3 KOL Marketing has a Strong ROI

3 KOL Marketing has a Strong ROI

Business should have a relevant key performance indicator before they consider consolidating Key Opinion Leaders’ marketing strategies. Some of the key performance indicators to be considered include sales conversion, total reach and number of clicks. They provide an insight into the target customers (Detlev Zwick, 2014). A significant Return on Investment (ROI) can be achieved by choosing relevant KOL in reaching the target audience. According to the survey Mediakix(2018) data, it shows that 89% of the businesses suggested that KOL and ROI provided significant comparison in marketing strategies compared to the other channels.

#4 KOL marketing importance on location-based Technology

Instagram influencers include location on their posts. KOLs can take time and analyze offline events and implements mechanisms on how to express in-store products on several platforms resulting in a higher advertisement. The company, in turn, benefit from massive sales hence benefiting from competitive advantage. For example, TikTok has many followers, especially in China. For Xiaohongshu, the “nearby” function helps to search for content with precise location (Gershon Feder, 2016). Xiaohongshu provides a geographical location. Location-based Technology, together with KOL marketing tools, creates exposure and increase the online-to-offline shape of a business.

#5 KOL Affordability

Influencers charge different prices to the companies depending on the KPIs, which states the KOLs prices. Interest of the KOLs on the specific brand also determines setting prices for the products (Guido Grüne, 2017). Alternatively, most companies appoint KOLs as brand ambassadors for their products, which is a new strategy in the marketing industry. However, Bresser(2013) states that brand ambassadors can be an expensive strategy for SMEs because it involves high capital input, especially for celebrities. Therefore, KOLs are more economical than celebrities, and their fee is affordable, especially for small enterprises.

Types of KOL marketing in China.

They include user-generated content (UGC) and promotional material. Marketers provide UGC with the content and specific product to be advertised. UGC develops relevant content that helps in marketing the product. Influencers repost promotional materials developed by marketers. For example, if the business wants to work with several influencers, the format of the promotional materials is usually similar to each other (Panos Mourdoukoutas, 2015). In addressing marketing issues, the following ethical issues are considered in an advertisement.

Ethical issues in marketing

Before addressing ethical issues related to advertisement, it is important to look at principles that provide guidelines for advertisement ethics.

Principles of Advertising Ethics

There are eight principles that define the effectiveness of advertisement ethics. First, advertisement has a common goal in providing authentic information with a high degree of ethical standards to the consumers. Truth, accuracy and transparency of a piece of information are adhered to by all marketers (Panos Mourdoukoutas, 2015). Advertising and marketing information is mandated to create and disseminate commercial information to the public without compromising the customer’s integrity. It promotes the professionalism of a specific company. Third, Rousseau(2014)sated that advertisers should provide a distinction between editorial content, entertainment and news.

Fourth, advertisers are supposed to disclose material conditions to promote transparency, such as receipt of free products and payments. Fifth, fair treatment to the target consumer should be adhered to without compromise. For example, advertisers should filter their information to make sure it is not misleading to different demographics (Thomas Maak, 2013). Sixth, Andy Bruce(2013) maintained that marketers should respect consumers’ personal privacy while disseminating their information. The seventh principle states that advertisements should be in line with legal requirements of the state.some of the regulations include: food and drug policy, federal trade commission and regulatory bodies. Finally, according to Michael Del Gigante(2011) stated that Ads-on should be ethically developed to safeguard the interests of the consumers.

Advertisement ethical issues

Advertisement techniques employed by several companies determine the purchasing power of the consumer. For example, sexual stereotyping ads may affect consumers negatively and decline the purchase of certain products (Andy Bruce, 2013). The following seven ethical issues are important for marketers. They include the following.

1. Advertisements for vulnerable groups
2. Cultural concerns in advertisements
3. Comparative advertisements
4. Subliminal advertisement
5. Deception in advertisement
6. Advertising controversial products.

