Wielding influence marketing to drive business: that challenge of rationalising the strategy across the marketing mix

How do you see the role of influencer marketing evolving within the marketing mix?

I see two primary roles for influencer marketing. First, using influence to build broad brand equity—raising awareness, shifting perceptions, strengthening the brand image, and encouraging wider usage. Second, using influence at the bottom of the funnel to drive consideration and purchase decisions. While these roles have existed since the blogging boom 15–20 years ago, influencer marketing is now much more professional. Influencers today create rich content through video and photos, which is crucial as consumer screen time fragments across multiple devices. With traditional TV viewing declining and streaming platforms rising, brands must integrate diverse formats into their marketing mix to remain visible in consumers’ daily lives.

This raises several strategic questions. What is the primary purpose of an influencer strategy? Why choose influencer marketing over another tactic? What specific objectives should we pursue, and how can we measure them? Over the past decade, many objectives have been vague—sometimes adopted simply because competitors are doing it or because appealing KPIs are visible. Traditional TV ads offer clear metrics, but on social media, even though metrics are public, they’re less meaningful without defined objectives.

How should brands think about budget allocation for influencer marketing actions?

If we don’t establish clear intent and rationalise the budget for influencer marketing within the overall mix, the strategy becomes unclear. Sometimes brands run narrow, operational campaigns—for example, a product launch—with specific budget targets like achieving a certain number of likes. However, these isolated efforts may lack a broader strategic vision. Essentially, influencer marketing is often a reallocation of existing budgets rather than an addition. Today’s budgets—originating from TV and pre-communication funds—are now fragmented across social networks and influencer-generated content. The challenge lies in tracking and optimising these fragmented investments.

Then we must ask: Should influencer marketing amplify specific product releases or serve as a continuous tool to build brand equity? The answer depends on whether the goal is short-term business growth or long-term affiliation. Influence, like any strategy, must be aligned with clear objectives, timeframes, and budgets. Additionally, the impact on overall resources is significant— a one-off campaign or an ongoing affiliation program require different levels of time, energy, and expertise. This, in turn, influences whether a brand builds in-house expertise or partners with external agencies.

Increasing allocations to influencer marketing only detract from other channels if the objectives aren’t well defined. Influencer marketing isn’t a magic solution; it requires a clear understanding of the customer experience that a brand intends to offer. Whether the focus is on discovery and brand equity or on conversion depends on the brand's overall strategy.

How do these challenges impact team organisation and structure?

That’s where brand culture and maturity come into play. Mature brands typically have better-integrated systems and organised processes. In contrast, traditional brands may struggle with either overly vertical or excessively horizontal structures, complicating skill transfer. Agencies can introduce agility and gradually help transform organisational structures, especially for brands new to influencer marketing. The key question is whether to risk disrupting what already works or to use external resources to ease the transition.

One challenge we face is that brands often vacillate between internalising and externalising influencer marketing, which creates friction. I’m also concerned that smaller brands try to internalise too much, thinking it will reduce costs. However, delegating can sometimes be more efficient since switching internal resources can be cumbersome.