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I don’t think there is a Small Business owner or Brand Manager alive who wouldn’t jump at the chance to have their product or service endorsed by a celebrity personality. Instant exposure, massive Brand awareness, and a flood of new customers and revenue are the dream! The reality however is not quite as idealistic. Celebrity endorsement may indeed expose your Brand to a large audience of fans, however they may not be a target consumer. If you should be in the fortunate position to work with a celebrity Brand or endorsement, your job as an effective marketer is not over… it has just begun!
I know of what I speak. I was fortunate to work with one of the powerhouse Brands of our generation, The Kardashian brand. Regardless of the celebrity who’s tied to your product or service, as a Brand Manager or Business Owner you must be very savvy at sourcing and engaging your target consumer base. A celebrity endorsement assures you exposure to their fans, not to your potential customers… there’s a difference!
Browse through any social media platform and you’ll find a plethora of celebrity fan pages. Some are “official” and some are unofficial but regardless, millions of fans are likely being accessed with every blog post, Facebook update, or tweet. Now browse through those same social media platforms and look for your favorite brand name car manufacturer, household item or apparel manufacturer. The level of engagement with consumers is likely far less impressive.
Few people will ever know the feeling of reaching millions of Twitter users or Facebook fans with one sentence and a push of a button. From the perspective of an Online Marketing Expert, that experience did not assure me success in my efforts. In fact, it made my job more difficult and challenged even my most proven and tested marketing theories and strategies. I may have had the reach most marketing professionals dream about, but that just made finding the needle in the haystack that much more difficult.
You may have sensed a reoccurring theme throughout many of my blog posts… if you can’t sell your product or service to a consumer yourself, no one will be able to do it for you. The challenge lies in identifying your target consumer and enticing them to make a purchase or act on a call to action. Whether it is Affiliate or Social Media Marketing, Direct Response or Email Marketing, PPC or Celebrity endorsements the exposure to an audience is not what determines your success. Your ability to close the sale is!
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