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SWOT

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Situation analysis of Gymshark- Internal & External analysis, Competitor analysis, Consumer analysis, SWOT and company current situation.

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Gymshark Official Store | Gym Clothes & Workout Wear | Gymshark

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Unlock your full potential with our game-changing gym clothes. Shop workout clothes & activewear for the gym, running & everything in-between.

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gymshark.com is ranked #197 for Shopping/Clothing and #14477 Globally. Get a full report of their traffic statistics and market share.

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LuluLemon

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NIKE

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Explore popular trends in women's clothing at Nike.com. Free delivery with NikePlus & free returns for 30 days on your Nike women's clothing.

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Crep Protect, Gymshark, Wed2b, Boxpark, Chi Chi London, Skinnydip and End are among those named as Britain's private companies with the fastest-growing sales.

Footwear accessories business Crep Protect was named number two in a list of the UK's private companies with the fastest-growing sales in The Sunday Times Fast Track league table for 2018.

Crep Protect won the award for Best Innovation at the Drapers Footwear Awards 2016.

London-based Crep Protect had a 190.74% annual sales rise over the last three years, up to £27.5m for the year to 28 February.

Sportswear brand Gymshark was named number 12 on the list, with sales of £103m in the year to 31 July, up 127.8% over the last three years.

Milton Keynes-based wedding dress retailer Wed2b came in at number 32 on the list, with sales up 81.68% over the last three years.

Retail developer Boxpark was number 26 on the list, while womenswear business Chi Chi London was number 49 and accessories business Skinnydip at 51.

Menswear independent retailer End was named 69 on the list.

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Which are the UK's fastest-growing private fashion firms?

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Crep Protect, Gymshark, Wed2b, Boxpark, Chi Chi London, Skinnydip and End are among those named as Britain's private companies with the fastest-growing sales. Footwear accessories business Crep Protect was named number two in a list of the UK's private companies with the fastest-growing sales in The Sunday Times Fast Track league table for 2018.

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Casually clad twentysomethings clutching laptops are enjoying the spring weather when Drapers arrives at fitness clothing brand Gymshark's new headquarters in Solihull, just outside Birmingham. The 42,000 sq ft building is home to space-age nap pods, a virtual reality games area, a hairdresser's salon and, naturally, a gym. Instagram-worthy slogans such as "Work hard, stay humble" and the cheekier "Don't be a dickhead" adorn the monochrome walls. It is the dream office for a fitness-focused millennial workforce.

Gymshark moved into the custom-built base from its former home in nearby Redditch last month. GSHQ, as the building is known, is a milestone on the brand's journey from teenage start-up to a retail force to be reckoned with. While a student at Aston University in 2012, then 19-year-old Ben Francis founded Gymshark with his friend, Lewis Morgan. Francis did not complete his studies, and instead choose to focus on the business. Morgan left to pursue other opportunities in 2016.

The brand is known for its affordable, figure-sculpting gym gear for men and women. Trend-focused products come in technical fabrics - seamless ombré women's leggings and sports bras have proved a hit for spring 18. Retail prices on its transactional website range from £20 for vests to £80 for parkas.

Today, Gymshark employs more than 160 people and is headed by chief brand officer Francis and chief executive officer Steve Hewitt, who joined in 2014.

"We built this place for two reasons," explains Hewitt. "The first part is about our guys coming into work and being wowed every morning. We want to give the team a facility where they can maximise the talent they have. The second part is about recruitment. If we're going to move to the next phase, we need to attract and recruit world-class talent."

Turnover for the 12 months to 31 July 2017 more than trebled by 217% year on year to £40.5m, compared with £12.7m for 2015/16, and is set to hit £100m for its current financial year.

Profit before tax rocketed to £8.2m for 2016/17, up from £1.1m the previous year. This earned Gymshark the number 46 spot on research company Fast Track's list of the 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits in 2017. With total sales growth of 112% over three years, Gymshark is also number 12 on Fast Track's 2017 list of companies with the fastest-growing sales - which it topped in 2016 with three-year sales growth of 193%.

"It went straight in at number one on our Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 ranking in 2016," says Richard Tyler, editorial director at Fast Track. "The City's retail analysts think the company Ben and Steve have built is one of the most innovative retailers they have seen for a long time."

Analysts are not the only ones who are impressed: Gymshark took home the award for Best Pureplay Etailer - Turnover Under £50m at the Drapers Digital Awards last week.

Gymshark has carved itself a niche in the crowded sportswear market by building a relationship with its customers that stretches beyond just clothing. It understands precisely what its core demographic of fitness-addicted 16-to-25-year-olds want, as well as who inspires them.

We want our team to be as accessible as possible to the wider Gymshark community

Ben Francis

It has created a highly engaged following through its network of fitness influencers. These "Gymshark Athletes" include social media stars Robin Gallant (669,000 Instagram followers), Nikki Blackketter (1.8 million) and Steve Cook (2 million). They promote the brand via social media content, and travel the world with Gymshark to meet fans. Francis talks about the "Gymshark family", and these ambassadors become an integral part of the brand.

"One of the examples I always use is that if I wanted to meet, say, a Nike[-sponsored] athlete, the closest I'm likely to get to them is if I pay to go a football game and see them from the stands," he explains. "We want our team to be as accessible as possible to the wider Gymshark community."

This has been crucial, says Fiona Paton, a senior retail analyst at market research company GlobalData: "Gymshark has used fitness stars wearing the brand and promoting it online with great success, allowing it to reach its target market directly."

Natasha Fish, head of fashion at research company Stylus, agrees: "There's a much bigger push taking place around engagement [in the sportswear market]. Really savvy brands are tapping into the power of influencers and focusing on creating engagement strategies."

As well as engaging personally with its audience, Gymshark sells direct to the consumer - it has no wholesale stockists. The model stems from its early days, when Francis, who had previously built several websites and apps, launched the site to sell fitness supplements. It moved into clothing after he struggled to find the kind of fitted gym gear he wanted, so he taught himself to sew and screen print.

This direct approach, Francis and Hewitt argue, allows Gymshark to control its own destiny, by collecting and acting on customer feedback. Although both recognise the advantages of working with retailers - Hewitt says JD Sports is "absolutely smashing it" - Gymshark's ongoing triple-digit growth means it has no current plans to explore wholesale, or to open its own bricks-and-mortar stores. It is therefore able to stay nimble and take "brave" decisions larger brands would be unable - or unwilling - to chance.

"It may be a product decision - it may be that there's a trend just about to evolve or evolving," says Hewitt. "The big brands will look at that and say, 'OK, great,' then go through a whole lot of red tape to sign it off. That might take six months. Then they'll spend months delivering that product to market. We've got the ability to get that product to market in eight weeks, if we really want to do it, and we're not compromising on quality."

Francis agrees, pointing to Gymshark's 2016 World Tour, on which it travelled to the east and west coasts of the US, as well as within the UK and Ireland: "We didn't make a single sale. All we did was meet with the fans. For a more commercially driven business that would not make any sense, because we spent hundreds and thousands of pounds on flights and hotels - for literally zero return. However, what we learnt about the fans and the business doing something like that makes it well worth it for us."

Hewitt and Francis make a good team, and say their strengths lie in different areas. Francis concentrates on product design, branding and marketing, while Hewitt looks after "everything else", as he puts it. Key decisions are made with Gymshark's board, which includes chief strategic officer Paul Richardson and chief operating officer Chris Perrins.

The business prides itself on having an open, accessible working culture, rather than locking its senior team away in distant corner offices.

Francis and Hewitt come across as approachable and down to earth, and good-naturedly endure some light teasing from passing members of the Gymshark team as they pose for Drapers' photographer around GSHQ.

A keen football and tennis fan, Hewitt has held senior positions at Reebok and Adidas. He started at Gymshark as a consultant in 2014, before becoming managing director in June 2015 and CEO two years later.

My job was to put foundations in place, so the business could grow in a sensible, sustained manner

Steve Hewitt

"The analogy I give is that the guys had built a house and had already started to put a couple of extensions on the house, but actually, the foundations weren't properly set," he says. "My job was to put those foundations in place, so the business could grow in a sensible, sustained manner."

Although Francis says welcoming Hewitt into the fold was easy, letting go of other parts of the business as it grows has proved more of a wrench: "With Steve, it was a very gradual process - it was one day a month [as a consultant], then two days, and it went from there. We instantly clicked, so it wasn't an issue. Funnily enough, the biggest issue for me was going from doing everything, within reason, to doing a lot less.

"Because I have a development background, I really enjoyed doing a lot of the IT stuff, so to see someone else doing that did feel like having my heart ripped out at first. But as soon as you trust those people and realise they are better at something than you are, it becomes a lot easier."

The next phase of growth will focus on international expansion, helped by the new office, which the brand hopes will bring global talent to Birmingham. Although it already sells to 177 countries, its next ambition is to become "more local on a global level".

"Our trading team's view is UK- and US-centric. Those territories are a big part of our business, so we need them to keep doing that, but we need more people," Hewitt explains. "If we're really going to work locally, globally, we need to live and breathe that. We do a very good job in some markets we're in, but in terms of the scalability opportunity, I'd say currently we're a 'two out of 10' business."

Francis adds: "Yes, we do sell internationally, but I wouldn't deem us as truly global yet. We've dipped a toe into international markets but recently we've understood that having people from the countries where we're trying to build a presence [working for Gymshark] is so important, because they know so much more about the market and the trends."

Brazil, China, Japan and Russia are all on Gymshark's shortlist of prospective new markets, although a firm decision has yet to be made.

Hewitt and Francis obviously love what they do, and both admit that they rarely, if ever, switch off from all things Gymshark. Despite being proud of its rapid growth, they are equally clear there is still plenty left on their to-do lists.

As Hewitt puts its: "Most businesses doing what we're doing with an average employee age of 26 would be high-fiving each other every two minutes. What we're good at instilling is that, yes, we've done great, but there's still so much more left in the tank."

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Gymshark takes a bite of the sportswear market

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Casually clad twentysomethings clutching laptops are enjoying the spring weather when Drapers arrives at fitness clothing brand Gymshark's new headquarters in Solihull, just outside Birmingham. The 42,000 sq ft building is home to space-age nap pods, a virtual reality games area, a hairdresser's salon and, naturally, a gym.

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The rate at which UK companies replace their leaders is speeding up. The average time UK CEOs - or CEOs of large UK firms to be precise - spend in post almost halved from 8.3 years to 4.8 years between 2010 and 2017, a study by PWC's Strategy& team has shown.

Churn is also evident in the retail sector. So far this year Jigsaw announced its CEO Chris Stephenson is stepping down after six months in the role, and Debenhams chairman Sir Ian Cheshire, who took on the position less than three years ago, is leaving after two of the retailer's major shareholders voted against his re-election to the board.

Chief executive Sergio Bucher was also voted off the board, but remains in situ, as it was decided it was in the "best interests of Debenhams that the executive team remains fully focused on delivery of the [turnaround] plan".

Among change at the top last year, Mark Newton-Jones was reappointed CEO of Mothercare five weeks after he left, and Gareth Jones spent just eight months at the helm of Missguided.

There is such a state of crisis in the industry that there is not enough time and money invested in leadership change

Sarah Lim, EMEA managing director at Korn Ferry

In its annual Retail CEO Tracker, recruitment firm Korn Ferry found that 50 retail chiefs left their posts in 2017, compared with 41 in the previous year - the highest level in five years. Figures due to be released later this month are likely to show the trend continued in 2018.

On the surface, the departure of senior leaders after relatively short tenures appears to stem from rash business decisions. Industry insiders tell Drapers that there have been some knee-jerk reactions. In other cases, exits were simply the result of hiring the wrong person for the job or expecting experience gained elsewhere to translate well in retail.

"There is such a state of crisis in the industry that there is not enough time and money invested in leadership change. Businesses under stress are where CEO churn is most noticeable," says Sarah Lim, EMEA managing director at Korn Ferry and author of the tracker.

There are a range of reasons why businesses need leadership change, from retirement through to collective agreement between the board and the CEO that they have done as much as they can, or the next phase of change required is not their skillset.

"If you need to make a change, you do it," says Debbie Hewitt, non-executive chairman of Moss Bros. "You can't set the level of change up front."

When you're in the trenches, you have to bring in the right people: seasoned executives who know how to trade through hard times

Fran Minogue, managing partner at Clarity

Recruiting for the moment is the consensus within the industry, whatever that might be.

"A dose of reality is sometimes needed," says Fran Minogue, managing partner at headhunter Clarity. "Some businesses are not facing up to the truth soon enough regarding their situation. Sadly, for many fashion retailers, at the moment it's about survival, rather than online growth or international expansion and, if that's the case, they need leaders who understand the balance sheet and cashflow.

"When you're in the trenches, you have to bring in the right people: seasoned executives who know how to trade through hard times. Usually that means those who have been there before." New Look's decision to bring back executive chairman Alistair McGeorge in the autumn of 2017 as a safe pair of hands to sort out its immediate issues is widely cited as a positive example of leadership change for crisis management.

The right decision for leadership may come from a financial stakeholder perspective.

"In some cases, CEOs are answering to a private equity partner, a board or a complex investment structure with multiple stakeholders. For those leaders, there's no wiggle room," says Tom Holt, CEO of consumer strategy consultancy Pragma. "Some legacy retail businesses are being presided over by people capable of making the change but without the timeline to do it."

"In fashion retail, the focus has to be on the customer no matter what is going on," says Victoria Nightingale, director of high-level headhunter Barracuda Search. She names Joules and Gymshark as businesses that know how to interact with their customers.

Stability no longer exists in retail

Morgan Holt, chief strategy officer at Fitch

"Engagement is what is setting these businesses apart, and leaders need to be engaging too. Teams stay happier when they have those types of leaders above them."

Morgan Holt, chief strategy officer at design and branding consultancy Fitch, agrees: "Retail is at the mercy of what customers are looking for in the moment, so the aim should be to make agile the new normal. It needs leadership around different engagement methods, and CEOs who understand the way their customers live their lives and the role their businesses can play in that.

