With the rise of online retail impacting players across the industry, luxury brands need to drive deeper and more meaningful connections with their target audiences to stand out from the crowd.
Making these connections is vital if these brands are to build toward future success. Robin Ward, head of sales at influencer platform LTK explains why the answer often lies in long-term influencer (or creator) marketing strategies.
The influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately £13.4 billion in 2022, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, with many luxury brands already reaping the benefits of successful influencer and creator campaigns.
It’s become clear that creators have a unique ability to reach consumers, offering a more personal and trusted experience when compared to a solely brand-led approach. When implemented correctly, creator marketing can yield unparalleled results.
Driving sales through creator-led shopping
After a slow start to 2021, specifically in the American market, luxury fashion retailer Matchesfashion collaborated with LTK’s brand partnerships team to launch a series of creator campaigns at a critical time.
To reverse the downward trend, LTK identified that Matchesfashion needed to drive brand awareness and find more impactful ways to resonate with its global target audience. The objective was clear – encourage US-based shoppers to engage with and purchase from the brand, and in doing so, increase sales from the previous year.
Matchesfashion recognised the power creators and influencers have, particularly those with active and engaged communities who trust their recommendations. This allows them to authentically incorporate a brand into multiple aspects of their lives, offering personalised experiences to their followers and driving greater affinity with consumers.
With this in mind, the luxury fashion brand wanted a tailored, creator-led approach to the campaign. By leveraging LTK’s technology and proprietary data, Matchesfashion was able to find creators that fit the brief, could drive conversion and achieve the target sales.
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Reaching audience and optimising performance
The target audience for the campaign was affluent Americans with an interest in luxury fashion, predominantly female and aged between 25-35 years old.
Using over 10 years of proprietary sales data and performance insights, the LTK team were able to cast a dozen creators that already had a genuine love of the brand. This allowed for a more authentic campaign – the creators were able to deliver unique, creative content that converted sales, as they already had a built-in audience with an affinity for Matchesfashion.
The creators cast was formed of a blend of micro, mid-tier and macro creators. While micro creators have fewer followers, their audiences tend to be more engaged and are more likely to take action. Research has found micro-influencers have up to a 60% increased engagement rate compared to macro-influencers, along with a conversion rate which is more than 20% higher.
LTK worked closely with each creator on their personal approach to the campaign, ensuring they had the tools they needed to maximise results while remaining true to their followers. And, to further optimise performance, real time statistics were monitored throughout the campaign so the LTK team could reactively up-weight spending on top-performing creators to drive further engagement and conversions.
Surpassing campaign expectations
Within the first two weeks of the campaign, sales improved by 32%, with sales on the LTK shopping app increasing by 47% year-on-year. By the end of the campaign, the brand’s target sales had been exceeded by 57%.
The campaign also achieved the objective of driving brand awareness. Reach across channels surged, amounting to 1.3 million engagements – well beyond the initial target of 1 million. Matchesfashion’s market share of the luxury online sales market in the US also grew to 40% as a direct result of the campaign.
The tangible impact creator marketing can have in driving long-term customer affinity and ultimately, performance for luxury brands, is clear.
A glimpse into the future
This is only the beginning. Matchesfashion is already planning further activity with LTK and new creator ambassadors and will be upping its investment into the next influencer campaign by 425%.
As data-backed influencer marketing campaigns continue to deliver unmatched results, more brands are taking notice and positioning creators and influencers as the cornerstone of their marketing strategies.
The world of ecommerce may be vast – and growing all the time – but while influencers and creators continue to provide consumers with a more elegant, personalised and focused shopping experience, they will continue to be the accelerators of the industry and the curators of brands.
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