Have you ever purchased something because a celebrity promoted it? Most of our answers would be yes. This is actually the case with beauty, fashion, and lifestyle brands. With the changing consumer behaviour and market trends, most companies are using celebrity marketing and advertising with celebrities as a strong weapon to reach their audience.
This marketing type involves famous personalities like actors, singers, sportspersons, and others. Choosing the right person plays a major role in celebrity marketing because that particular person will create a face value for your brand.
Celebrity marketing is more than just a promotion or attracting the audience and it also helps in building a strong relationship with your customers. Here, let us understand more about celebrity marketing and know what makes a celebrity brand successful.
Today’s celebrity endorsements: what are they?
If you are looking to advertise your next campaign to raise brand awareness, you're at the proper location! Celebrities were mostly recognized for many years as singers, athletes, bestselling authors, movie and television stars, and business executives. However, the rise in endorsements in recent years has brought about significant changes in the celebrity industry, making endorsement by celebrities much more diverse and impactful than ever before.
Originally, famous people seemed to endorse most of their products through television commercials, newspaper articles, or other traditional media. Today, brand celebrities endorse products much more frequently and have a greater impact on social media.
Read More: How to Get Celebrity Endorsements?: A Step-by-Step Guide to Boosting Your Brand
Why are celebrities used in marketing?
1. Instant recognition
Celebrities come with instant recognition, allowing brands to immediately draw attention in a crowded marketplace. Their influence and credibility can significantly enhance brand trust and appeal.
2. Building trust and credibility
Consumers often trust celebrities they admire and may extend that trust to the products or services their favourite celebrities are selling, leading to increased brand enquiry.
3. Connecting with specific people
Celebrities help brands reach specific groups of people because fans typically constitute the brand's ideal audience. Celebrities can create an emotional connection and make brands loveable with a celebrity endorsement.
4. Social proof
Popular celebrities endorsing the product can give social proof to the consumers; they normally think that if a likeable or respected person is using it, then that product is good.
Advantages of Hiring a Celebrity to Market Your Brand
According to reports, there is an average sales growth of 4% from celebrity endorsement. There are, however, other quite apparent benefits of celebrity-driven marketing campaigns besides the increase in sales.
1. Increase brand loyalty
If a celebrity does a brand endorsement for the product or service sold by you, it can legitimize your brand's reputation and establish trust in your business. Once people see famous personalities with a particular product, they will generally show a favorable response because famous people are some sort of style makers. This will work best when a particular famous personality endorses a product relating to his or her profession.
2. Increase brand awareness
Successful and creative celebrity endorsements can really “make a splash” among your target audience, creating instant recognition and positively increasing the brand awareness
3. Increase your sales
Just because people, consciously or unconsciously, want to imitate the behaviour of one of the famous celebrities like Shreya Kalra, they buy or use products advertised by her—to be a part of her success and prosperity.
Does celebrity endorsement enhance sales?
When an endorsement by celebrities is made, that can be enough to boost a product's appeal. We all understand how social media helps sell products through these celebrity endorsements. We catch a glimpse of the lives of our favourite celebrities, and when they mention or endorse a brand, we can feel the need to purchase the product too which is similar to purchasing a part of their lifestyle.
Bollywood celebrities, cricket personalities, and TV personalities have immense influence over the shopping decisions of the people. Brands understand this scenario and, therefore, partner with those celebrities to promote their products.
The brand celebrity endorsement business is flourishing and diversifying in today's digital era. They personalize the ads according to certain locations and demographics for a better achievement of reaching the target audience.
The expanding number of customers in India is one of the reasons the industry is growing. More people equate to more customers, hence more sales. On the other hand, celebrity endorsements allow businesses to access more people because of digital marketing and other social media activities.
How to contact celebrities for brand promotion?
Popular Celebrities like Shefali Bagga are represented by a dedicated team of managers, agents, publicists, and more. It is very important to conduct good research to identify who represents her and determine whom you will need to communicate with.
Celebrities and their teams often have a website that includes a contact form or an email address for inquiries. Optimize your outreach by presenting the brand properly and preparing a well-thought-out proposal that outlines your expectations from celebrities and explains what specifically makes them connect with your brand.