"Stability no longer exists in retail. The notion that you can build simple, stable structures into business and then think about growth is false."

Even though retail is not stable, leadership should be, argues Hewitt: "There is such a thing as stability in leadership. It's the CEO's role to think about a successor, and the board's role to make sure the thinking and planning is happening before there's a burning platform."

"A chair who is forward-thinking and understands the sector knows when it's right to promote from within or to bring in from the outside. You have to start with that," says Moira Benigson, managing partner at headhunter MBS Group.

Korn Ferry's Lim believes planning for and preparing future leadership is essential: "Our premise is that having a good succession plan is the best thing for an organisation. The risks of otherwise getting it wrong are high. There's a whole raft of reasons why a high-quality leader in one organisation isn't the best in another, such as chemistry or not being a good fit with investors.

"The best-case scenario for an organisation looking at sustained growth is to build its bench strength. Businesses will always want external talent, but that can be brought in at a lower level. That helps to build the bench strength five to 10 years out."
The Drapers Verdict
Today's tough trading environment requires retail businesses to have the right leadership is in place. Unsurprisingly, there is no one best route to take. The right decision depends on truly understanding the reality for the business at that time.

Those battling for survival need experienced leaders to fight on their behalf. Those in a position where the focus is on continued growth need leaders who understand the new rules of engagement. Individuals who are aware of their responsibility to customer and employees, rather than those who want to be seen to be running a business, are always a better fit.

Stability in the current retail landscape is a pipe dream, but taking the time to recruit and succession plan encourages steadiness in a dynamically changing environment. It is more important that the executive team melds together the types of experience needed, rather than focusing these on to one single leader. The leader's role is to galvanise the senior team, which itself has to have the skills required for the business.

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Is there too much change at the top of fashion retail?

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The rate at which UK companies replace their leaders is speeding up. The average time UK CEOs - or CEOs of large UK firms to be precise - spend in post almost halved from 8.3 years to 4.8 years between 2010 and 2017, a study by PWC's Strategy& team has shown.

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The scheme, named #LiftYourBusiness, launched last July in partnership with Innovation Birmingham, the UK's largest campus for digital technology business.

The programme provides dedicated mentoring to help grow businesses innovating in the sports sector in the West Midlands.

The first round saw eight businesses benefit from the scheme and it is now accepting applications from tech start-ups to join its second cohort until 11 April.

Adam Harrison, head of special projects at Gymshark, said: "We've been extremely encouraged by the partnership with Innovation Birmingham, and it's enabled us to give something back to the area that we call home. High levels of interest were shown for the first programme and over the last six months we've highlighted why there was such competition for places.

"We've been working with eight digital technology businesses all operating in a variety of different sectors, from workplace wellness, clean energy and fitness testing to mobile apps and performance coaching. Bringing the region's brightest innovators together in one place has highlighted the collaborative commercial and social relationships that this can trigger."

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Gymshark launches next phase of tech start-up incubator

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The scheme, named #LiftYourBusiness, launched last July in partnership with Innovation Birmingham, the UK's largest campus for digital technology business. The programme provides dedicated mentoring to help grow businesses innovating in the sports sector in the West Midlands.

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ASOS

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Women's Clothes | Shop for Women's Fashion | ASOS

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Shop for the latest fashion styles and trends for women at ASOS. Discover our range of women's clothes, accessories, beauty, activewear and more.

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BoxPark - Pop-Up

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Find all of the retail shops at BOXPARK Shoreditch, selling independent brands & unique fashion. Shopping in London will never be the same again. Visit us!

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Gymshark Women (@gymsharkwomen) * Instagram photos and videos

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2.1m Followers, 56 Following, 2,175 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Gymshark Women (@gymsharkwomen)

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LinkedIn

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Learn about working at Gymshark. Join LinkedIn today for free. See who you know at Gymshark, leverage your professional network, and get hired.

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P.e.s.t.

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Solihull-headquartered fitness apparel company Gymshark is to build its first gym and innovation hub.

The business is to launching GSLC, Gymshark Lifting Club, a creative hub to combine research and development and working out into one facility.

The 55,000 sq ft complex will be located in Birmingham, within walking distance of the Gymshark headquarters- hoping to create a 'campus' for its 270 team members.

This will be the third project for Gymshark completed by Oktra, following their new Solihull headquarters and further office expansion in Hong Kong.

Lead designer Sean Espinasse said: "The new facility will include a studio for the new Gymshark fitness app, a 100-person auditorium, a R&D factory, several high tech photographic studios and a 20,000 sq ft gym.

"The space is designed to be a base for Gymshark's creative teams, providing unique zones to try and test new ideas and products."

Ben Francis, Gymshark founder, added: "During our time in this industry we have had the pleasure of visiting and training at the best gyms in the world.

"GSLC will see us combine our favourite parts of each of these gyms to create something which will serve as the ultimate home to anyone really interested in conditioning."

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Gymshark to create gym and innovation hub

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Solihull-headquartered fitness apparel company Gymshark is to build its first gym and innovation hub. The business is to launching GSLC, Gymshark Lifting Club, a creative hub to combine research and development and working out into one facility.

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A lot has changed in the fitness world over the past 12 months, but what is in store for next year?

The American College of Sports and Medicine (ACSM) have recently announced the results of their worldwide fitness trend survey.

Here is what over 2,000 health and fitness professionals predict will be the next big things in fitness in 2019.

Number 10

Just making it into the top 10 is a global initiative set up by ACSM - Exercise Is Medicine.

This global initiative is focused on health-care providers encouraging their patients to take on exercise as part of their regular check-ups.
You can find out more about the initiative here.
Number 9

Something we have talked about before on Gymshark Central, at number 9 is functional training.

2019 will see an increase in people tailoring their training towards building balance, coordination and strength not just for aesthetics, but also to help improve activities in day to day life.

Number 8

At number 8, sits personal training, which has secured it's a spot in the top 10 for the past 13 years! Impressive.

Experts predict that with the increase in popularity of strength training and training like a professional, people will be looking towards personal trainers to help them smash their goals.
Only helped along by studies revealing that 66% of our athletic performance comes down to genes, which only promotes the benefits of personalised programmes.

Number 7

Number 7 is a practice that has been a popular fitness trend for years now, but according to experts, it is only going to continue to rise in 2019.

Yep, number 7 goes to yoga.

The past year has seen yoga take on many new forms, from hot yoga to power yoga, and with it only continuing to grow in popularity thanks to the new focus on mindfulness, who knows what 2019 might have in store for this ancient practice?

Number 6

At number 6 is people seeking out certified fitness professionals.

The fitness industry is only continuing to grow (just head to Instagram for proof), and so 2019 will see an increased emphasis on those who have been certified by educational programmes that are fully accredited.

No-BS 2019. We're here for it.

Number 5

Sitting pretty in fifth place is bodyweight training.

Since this can be done anywhere and is the most cost-effective way of keeping fit, experts predict it will continue to grow in popularity with people incorporating mor e bodyweight exercises into HIIT circuits and shorter, 30-minute workouts.

Number 4

In today's day and age, people are living a lot longer than they used to, and so 2019 is likely to see the fitness industry adapt to this by offering more fitness programmes for older adults.

With the rise of strength training, it is likely that these programmes will be focused on resistance training to encourage the maintenance of bone density and strength.

Number 3

It really is no surprise that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has made it into the top 3.
HIIT first became popular back in 2014, when it first hit the top spot. Last year it also scored itself first place.
Despite slipping to number 3, it looks like HIIT will still be one of the most popular forms of training in 2019.

Number 2

Just missing out on the top spot is group exercise.

2018 has seen more and more people head to their local spin class to keep fit, and it seems that this will only continue in 2019.

Number 1

In first place, it's wearable technology.

According to fitness experts, tech such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and heart monitors will continue to become more and more popular, generating an estimated $53 billion in 2019!

Despite there being very little scientific evidence supporting the health claims about wearable technology, it looks like this trend will not be going anywhere any time soon.

Gymshark Central Bonus Trends

These might not have made it into the top 10, but we still think they deserve an honourable mention because, well... we think they're really cool.

At number 13 is mobile exercise apps. With more and more people using apps to help them on their fitness journey, we're super excited to see what cool stuff is on the horizon for 2019.

At number 15 is another 2019 fitness trend we are really on board with! Fitness experts have predicted that we will see an increase in worksite health promotion and well-being programmes, helping employers improve the health and wellness of their employees.

So, there you have it.

What fitness trends do you think we're going to see in 2019?
Let us know in the comments below.

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Top 10 Fitness trends to watch out for in 2019

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A lot has changed in the fitness world over the past 12 months, but what is in store for next year? Just making it into the top 10 is a global initiative set up by ACSM - Exercise Is Medicine. You can find out more about the initiative here.

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Cloud platform fuels Gymshark business growth

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Online fitness apparel retailer Gymshark has implemented the NetSuite cloud platform to grow its business by gaining greater visibility into its customer data. related to Apparel, Technology,

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Marketing

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In 2016, it was named as the fastest growing retailer in the UK, going on to generate sales of over £100m in 2018. Last year, founder Ben Francis was also named in Forbes' 30 under 30 list, acknowledgement of the brand's impressive rise in the fitness and apparel industry.

So, how has Gymshark gone from a small online retailer to a full-on global brand? Here's more on Gymshark's success and the lessons we can learn from it.

Ecommerce Best Practice Guide

Gymshark began in 2012 when founder Ben Francis (then 19-years old) spotted a gap in the sportswear market. This was namely a lack of affordable and desirable workout gear for young gym-goers.

At the time, brands were either selling baggy body-building gear targeted towards older consumers, or high-end and expensive fitness clothes that were designed to be purely functional rather than fashionable.

At the same time, health and fitness accounts were a growing trend on social media, generating a massive following from young audiences also interested in the subject matter. Gymshark started with the aim of creating fitness gear for this market - one that appears just as concerned with looking good at the gym as on a night out.

With its focused targeting and niche products, Gymshark has managed to disrupt a wider industry made up of established brands such as Nike and Adidas. It has also managed to maintain its cult-like status by refusing to sell through third-party retailers such as ASOS or JD Sports.

Turn influencers into brand ambassadors

Starting with a small number of items for sale online, Gymshark turned to social media in order to raise awareness and target consumers. In order to do this, the brand contacted a number of fitness influencers (including high-profile body-builders like Lex Griffin and Nikki Blackketter), sending them free Gymshark apparel in the hope that they would wear and promote the products on their respective social media channels.

How newly-minted unicorn Gymshark adapted to a global pandemic

This strategy proved to be effective, with the influencers' involvement immediately having a big affect on sales. From this, Gymshark decided to sponsor 18 influencers, who had a combined following of over 20 million people in markets including the US.

This strategy eventually turned many influencers into brand ambassadors (now referred to as 'Gymshark athletes'), creating natural advocacy and genuine affinity for the clothes.

Fuse online and offline

While it started as an ecommerce-only brand, Gymshark has also found ways to connect the online and offline worlds. One strategic focus has been to foster a sense of community, and to instil the feeling that the brand is about more than just the products it sells.

It has mainly achieved this through its Gymshark meet-ups and 'expos' - events where fans are able to meet their favourite fitness influencers. The brand has expanded this concept to an 'expo world tour', taking its events to locations in Germany, America, and Australia - all documented on social channels, creating influencer-style 'vlogs' on YouTube.

Interestingly, Gymshark's huge growth eventually meant that these events became impossible to run, with the sheer number of fans resulting in chaotic queues and long waiting times.

Recognising that it had outgrown the scale of its expos, however, Gymshark started to create pop-up stores instead, where it now holds ticketed events featuring select athletes.

This strategy has allowed the brand to continue running community-focused events on a bigger scale, whilst also adding an exclusive element to incentivise paying customers.

Want to get your hands on a ticket to #LiftAmsterdam? ????????Good news. Tickets are now available. Register for yours using...

Posted by Gymshark on Monday, 25 February 2019

Involve customers in the story

Another way Gymshark fosters its online community is through user generated content.

The brand often creates work-out videos on its YouTube channel for audiences to replicate or follow. In turn, it will post user-generated content from those that do, which in turn helps to motivate others.

Not a day goes by that Matt doesn't update us with his #Gymshark66 journey ????
If you want some great workout content head to his page ????
Keep it up @matthewroyster3 ???? pic.twitter.com/prMgM89nBl

- Gymshark (@Gymshark) February 22, 2019

This brings a more relatable aspect to the brand, welcoming in people who might otherwise be put off by unattainable and flawless imagery on its social media channels and website.

Gymshark consistently asks for feedback from its community, particularly on Twitter where it conducts polls about favourite products and workouts. Again, this makes its audience feel valued, and continues the cycle of advocacy.

What do you like to wear when you workout? ????️‍♂️

- Gymshark Help (@Gymshark_Help) February 24, 2019

Be strategic about sales

Black Friday is a staple event in the retail calendar, and yet many consumers appear to be increasingly cynical about it. In a recent survey by Salmon, 53% of respondents said they have become sceptical about whether deals are genuine and actually represent real savings.

Gymshark is not a retailer that prioritises sales or deals, instead focusing on consistently affordable prices (compared to competitor brands). It does however participate in two sales-focused days every year - its birthday and Black Friday.

Interestingly, the brand has not always been able to deliver, with the brand's site going down for eight hours on Black Friday 2017 due to the weight of demand. Gymshark was quick to rectify the wrong-doing, however, offering further discounts to those who complained about the site's crash. It also learnt from its mistakes, eventually re-platforming its site in order to meet demand and scale up.

Gymshark capitalised on Black Friday as a marketing opportunity by working with the Facebook Creative Group to create an impactful and innovative campaign. This involved turning all its imagery black, which creates a stark contrast against its typically light and over-exposed style.

