influencer Tradecraft Workshop where you can learn how to discover, understand and engage your most credible influencers. 

Finally, to learn more about how VizSense is solving and simplifying the influencer marketing conundrum for today’s most visionary brands, corporations and agencies, contact us at fireworks@vizsense.com.