If you have a generous marketing budget, you may be weighing the value of celebrity endorsement vs influencer marketing as you strategize your next campaign. Both have a proven track record of moving the needle and getting consumers excited about products, but which should you choose?

Today, there’s more overlap than ever when it comes to celebrities and influencers, but the Venn diagram of the two isn’t quite a circle. The same can be said for the two marketing techniques. There’s plenty of shared real estate when it comes to running a celebrity endorsement or influencer marketing campaign. But there are still distinctions that separate the two.

You may be asking yourself, so what exactly is the difference between celebrity endorsement and influencer marketing? And which is best for my campaign? We’ll dive into all that and more in this article. First, let’s define our terms.

What is Celebrity Endorsement?

Celebrity endorsement is the practice of using a celebrity to sell a product. A brand leverages their fame to stir up excitement around the offering. The public loves celebrities. We want to believe they’re just like us, and not-so-secretly, we want to be just like them. They’re hot and entertaining and rich and cool! Maybe using the products they use will make us all those things as well. Celebrity endorsement is often aspirational in this way. 

Celebrity endorsement can take many forms. Although, historically it has been a form of traditional marketing. Often a celeb will become “the face” of a brand, like a spokesperson. They’ll be front and center in traditional ads like commercials, and you’ll probably see their face alongside signature products on the brand’s website and socials. They may be present at live events or encouraged to use the product when the paparazzi start snapping photos. 

While successful celebrity endorsement campaigns consider the personal brand of the celebrity, their fame — not their expertise — is what makes these campaigns work. We don’t expect Gigi Hadid to be a soda expert just because she’s the new face of Coca-Cola. But we do love Gigi’s fun-loving, girl-next-door celebrity brand, which might inspire us to grab a Coke for ourselves.

What is Influencer Marketing?

While celebrity endorsement leverages fame, influencer marketing leverages influence. The most successful influencers are the ones who represent a specific niche and can speak with authority on it. Think of beauty influencers who have experimented with as many makeup products as professional makeup artists. Or lifestyle influencers who have a wealth of knowledge on home goods. 

Followers are the prize when it comes to influencer marketing. The most engaged followings are invested in the influencer’s content and above all, they trust their opinion. Influencers know their followers hold them to a high standard, particularly within their niche. So they are incentivized to only market products that they truly believe in and know their followers will love. 

The most successful influencer marketing creates a symbiotic relationship between the influencers, their followers, and the brands they partner with. Influencers make a living marketing products they believe in. Followers are able to make more informed purchases by listening to a trusted source they actually enjoy engaging with. And brands gain new customers, increased sales, and trusted brand partners. Here at The Shelf, this is our bread and butter.

Pros and Cons of Celebrity Endorsement

There are two sides to every coin and marketing strategy. First, let’s talk celebrity endorsement pros. 

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT PROS

Perhaps the greatest benefit of celebrity endorsement is that it increases brand awareness in the long term. Let’s do a thought experiment. Off the top of your head, how many celebrity brand endorsements can you think of? 5? 10? I’m talking about food, drink, and fragrance commercials. Beauty, makeup, and skincare ads. I don’t have to think very hard for the famous faces of several notable brands to pop into my brain. That’s the magic of celebrity endorsement. Brands borrow celebrities’ fame to become memorable.

In the short term, celebrity endorsement also increases sales. Because of the spike in sales and increased brand recognition, celeb endorsement can be a great strategy for introducing a new product or era for your brand. Are you ushering in an edgier vibe? Partner with a bad-boy celebrity. Trying to pivot to target a new audience? Find the celeb crush of your new consumer. The personal brands of the celebrities you choose will influence your brand’s reception and reputation. This can be a positive and a negative, so let’s talk cons.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT CONS

Of course, if the face of your brand goes off the rails and does something embarrassing or harmful, that can affect the reputation of your brand. Even if the celebrity’s behavior has nothing to do with your campaign with them or your products, that association will be cemented in the public’s mind. While all press may be good press for celebrities, that is not necessarily true for brands.

Even if your celebrity is a star student with a stellar reputation, there can still be risks with partnering for an endorsement. For example, if a celebrity is too famous, they can actually overshadow your brand. The ad becomes a commercial for the celeb instead of a commercial for your brand with the celebrity in it. Be selective and realistic about the level of fame and recognition that will work best for your brand. 

Another con for celebrity endorsement can be overexposure. Some celebrities will endorse just about any brand if the money is right. This is a dangerous game for both the celeb and the brands they partner with. Always make sure your celebrity partner isn’t working with any of your direct competitors. And do your due diligence to ensure your brand and campaign goals align with the celebrity’s brand and what they represent to the public. 

