A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFLUENCERS' MARKETING

STRATEGIES TO THE CUSTOMERS' SKIN CARE BRAND

PERCEPTION AMONG GENERATION Z IN SAN JOSE, BATANGAS

A Research Paper Presented to the Faculty

of
St. Anthony Montessori Senior High School Department
Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) Strand

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum
for Senior High School

By
Aguila, Blessie Marie B.
Alday, Alyssa F.
Matibag, Dominic Carl B.
Morfi, Kaye Anne C.
Panganiban, Dan Carlo M.
Pida, Kyla Luisa U.

2022
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the transition to a more digital society and
prompted adjustments in online commerce. The amount of entrepreneurs who opened up
their businesses are countless as well as the amount of buyers who are very invested in
buying different products online. Many business owners come up with different strategies to
promote their products. One of these strategies is having a famous online influencer to
promote their business and attract the fans to patronize their products and services.

In this study, the researchers will assess the people of the younger generation if their
perceptions about the brand are affected by the influencer who endorses a certain product.
They will evaluate if the customers will still invest in a brand when the influencer that they
idolize was the face of it even though their product is not worth their money.

Additionally, the researchers will evaluate how the influencers’ marketing strategies
actually affect a perspective of a customer on a certain brand. If the customers will likely buy
a product because of how it was marketed to them or on how it was advertised in the
television or other social media platforms. Also find an answer if high quality brands need a
high quality marketing strategy as it will not have any customers if it will be marketed to the
people poorly.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As the market becomes bigger and bigger as time goes by, many new businesses are
developed and some of them rely on a good way of advertising to be known by the general
public. The proponents of this study aim to look at how effective influencer marketing
strategies are when it comes to the customers’ brand perception of the newer generation in
San Jose, Batangas to identify if customers will usually based on the advertisements made by
a popular personality or weather they will still focus to the quality of the product produced
by a business.

A decade ago, only celebrities and a few committed bloggers could be considered
influencers. Now, it seems like we have seen social media influencers rise, saturate the
market and even get caught up in fraud. If you have started researching influencer marketing
before, you may have found conflicting information, with recommendations that range from
you should absolutely be using social influencers or that they are not necessary for growth.
Influencer marketing strategies are more difficult to navigate than ever as a brand, but we
are here with a guide to making sense of it all.

According to Benzu (2021), Influencer marketing is a sort of social media marketing

that relies on endorsements and product mentions from influencers–people with a large
social following who are thought to be experts in their field. Influencer marketing works
because social influencers have a high level of trust among their followers, and their
recommendations act as social proof to your brand's potential customers.

People does not want to go outside because of the virus so they just only use their
gadgets and sometimes watch some vlogs, in watching vlogs they always watch their favorite
vlogger or artist which some of the vloggers recommend some products that they can buy
and use it too for their daily lives, while this people are watching their favorite vlogger, they
will enticing to buy what their favorite vloggers recommends by just watching vloggers
recommendation people will gonna buy it and they will try it also if it is effective. During the
pandemic, these social media influencers have continued to act as a cushion for the
economy, coming up with new ways of doing things.

Having access to different marketing channels like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok,

Twitter and more is one of the common things within this generation. One of the
characteristics of Generation Z is they can be easily attracted to what they see on social
media. This characteristic helps a lot for all the businesses that use an influencer marketing
strategy.

One of the most effective ways of marketing is having an influencer who has a huge
platform amongst the audience. When their followers see an influencer mentioning or using
a certain brand, it builds social trust and increases a brand recall value which leads to
effectively boosting a brand and their products. This type of marketing is cost-effective
because many businesses, small or big, can use it as the way they promote their brand.

We must look beyond the present, especially now that most consumers of products
and services are stuck at home because of the pandemic. These influencers have found a way
to reach out and make sure their products and services are being used even if they cannot
physically see the customers. The same thing has to be done in business moving forward.
Customers' requirements must be met, and customers must be actively involved in
decision-making. Customers must be actively involved in all change processes.

As stated by Chopra (2020), influencer marketing is used for two main reasons: to
raise brand recognition and to improve sales. Instead of defining these broad objectives as
your two objectives, it will be more productive to begin your approach by focusing on your
brand's requirements. Maybe you would like to expand your customer base to include a
younger audience. Or you want to introduce a new product to a new user group.
Alternatively, you may prefer to avoid trends and instead use influencers to promote your
brand's beliefs.

