For more than a decade, legacy baby products brand Johnson & Johnson was embroiled in several lawsuits. The company was accused of using cancer causing substances namely asbestos in its baby talcum powder. Earlier this year, the company finally agreed to pay $8.9 billion settlement fees over the course of twenty five years to individual and family members of victims who developed cancer as a result of prolonged use of the product. The lawsuit not only brought a big financial dent to the company but also loss of goodwill in the market, which had a direct impact on the sales of the product. In 2018, the company witnessed a 20% decline in sales and the company's management admitted to being complacent and not upgrading their products to be more natural, paraben and sulfate free. In the last 5 years, the company has gone all out to re-invent and relaunch the product so as to meet the current demands of the customer. At the same time, they have revamped their PR strategy, by making influencer marketing an internal component for marketing and advertising. 

A case study in itself, Johnson & Johnson India social media strategy, in particular influencer marketing content has become a talking point for marketers. The campaigners intelligently relied on visual storytelling with the help of influencers and celebrities and developed content that resonated with new age parents. The campaign was received very well, which brings us to the effectiveness of influencer PR strategy in the overall scheme of things. 

Influencer marketing is a new-age digital PR. Unlike the traditional PR, influencer PR strategy brings in more credibility and authenticity to the marketing tone.  Taking the discussion further, here are five pointers why influencer marketing should be a default strategy for PR- 

# 1 Best Way to Achieve Positive Branding 

Most companies develop PR strategies for positive branding and positioning. Digital PR in the form of influencer marketing is a good way to achieve that. Influencers often build strong relationships with their followers, who trust their recommendations and opinions. By collaborating with influencers who align with the values, brands can enhance their reputation and credibility among the influencers followers. Influencers excel at storytelling and creating narratives around brands, products, or experiences. By partnering with influencers, brands can tap into their storytelling skills to shape a positive brand narrative. This helps create a compelling and memorable image of the brand in the minds of their followers.

# 2 Help Reach the Untapped Audience  

Besides image building, the role of any kind of PR activity is also to reach out to the maximum people. Influencer marketing as a digital PR strategy presents that opportunity. Brands can work with multiple influencers at a time and reach out to their audience all at once. Influencers often specialize in specific niches and have dedicated followings within those niches. By partnering with influencers who cater to a specific target audience, but operate in various industry verticals, brands can make their way into the untapped audience segment. It is a great way to reach people who are not yet familiar with the brands through other marketing channels. 

# 3 Ideal Form of Engagement Model

The customer today is very different from before the age of social media. There is enough evidence to prove that sponsored advertisements don't work any more. The main reason for this is that people have stopped relying on self-patronizing content. They rather hear the reviews of the product or service from the third party than the brand themselves. Therefore, influencer PR strategy offers a better engagement model. Customers get direct reviews about the product in the form of a visual content. They either like or dislike the product which is evident from the comment section. Thanks to the real time engagement model of influencer marketing, companies can fix their PR strategy. 

# 4 Facilitates User-Generated Content (UGC)

One of the major tenets of PR is to increase the visibility of the brand. With user-generated content or UGC, influencers can facilitate their followers to spread the word around in the form of using relevant hashtags, sharing the post across various platforms and so on. It is the best way to get valuable social proof.  It also goes on to reveal that real people are engaging with the brand and even sharing the content with other people who in turn will drive traffic to the website or boost sales. This will be determined by the goal of the influencer PR strategy. 

# 5 Measuring Results Is Made Easy

Influencer marketing is entirely data driven and is a very organized marketing strategy. There are ample tools and influencer marketing agencies that offer brands advanced dashboards where every activity can be tracked and measured. Every metric of the campaign which includes audience comment, impressions, likes, shares is efficiently captured. Most of these influencer marketing tools are built on AI, which also can do predictive analysis and sentiment analysis of the audience.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing has to be an integral part of digital PR strategy. It prioritizes authentic enhancement that has a trickling effect on other PR initiatives. If brands want to drive meaningful conversations and strengthen the overall impact of brand messaging, it is important to build a strong influencer marketing campaign and select genuine influencers.

We at galleri5 can help brands do that. We are an award winning influencer marketing company that has helped brands from across genres achieve profound results. For more information, book a demo today!

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