“Influencer marketing is just a waste of money, it does not convert.”
“There is no way to track the conversion rate from influencers.”
“I will rather spend my money on sponsored ads than influencer marketing.”
If these sound like your thoughts, or the objections you face within your team, you are not alone.
We hear them all the time from some brands whenever we recommend Influencer marketing in the ideation phase of their marketing campaign.
But those views are rooted in an outdated understanding of the digital landscape. As a thought leader in this space, we are telling you that in today’s noisy online world, neglecting Influencer Marketing is one of the biggest missed opportunities for brand growth
Let us walk you through why integrating influencer marketing into your brand campaigns is no longer optional but essential.
Why Adopting Influencer Marketing For Your Brand Campaign Is the New Rule
The reality is that every business, regardless of size, has flooded the internet, creating a deafening level of digital noise.
Forbes explains how consumers are now deeply skeptical about brands that indulge in self-promotion, but are more receptive to real voices and faces they recognize and can relate to.
This fundamental shift is precisely why the demand for innovative digital strategies is increasing, making influencer marketing not just a nice-to-have, but a crucial element of any modern marketing campaign.
Before social media, a single TV or radio ad could reach a majority of the population. But now, people’s attention is fragmented across multiple platforms. Therefore, influencer marketing allows brands to cut through this clutter and reach a highly specific, engaged, and receptive target audience within their niche communities.
Learn more: How to Adapt to the Changing Consumer Behaviours in the Digital Age
Unlike traditional celebrity endorsements, influencers have built genuine, personal connections with their followers. They are seen as real-life experts or trusted friends whose recommendations hold significant weight. When a reputable influencer endorses your brand, consumers will most likely try it out, than with a regular online advertisement.
What Exactly Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is simply the strategic collaboration with popular and relevant voices in your market/industry to promote your brand. Regardless of their tier (macro, micro, or nano, influencers), they are defined by their loyal following and their perceived expertise. In addition, influencers are consumers with deep knowledge about certain subjects.
They use the accessibility of social media to build rapport, establish trust, and ultimately, invite their community to take desired actions. What sets them apart from celebrities is their genuine connection with followers who value their opinions.
Data shows that influencer marketing is fast becoming essential in marketing. In 2018, Google recorded 61,000 searches for the term, with 92% of marketers calling influencer campaigns effective and 86% ready to allocate budgets to them.
Collaborating with influencers can take many forms such as creating authentic and organic content, hosting shows or giveaways, or product reviews, depending on your campaign goals. However, for you to achieve success, you have to clearly understand your campaign objectives and audience to enable you to choose the right influencers and develop a smart strategy.
Learn more: Influencer Marketing Mistakes Brands Should Avoid in 2025
Some Brands That Leveraged Influencer Marketing Successfully
In the African market, several reputable brands across different sectors have successfully harnessed the power of influencer marketing to grow their brand presence, boost sales, and enhance their positioning. Let’s look at some standout brands like House of Lunnette, and Chipper Cash who have used influencers to achieve success.
House of Lunettes
House of Lunettes launched on October 1, 2014, by founder and CEO Akin Olaoye, who envisioned creating Nigeria’s premier eyewear retail chain offering authentic designer sunglasses and optical frames at competitive prices.
The brand began primarily as an e-commerce store (houseoflunettes.com), positioning itself as a reliable source for trendy, quality eyewear in Nigeria’s growing fashion and lifestyle market. But instead of relying solely on sponsored ads, House of Lunettes strategically partnered with influential Nigerian personalities and social media influencers who aligned well with their target audience (fashion-conscious young adults and professionals). This strategy was also to build early brand credibility and adoption.
Some notable influencers included lifestyle and fashion figures like Tacha (Natacha Akide), Maria Chike Benjamin, DJ Jimmy Jatt, Seyi Awolowo, Regina Daniels, Cynthia Nwadiora (Cee-C), and Lilian Esoro, who were signed as brand ambassadors. These partnerships helped humanize and elevate the brand’s image, making designer eyewear aspirational yet accessible.
Source: House of Lunettes Instagram’s Page
House of Lunettes used influencers to create engaging, authentic and organic content showcasing their eyewear in real-life, stylish settings rather than just traditional advertising, thus helping potential customers feel confident about purchasing from a local brand in a market often flooded with counterfeit products.
Results of this influencer-driven strategy were significant, especially in the early years. House of Lunettes grew quickly to become Nigeria’s No. 1 eyewear retail chain, known for quality, authenticity, and style. The influencer collaborations played a vital role in accelerating the brand’s awareness, establishing trust in a competitive market, and driving adoption among consumers seeking premium eyewear.