As claimed by Kosaka (2020), Influencer marketing is the most effective way to raise
brand awareness. 51% out of 81% marketers or business owners that use influencer content
said that it outperforms brand-created content which will give every businesses’ unique
trademarks. Influencers are known to have a large number of followers that think the
influencers as experts in their niches and take a high consideration on their
recommendations.

Influencers have the ability to communicate with highly particular groups of people.
Instead of depending on thousands of followers, influencers will assist you ensure that your
content is viewed and engaged with by a very specific audience who is likely to be interested
in your product. Influencers are here to stay, but the world of influencer marketing has
transformed dramatically in a short period of time, and in five years, it may look and operate
very differently. This guide will help you get started with building your strategy, but like any
social strategy it is important to be ready for change.

Contents about a product of a brand that is made by the influencers resonates with
their audience which can bring a huge brand awareness. Once an influencer offers a product
suggestion, the audiences’ trust and purchasing decision will be based on them. Creative and
unique content that will draw the attention of the general public or the target audience is
important.

Influencer marketing methods have a huge impact on a customer's perception of a

certain brand. If clients are more inclined to purchase a product due to how it was sold to
them on television or other social media channels. Also, determine whether high-quality
brands require a high-quality marketing approach, as badly promoted products will not
attract customers.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In a general sense, this study focuses on identifying the Generation Z as customers and
their insights towards an influencer and its effect on a brand name of a business in San Jose,
Batangas. The researchers focused on the following specific problem statements:

1. What is the demographic profile of the Generation Z customers in San Jose, Batangas
in terms of:
 a. age,

b. sex at birth, and

c. family’s monthly income

2. How effective are the characteristics of the influencer marketing of a brand’s

marketing strategy on the Generation Z customers in San Jose, Batangas in terms of:

a. the reporters,

b. the creative,

c. the face,

d. video,

e. vlog,

f. low touch,

g. resonance, and

h. high touch?

3. How can the role of influencer affects to the brand awareness and loyalty of
Generation Z customers in San Jose, Batangas in terms of:
a. content,
b. reach,
c. interaction,
d. personalization,
e. relevant contacts,
f. peer effects, and
g. influence?
4. How do a Generation Z customer of San Jose, Batangas build a trust towards a
certain brand and its influencer in terms of:

a. exposure,

b. customer engagement,

c. fan loyalty, and

d. influence?
 5. Is there a significant effect of influencer’s marketing strategies to the customers’
brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas?
6. Is there no significant relationship between the influencer’s marketing strategies and
the customers’ brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas?

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Influencer Marketing Strategy is an essential part of your online business. It allows

you to grow your business with the help of some people who have a good reputation. The
Influencer Marketing Strategy is a highly effective way to incorporate video into your overall
marketing strategy. It is cost-effective as well as time-efficient.

The marketing strategy can be very profitable, especially if you get your influencers
the way they want. You need to make sure that your product or service is precisely what the
influencer wants to hear. It is an excellent tool to build a new relationship, and if you want to
take your business to the next level, it might be best to use this influencer marketing
strategy. It helps create credibility, increases the likelihood of customers converting to
paying customers, and helps to drive sales up through the roof.

Figure 1. Influencer Marketing Strategies

 This study is supported by the 7 different outputs and outcomes which can be considered
as role of influencers on strategic marketing of other business researchers, Enke, et. al.
(2019). The researchers intend to provide a conceptual framework, which facilitates
measuring the success of influencers as a tool of marketing strategy on business marketing
based on the model developed by Lee (2014) on stages of marketing leading to brand equity
and model introduced by Macnamara (2018) on evaluation for strategic communication. As
indicated by Macnamara (2018) outputs and outcomes influence the impact of the strategic
goals of the organisations, thereby 7 key outputs and outcomes of brand influencers were
noted in the study, those would have an effect on the impact.

1. Content. Brand Influencers use their content capabilities to produce content for
social media in the form of text, pictures, videos or live streaming in different
social media platforms (Glucksman, 2017).

2. Reach. Brand Influencers distribute branded content in different platforms such as

Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to reach specific target audiences. Getting
through to the right audience is key for outcome and impact level (Enke & Borchers,
2019).