Pros and Cons of Influencer Marketing

Now, let’s talk about the nitty-gritty of influencer marketing. The highs and the lows. First, here are some benefits of influencer marketing.

INFLUENCER MARKETING PROS

Influencers have reach. Mega influencers can have followers in the millions, rivaling their celebrity counterparts we talked about in the previous section. And yes, sometimes extensive reach is exactly what a brand needs. But even a smaller, hyper-engaged following can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to influencer marketing. The more engaged an audience, the more true influence an influencer has. Luckily, there’s an influencer for pretty much every audience size and engagement level.

In addition to reach and engagement, influencers have garnered trust from their followers. The marketing power of influencers comes from their niche expertise. They’ve built a name for themselves within a specific niche or industry and their followers trust their opinion on it. This makes influencer marketing a great option for when you want to get super specific on who you’re targeting. 

It’s also important to note that influencer marketing can be done successfully with practically any budget. It can be a much more affordable alternative to celebrity endorsements.

Influencers often do a lot of the creative heavy lifting in their partnerships, too. Instead of a celebrity showing up to read a script or pose for a directed photo, the influencers create their own unique content around their brand partners. This can be great for outsourcing parts of your campaign. 

INFLUENCER MARKETING CONS

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and roses in the influencer marketing game. With great influence comes great responsibility. Influencer selection can make or break a campaign. And because influencers often concept and create their own content for campaigns, you have to be sure you’ve partnered with a reliable influencer who truly understands, respects, and aligns with your brand. A less-than-stellar influencer partner can do a number on your brand rep.

Influencer marketing comes with less control than a celebrity endorsement. You have to collaborate with influencers to make your brand shine. If you’re a control freak who needs every ad scripted and every shot tilted just so, influencer marketing may be a challenge.

Which is Better for My Campaign?

Well, that depends. If you’re looking to make a big memorable splash across a wide range of audiences and you have a healthy budget, celebrity endorsement may be worthwhile. 

If you’re working with a scrappier budget, hoping to target a specific niche audience or infuse your social channels with some fresh creativity, influencer marketing may make more sense. 

Remember, whenever you’re making a fundamental marketing decision, like celebrity endorsement vs influencer marketing, it’s essential that you go back to your goals. Ask yourself, what are my specific goals for this campaign? Who will better help me achieve them? An influencer or a celebrity?

Can I Use Both?

Why not! In today’s media landscape, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between celebrities and influencers. The basic rule of thumb is that celebrities gain their fame through traditional media channels. Think movies, TV, and  modeling. And influencers gain their recognition through social media and organic posts. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, any corner of the internet. 

In a culture where we’re constantly on our phones consuming a combination of media ranging from the traditional to the alternative, that distinction doesn’t always mean much. The Kardashians are celebrities for sure, they’ve been on our TVs since 2007. But they’re clearly influencers as well. 

Like I said before, there’s definitely some overlap in the celebrity endorsement vs influencer marketing Venn diagram. If you have the budget and it aligns with your goals, you can certainly do both. This could look like having celebrities create influencer-style content for social media or working with a combination of celebrities and influencers across traditional and digital mediums.

Enviable Celebrity Endorsement Example

She’s pregnant. Fashionable. Fearless. She’s freaking RIHANNA. And she’s sporting Louis Vuitton. That’s it. That’s the ad. And that’s all it needs to be. Because who doesn’t look at this and say, “I want to be just like her?”

Inspiring Influencer Marketing Example

The internet’s BFF and favorite coffee girly partnered with one of my go-to coffee shops in LA to create a signature drink, The Anna. The campaign partners with La La Land Kind Cafe and Spotify to celebrate Anna’s new coffee shop playlist on the streaming service. 

Anna’s followers love her coffee content, so they’re likely to try her signature drink and listen to the playlist she enjoys while she sips her own brews. This ad may not give the same wow factor as the above visual of Rihanna, but given Anna’s history and relationship with her audience, it’s sure to be effective. 

Influence and Endorsement in Conclusion

At the end of the day, consumers want to make purchases from brands they love and trust. Sometimes they find their way to these brands by way of their favorite actress starring in a commercial for them. And sometimes consumers seek out these brands by watching influencer content that plugs the best of the best. 

Either way, consumers want to be entertained by the marketing and satisfied with the products. Celebrity endorsement and influencer marketing can be great avenues to do just that. We hope this answered all your questions concerning the differences between the two and which is right for you.

If you’d like help dreaming up your next celebrity endorsement or influencer marketing campaign, schedule a strategy call with us today. Our experts will happily walk you through the benefits of each approach as they relate to your specific goals and needs. 

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