Gymshark | Blackout
Don't miss out.Gymshark Blackout is coming on the 20th Nov at 3pm GMT.Get ready for up to 50% off site wide. Yep, wow. Set your alarms.#GymsharkBlackout

Posted by Gymshark on Thursday, 16 November 2017

It wasn't just the creative itself that succeeded, but also the brand's clever targeting tactics.

Shopify states that Sheryl Sandberg, CCO of Facebook, cited the brand as an example of best practice for advertising on Facebook. She reportedly quoted the fact that, by targeting lookalikes of people that had previously purchased, as well as those that had browsed but not bought, Gymshark saw a 9.3 times return on investment for the period.

Gymshark is a shining example of how to pitch and market a brand to a specific audience, capitalising on clever social media and community-focused campaigns.

With global sales of activewear predicted to reach $567 billion by 2024 - there's no reason why it cannot continue to compete with the big guns of the fitness retail industry.

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Five marketing lessons from the success of Gymshark

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Gymshark has grown at an unprecedented rate since it first started in 2012. But how has it gone from a small online retailer to a full-on global brand? Here's more on Gymshark's success and the lessons we can learn from it.

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The brand catapulted itself into recognition by sending its gym wear to Lex Griffins - a well-known fitness guru followed by gym buffs - who consequently wore the merchandise and directly communicated the quality of the ranges making it a must have among fitness fanatics. Now Gymshark has an army of high-profile fitness influencers promoting its product on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Think Love Island hulks, and models with washboard abs.

The outcome is 2.2 million engaged followers on Instagram, significantly more than rivals JD Sports and Sports Direct, and an engagement rate hovering just below 2%, which is high for such a big follower base.

Currently Gymshark has a 'shop the Instagram look' feature on its website, although it has been a little slow to incorporate a purchase function into its Instagram account - a feature that was launched back in March 2018.

As a result of its huge social media following, sales have flourished, so much so that the brand has rejected stores in favour of pop-up stores with guest appearances from influencers. Not stocking through third-party retailers such as ASOS, JD Sports and Sports Direct also ensures that the brands influencer-led image stays intact and it retains its cult image among gym goers.

Gymshark isn't the first retailer to use influencers, but its clever use of them has enabled it to carve out a successful business in a market traditionally dominated by Adidas and Nike.
Fiona Paton is a Retail Analyst at GlobalData. You can follow her on Twitter @fiona_GDretail

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How Gymshark Pumped Up It's Sales with Influencers

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The brand catapulted itself into recognition by sending its gym wear to Lex Griffins - a well-known fitness guru followed by gym buffs - who consequently wore the merchandise and directly communicated the quality of the ranges making it a must have among fitness fanatics.

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ADIDAS

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Gymshark vs Adidas & Nike

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LONDON, United Kingdom - UK gym wear company has set its sights on rivalling global giants Nike and Adidas after tripling sales and opening its international HQ in Birmingham.

Gymshark is understood to have held talks with advisers over plans for expansion following a bumper year of growth. The last financial year saw sales triple to £41m, while pre-tax profits climbed from £1m to £8m. Estimated to be valued between £300m and £400m, Gymshark expects to bolster sales to £100m for 2018 and £140m by 2019.

Founded by teenager Ben Francis from his parents' garage in 2012, Gymshark has grown a devoted and engaged fan base of 5.2 million followers on Instagram, has customers in 131 countries around the world and was named the UK's fastest growing company in 2016. This year, signalling its intent for aggressive expansion, Gymshark unveiled its new international headquarters in Birmingham, which can accommodate up to 800 staff and has been said will create 150 new jobs.

Now 26, Francis has set his sights on challenging sports apparel giants on the global stage. Speaking to TheBusinessdesk, Francis said he wants to be "the UK's answer to Nike and Adidas".

"I don't think the UK has got anything to get behind in the fitness market, so hopefully we are it. The headquarters is just the beginning," said Francis, also the company's chief brand officer.

Gymshark's unprecedented success is largely thanks to its ability to leverage the power of social media and influencer marketing, reinforced by world tours where ambassadors can interact face-to-face with their fans. Currently, the company only sells online via its international websites but has been increasingly operating pop-ups to boost brand awareness, most recently in Birmingham, London, Melbourne and Los Angeles, which drew huge crowds and 10-hour queues.

As high street retailers continue to feel the pinch with consumers shopping online and business rates soaring, new digital businesses such as Gymshark have capitalised. Yet with Lululemon, Sweaty Betty, Bjorn Borg, Fabletics and more players entering the crowded activewear market, it remains to be seen how increasing competition will impact growth and targets of world domination for the likes of Gymshark.

According to Forbes' 2018 list of The World's Most Valuable Brands, Nike fell to 18th place with a value of $32 billion and Adidas sit at 68th place with a value of $9.5 billion while Uniqlo, at 96th and $7.5 billion, is the next highest valued "apparel" brand in the world.

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Gymshark Founder Aims to Be UK's Answer to Nike and Adidas | Welltodo

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LONDON, United Kingdom - UK gym wear company has set its sights on rivalling global giants Nike and Adidas after tripling sales and opening its international HQ in Birmingham. Gymshark is understood to have held talks with advisers over plans for expansion following a bumper year of growth.

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Gymshark, a fast-growing fitness wear brand, has announced the launch of a Pay Later service in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Gymshark

The company has joined the likes of Asos, Topshop, H&M and JD Sports by teaming up with Klarna, a European payments provider, to offer the new payment option.

"We're one of the UK's fastest-growing companies, but in order to stay at the top of our game we need to constantly look at ways to improve," said Niran Chana, trading director at Gymshark.

Created in 2012, Gymshark is a UK online retailer specialising in performance gym wear supported by millions of social media followers and customers in over 150 countries.

"At Gymshark, we have always championed putting innovation at the heart of our community - it's part of what has helped us grow so quickly. Introducing Klarna's Pay later feature is a natural next step for us to make sure we give our community the best possible shopping experience. We want to make shopping with us easy, and that's exactly what Klarna helps us do."

The new payment service allows online shoppers to choose to try items on at home before paying for the order.

"Our partnership with Gymshark is a natural fit. We both share the same vision of giving shoppers more control over what they order and when they pay - ensuring they get the right fit and look for their workout needs," said Russ Carroll, UK commercial director at Klarna.

"This is of the utmost importance, particularly considering that activewear now accounts for almost a quarter of all apparel sales globally according to the NDP group. We're delighted to be partnering with Gymshark to further enhance their checkout experience in the UK and Nordics, with more markets to follow soon."

Copyright © 2019 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.

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Gymshark adds pay later option in the UK and Nordics

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Gymshark, a fast-growing fitness wear brand, has announced the launch of a Pay Later service in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The company has joined the likes of Asos, Topshop, H&M and JD Sports by teaming up with Klarna, a European payments provider, to offer the new payment option.

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Fast Track

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Global Data: Gymshark F&F

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GlobalData Intelligence Center - Consumer

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UnderArmour

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Gym Clothes, Fitness Shoes, & Gear - Women | Under Armour UK

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Shop the best selection of Women's running shoes, athletic clothing and sports accessories only from Under Armour.

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MyProtein

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Our Women's Gym Wear will keep you feeling fantastic and looking great during your workouts. From sports bras to stylish leggings, view the full range here!

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NIKE

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SELFRIDGES (Range inspo)

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NIKE (Space Research)

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SmartBox (Floor plan generator)

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Nearly a third of new British businesses will begin life as a pop-up shop, according to a study by EE.

From being a niche alternative to a long retail leasehold, created by the 2008 financial crash, pop-up shops have gone mainstream.

From food to fashion, to bookshops to sport shops, retailers small, growing and large are using the pop-up shops to grow their sales and experiment with new ideas.

In many ways they are an ideal entry point for a young, small business - long-term commitment free, cheap and cheerful while retaining an exclusive and scarce feel for consumers.

Here, we'll investigate the rise of pop up shops in the UK, find out how much they cost and how to find the right spot for you.
David O'Neil, head of commercialisation for pop-up shop landlord Hammerson explains that the pop-up store trend is here to stay and why it can be a good first step into retail for small businesses.
With the pop-up market estimated to be worth in excess of £3 billion a year, it's clear the phenomenon is here to stay.

Encouraging local businesses to take advantage of pop-up shops not only benefits the small business owners, but provides additional opportunities for shoppers to buy from local suppliers and allows us, as a landlord, to be a bigger support to our neighbourhoods.

Pop-up shops are flexible

For smaller retailers, commercialisation offers a cost effective, flexible route to market. SME's can test concepts and refine or adapt their proposition to suit consumer tastes without the pressure of a long-term lease, and while benefitting from the experienced guidance of on-site teams. With the right mix, shoppers are inspired to come and discover something new more frequently, and fledgling businesses have the opportunity to test the water, create brand awareness and showcase the next big thing in retail. Some now very well-known brands launched via pop-up events, including Innocent Drinks and Meat Liquor.

Good footfall for pop-up shops is key

Industry research suggests that 50 per cent of customers have visited a pop-up and so it's the quality of the location and strategic positioning that really matters. Start-ups and entrepreneurs must take advantage of the exposure venues can offer and the high customer traffic locations for the best shopper engagement opportunities. Whatever the size of a brand or business, we can create the perfect platform to set sales alight. Pop-ups need to be in the highest footfall locations, they can't be off pitch as they are often not there long enough to generate "slow-burn" attention. With an average customer dwell time of 98 minutes, our spaces are strategically located to get brands noticed immediately and deliver this stand-out attention.

See the most popular sectors for pop-up shops

The history of the pop-up has four distinct phases. Firstly we saw celebrities launching them, for example reality television star Lydia Bright showcased her fashion boutique Bella Sorella back in 2013 at Silverburn in Glasgow.

Then we saw online brands like Skinnydip going offline with a pop up at Brent Cross, London. This trend continues today with women's fashion brand Hush having launched recently at Victoria Gate, Leeds.

Next some brands such as Harper & Lewis, the vintage clothing specialist, adopted a pop-up only business model which allowed them to evolve into longer leases over time.

We've also hosted Sound: Leisure jukeboxes, furniture manufacturer Swoon Editions and Etsy (the global marketplace for unique and creative goods), all of whom were online pure plays. Calendar manufacturers have been active in this sector taking advantage of seasonal opportunities as has Halloween HQ. Tesla trialled physical stores entirely via popups initially which led them to move into permanently leased units.

Pop ups are now a key feature of premium shopping centres

Finally, pop ups became accepted and welcomed as an integral feature of premium shopping centres which has arisen through the more flexible use of spaces. A great example of this is LinkStreet, a walkway within the Bullring in Birmingham which is dedicated exclusively to popups. The shutter-fronted space features an open-plan design with magnetic slots in the walls allowing easy and quick set up of shelving units and other fittings, all of which are provided by us. Brands such as DA Clothing, Major London 05 and Ratchet have appeared here.

Cost of launching a pop-up varies across the UK

Cities like Bristol, Leeds and London have a real entrepreneurial spirit and a greater volume of small businesses. Costs will be higher in these places as there is more critical mass of new brands.

"New brand have to work a bit harder on making their pop-ups look fantastic and get social media behind them to create a real buzz"

That being said, we're seeing indie brands in conversation with our teams in every city we work in across the UK. We always bring the conversation back to sustainable business for everyone - if the offer is likely to be popular with our customers, we always strive to find a solution that delivers that whilst nurturing the brand in question.

In terms of pop-up shop designs, flexible furniture with a number of different uses that can be moved around is proving popular. Most successful shops have a central focal point which is a real draw. A great example of this is the highly successful Mercedes pop-ups we hosted in several of our centres across the UK, fitting out the shop as a showroom and even bringing in a Formula One car for customers to capture the all-important Instagram moment. This really gave people an experience and the stores sold spin off merchandise which was in huge demand. Renault also undertook a really cool 90s throwback pop-up at Bullring in the summer to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Clio with the original and modern models side by side.

Whether your businesses is a cooperative, a franchise, owned privately or a social enterprise run by non-profits, Hammerson Engage has a range of opportunities to help establish your business within the local community and keep it vibrant.

So, pop-ups are unlikely to be as transitory as the name suggests - and we see no signs of the trend slowing down.
Indie Foolheea, founder of ethical brand platform Control Change, which sells stationary, chocolate, jewellery, skincare and more, shares how she got a pop-up shop space in London's tech city district and how she found the experience.
How I found a location

I found my pop-up shop location through Appear Here, which has a monopoly on some of the best spaces in London. I simply told their concierge service that I was looking for a certain location, told them what my idea was, submitted it and someone got in touch pretty quickly. They gave me a shortlist of locations and I eventually settled on Old Street tube. I've taken six days' space here, it's a good location because it has strong footfall.

I went straight to a pop-up shop space instead of a market stall... I know how the retail business works as I've managed brands in the past. I currently support smaller ethical and sustainable businesses with their social media and content as a sole trader and Control Change is an idea that grew out of my consulting work.

How much do pop-up shops cost?

In Old Street tube it generally costs no less than £1,000 a week as well as an upfront security deposit of £1,000, (which you get back at the end like a deposit for a flat). You don't have to get a pop-up shop licence but you must pay for public liability insurance which you can find out about via a quick Google search.

Branding the shop

I was quite lucky as my husband is an UX designer so he designed my logo as well as the furniture. I wanted a rustic or vintage style for the benches and tables and it was all quite easy to hire online - I went through Rustic Hire, it all cost around £600-£800 but I put the shelves up myself to save money.

Promotion and social media

I mainly used Instagram to get engagement with people and used Twitter for ads. I didn't do flyering outside the shop as we're retail so it didn't feel right - flyering would work better for food and drink products. I also did some events in the pop-up to provide more of an memorable brand experience for people.

What would I have done differently?