3. Interaction. Brand Influencers as a moderator between the audience and

organisation, where the audience is engaged with influencers' content by sharing,
commenting, likes and real-time interaction (Santiago & Castelo, 2020).

4. Personalization. Act Brand Influencers as protagonists facilitate to improve brand

association of the organisation by personalizing the branded message.
Authenticity and familiarity of their influence the positive association (Lou & Yuan ,
2019).

5. Relevant Contacts. Relevant followers of the Brand Influencers are an important

output factor in persuading the contacts to become organization’s contacts (Enke &
Borchers, 2019).
 6. Peer Effects. Authenticity, credibility and familiarity affect the peer-to-peer
relationship between Brand Influencers and audience. Using the peer effects
organisation intends to increase believability of the branded messages and
generate positive perceptions (Guruge, 2018).

7. Influence. Brand Influencers target the audience to build positive attitudes,

knowledge and persuade for behavioural action on organisation’s products and
services (Campbell & Farrell, 2020).

Researcher therefore intends to integrate those 7 key attributes of Brand Influencers

with the Strategic Marketing model introduced by Lee (2014), where one study proved that
Exposure, Customer Engagement, Fan Loyalty and Influence positively associated with
brand loyalty. The researchers have proposed the conceptual model to measure the
impact of Brand Influencers on Marketing Strategies for organizational impacts.
Figure 2. Conceptual Model for the Seven (7) key Outputs and Outcomes of Brand
Influencers Marketing Strategy

OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK

Based on the general rule set by Jayasinghe (2021) as regards to the effect of Brand
Influencers marketing strategies on the customers' brand perception, there are a certain flow
of events when a customer is exposed to a marketing strategy done by someone who has a
big name or platform in the industry. Building trust and having a good customer perception
towards a brand is one of the brand influencers' main goals, making the people patronize a
certain brand because of their endorsers is the main point of having an influencer for
marketing. This can help the business to boost their brand, get to know by many and gain
loyalty from new other customers. The model introduced by Lee (2014), the stages of
customer relationship to a business proved that Brand Exposure, Customer Engagement,
Fan Loyalty and Influence on business marketing have a strong positive effect on brand
perception of the customers.

Figure 2. Model of
Influencer Marketing
that affects the brand
perception of the
customers. (Lee,
2014)
 HYPOTHESIS

Concerning to the given inferential research questions in the Statement of the

Problem, the researchers were able to formulate two (2) hypothesis such as:

Since there are times that a brand boosts because of it’s influencer, especially when
they know how to create creative contents to promote a certain brand and product.
According to Smart Insight’s survey, 80% of marketers found it effective.

Ha: There is a significant effect of influencer’s marketing strategies to the customers’ brand
perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas.

As Barker (2020) stated, influencers now play a pivotal role in marketing for a wide
range of brands. There are three ways on how an influencer’s marketing strategies affect a
customer's view on a certain brand, those are (1) Build Brand Awareness, (2) Strengthen
Customer Relationships, and (3) Improve Buying Decision with Unbiased Opinions.

When a product is found by a person to be good, there is no need to be influenced by

influencers as they would directly recommend it to the people around them. According to
Shaun (2019), peers can affect a brand to boost even without a huge promotion.

H₀: There is no significant relationship of influencer’s marketing strategies to the customers’

brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas.

According to Chan (2021), influencer marketing strategies nowadays can not put a great
effect on a brand's name. In fact, recent studies have found only 3% of customers are
influenced by a brand influencer to purchase a specific product.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

After completing the study, the researchers shall be able to assess the effectiveness of
influencers’ marketing strategies to the customers’ brand perception among Generation Z in
San Jose, Batangas. This aims to:

1. describe the demographic profile of the Generation Z customers in San Jose,

Batangas in terms of age, gender, and social class.
2. evaluate the level of understanding in the marketing strategies of a brand influencer
of the Generation Z customers in San Jose, Batangas in terms of social media
marketing, marketing trends, and advertising.
 3. analyze the views of the Generation Z customer of San Jose, Batangas in building
trust towards a certain brand and its influencer in terms of exposure, customer
engagement, fan loyalty and influence.
4. look if there is a significant effect of influencer’s marketing strategies to the
customers’ brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas.
5. study if there is no significant relationship between the influencer’s marketing
strategies and the customers’ brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose,
Batangas.
6. propose recommendations, programs and interventions to guide the newer
generation customers on choosing the right brands in terms of its quality.