Understand that their main concern is the image of the celebrities with endorsements they represent, so make this part of your pitch. Your proposal should also include your budget and your needs (when, where, how long, etc.) to present a complete picture of the project. Also, mention the deliverables such as which format, where will you deliver, and how long will the campaign last?
Also Read: How to Hire a Celebrity for Your Brand | Everything You need to Know
What will be the future of celebrity endorsements in a constantly changing marketing landscape?
1. Influencer marketing
The marketing world is always changing like whatever consumers expect and prefer. As technology grows, so do the new platforms, and it keeps changing in the way through which people love to consume content and ways to connect with brands and this can be done with the help of influencer marketing.
2. Strategic celebrity branding
Although celebrity endorsements are a good marketing tool, these marketers are kept fresh by their clients' support in sticking by them when trends change. Finding contemporary uses for celebrity and advertising, empowering customers to create content, and using underutilized innovations like enhanced reality are all part of doing the celebrity branding strategically..
3. Connect with the target audience
Brands can successfully promote their products to their target audience by paying attention to consumer behaviour and using advertisements by celebrities, together with other displaying methods, such as celebrity promotions. Remember that celebrity branding may not always be suitable for every business, but when done smartly and strategically, it can be the real game-changer that could help take your brand to the next level.
Conclusion
Celebrity endorsements cannot take the place of thorough brand development procedures. Companies need to be particularly careful to leverage all available channels of communication instead of relying solely on brand celebrity endorsements as branding continues to develop as a profession. Guess what? We provide special opportunities such as including personalized celebrity birthday wishes and video messages for people who are looking to connect with their favourite brand celebrity.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. How can I choose the best and desired celebrity for my campaign or event?
One must carefully consider the following:
1. Campaign message: The celebrity's image should resonate with your campaign's message.
2. Track record: Research the celebrity's background and history with previous endorsements that the celebrity has done.
3. Budget: Consider the expenses to engage the celebrity.
4. Geographic considerations: If your brand is global, select a celebrity with good recognition across regions or one who can resonate with people in your area.
Q2. What are the risks of using a celebrity for branding?
Using a celebrity for branding brings a lot of risks also, for example;
1. Overshadowing: The celebrity's personality and popularity may take attention completely away from the brand or product.
2. Overexposure: If a celebrity does endorsements for too many brands, they lose credibility, and the influence they may have over people.
3. Risk to reputation: A celebrity's personal life and actions are usually something the public and media pay close attention to. When a celebrity gets involved in scandal, or legal trouble, or says something controversial, it will reflect poorly on the brand.
Q3. Can small businesses afford celebrity endorsements?
Yes, small businesses can use celebrity advertising, and it can be a great way to market their products.
1. First, think about your budget. Figure out how much you can spend and what you hope to gain from it. Pick a celebrity that fits your needs and keep your business’s budget and requirements in mind.
2. It's also important to check your return on investment (ROI) from any celebrity ads to see how much profit you make.
3. Small brands can begin by working with Nano and Micro influencers to create trust with their audience.
Q4. How can social media amplify celebrity campaigns?
Social media can help promote celebrity campaigns in several ways:
1. Reaching more people: Social media can connect celebrities with a wider audience, even if they are not being paid to endorse a product or event.
2. Boosting brand visibility: Working with a celebrity on social media campaigns can enhance brand visibility and interaction.
3. Encourage sharing: Try to inspire the celebrity to share his experience about your brand on social media sites.
Q5. What should be included in a celebrity endorsement contract?
A celebrity endorsement contract must have the following elements:
1. Payment: This includes the amount of money or products being exchanged, along with any extra perks like royalties, service access, or promotional opportunities.
2. Morals Clause: Known as a “detrimental behaviour” clause, this lets either party end the contract if the celebrity does something that damages the brand’s image.
3. Rights of Use: The terms of the contract should clearly state how the business will endorse the celebrity at its advertising and promotional events and use their name and picture.
4. Obligations and Accountabilities: The contract may specify what the celebrity must or must not do when promoting a product, such as refraining from performing at events sponsored by rival companies.