In general my pop-up shop experience has gone better than I thought it would, especially for someone so new. But if I could have done it differently I'd have given myself more time to plan as two to three months is not enough. I manage about 20 brands and and dealing with them on a logistic basis was probably the number one challenge for me. Some people would drop products off here early in the morning while some came later so organisation is key.
Gary Bierton, marketing director from Classic Football Shirts explains how the company has taken on new pop up shop locations and carved a niche for itself in a competitive retail sports market.
Also I'd advise to think well ahead about your promotion strategy so you can get to people in time well in advance. If you're going to the press, contact them a month or two ahead of time - that's how we got featured in the Emerald Street newsletter, which goes to 150,000 people each week. Also, be prepared for things not going to plan!

I've lost a bit of money this week but we're also online so I've supplemented having a space for six days with an online presence as well. I hope to make the money back in the next few months through subsequent online sales.

We took a two floor pop-up shop at the Barton Arcade in Manchester in October 2018 until Christmas and we found the location, an art deco and mixed-use venue, through Appear Here. The footfall is good and it's quite an iconic building.Just yesterday, we did about £6,000 in sales.

The initial idea was to pack as much memorabilia in as possible and make the design of the store and what was hanging on the walls almost as interesting to our niche audience as the football shirts on the rails. For example, we've got a 90's arcade machine which we've redone with our logo and branding and loads of different players from that tournament. There's a lot of artwork on the walls from various people on social media that we've put up. with our logo and World Cup '94 designs as well as around 100 vintage magazine frames, which creates a nostalgic and authentic experience.

For our pop-up shop in The Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, London, where we've been trading since April 2018, some of the initial kind of buzz has died off but we're still making £2,000 a day in sales. To drum up interest in the London store we put on an exhibition at the Old Truman Brewery in July 2017, which showcased some of the rarest and most valuable shirts we'd be selling in the sh0p. The £2,000 a day we're doing now is obviously still amazing and we're really happy with it.

We sell thousands of vintage football shirts from the 80s and 90s alongside products that you can get from Sports Direct and Lillywhites, who are all spitting out the same kinds of things all the time. We sell shirts from well-known clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool as well as more obscure ones like San Marino and German outfit Dynamo Dresden. By prioritising the pure variety of the stock we've managed to differentiate ourselves to the bigger players over the years.
Oli Silver, owner of independent Birmingham arts shop Vincent Van Doodle shares how getting a pop-up shop got his business into one of the countries most iconic shopping centres.
Given the state of the high street at the moment, there's places coming and going all the time so the opportunities for businesses like us that might not have been around 10 or 15 years ago are more readily available now.

"(West Ham striker) Andy Carroll was at the London shop a few months ago"

By Spring of 2015, we had built a website, put some artwork together and done a couple of trade shows and had some newspaper articles written about us - but we still weren't getting much traffic to our site. Back then, my wife, Jules, and I were working part-time while we had a concession (a small space in other people's stores) in Solihull shopping centre. She was always on the look out for little areas for pop ups and eventually found a spot on Appear Here in 2016.

See the gallery below for a selection of Vincent Van Doodle's movie prints for sale on their website

She noticed that LinkStreet in Birmingham, between the Bullring shopping centre (a shopping mecca) and Grand Central Station, which had been a right rough little street when I was growing up, had £10 million quid chucked at it and was completely changing. There were four or five little kiosks opening up and the landlord was offering pretty good introductory rates for new local independent retailers.

I thought, 'I'll give it a go because it's a good place to test the business. If it doesn't work there, it's not going to work.'

We jumped at it and booked in two weeks to start with. At first, the kiosk cost £650 per week and we got two weeks for £1,000. It may sound a lot but compared to a trade show, which costs thousands of pounds down at the O2 or Olympia, it's quite cheap. Most of the shop was fitted and ready to go and it gave us the opportunity to put our product forward to the passing public rather than just trade show people. The strength of the footfall also means we don't have to flyer outside, which is something I've never liked the thought of. Thankfully it worked and they kept us on.

Moved from a kiosk to a pop-up

We've then moved up to a larger 500-600 sq ft pop-up shop - about the size of a Greggs and signed a two year contract. We got a unit in time for Christmas then weathered that trading period while growing steadily without getting ahead of ourselves.

Starting from scratch is daunting

Even for a person whose always been at book management level, the thought of starting a retail unit from scratch after only running a website for a few months is quite daunting. You've not only got the financial risk but other complex issues like:

It's a massive minefield and if you get your pricing or your product wrong you're going to struggle.

I think it's also a big deal for Bullring because they're not used to this climate of little independents starting up who don't quite know the rulebook. They're used to the big brands, the Next and the Nando's coming in who know what they're doing.

We've improved the shop slowly

Having worked as a designer and my wife being design led enabled us to get a lot of market material in like a logo, the shop window and we shop-fitted it ourselves. The cost of getting shop-fitters in would have been astronomical compared to what we were able to afford. So over the last two or three years we've just tried to improve the shop on a monthly basis. We've put new fixtures and fittings in, got better product representation, much better details on the shop floor, improved the wallpaper and improve the lighting. However, we still need to improve our website which is terrible. When it comes to our pop-up shop it looks like we know what we're doing. At the beginning we hadn't a clue but we've managed to blag it!

From what was a quick, 'do you want to come in for two weeks and try things and pop a few bits of artwork on the wall' has now turned into a fully blown contract! Hopefully we will be here for another two or three years.

We'd like another unit and continue to grow.

Watch the below video on how to design a pop-up shop

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The essential guide to setting up a pop-up shop in the UK

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Nearly a third of new British businesses will begin life as a pop-up shop, according to a study by EE. From being a niche alternative to a long retail leasehold, created by the 2008 financial crash, pop-up shops have gone mainstream.

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Lululemon

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BOXPARK Pictures

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You've probably heard stories of Instagrammers who are cashing in on the pictures they snap and share every day. You might've even looked at your own sizeable following and thought, "Maybe I can do that too".

Just like bloggers, YouTubers, and anyone who's amassed an audience around the content they produce, Instagrammers have reach and influence figured out-two things many companies struggle with.

Together, these two things offer the opportunity for Instagram creators to explore multiple streams of potential revenue, whether they want to build an empire or just earn some extra cash and free stuff.

How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?

If by now you're wondering how many followers you need to make it happen, the short answer is "not as many as you think".

The long answer depends on factors that range from:

Naturally, the more engaged followers you have, the better.

While top Instagrammers make thousands per post on the photo-sharing platform, even those with a smaller-but-engaged following of 1000 have the potential to start making money.
Watch the full course inside Shopify Academy Want to learn how to grow and monetize your Instagram account? Instagram marketing expert, Gretta van Riel, shows you how in Grow Your Business with Instagram, a free course inside Shopify Academy.
Get the free reading list

How to make money on Instagram in 2019

Depending on your unique brand of Instagram content, your audience, and your level of commitment, you can make money on Instagram in the following ways:

Doing sponsored posts for brands that want to get in front of your audience.

Becoming an affiliate and making a commission selling other brands' products.

Creating and selling a physical or digital product, or offering a paid service.

Selling licenses for your photography or videos.

The beauty here is that chasing one revenue stream doesn't necessarily rule out another.

So let's start with the most common approach to Instagram monetization: partnering with brands as an influencer.

Work with brands on sponsored posts

The term "influencer" gets thrown around a lot these days.

An influencer is basically anyone who's built themselves an online reputation by doing and sharing awesome things online. To their audiences, influencers are tastemakers, trendsetters and trusted experts whose opinions about certain subjects are respected.

Many brands just can't compete with that and so they partner with influencers instead for sponsored posts that help get the word out about their products.

But it's not just the size and reach of your Instagram account that brands want. It's your audience's trust and engagement with your content.

It can be hard to balance your revenue as an influencer and your integrity as a creator, but if you're not relying on your Instagram income to stay afloat, you always have the freedom to be selective about the brands you work with, just as brands will be selective about the Instagrammers they work with.

Brands of all kinds are using influencer marketing to get their products out there (via Fohr Card).

How to decide what to charge as an influencer

Typically these influencer deals involve the creation of content-an Instagram post, video or Story-and will sometimes include permission for the brand to use this content on their own site or in an ad.

Most of these deals are negotiable and can involve a single post or an entire campaign in exchange for a fee, a free product, a service, a gift, the promise of exposure, or some combination of these.

Keep in mind when negotiating that you're not just offering content but access to your audience, a potentially large reach on one of the most popular social platforms around, and usage rights too.

In a survey of 5,000 influencers, around 42% said they charged $200 to $400 per post -just to give you an idea of what some brands are willing to pay, and how to negotiate based on the cards you're holding.

Finally, it's important as an influencer to also know your own audience.

What is the make-up of your audience and what is your engagement rate (total engagement divided by your number of followers)? You can dig up numbers to back this up in your Instagram Analytics report, if you've switched to a business account. This will help you be prepared when it comes time to negotiate.

How to find brands to work with

If you're big enough, chances are brands will find you. But you can also look for brands to work with that are on a similar level in terms of personality and values, so your audience won't feel like you're "selling out".

You can reach out to them directly to try to work out a deal, but you can also list yourself on one of the many influencer marketplaces out there to increase your chances of being discovered:

Fohr Card: Connect your Instagram, blog, YouTube channel, and other social platforms to create an influencer "card" that shows your different profiles and total reach for brands shopping around for a partnership. You also get access to a list of brands and their wants, so you can take the initiative to reach out too.

Grapevine: If you have 5000 or more followers, you can list yourself in the Grape Vine marketplace for the opportunity to work with like-minded brands.

Crowd Tap: Do small content creation tasks to earn rewards. This is great if you've got a smaller audience. Available in the U.S only.

indaHash: Brands put up campaigns that you can participate in. Post a picture with the specified hashtags on Instagram and get paid. You need 700 engaged followers to be eligible.

The rules vary when it comes to sponsored content, but to be on the safe side and respect your audience's trust, consider adding a #sponsored hashtag to indicate sponsored posts. If you need reassurance, about 69% of influencers in one report said that being transparent about sponsorships didn't affect how consumers perceive their recommendation.

You can find examples of sponsored posts and how Instagrammers integrate brands into their story by searching up #sponsored on Instagram, like this one from How He Asked, an account that shares wedding proposal stories and partners with a jewlery business:

Instagram also has a "Paid Partnership with" tag that prominently identifies sponsored posts, which some brands might require you to use to disclose your relationship with them.

Become an affiliate

Unlike an influencer, an affiliate is more invested in making sales for the partner brand-not just generating awareness-in exchange for a commission.

This is typically done with a trackable link or unique promo code to ensure clicks actually translate into sales. Since Instagram doesn't yet allow links anywhere outside of your bio, you can only focus on one product at a time if you choose to rely on affiliate links, making promo codes a better option for Instagram since you can actually incorporate them into your posts.
Note: Instagram has plans to roll out links for Instagram Stories, which will open up new opportunities for you as an influencer.
Consider reaching out to one of the many online merchants that offer affiliate programs that you can participate in. Or you can also explore popular marketplaces like:

ClickBank: An affiliate platform with a tier-based commission that's open to everyone.

RewardStyle: An invitation-only fashion and lifestyle influencer network that offers 20% commissions.

Amazon's Affiliate Program: A popular option that pays out a 10% commission.

Though it sounds like a numbers game, affiliate marketing is also an art, and you'll have a better chance at success if you have a plan going into it and expand your online presence to include a website and other marketing channels.
: Affiliate links can be long and ugly, so I recommend a URL shortener like bit.ly, especially if they're going in your Instagram bio.
Open your own online store

By now it might sound like the only way for an Instagrammer to make money is to sell out and work with other brands.

But creators of all kinds are also in a good position to "sell out" with their own products: physical goods, services, or digital items that can be an extension of their brand, building a business with an audience at its center.
Just look at Doug the Pug, one of the biggest Instagram dog-preneurs of his time.

Set Up Your Own Store on Shopify Today

Start your free 14-day trial-no credit card required.

You need to invest some time upfront, but in today's world it's almost natural for creators to make the leap into entrepreneurship.

By selling your own stuff, you don't need to worry about integrating messages from other brands into your posting strategy. Better yet, you can get your own brand out there on the products you sell.

Sell more with shopping on Instagram

Start tagging products in your posts and stories to turn engagement into purchases with the shopping on Instagram sales channel.

Fans can show their love and support your work by buying from you-a purchase they can feel good about.

There are a few ways to do this:

You can use a print-on-demand service to print and ship your own t-shirts, pillows, coffee mugs, wall art, and more.

You can sell services such as photography or consulting, using your bio to direct interested people to a contact email or a link to your professional website.

You can sell digital products such as courses, ebooks, or design templates.

You can use your Instagram account to launch a business selling your own original products, or even a book.

If you plan on selling several items in your own Shopify store, you can also make purchases through Instagram possible on your website using one of the available Instagram gallery apps.

Take it a step further with our shopping on Instagram integration to enable product tags and product stickers that make the experience from Instagram Stories and posts to your own products more seamless and fluid. To use it, you'll also need to switch to an Instagram business account, have a Facebook page, and an approved Facebook shop (all of which you can set up for no additional cost).

Sell your photos online or on things

Someone might get famous on Twitter by telling 140-character jokes, but Instagram is a photo-sharing app at its core. And photos are assets that can be licensed, printed, and sold in a variety of ways.

If photography is what got you into the Instagram game in the first place, you can list your photos in marketplaces like 500px or Twenty20 where brands and publishers might license them.

However, you can also sell your photos as prints and on other physical products using a similar methods described in the last section. Services like Printful and Teelaunch can let you put your photos on posters, phone cases, pillows, and more, taking care of fulfilling orders and customer service so all you really need to worry about is making sales.

Take the story of Daniel Arnold who went from "eating toast 3 meals a day", according to an interview on Forbes, to making $15K in a single day by offering to sell prints of his popular-but-controversial photos. If you've already got the demand, all you need to do is take the initiative and offer your audience the opportunity to buy your photography from you.

Do it for the 'Gram (and get paid)

What started as a hobby-making people laugh, doing silly photoshoots with your dog or sharing pictures of food-can snowball into the chance to turn Instagram into a source of income fuelled by your engaged following.