Advertisements targeting vulnerable groups

Companies create motivating advertisements that attract consumers to purchase their brands even if the customer had not planned to purchase a certain product. Advertisements targeting children should focus on cultural formations and socialization. This is because the content displayed to children in the early stages affects their cognitive level either positively or negatively in the future (Blokdyk, 2017). For example, McDonald’s food outlets provided burgers to children who purchased toys. In such an analogy, children will develop interests for burgers, and they will buy more. Children are more attracted to food advertisements than focusing on the nutrition aspect only. In research conducted by Atkin(1975) showed that children have a great influence on the purchases because they lead to impulse buying. Advertisements targeting youth should be well created. For example, an aggressive character portrayed in some ads, especially in beverage companies, should be filtered because they will inflict the same character to youths.

Cultural advertising

Advertisements should respect the culture, beliefs, norms and values of a targeted region. Different regions have different cultures that should not be compromised by the marketers. Currently, (Bresser, 2013) marketers create ads that promote an impressive foreign culture that attracts the majority of the consumers. For example, Zong telecom company is an international brand that focuses on kids’ advertisements. The company portrays boys in need of a special, which is obviously a girl. Such advertisements should be pulled down because they promote teenage relationships, which is culturally unethical.

Comparative advertisement

Companies use comparative and competitive advantages more often in their advertisements, which leads to unethical and unfair competition. For example, companies compare their brands with others from a different company without naming their names, which is unethical for such advertisement (Detlev Zwick, 2014). Advertisement should not target the other company, but they should only focus on their brands only. However, Bresser(2013) stated that it is unethical for a company to integrate logos, symbols and names of the competitive companies.

Ethical issues associated with a subliminal advertisement

It is illegal and unethical for company to provide false information features (Gershon Feder, 2016) of a particular product. A deceptive advertisement provides explanations of a product which are not met when the consumer purchase such a product. Fraudulent is more common n telemarketing and direct marketing.

Advertising controversial products

Research from (Guido Grüne, 2017) shows that marketers are currently advertising products that were unacceptable in a given culture. Such advertisements include feminine hygiene and foot problem advertisements, which affect consumers negatively. Key principles for successful KOL marketing assist

using the tool efficiently, and it’s further supported various case studies

Key principles of KOL maximization and case studies

Key opinion leaders have promoted the growth of many (Panos Mourdoukoutas, 2015) many companies in china. The principles are based on the demand and supply of the products. They include:

First, Choose real influence over follower account.marketers should evaluate the audience engagement rate of the influencers before recommending particular KOL as your brand advertisement. Consider the profile of the audience to determine whether they will be of great benefit to the company. Therefore, the company chose a relevant KOL

case study: JD.com’s Fashion crossover with Chi Zhang. JD.com collaborated with the designer company Chi Zhang company in February 2019. Jessica(2020) states that the two teamed up in e-commerce sales. They focused on fashion, especially streetwear. JD.com launched a multimedia campaign on streetwear. Chi Zhang garments attracted youth lifestyles.

Second, (Kumar 2018)choose the right fit over cool and happening. Marketers should conduct a survey on the KOLs visions and determine whether its in alignment with yours. Effective influencers should have a similar objective with the company, as explained in the case study above. Third, choose efficient scaling over mega reach. Preeti Kumar(2018) explains that brands should focus more on maximizing the longevity of the influencers more than considering the number of influencers, as explained in the following case study.

Case study: Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, has been focusing on Li Jiaqi for stream promotion. Alibaba sold 15,000 lipsticks within five minutes in 2019(Jessica,2020). Live streaming created new opportunities, and Alibaba was able to make impressive sales within a short time. Literary, many items were sold within a second. The target group was women. Therefore focusing on the lifetime of the KOL increases ROI (Rapp, 2019).

Finally, co-create, openness and vulnerable principle through promoting the natural style of the brand by the KOL rather than using Micro-managing.

In conclusion, KOL is an important tool for successful business marketing. However, marketers should adhere to ethical issues in advertising to prevent the exploitation of consumers and competitive companies. KOL principles assist in making the best decision on marketing strategy.