Chipper Cash
Launching into the African market in 2018, Chipper Cash’s initial offering of free, cross-border, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments successfully addressed the significant issues of cost and speed within Africa’s fragmented financial landscape. However, the effectiveness of the product alone was not enough to achieve widespread adoption in markets where there was a deep lack of trust in institutions. To overcome this, Chipper Cash’s critical scaling strategy involved leveraging prominent cultural ambassadors.
Chipper Cash pursued an aggressive growth strategy by using 360 marketing, including influencer marketing executed by DottsMediaHouse to establish brand credibility and accelerate user adoption. We helped the brand to sign Grammy-winning Nigerian artist Burna Boy as its Global Brand Ambassador, leveraging his hit song “Bank On It“ as the campaign’s theme. The message connected perfectly, creating a powerful link between his music persona and the brand message, positioning Chipper Cash as “a financial app you can bank on.”
[Add Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CcQtM18gY {caption- Chipper’s Bank On It Campaign with Burna Boy}
By tying the campaign to Burna Boy’s huge fan base of young, tech-savvy Africans, the brand gained instant credibility and appeal among users who already relied on digital platforms for financial transactions. The campaign ran across TV, radio, billboards, and social media, giving it both wide reach, increased engagement, and cultural relevance.
The “Bank On It” campaign delivered massive results. It helped Chipper Cash grow its social media following from just over a thousand to hundreds of thousands across Africa, reaching millions of users online and driving a sharp rise in app usage. In addition, the success of these influencer campaigns was evident in Chipper Cash’s rapid user growth, from zero to over 600,000 customers by the end of 2019, and now serves more than 3.5 million users across several African nations including Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Ghana.
Building on this success, Chipper Cash has continued leveraging top-tier influencers and celebrities such as Simi, Ayra Starr, Black Sherif, Patrice Evra, Faridah Nakazibwe, and Sheggz Olusemoto to speak to different audiences across regions. This mix of global names and regional voices made the brand relatable and trustworthy, turning influencer partnerships into a key engine for awareness, growth, and continued customer loyalty.
Why Influencer Marketing Works for Your Brand Campaign
Having seen the immense potential of influencer marketing, let’s explore why integrating it into your brand’s strategy is a worthwhile investment.
Build Lasting Brand Awareness
Influencers offer an authentic way to introduce your brand to millions, overcoming market saturation and generating genuine engagement. Some marketers use influencer marketing primarily to boost awareness, and it works because it feels personal, not promotional.
Precise Targeting
Influencer marketing offers superior targeting by connecting brands with pre-qualified audiences. Influencers have already cultivated a focused following that aligns with a brand’s ideal customer, eliminating the guesswork of traditional advertising. For instance, a fashion blogger promoting a clothing line provides immediate and direct access to consumers with a genuine interest in such products. This method ensures precise targeting, a significant improvement over broad advertising strategies.
Enhanced Credibility
Influencers have something brands spend years trying to build: Credibility and Trust. When they recommend your product, their audience believes it has been tested and approved. That kind of social proof is marketing gold.
Fresh Content Strategy and Engagement
Influencers are basically professional content-creators. Therefore, collaborating with them means your brand gets unique, organic, and authentic content that people trust and engage with more through likes, comments, and shares. Plus, their posts can create valuable user-generated content that your brand can use as social proof.
Increased Conversions and Revenue
Ultimately, trusted influencer promotions lead to more sales. Like you already know, consumers trust influencer recommendations, making them a powerful tool for influencing buying decisions. In fact, studies reveal that 33% of consumers see influencers as their top shopping resource, with influencer marketing ROI reaching as high as 650%.
In a Nutshell
Influencer marketing has gone beyond being just a marketing trend to how consumers make decisions. So, if you are still on the fence, ask yourself this: When was the last time you tried something new because someone you follow or respect online recommended it? We know your answer.
Just to remind you, influencer marketing is not replacing your ads or SEO strategy, it will significantly help to amplify them and give your brand that human feel. By collaborating with the right influencers, your brand can break through today’s crowded market with authentic connections that transform audiences into loyal customers.
So instead of asking “Why do I need influencer marketing?”, start asking “How can I do influencer marketing better?” When integrated effectively with your existing marketing strategies, this approach can help you achieve your objectives more rapidly. And this is where we come in as a media company with a bank of influencers and long-lasting relationships with influencers across different platforms. Let’s help connect you with the right influencers, ensuring your campaign objectives are reached.
This approach, when effectively integrated with your existing marketing strategies, can accelerate the achievement of your objectives. As a media company, we are uniquely positioned to assist with our extensive network of influencers and established relationships across various platforms.
Let us help you create influencer marketing strategies backed by data, creativity, and cultural relevance to ensure your campaign goals are met.