There's a world of possibilities out there as a creator with a large online audience made up of people who can't help but stop when they scroll past your post in their feed. It's this special appeal that you have that opens the door. You just have to walk through it.

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You've probably heard stories of Instagrammers who are cashing in on the pictures they snap and share every day. You might've even looked at your own sizeable following and thought, "Maybe I can do that too". Just like bloggers, YouTubers, and anyone who's amassed an audience around the content they produce, Instagrammers have reach and influence figured out-two things many companies struggle with.

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With Instagram continuing to roll out exciting features and capabilities, marketers have even more room to get creative and gain a competitive edge by using the platform to run ads in 2018.

An example? Some Instagram users can now register a credit card as part of their profile and actually purchase products without clicking out of the app!

The brand-new introduction of this native payments feature has the potential to be revolutionary for bringing even more advertisers onto Instagram's platform.

So... are you ready to jump on the Instagram ads wagon? Are you planning to allocate more of your budget to Instagram this year? Or are you still in the #MaybeOneDay zone?

Do you wish you had a better way to forecast your Instagram ads spend? Wish granted!

We analyzed almost $ 300M of ad spend to discover the latest trends in Instagram ad costs. This is an incredible resource for when you're placing bids, setting your budget, and whittling down your target audience in 2018.

In 2017 we dug into At a high level, in our first post we discovered 100 million dollars' worth of ad spend to determine four major things:

1. CPC by month steadily increased as the year went on.

2. CPC by age typically remained steady within the $.70 to $.80 range.

3. CPC is largely higher for females than males.

4. Apple devices (first iPhones, then iPads) have the highest CPC.

This illuminating information was from six months of data. Today, we've updated our sample size to include another six months.

The results below are now from 12 months and almost $300 million of Instagram ad spend data in 2017, which will give you an excellent reference point to conjecture the costs of advertising on Instagram in 2018!

Keep on reading to refresh some basics and dig into the new stuff!

A Quick Recap on Instagram Ad Bidding

Instagram ads are part of the Facebook advertising network. So, like Facebook ads, Instagram ads are bought through an auction system that determines their price. Each advertiser sets their ad campaign budget (by the day or over the full lifecycle of the campaign)and a bid, which represents the maximum amount they're willing to spend when a user completes the ad objective.

As of 2018, Instagram broke its ad objectives down into three categories:

1. Greater awareness of business, product, app, or service.

2. Deeper consideration and understanding of highlighted products or services.

3. Conversion from views into sales, mobile downloads, and/or visitors to a physical or online store.

Each of these objectives is measured by three to four metrics:

1. Reach

2. Reach and Frequency

3. Brand Awareness

4. Local Awareness

1. Website Clicks

2. Video Views

3. Reach and Frequency

1. Website Conversions

2. Dynamic Ads on Instagram

3. Mobile App Installs

4. Mobile App Engagement

As soon as Instagram users are able to view and engage with an ad, the auction process begins.

The auction winner (who pays the minimum requirement) is the ad that creates the most value for users, based on:

Advertiser bid: How much the advertiser values the result that they have optimized their ad for

Estimated action rates: How likely a user is to complete the specific action that the ad is optimized for

Ad quality and relevance: How likely a user is to actually be interested in the ad

For a detailed analysis of how to create high-value Instagram Ads, click here. Instagram Ad cost averages ( click here to go to the full 2017 post and see detailed results). Ready to forecast your Instagram ads cost in 2018? Let's start!
Instagram Ads Cost in 2017 (Full Year Results)

CPC by Country

The location (AKA the Country where you advertise) has an enormous impact on CPC - although it's less intuitive than you might think!

This is the first time we could analyze CPC by country data (that's why you only have 2017 Q4) and we discovered that, for example, the U.S. had the third most expensive CPC at $3.56, while Viet Nam and Kenya took the lead with $3.73 and $3.68, respectively.

The average CPC by country was approximately $2.40. The closest countries to the average were the Republic of Korea ($2.44) on the upper bound and Kuwait ($2.10) on the lower bound. We were surprised that Canada had a relatively low CPC of $1.53, along with Japan at $1.48 and Germany with $1.39. The least expensive CPC country in Q4 2017 was Liechtenstein with $1.37.
Key takeaway: to cut costs, consider active online shopping audiences in lower CPC nations.
CPC by Age Range

The age range of a target audience will always be one of the most critical factors impacting Instagram ad costs - as well as one of the most strategic. Several studies have been done about GenZ and millennial shoppers as opposed to older generations that have informed complete advertising and design overhauls for companies.

In general CPC across all age brackets increased as the year progressed from Q1-Q4 2017 (with the major exception being users age 13-17, which had a lower CPC in Q3 and Q4 than Q1 and Q2).

The highest CPC was in the 25-34 age bracket, with an average CPC for 2017 of approximately $1.07, followed by the 55-64 age bracket, with an average CPC of $1.03.

While the runner-up might seem surprising, it could reflect the greater purchasing power of these mature users. Third and fourth place age brackets, 35-44 and 45-54, respectively, weren't far behind with average 2017 CPCs of $0.97 and $0.94. In last place was the 13-17 age bracket with an average CPC of $0.47.
Key takeaway: don't discount older shoppers! While it's important to design ad content that will appeal to the next generation(s), these teenagers and young adults might not be as valuable as their wealthier elders.
CPC by Ad Placement

Where you choose to place your ad - in the user's main mobile feed, right column, desktop feed, audience network, or Stories bar - also has a strong impact on CPC. Placement is a critical part of optimizing your ads for better reach, particularly as you're trying to build your brand on social media.

As with age range, CPC increased in all formats as the year progressed. Q4, in particular, saw an enormous CPC spike for right column and desktop news feed placement, correlating with the holiday uptick in e-commerce.

Right column placement outstripped the other placements by about $0.80 for average CPC in 2017.

Excluding this outlier, the right column and main mobile feed had similar 2017 average CPCs of approximately $1.20, along with Desktop feed. Audience network brought up the rear with an average 2017 CPC of $0.25.
Key takeaway: placement isn't as large of a factor as the time of year. In addition, placement in Instagram Stories is still relatively cheap (and yet the format has some of the highest levels of engagement), making Stories one of the most cost-effective ad formats you can select!
CPC by Month

The trend is clear: as the year progresses, CPC increases!

We've seen the impact of this above on key variables like country, age range, and particularly placement. Now, it's all in one place and easy to understand the big surge in Q3 and Q4 over Q1 and Q2.

Average CPC in Q4 is approximately $1.10 - approximately a 6% increase from Q3's average CPC of 1.04 and a 40% jump from Q1. It's clear that it's cheapest to advertise January-March; however, you could reap the greatest conversions October-December.
Key takeaway: a sweet spot for ROI during the year is May-July. This could be a great opportunity if you're a real estate marketer as the best season to sell property falls in Q2.
CPC by Day of the Week

We've dug into this topic - the best times to post on Instagram - before.

The refresh of our data supports our previous findings that weekdays see higher levels of engagement (and thus are more expensive).

The most expensive day to post on Instagram is Wednesday, with an average 2017 CPC of $1.03. Tuesday is a close second with an average CPC for the year of $0.98. Thursday and Friday aren't far behind (respectively) with tied CPCs of $0.92.

Deciding when to post is always unique to your brand and target audience. For example, if you're offering executive education courses to corporate executives, you might aim for weekdays even though CPC is relatively high. (Nobody wants to think too much about work on the weekends!)
Key takeaway: balance the higher cost of posting during the week with the potential reward for increased reach and engagement, depending on your company type.
CPC by Gender

More women than men use Instagram. that's a fact. Or is it?

In 2018 50.7% of Instagram users worldwide were female, while 49.3% were male. It's not a huge difference (and it's a narrower margin than the split between female and male users in 2017), but it does impact CPC.

Targeting women in Q4 produced the highest CPC in 2017 at $1.17, while women in Q3 and men in Q4 were tied for second-highest CPC at $1.10. The lowest CPC in this category were men in Q3 with $0.80.

Researchers have hypothesized that the platform attracts more women because it has a "singular focus on appearance" that seems to lure women. The Atlantic even notes that: "Instagram gives you the power to modify your appearance in a way that's practically on par with makeup and other beauty products."

What's been interesting to us is that these traditional conventions seem to be breaking down. In 2018 the split between male and female users was nearly even!
Key takeaway: if you're worried about an expensive ad campaign that targets women, you might be in for a nice surprise in 2018 as CPC becomes more level between the genders.
Instagram Ad Costs Data Wrap-Up

With an expanded sample size of 12 months of data and a total of $281 million in ad spend, we gained more key findings for readers to take with them into 2018:

First, don't discount users over 35 in your targeting. Although they might be more costly to reach, they have more spending power to boost your sales.

Second, consistent from the first six months of 2017, as the year progresses, CPC increases!

Third, placing ads between Instagram Stories still has a relatively low CPC compared to the main mobile feed format, keeping the ROI of this highly engaging feature very attractive!

Fourth, Tuesday and Wednesday have the highest CPCs during the week.

Finally, CPC remains higher for females than males - but by a narrower margin than in our past survey that noted 58% of users were female and 42% male.

Use This Data to Set Your Own Parameters

Again, every ad campaign will be unique since every marketer has his or her own budget, goals, and constraints.

Although this data is not everything you need to create an optimal Instagram ad campaign, it should give you a reasonable idea of what to expect for 2018 costs, broken down by key categories.

These figures should help you estimate where your ads will fit in with the averages throughout the year and which factors are most relevant to you as you determine how to create the most reward for the least amount of money!

The cost of Instagram ads are influenced by many factors - everything from your audience to your ad feedback - so there's a lot that goes into understanding how to advertise on Instagram.

We've analyzed more than 100 million dollars of ad spend in 2017! This provides us with Instagram Ad cost averages for 2017 so far to compare across the quarters.

We're going to take a look at CPC (cost-per-click) data of Instagram Ads from Q1, Q2, and the beginning of Q3 in 2017. We'll cover differences based on gender, day of the week, and look at month-by-month breakdowns. Plus, we'll explain what affects the cost of advertising with Instagram ads.

We might not be able to tell you exactly how much your specific campaign is going to cost, but we're going to give you a good reference point of the current costs of advertising on Instagram today.

How Does The Instagram Ad Bidding Process Work?

Instagram advertising falls under the umbrella of Facebook's advertising system, so if you understand how Facebook costs work, a lot of this guide will sound familiar.

Being a part of the Facebook advertising network, Instagram ads are bought through an auction system which determines how much Instagram ads cost. Every advertiser sets a budget, the total amount they're willing to spend, either daily or over the total campaign, and a bid, the maximum amount they're willing to spend when a user completes the ad objective.

The auction happens once there is an opportunity for an Instagram user to see an ad, like if a user opens their Instagram app and starts scrolling through their feed. The "bidders" in this auction are all of the ads with the target audience that the user falls under.

Unlike traditional auctions, the winning ad i sn't the highest monetary bidder. Instagram wants to make sure users are having high-quality, relevant experiences, so the auction winner is the ad that creates the most value for users.

This overall value is calculated by combining three factors:

Advertiser bid: represents how much the advertiser values the result that their ad is optimized for

Estimated action rates: represents the likelihood of a user completing the action that an ad is optimized for

Ad quality and relevance: represents the likelihood of a user being interested in seeing your ad

These three factors are combined into a total value for each ad. The ad with the highest value wins and is displayed. The auction winner is charged the minimum amount that was required to win the auction, so advertisers are often charged less for their bid.

Instagram Ads Cost: a 5-Ingredients Mix

If your bid was the only Instagram ad value factor, then the cost of an Instagram ad would be the highest bid, just like with a traditional auction.

But there are two other factors- Estimated Action Rates and the ad Quality/Relevance Score -that are included in the ad Value Formula, so they also determine the cost of the Instagram ad.

Let's take a closer look at these three factors, as well as a few other conditions that can influence the estimated action rates and ad quality/relevance score, to understand what can affect Instagram ad cost.

1. Your bid

Because advertisers acquire Instagram ads through an auction system, they have to bid for each ad. Advertisers can choose to set their bid as manual or automatic:

Manual bid: The advertiser selects a maximum amount that they're willing to spend to achieve the selected ad result (ex: $5 for a click).

Automatic bid: Instead of the advertiser selecting the bid amount per ad result, Facebook chooses how to spend your entire ad budget to optimize for your ad result. This option is recommended for users who are unsure of how much they should bid.

It's true that an advertiser could make their ad cost lower by placing a low manual bid, but that comes at the risk of having your ad show less frequently, losing out to other ads with higher bids.In any case, users shouldn't worry too much about placing high bids since you're only charged the minimum amount needed to win the auction if you're the winning ad.

2. Estimated action rates

When Facebook advertising is deciding whether to display your Instagram ad to a user, they consider their measured estimated action rate for your ad, which indicates how likely they think the user will complete your optimized ad action (such as a link click).
The estimated action rate is measured by considering the past actions of the user you're trying to reach, and the Instagram ad's historical performance data.
For example, if you are releasing an Instagram ad that's optimized for clicks to your website, the estimated action rate might be calculated by considering how many website conversions your ad has received so far and whether the user has clicked on Instagram ads for websites like yours.

Depending on your selected bidding type, estimated action rates can directly impact Instagram ad costs.

If your ad scores a low estimated action rate with a user and you've selected automatic bidding, a higher bid (within your ad budget) will be placed to increase your chances of winning. For users who opt for manual bidding, having a low estimated action rate ad could just mean less ad exposure depending on whether their bid amount is high enough to compete.

3. Ad quality and relevance

The ad quality and relevance value factor represents how interested Instagram expects a user will be in your Instagram ad. It's calculated by considering three factors:

negative feedback - a score based on the number of times users hide your ad or choose not to see it

positive feedback - a score based on whether people are expected to complete your ad objective (ex: click on a link)

users' past Instagram activity - considers whether they have a demonstrated interest in what you're advertising

The more positive your ad feedback, the higher your ad quality and relevance score is (and vice versa). Likewise, if a user has a history of being interested in what you're advertising, then that will increase its ad quality and relevance score.

