Influencer Marketing Today and its Relevance for the Future

Influencer marketing has hit the mainstream. Many brands globally are aware of the power of this marketing and communications tool, but only a few know how to instrumentalized it strategically. In the frame of this Master Thesis the author has conducted an explorative research making use of expert interviews to test the relevance of influencer marketing for the German luxury cosmetics and fragrance industry. Furthermore, the information collected in the interviews are giving insights on platform preference and key performance indicators used when measuring the success of a collaboration. The main finding of this study is, that influencer marketing is relevant to the industry and will stay relevant in the future. Based on this there are several theoretical and managerial implications made to give advice to brands from the industry to stay competitive in the future and cope with challenges that are associated with influencer marketing.