DMEXCO survey: influencer marketing trends

Influencer marketing: almost indispensable

Everyone in the industry will agree that there’s no escaping influencer marketing.

Prof. Dominik Matyka, Chief Advisor of DMEXCO, knows how important influencer marketing is: “Influencer marketing is now a billion-figure business across the world and is becoming increasingly differentiated. The majority of influencers can’t make a living from it alone, but the top content creators have built their own brands and/or media businesses. In addition to traditional publishers, these independent content creators are now a credible and extremely efficient addition to the marketing mix of many advertisers.”

Dirk Freytag, President of the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW), adds: “Influencer marketing is now undisputedly one of the standard tools for content marketing. Especially when it comes to addressing young target groups, we’re seeing how influencers can effectively complement and enhance traditional digital channels. Thanks to the work of many digital agencies, this part of the digital ecosystem is noticeably also becoming increasingly professionalized, even though the spending volume is modest compared to display advertising.”

Influencer marketing trends of today and tomorrow

The influencer business is booming and offers huge opportunities. Our expert survey gets to the bottom of the phenomenon: What are the current influencer marketing trends, and is there an influencer marketing strategy that beats all others? What influencer marketing budget is being allocated? What does the collaboration between companies, advertisers, and influencers look like? The participants in the survey comprised representatives from highly acclaimed agencies that specialize in boosting the influencer marketing activities of companies – making them absolute specialists in marketing products or services with the help of influencers and content creators:

• Jan Homann, CEO of EQOLOT
• Claudia Freitag, CEO of KABU Artist Management
• Marie Walowsky, COO of lookfamed
• Björn Wenzel, Founder & CEO of Lucky Shareman
• Helge Ruff, CEO of OneTwoSocial
• Katharina Frömsdorf, CEO of Studio71
• Laetitia Marie Ecklé, CEO of The Influencer
• Tobias Koppenhöfer, Managing Director of tkCommunications
• Nadja Vogel, CSO of We Are Social
• Josef Raasch, CEO of WLO.SOCIAL

DMEXCO survey on the influencer marketing trends of 2023: here’s what lies in store!

The experts surveyed are generally seeing more demand for influencers in the advertising sector this year and for 2024. At the same time, budgets have risen, which has in turn increased clients’ expectations.

The representatives of the influencer marketing agencies are observing a clear trend: content creators are now being considered not just based on the topics they cover, but also increasingly according to the size of their following, with advertisers asking the following question: Are nano-, micro-, mid-tier, or macro-influencers more suitable for my marketing strategy? Aspects such as target group characteristics, targeting precision, reach, and authenticity form part of the decision-making process. After all, if you’re going to invest in influencers, then you want to make sure you’re going to get the best ROI, right?

According to our experts, the biggest budgets are being allocated to the fashion and beauty industries, which should come as no surprise. However, the financial and pharmaceutical sectors aren’t far behind and are gaining momentum every day. When asked what platform offers the greatest potential for growth, nearly all of the agencies agreed that TikTok is and remains the big player. Find out why in our survey, which tells you everything you need to know about influencer marketing.