Advertisers can easily gain a sense of their Instagram ad's quality and relevance by going on the Facebook Ad Manager, selecting the ad they want to view, and checking its positive feedback, negative feedback and relevance scores.

Just like with estimated action rates, an Instagram ad's quality and relevance score can impact the ad's cost depending on your bidding type. For automatic bidding, higher bids will be placed by Instagram if the ad quality and relevance score isn't as high as competitors. With manual bidding, a low ad quality and relevance score could result in less ad exposure if the placed bid isn't high enough.

4. Your audience targeting

If there are many brands that are targeting the same audience you're targeting, the competition to be the winning Instagram ad with the most value is going to be high. With this competition, audience targeting impacts Instagram ad cost.

Typically, ads with popular target audiences are going to cost more. If there are a lot of ads targeting the same audience, there's a good chance that many of these ads will have similar estimated action rates and ad quality/relevance scores, meaning that the ads will need higher bids to have the most value.

It's important to note that Instagram ads are in competition with any company that is trying to reach the targeted user, not just brands within their industry. People typically have a wide variety of interests, so they are going to belong to target audiences of many brands.

Pro Tip: While advertisers ideally want to pay as little for their ads as possible, you don't want to pick a less popular target audience to save money. Instagram ad conversions are all about targeting the right audience, so there's not much you can do if your target audience happens to be a popular one.

5. Time of year

We just covered how the cost of an Instagram ad can increase if its audience is being targeted by a lot of brands. One reason a bunch of brands might start targeting audiences is that it's a peak time of year.

Advertisers know that Instagram will get more traffic during times like the holidays or the Super Bowl, so they're going to put more effort into reaching their target audiences.

Black Friday and Christmas are obviously going to be competitive days for advertisers, but other holidays to keep in mind for popular sales are Labor Day, New Years, and Cyber Monday.Like other advertising platforms, Instagram has a ton of traffic on holidays, making investing in an ad during peak times potentially worth it. If you're considering Instagram advertising during a busy time, just be sure to keep in mind that costs will be higher.

How do Bidding Options Affect Instagram Ads Cost?

There are two bidding options that determine how you will be charged for your Instagram ad - by CPC or CPM.

Cost per click (CPC): You are paying for the number of users who click on your ad. It's important to note that you are paying just for the click, not for a completed conversion.

Impressions (CPM): You are paying for every thousand impressions that your ad receives.

Each of these payment options is tied to an ad optimization option, which directs Instagram to send your ad to users who will complete your requested action. Here are the optimization options:

Conversions: Your ad will be sent to users who are most likely to complete your set Instagram ad objective. With this option, advertisers pay by CPM.

Impressions: Your ad will be shown to as many people as possible, and you pay by CPM.

Clicks: Your ad will be shown to the users who are most likely to click on your ad, and you pay by CPC.

Daily unique reach: Your ad will be delivered to users up to once a day, and you pay by CPM.

Based on your ad objective, optimization options are automatically recommended for your ad.

An ad's optimization option can affect the ad's cost because it determines who will see the ad. If these people don't complete the objective action you've set for the ad, the ad's estimated action rate and relevance scores will decrease, causing the ad's cost to increase. Advertisers want to make sure that they pick an optimization option that's appropriate for their ad and will keep its value high.

And now, the answer you are waiting for!

How Much Instagram Ads Cost in Q1 and Q2 of 2017?

Now that we've got a clear idea of how the bidding system works and what factors currently are most heavily affecting the cost of our Instagram Ads, let's take a look at the data.

This data was based on over $100 million of ad spend pulled from all AdEspresso users from Q1, Q2, and July of Q3 in 2017. All currencies have been converted to USD in this data.
While all the data and numbers in this post are coming off real campaigns, you should be using these numbers only as a reference or a guideline.
There are too many factors influencing Instagram ads cost to know exactly what the cost will be for you. The only way to know that is to run a few of your own campaigns. Still, this data can provide a powerful point of reference and more concretely give a rough answer to the question "How much do Instagram Ads cost?" that doesn't involve a shrug of the shoulders.

When breaking down the numbers in our research, we looked at how different factors like the age and gender of users affected how much they were spending. This data reflects the average cost per click for multiple variables for Q1, Q2 and the beginning of Q3 for 2017. The currency is in dollars.

Here's what we found...

CPC by day - worldwide

Overall, the CPC was highest on the weekends. Tuesdays had the lowest CPC, particularly in Q1. CPC increased for every day of the week in Q2, with weekends experiencing the biggest spike.

CPC by month - worldwide

CPC experienced a slight bump from February to March. Overall, it looks like Instagram ads have been getting more expensive over the course of the year.

Median of CPC by quarter

The CPC median increased with each quarter, particularly from Q1 to Q2.

CPC by age - worldwide

The highest CPC age groups are 18-24, 25-34, and 35-44 year olds, which makes sense since these are Instagram's most valuable age demographics. According to a Pew Research center report, 78% of Instagram's users fall between the ages of 18 and 49.

CPC by Gender - Worldwide

The CPC for women is significantly higher than for men. There are more women than men using Instagram - 58% of users are female and 42% are male. Because there are more female users, women are going to be a more popular target audience than men, driving up the CPC for women.

CPC by device - worldwide

Apple leads with iPhones having the highest CPC and iPads the second highest.

CPC by female age - worldwide

The female CPC is highest for 18-34 year olds. Other than 13/17 year-olds, every age group increased in CPC by quarter.

CPC by male age - worldwide

There is a CPC spike for the 13-17 year old males in Q2. Otherwise, the CPC for males is pretty consistent in the 18-44 year old age range.

Instagram Ads Cost Data Wrap-Up

For a quick summary of 2017 so far, and to help us all notice a few interesting trends, we found (on average) that:

The CPC increased as the year went on. The CPC by month steadily climbs as the year goes on.

The CPC by age doesn't vary too much. Other than the Q3 results (which only include July), the CPC by age typically falls within the $.70 to $.80 range.

Typically, CPC is higher for females than males. The female CPC was slightly lower than the male CPC in the first quarter, but it was much higher than the male CPC in the second and third quarter.

Apple devices have the highest CPC. iPhones have the highest CPC, and iPads have the second highest.

And there you have it...

There's no single answer to the question, "How much is my Instagram ad going to cost?" There are so many factors - audience targeting, bidding type, ad quality - that affect how much marketers will pay for their Instagram ad, so costs are going to vary.

Still, you can start developing a sense of what your Instagram ad is going to cost by considering how the factors that we've mentioned in this guide might increase or decrease the price of your ad.
Familiarizing yourself with our provided 2017 data about CPC for Instagram ads will also give you an idea of the costs to expect when launching an ad campaign.
Knowing what factors can impact the cost of your Instagram ads and Instagram ad cost data are only meant to be reference points, not exact predictors of what your ads will cost. Still, these reference points are valuable resources, equipping marketers with clear cost range expectations for their Instagram ad campaigns instead of going in empty-handed.

What do you think? Do your Instagram ad costs line up with our data? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Instagram Ad Costs: The Complete Updated Resource for 2018

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With Instagram continuing to roll out exciting features and capabilities, marketers have even more room to get creative and gain a competitive edge by using the platform to run ads in 2018. An example? Some Instagram users can now register a credit card as part of their profile and actually purchase products without clicking out of the app!

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Did you ever give Snapchat Marketing a try?

There's a continually growing list of social media platforms that businesses should be using, and plenty of marketers agree that Snapchat is included on that list.

Though the interface can be a little clunky and hard to get used to, some businesses who are using Snapchat are having great results coming from their campaigns.

In this Snapchat guide, we're going to break down everything you need to know about marketing on Snapchat and getting results for your business.
Did I mention all the latest updates?
Yes, we have those too, and with a tutorial to get you started in a blink of an eye!

Because Snapchat is so different from the other major popular social media sites most marketers are using, however, it can feel intimidating-marketers are unsure how to use the platform, how to connect with their audience, and what types of content they should be using.

In the first section of the guide, we'll show you why you should market on the platform, great examples of success on Snapchat, the demographics of its users, recommended strategies and best practices, and an in-depth tutorial for using its features and tracking results.

In the 2019 update, we've added sections on whether or not Snapchat is still worth it (spoiler alert: yes!),

You can click here and go straight to the new content, or keep on reading and learn how to master the platform!

Ready? Let's get started.

Why Should Businesses Market on Snapchat?

Snapchat can officially be considered yet another platform that businesses and marketers can include in their marketing line-up; it's time, for some, to cue the collective sigh. While this can feel overwhelming for some businesses (there are already plenty of sites and platforms that we have to keep up with), it's always a good thing to have a platform that provides new opportunities and ways to connect with our target audience.

Snapchat has shown that it can be really valuable to businesses who have the audience there and the right strategies in place. Because numbers can speak for themselves, here are some statistics that show the potential value of marketing on Snapchat:

Aside from the statistics, which can speak for the growth and engagement on the platform, there are some strong benefits to marketing on Snapchat. These include:

Less competition. Every brand that's ever existed seems to have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (and, increasingly, Pinterest). As difficult as it can be to even connect with users on these platforms, it can be even harder to get your content to stand out from the competition. Though Snapchat is increasing in popularity amongst brands quickly, there's still less competition here for businesses than on other platforms.

It's different. We've touched a bit on this in the intro, and we'll discuss it more later, but it's such a major benefit I wanted to mention it here, too. Snapchat is different than other platforms.You'll be reaching a new audience in a new way with a new type of content. This can definitely be a challenge, but it's also a big advantage. It's got a similar aesthetic to Instagram Stories, which was entirely modeled off of Snapchat, so similar content can be shared on both.

It feels authentic. Social media sites, in general are great for rapport building, and in some cases, giving the "behind the scenes" look to users.
Snapchat amplifies this facet of social media marketing; it's more about what's happening right now. Photos are edited with filters to make them more interesting as opposed to creating images of a higher quality, and the effects are purely there for enhancement (and fun).
You can show the personality of your brand in a new way on Snapchat, highlighting the parts that will be most relevant to your audience there.

You can reach a new audience. If your product has use cases that could appeal to a younger demographic but you aren't really connecting to them yet on other social media platforms, Snapchat could be your gold ticket in.
CNN, for example, connected with more Millenials on Snapchat than they had through their site; it was an audience they'd previously had some trouble connecting with.
Even if you're reaching the same audience, you're doing so on an additional platform.

It's free (aside from paid ad campaigns). This definitely isn't the most important aspect of marketing on Snapchat, but it doesn't hurt to note that it is, indeed, free. Some tools in marketing aren't, after all.

Snapchat has seen increases in growth in the past few years, with user engagement and activity being plenty high enough to capture business's attention.

Before you jump onto the platform and start running campaigns, however, you'll want to take a look at one thing: who is your audience on Snapchat?

Who's on Snapchat?

It only makes sense to understand what demographics are most present on a platform before you start developing your marketing strategies, and Snapchat is no exception.

Let's put it this way: if Millenials are included at all in your target audience, you should definitely be on Snapchat.

More than 60% of 13-34 year old in the US with smartphones use Snapchat

37% of users fall in the 8-24 year old category, with 71% of its users being under the age of 25.

The population is currently made up of 70% women and 30% men.

12% of 35-54 year old are currently using Snapchat, and only 2% of those 55 and older are on the platform.

Snapchat currently has a younger audience, and though older audiences were increasing quickly several years ago when this guide was first written, that's a trend that hasn't continued so prevalently.

If teens and college students aren't your target demographic, however, you could still get some use out of marketing on Snapchat-as long as your audience isn't purely in the 55+ age group.

Are there Any Businesses that Shouldn't Use Snapchat?

Since I've had some posts published about Snapchat (read: here and here), there's one question I've been asked a lot: are there any businesses that shouldn't use Snapchat?

While I'd never say that it would hurt a brand to use a social media platform unless some major marketing missteps are made (see my personal favorite- the McDonald's example), there are probably a few brands out there that might not have much success on Snapchat and could do better to focus their attention elsewhere. If your target demographic is purely middle-aged to older adults, for example, and a younger audience would have zero interest in your product, Snapchat may not be for your business.

That being said, it never hurts to try; the demographics could always change and expand, and you might be surprised how your content fits in with the new audience, or how engaged your audience is on the platform.

It's also important to note that you shouldn't be relying exclusively on Snapchat as a medium for social media marketing; it should be used in addition to other platforms. Use Facebook as your central hub, which allows customers to leave reviews, share images, and create UGC, and make sure that you're on Instagram too; both of these platforms have more features to help you better connect with your target audience in meaningful ways and they have larger and more diverse user bases.

The Elephant In the Room: Is Snapchat Still Worth It?

Here it is: the big question that everyone asks when I work on social strategies with them and we're choosing which platforms they want to use. Is Snapchat still worth it?

In the original version of those post, I had a prediction: that Facebook and Instagram and their combined empire would likely take down Snapchat eventually, but that it would take a really long time. I was sort of right, but not entirely.

Snapchat has not quite kept up with the rapid growth of other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, which have all adapted and evolved a little more. The creation and popularity of Instagram Stories and then Facebook Stories didn't help Snapchat any, either, basically copying their best features and maybe even improving them a little bit.

Then a few celebrities threw a few punches, and the effects were immediately visible. In March of last year, Rhianna called for her fans to delete Snapchat after the company ran an ad asking if users would rather punch Chris Brown or slap Rhianna, and boom, stock slid by 5%. This was following Kylie Jenner's single tweet saying she wasn't really a fan of Snapchat anymore after its redesign, and the company's value dropped by 1.5 billion immediately after.

Last year, Snapchat actually shrunk by 3 million users. They've since managed to claw their way up from 188 million daily active users to around 191, but that was a big hit. So the platform isn't doing quite as well as others out there, BUT it's so important to note that those numbers are still massive, and there's a lot of potential here to reach your target audience. We've already looked at the statistics, we know that the engaged audience that's stuck around is still loyal and enthusiastic. So yes, Snapchat is still definitely worth it if it's a good fit for your business.

