My Favorite Murder — Our Favorite Influencers
Old fashioned marketing, like snail mail and cold calls, has quickly become outdated in the age of social media. One of the most popular ways of getting the word out about your business is through influencers. It’s in the name, but influencers' main purpose is to influence viewers to buy a certain product.
There are mainly two types of influencers — micro and macro. Micro-influencers are smaller-scale and have less of a following as compared to macro-influencers. Both can be just as influential when it comes to conversion. Smaller brands should focus on using micro-influencers just because this type of campaign can get pretty pricey. It is also imperative to do research into who you want to serve as an influencer to make sure that their ideas align with those of your brand. Cancel culture is very prominent, so doing your research will pay off in the long run, especially because once you lose someone's trust, it is tough to get back.
Using influencers works because consumers are looking for someone or something to trust (Edelman, 2019). If someone you are following says they got whiter teeth by using a certain toothpaste brand, you may feel more inclined to try it compared to seeing it on a commercial.
When thinking of ideal influencers for certain products, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark of the My Favorite Murder podcast comes to mind. The true-crime comedy podcast has a large following, and those who write in telling their “hometown murders” often exclaim how much of a community the podcast has created.
With that being said, the MFM tagline is “Stay sexy and don’t get murdered.” In each episode, the duo always talks about safety and to “fuck politeness” when it comes to situations that make you feel uncomfortable.
The perfect brand that the MFM crew can be influencers for is the Home Security Superstore. Having Karen and Georgia promote self-defense items will be huge, especially because “murderinos” are already aware of items like those found at the Superstore but may be using the “key between the knuckle” method instead.
Having individuals who always talk about staying safe promote items that are meant to keep you safe or give you a greater sense of safety would work very well for the brand. There may even be the opportunity for a collaboration between the two, allowing different designs of these products to make them more appealing.
Karen and Georgia have the perfect personalities for so many influencing opportunities. As mentioned above, there is a true community that has been built around this podcast, and it’s as if everyone is family (or best friends). This is important when it comes to influencing because if you don’t have that level of trust, then the deal won’t work as planned.
Maybe there will be a day where individuals, especially females, don’t have to have these precautions to walk to their car. But, until then, spreading the word on self-defense items and starting the conversation is very important. You never know if being prepared may save your life one day.