Now that we've got that covered, let's take a look at how to actually market on this platform.

Snapchat Marketing: The Tutorial

Now that we've established who should market on Snapchat and why they should, we'll focus in on the how of Snapchat marketing.

In case you missed it, we published an in-depth tutorial that goes over how to set up your profile and send snaps and stories, which you can see here.

Since we've already released a guide going over the basics, this tutorial is going to focus on the more advanced features of Snapchat marketing, including features available to use, developing a marketing strategy, connecting with your audience and QR codes, and tracking the results of your marketing efforts.

Features Available on Snapchat

There are several different features, types of posts, and settings that can you can use, all of which can impact the success of your Snapchat campaigns. These include image editing options, the settings you can choose on your profile, and additional features that can help you interact and engage with your audience.
Types of content you can share on Snapchat include:

Images. You can share images on Snapchat, taken right then with your camera phone and edited, or uploaded from your saved photos. Snaps are best in a portrait format, which is the only way to view them.

Videos. Videos can be shared on Snapchat, so long as they're kept under ten seconds long (though some crafty users have apparently figured out hacks around that). They can be edited like images.

Snaps. Snaps are images or videos that are sent privately and only to specific users. After users view them for the allowed amount of time, they "expire" and disappear. Snaps are found on the left-hand side of the main screen.

Stories. Stories are images or videos that are shared with your followers (or everyone, if your private setting allows for it). They're good for mass distribution of content. Locate them on the right-hand side of the main screen.

Editing options for posts (both Snaps and Stories for images and videos) include:

Drawing tools. You can draw on your image, in any color and in any place.

Text Add-ins. You can type out text to add to your image. You can choose any color for the font, and place the banner text wherever you choose.

Emojis. Because the world can never have enough emojis, you can add emojis to your image, dragging them to any position that you so please.

Settings and features that you can use to enhance your success on Snapchat include:

Change view time. You can manually adjust the view time on your images, allowing users to view them for longer or shorter periods of time than the default ten seconds. If you increase the length of time it's available for viewing, you could get more engagement.

Having your profile public. Make sure that your profile is set to public, instead of private (which is the default). To do this, click the ghost in the top center of the main screen.From there, click the red star in the top right corner.
Change "who can contact me" and "who can view my stories" from "my friends" to "everyone."

Snapchat released an upgraded messaging system (), which comes with additional features. You can use the messaging system to chat privately with specific users.

To chat with a user, swipe right to where you'll see Snaps. Click on the text bubble in the left-hand corner.

From there you'll be taken to a screen where you can choose who to chat with.
Features (new and old) of the chat system include:

Stickers. More than 200 stickers are now available to use in the private chat system.

Video notes. Video notes are ten seconds of video that will loop for continuous watching when your friend views them, and they can be sent in the private chat system. They don't expire like normal snaps and stories.

Audio notes. Audio notes work the same way as video notes, allowing you to send 10-second snippets of audio content in a private chat.

Multiple photo send. You can now send multiple photos at once in the private chat system.

Video and audio calls. Just as Facebook offers video and audio calls, Snapchat does as well, thanks to their upgraded chat system. You can even send photos during these calls.

Developing a Strategy to Market on Snapchat (with real examples)

While a lot of social media platforms offer something unique while still functioning in a similar way (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest allow you to share posts and "like" or comment on the posts of others), Snapchat is one that-to me- feels truly different; you share videos and images with specific people, and people can send videos and images to you. That's it. The interaction between you and your users isn't public, and there's no real social proof. Going viral isn't the objective; getting your content to those who will engage with it is the only goal here.

In order to have success on Snapchat, you'll need to have a marketing strategy in place. And because Snapchat is such a different platform compared to what we're used to as marketers, that marketing strategy is going to be at least a little different than what you're likely using on other platforms.

Some tried-and-true strategies, tactics, and campaigns that have worked for other businesses who were marketing their brand (or products) on Snapchat include the following:

Offering coupon codes. When it comes to Snapchat marketing, one of the best tried-and-true tactics is advertising coupon codes on the platform.
There are several ways to do this. Sixteen Handles made Snapchat marketing history when they offered a coupon code in exchange for users sending them Snaps of themselves with the frozen yogurt. The frozen yogurt restaurant returned the snap with a coupon code, redeemable in store.
Grubhub has also been known to offer coupon codes via Snapchat, which makes use the urgent nature of the platform and encourages users to buy now with a combination of urgency and the added incentive of a discount.
In addition to the coupon codes being great motivation for engagement and real, profitable sales, they also offer another benefit: they're trackable. You can see how many people are responding to you, and then you can see how many actually use the coupon code. Since it can be difficult to track metrics at all on Snapchat, that's a valuable perk.

Connect with influencers. Connecting with influencers can make a huge impact on your Snapchat marketing- even if they're more unlikely influencers that you'd expect to see.
A great example of a brand who used influencers wisely was Audi. Wanting to connect to young, female, Millennial, first time car buyers, they teamed up with ABC's show "Pretty Little Liars," which is an influencer for that demographic if there ever was one. Audi would post exclusive content about the show, giving the show an additional platform and Audi access to the show's followers.

Throughout the campaign, Audi gained more than 115,000 followers on Snapchat. Even unlikely pairs can work.

Build anticipation. Do you have an event going on now, or one going on soon? Create hype as much as you can through anticipation and capitalize on it.
For those who don't know (or don't live in Orlando), Universal Studios opened up the new King Kong ride Skull Island last summer. As part of their marketing strategy, they've released a series of short videos on YouTube, spaced a week apart each. These videos show a fictional trip to a "real" skull island, each ending on a cliffhanger to build anticipation both for the next video, and the ride. It worked- I got excited and renewed my pass. This happened on YouTube, but you can do the same via Snapchat.

If you have an event coming up, continue to share images and videos of the preparation or of exciting new developments and details to come. TacoBell (an icon of Snapchat marketing) did this when announcing the arrival of their breakfast menu through multiple tweets.
Always keep people wanting more, adding phrases like "just wait until you hear what we've got coming!" and "we've got a great surprise in store." Use the short but frequent snaps to keep your audience engaged.Build anticipation, both for your next story and the product, and your campaigns can provide even more than higher engagement.

Target the audience that's there. Your audience on Snapchat, even after some impressive growth, may not be the same as your target audience in general. That's fine. As long as they are interested in your content and relevant to your brand, they're now your target audience on Snapchat.
Let's look at an example of how to repurpose a campaign to fit a new audience. Publix (a popular grocery store in Florida) often has really touching commercials near the holidays, where lonely grandparents are visited by family or friendly neighbors. To adjust to the millennial demographic, they could instead feature campaigns around pizza and wings images and videos for college game night. Febreeze has capitalized on this, changing their Snapchat campaigns to market to millennials.
I think LACMA has done an amazing job with this, adapting to the audience on Snapchat to showcase exciting pieces and keep users interested, with clever uses of text, editing, and visual add-ins.

Connecting with Your Audience on Snapchat

We've already discussed the demographics that are currently on Snapchat. Just because they're there, however, doesn't mean you're automatically guaranteed for them to follow you. You have to still find your followers and encourage them to connect with you, just as you would on any other platform.

Snapchat lacks other platforms' "viral" nature; if one of your friends follows a brand on Snapchat, it makes absolute no impact on you whatsoever-you don't see it and you'll never hear about it. Because of this, it can be more difficult to connect with users on Snapchat.

One of the best ways to do so is to promote your Snapchat off the platform as much as you possibly can. Share your Snapchat username on all of your social media sites, your site, and in an email to your email list, prompting users to follow you. You can offer some incentive up front, offering the chance to win a prize or get a shout out from your brand if they follow you. This can be surprisingly effective.

If you can get an influencer on board who can encourage users to follow you, this can also help. As many people as possible who can let followers know about your Snapchat profile, the better.

Perhaps the most effective way to connect with new users is to use the QR code.

Snapchat's QR Code: How to Use It

QR codes are machine-readable codes that can be read by the cameras on smartphones, similar to the scanning of a barcode. Snapchat has smartly made great use of QR codes, which users can now use to quickly follow specific users or brands that they want. Users are sharing their QR codes across social media, in emails, and even in print in person, making it fast and easy for other users to follow them. The easier it is, the more followers you're likely to gain.

You can access and customize your Snapchat QR code by logging in here.
Each snap code is unique even before you customize it, so keep that in mind before trying to customize someone else's.

The snapcode is made up of 3 different aspects; the ghost, the code, and the frame. None of these factors can be interfered with-you can't invert the color of the code, for example, or disrupt either the ghost or the frame.

You can change the color of the body of the ghost, though Snapchat recommends you keep it white. Adding a logo or image inside the ghost can be a great way to customize the code, and you can change the background color (just not the code) as part of your branding.

Once you're happy with your snapcode, share it everywhere you can. People just have to take a picture of your snapcode and click on it within the app from your camera roll to follow you.

How to Track Results on Snapchat

Snapchat doesn't have the type of in-platform analytics tool like Facebook or Pinterest's Analytics. Unlike Instagram, Snapchat also doesn't have any third party analytics tools that can be used. At least for now, Snapchat is more user-friendly than it is marketer-friendly.

While this can be inconvenient for marketers, it's still possible to track some results of your campaigns on Snapchat. The information won't be condensed in easy-to-read graphs and charts on a marketer-friendly interface, but you can still get it.

There are a few metrics you can track on Snapchat. You can see:

Who's viewed a Snap

Who responded to a Snap or story

Who's engaged with you via chat

You can determine the effectiveness of your campaigns (or at least how much the content is being viewed) by dividing the number of snaps opened by the amount of snaps you sent out, providing you with the Snap opening rate.

If you're running a particular campaign, like GrubHub in the example above, you can see how many users open a private snap and/or interact with you to receive the coupon code.

Evaluating your open and engagement rate over time can be tedious and take a long time as it's a manual process, but it can give you a strong idea of how your content is resonating with your audience, along with what content they were most receptive to.

You can also see the amount of views your story as gotten, as well as the amount of screen shots taken. When you click on your individual story, you can see how the number of views (which will be the number by the eye) and the number of screen shots (which is the tiny supposed-to-be-an-arrow).

Again, calculating both the views and the screen shots can help you evaluate whether or not your content is relevant-and is staying relevant-to your audience.

5 Best Practices for Marketing on Snapchat

In addition to developing a marketing strategy that works best for your brand and your particular audience, there are several different tactics and best practices you can employ with your Snapchat campaigns in order to boost engagement, sales, and followers.

Here are 5 of those best practices:

Create urgency. Creating a sense of urgency is a great tactic when you're looking to motivate users to take any sort of action on your campaigns. Snapchat is no different, and it's "see it before it's gone" aspect automatically gives a sense of must-act-now to users viewing your content.
Create posts that capitalize on this natural urgency to motivate users to action- announce flash sales, special discounts, or exclusive content- to get more results and higher engagement.

Test content in private messages. Since Snapchat is so different from other platforms, it's a good idea to test your content and see how it will perform (because when is this ever a bad idea for marketers?).
To test content on Snapchat, send a Snap to some of your users in private snaps and measure their engagement. It will be easier to monitor their engagement in these smaller batches, and it lets you test content before sharing it with all of your followers (and potentially the public) as stories.

Fit your content to the platform. If sites like Facebook and Instagram are all about transparency, Snapchat has taken that transparency to a whole new level. Images on Snapchat aren't going to be the same stunning, glossy, filtered, edited images adorning users' Facebook and Instagram feeds; they're going to be taken with a camera phone quickly, edited in a fun way, and shared.
Snapchat as a platform feels more casual, fun, and fleeting than some other platforms (which is probably part of the reason it appeals to Millennials so much). Showcase your brand and its personality, and don't worry about pictures that aren't perfectly photo-shopped.

Use both videos and images. The more options you have, the better- at least in this case. Sharing a mix of images and videos can keep users interested and engaged; images are easy to edit and quick to view, and videos (in all their ten-second glory) are dynamic and feel alive. With Snapchat's reported 8+ billion video views, using multiple types of media never hurt.

Tell a story. Snaps now automatically play, one after the next, if there are multiple that a user can view. This is also true for stories. You can use these images and videos to tell a story across multiple posts, which can both build engagement and interest, and allows you to overcome the briefness of the time limit for both images and videos.

This can also help keep users tuned in and invested in the chain of your story, waiting for what's next.

Snapchat Analytics: 2017 Update

We've established that Snapchat can be an extremely valuable marketing platform. The difficult part, however, is actually measuring those marketing efforts.

Snapchat is an extremely difficult platform to track data on. Similarly, tracking trends is just as difficult since our content-and their results-disappear.

Fortunately, there are a few metrics we can watch manually. And, even better, third-party platform Snaplytics released an incredible Snapchat analytics tool that all businesses can benefit from.

In this 2017 update, we're going to take a look at which metrics you should look at, where to find them, and the amazing Snaplytics tool.

Which Snapchat Metrics Can Be Evaluated Manually?

When you're using Snapchat, not a lot of metrics are available to us. That's ok; we can get a lot of information out of the metrics we do have access to.

One of the biggest metrics to pay attention to is the number of views and screenshots on our stories. This can be found by clicking the story, and then clicking the white arrow on the bottom of the screen.

The number of views (and names of users who viewed the story) are represented by the eye symbol; screenshots are the symbol next to it. Knowing how many views our content is actually getting is essential. The number of views should be tracked over time and compared against your total number of followers. If your number of followers has stayed the same but increased, and your story views have decreased over time, your audience isn't interested in your content.

Speaking of which, you should always keep an eye on the number of followers that you have. Just like with all other forms of marketing, increasing your followers can make your marketing efforts more powerful. This can be time-consuming to do manually, so either recruiting an intern to do the counting once every six months or using Snaplytics is a good way to go.

To determine an estimated completion rate, you'll need a story with more than one picture or video. Divide the number of users who saw the last section of your story by the number of users who saw the first story to determine your completion rate. This also helps you gauge audience interest in your content; if you're losing them, you may be able to see where and why.

You can also manually evaluate whether or not users are opening the private snaps you send to them, and how often they respond. Snaps that have been opened with have blue arrows, as seen in the image above. If you've received a message in return, you'll have a blue message box. You can determine the engagement rate for private messages, and test out content in smaller groups of your audience via private chat.

Snaplytics's Snapchat Analytics

So considering all the detailed tracking-and resulting excel spreadsheets-that Snapchat marketing requires to track data, I know I wasn't the only one dying for a third party analytics tool to be released. Snaplytics is the only Snapchat analytics tool that I know of, but it's an incredible resource, and it's the only one I think we need.

They automatically track and calculate the following metrics (so you don't have to do it manually and before your snaps delete):

Number of stories

Total and average number of story opens

Total and average number of story screenshots

Average story completion rate

Average open rate

Estimated total followers

Ratio of pictures to videos you're posting

Your top 5 tags

These metrics are all incredibly important. Getting accurate data will give you valuable insight into how users are responding to your content. This data is actionable, and it's necessary to have

You can click to individual live stories to see information about them, including views and completion rate; you can even play the story live from the dashboard where you're viewing it.

Audience Tracking

Snaplytics also has the only audience analytics platform available for Snapchat. They'll tell you your estimated number of followers and your daily follower growth rate. They'll also tell you what sources of traffic are giving you the most followers.

This tool tells you if they're searching for you by user name, snapcode, a deep link, or add-backs. You can amplify those sources of traffic with additional effort, advertising funds, and energy.

Competitor Tracking

You can compare all of this data to information about your competitors. You can see how they're using the platform and how your content is measuring up. You'll pay more for this feature, but it's an extremely beneficial one-especially for brands just getting started. Insight like how often competitors post and the average duration of stories can help you find the Snapchat sweet spot.

Bonus: Snaplytics is also testing a feature that will let businesses schedule Snaps ahead of time through the dashboard. This isn't an analytics feature, but it's a cool one worth mentioning.

Snaplytics plans start at $179 a month.

Do I Need to Measure Snapchat Engagement?

Yes- you should carefully monitor and evaluate all aspects of your marketing campaigns. This includes Snapchat. It can be difficult to manually track all the metrics necessary to get a clear picture, but it's possible. Snaplytics is a great resource, and more accurate than most of us tracking the data on our own. Either way, measuring engagement (and audience information) lets you know what's working and what isn't. This allows you to deliver more relevant content to your audience, improving your results long term.

Snapchat Ads: The 2019 Update

You might have noticed that we haven't discussed Snapchat Ads yet on this guide. That's partially because we have a full how-to over here, but it's also because until recently, they haven't been fully accessible for most businesses.

For multiple ad formats, that's changed, and we want to give you a quick overview.

Originally, most Snapchat Ads were exorbitantly expensive, to the point where only major corporations would be able to afford them. Stories were costing around $40,000, and to have ads appear in the Discover section cost around $40,0 000 minimum. Sponsored lenses were even more insane, jumping up to a potential $750,000 price tag. People weren't paying for the most part, and Snapchat has reconfigured their pricing.

Now, Snapchat Ads cost a heck of a lot less, and actually can be even more affordable than other platforms.

According to an article from The Mobile Marketer, Snapchat Ads cost an average of $2.95 per thousand impressions, which is lower than Instagram's average of $4.20 and Facebook's $5.12.

You can choose from the following Snapchat ad formats:

which work a lot like Instagram's Ads and will appear in between users' organic Stories.

which work the same way but let you feature different products on the ad itself.

which appear on the Discover page next to popular content.

which are interactive and can be used for users to create their own Snaps. Costs start at around $10.

which allow you to create branded, sponsored filters people can add to their own content and give you UGC. Costs start at $5.

which are 6-second, non-skippable premium video content. There is no reliable, consistent data on the cost of these yet, but they're likely one of the more expensive ads options.

The decreased costs can in response to Snapchat's lowering stock value, marketer's resistance to purchase, and the flourishing ad revenue of other ad platforms that didn't give advertisers sticker shock (and nightmares). This is great news, because organic marketing doesn't always hit home on Snapchat, and the ability to use affordable ad campaigns to boost your reach and visibility is a solid strategy.

How to Create Snapchat Sponsored Geofilters

Snapchat Geofilters are location-based filters that you can use if you're nearby. Both businesses and users can create their own Geofilters, and they're fantastic tools to build brand awareness and user-generated content on the platform. You can even use them to promote events, like a grand opening of your business or a conference you're hosting. Capturing the interest of a local audience is a huge plus.

There are two main types of Geofilters: community Geofilters and on-demand Geofilters. Anyone can submit community Geofilters for free, but they can't have any branding on them, including logos. With on-demand Geofilters, both businesses and individual people can purchase Geofilters for their location or event; branding (including logos and trademarks) are allowed.

Creating Snapchat Geofilters Tutorial

Creating Geofilters is relatively easy. Businesses should always use on-demand Geofilters so that they can include branding in them. You can get started here and click "Create Now."

You'll be asked to log in, and then you'll have the choice of uploading a ready-made Geofilter that you've made through a platform of your choice (they have Photoshop templates available) or you can create one online. For this example, we'll design our Geofilter online.

You'll be asked to choose the occasion (or more accurately reason) for creating the filter. We'll choose Business.

On the next screen, you'll be able to choose a black screen to start with, or to work off one of the templates. Either way, you can upload images (I uploaded my company logo), and add & format the text of your choosing. These can be dragged to anywhere on the template.

When you want to get an idea how it will look, you can preview your Geofilter with the picture to the right hand side under the customization options.

Once you're happy with your Geofilter, click to the next screen. Here, you can choose what dates and times you want your filter to be active. Keep in mind that Geofilters can get expensive very quickly. A really small range (about the size of a University gym) cost me $54 for one day.

On the next screen, you'll determine where you want your Geofilter to appear. You'll literally draw a fence around this area. This area must be under 5,000,000 square feet.

You can drag and drop corners of the fence as needed after they're drawn on; as you do so, you'll notice that the price of your Geofilter will change dramatically.

Once you're happy with the price, dates, and range, you can submit your order on the next screen.

Conclusion

Snapchat has taken a few hits in recent years, between celebrities throwing a few punches that affect usage, and Instagram and Facebook Stories throwing a few more. In spite of this, the platform has continued to thrive all things considered, and still have an engaged (if slightly smaller) user base.

If your target audience is on this platform and you're already using Facebook and Instagram Stories, go ahead and create a Snapchat account and make an effort here.

There's a good chance that you'll be able to reach those audience members, and the more they see your brand in their feeds (whatever those feeds may be!) the better.
What do you think? Do you use Snapchat for your business? How have you connected with your audience and increased engagement? Share your thoughts, comments, and experiences in the comments below!

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The Ultimate Guide to Snapchat Marketing in 2019

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Is Snapchat marketing right for your business? This guide will answer all your question, including why you should market on the platform, examples of success, strategies and best practices, latest updates, and an in-depth tutorial to get you started in a blink of an eye!

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This article is published in tandem with How to Maximise Your Influencer Strategy, BoF's new Playbook containing actionable insights and practical tools to enable success in influencer marketing. Become a BoF Professional annual member to access.
LONDON, United Kingdom - Camille Charrière wants to share brand recommendations with her engaged social following - but don't call her an influencer.

"Influencer to me is a marketing term that was invented by people in a room that needed to put a name on the girls who have this talent to be able to showcase products, places and ideas to an audience," she said.

Instead, for Charrière, who is both a brand consultant and journalist, it is credibility and creativity that defines a person's ability to influence consumers. "People with real influence are the ones who have something to say, other than their selling power," she said.

And it is a sentiment that is shared by influencers, brands and agencies alike, who are attempting to cut through the noise of today's brand-influencer collaborations. As social feeds become more saturated by sponsored posts and consumers grow increasingly sceptical of inauthentic sales pitches (and actively call out brands and influencers for their faux pas), new rules underpin what it means to engage with this growing marketing channel.

Global ad spend on influencers is predicted by Business Insider Intelligence to reach between $5 billion and $10 billion by 2022. In order to stay relevant, brands must adapt to the nuances of changing consumer attitudes, and think about new ways to start conversations and generate value for social audiences. Here's BoF's guide to the changing face of influence in today's social landscape:
1. Influencers don't just influence
The secret weapon in today's marketing arsenal is a breed of influencers that use their day jobs to maximise their reach and message. When Delphine Del Val set up her creative and influencer agency Pool Creatives, representing the likes of photographer and writer Garance Doré and furniture and fashion designer Ana Kras, she wanted to represent women who are artists first and foremost, and influencers second.

"They all have a project or something that exists and will exist if tomorrow Instagram shut down ...," she said. "They don't need social media to exist."

Brands and agents increasingly seek out influencers who don't just advertise products for a living, and who possess "insider" access to the industry through roles such as stylists, editors and photographers affords them unique insight to share with their followers. Individuals who resonate with audiences for reasons other than their style are able to bring an increased level of credibility and value to the brand-consumer conversation.

But they don't want their roles to be reduced to salespeople, preferring to emphasise their genuine creative credentials. Indeed, agents have been known to strike through any mention of the term "influencer" in contractual agreements and replace it with "talent" or "ambassador."
2. Transactions graduate to partnerships
Song of Style's this month solidified her power as an influencer by launching her own 50-piece apparel collection with online retailer Revolve - the retailer's first influencer-fronted private label. Following in the footsteps of elite influencers such as Man Repeller's Leandra Medine with her eponymous footwear collection, and Huda Kattan who transformed her beauty blog into a cosmetics empire, Song's long-standing partnership with Revolve has evolved from top-tier membership in the retailer's 2,500-strong influencer network to product collaborator.

Song is a "macro influencer," with over five million followers on Instagram, an enormous potential market for her clothes. But even though only an elite few have the follower count and star power to launch collections with major retailers, a wider group of influencers are attempting the transition from advertising outlets to creative machines.

Instead of relying exclusively on a one-off transaction model - the paid post - brands are tapping the unique talent of their influencers to diversify into more multifaceted and long-term collaborations. This speaks in part to a desire from brands to more creatively leverage the influencer-brand dynamic, and also on the part of influencers to further separate themselves from a salesperson identity.

Beyond generating traditional activations for her 460,000 Instagram followers, Susie Lau, otherwise known as @susiebubble, says that her brand partnerships extend to ambassadorships that involve "behind-the-scenes" collaboration such as consulting, curating and editing. "It's an all-encompassing role because [influencers] have different skill sets [that they] bring to the table," she said, "and basically what brands are after is a form ... alternative storytelling to traditional media."
3. Online and offline go hand-in-hand
Brands and influencers are looking to different touchpoints, both online and IRL, to creatively collaborate beyond sponsored Instagram posts. And while Instagram remains the most powerful of all the social platforms for fashion influencer partnerships (accounting for 86 percent of the total earned media value for the top 30 fashion brands in 2018 according to Tribe Dynamics), brands are looking to draw a line between activations that take place both on and off social platforms.

"A high percentage of the companies I work with on Instagram book me to DJ their events and parties," said New York based DJ and content creator Isaac Hindin-Miller, whose 42,000 followers qualify him as a micro influencer. "For me it's the best possible arrangement - I DJ the event, wear or use the products and post about it all on Instagram."

Not only does this create a sense of 360-degree integration between influencer and brand, diversifying content touchpoints also safeguards against the risk of a social media platform going under, be it through a tech glitch that results in a lengthy blackout or something more severe.

"Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, those are all on lease. You don't own any equity. You are just leasing that space, you don't even own the photos that [are on it]. Once it is gone, you have lost all your content," said Tina Craig, who has over 450,000 followers on her @bagsnob Instagram account and founded influencer agency Estate Five.
4. "Woke" conversations come to the fore
In a politically polarised landscape in the West where consumers are tapped into online activism like never before, influencers can be a powerful channel through which to engage with social and political topics that were previously considered radioactive for brands.

"Audiences are going to be looking at people that they respect," said Del Val, and working with an influencer who has something to add to the conversation is a great marketing opportunity.

In fact, it can be riskier to not take a stance when marketing to consumers who prefer brands with a social purpose. According to BoF and McKinsey's 2019 State of Fashion report, young consumers increasingly back their beliefs with their shopping habits, favouring brands that are aligned with their values and avoiding those that aren't. And influencers have more to say on topics such as sustainability and diversity than ever before.

Certain influencers can help brands tap into the attitudes and values of the influencer's audience, too. Take Jamaican-born street-style photographer and blogger-turned-influencer Tamu McPherson's work with . In addition to traditional sponsored posts for Gucci's Bloom fragrance, she's sat on roundtables and panels for the brand. This includes an internal panel on diversity, and a roundtable on the 2019 controversy surrounding Gucci's withdrawal of a sweater criticised for resembling blackface imagery.

"I was invited to speak about my experiences as a black woman," said McPherson. Involving influencers more directly in the brand can pay dividends when seeking to understand an audience.

"It really excites me that there's [an] additional purpose to my work," she said. "I'm doing something that I love. And, in addition, I'm making a small difference."
Related Articles: Special Report: How to Maximise Your Influencer Strategy How Revolve Plans to Turn a Mega-Influencer Into a Fashion Mogul How Can Brands Stand Out in China's Oversaturated Influencer Economy? Take these insights to the next level and find out how to apply them to your influencer marketing with BoF's Playbook How to Maximise Your Influencer Strategy.

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This article is published in tandem with How to Maximise Your Influencer Strategy, BoF's new Playbook containing actionable insights and practical tools to enable success in influencer marketing. Become a BoF Professional annual member to access. LONDON, United Kingdom - Camille Charrière wants to share brand recommendations with her engaged social following - but don't call her an influencer.

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