SCOPE, DELIMITATION AND LIMITATION

The study will revolve on the topic of the effectiveness of influencers’ marketing
strategy to the customers’ brand perception. The study focuses on discussing the impact of
different marketing strategies made by the big personalities to the perspective of the
consumers on a certain brand. Furthermore, the study seeks to understand the positive and
negative impact of influencer marketing strategy whether it will bring a good customer
perception or a bad point of view from the customer.

This study will not cater other factors and will only focus on the effectiveness of
influencers' marketing strategy to the customers' brand perception. It will not include
information that is not necessary and unrelated to the topic. In addition, the researchers will
only choose the Generation Z or people born between 1997-2012, whose age ranging to 10-25
as of 2020 consumers in San Jose, Batangas as their respondents.

This research is limited to the Gen Z consumers of San Jose, Batangas. so it does
not cover up all the consumers. It is also limited to the consumers who often shop because of
a certain influencer. The study also includes the limitation to the time constraints and
finance as the study will be done for only a period of time.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study aims to know the effect of the influencers and their marketing strategies to
the views of every customer with regards to their buying behavior. The researchers are
hoping to spread additional knowledge to the following groups:

For Residents of San Jose, Batangas. They are the customers that have not yet
purchased any brand. They understand the audience and try to trigger associations because
it is believed that customers do ascribe to personality characteristics. Being consistent in
marketing, advertising and the ideas behind the brand helps to create emotional ties which
therefore bring trust and loyalty to the consumer,an act of making sure the buyer or
consumer is aware of the information about products, goods, services, and consumers rights.
Consumers have the right to information, right to choose, and the right to safety.

For Students. They are the customers that have not yet purchased any brand. This
study will give a great help to the residents on how they can be aware of using products that
are not mostly known. There are various software packages available that offer marketers
cost-effective ways of building product awareness, The knowledge of the product purchased
by the consumers in terms of its quality. For example the consumer should know whether
the product is good for health or not, whether the product is free of creating any
environmental hazard or not etc.

For Business Owners. Brand awareness helps us to know how important it is when
launching new products and services, and it drives consumers' decisions when
differentiating between competing companies. It encourages repeat purchases and leads to
an increase in market share and incremental sales. the higher the brand awareness, the
easier it is to attract consumers, Creating an informed and consistent brand awareness
campaign can provide the following benefits within your market:

● Keeping your brand top of mind with your current & potential audiences.
● Increased word of mouth marketing.

For Influencers. This study helps the customers understand and study first the
product that influencers are showing off, it helps us to be aware to the products that they are
showing off there’s no wrong buying products it’s just it helps us to be aware using those
products that are not mostly known, seeks to familiarize the public with a new or revised
product and differentiate it from the competition. Social media has become an important
new tool in brand awareness marketing.

For the Business Community. They are the group of people who will likely need
guides on how to market their service and product effectively. The community will become
aware of what is in demand marketing strategy in the industry. It will help them to get some
ideas on how to boost their businesses with the use of influencer marketing strategies
recommended at the end of this study.

For the Business Enthusiast. They are the ones who own a small business who
cannot afford a huge amount for advertising their services/products. This study will help
them to come up with new ways of marketing strategies for their business to be known by
many people. They can be guided to a much cheaper alternative of advertising to show off
their businesses.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Throughout the study, we can notice many important terms to be always

remembered and understood thoroughly. Some of those terms are as follows:

Brand. It is a product with a unique character, for instance in design or image. It is

consistent and well recognized. The advantages of having a strong brand are: Brands inspire
customer loyalty leading to repeat sales and word-of-mouth recommendation. Retailers or
service sellers want to stock top selling brands (Kenton, 2021).

Brand Perception. It is what customers believe a product or service represents, not what
the company owning the brand says it does. Brand perception comes from customer use,
experience, functionality, reputation and word of mouth recommendation - on social media
channels as well as face to face (Kirsch, 2020).

Buyer behavior. It refers to the decision and acts people undertake to buy products or
services for individual or group use. It's synonymous with the term “consumer buying
behavior,” which often applies to individual customers in contrast to businesses. Buyer
behavior is the driving force behind any marketing process (Sydorenko, 2020).

Consumer Rights. The legal and moral duties of protection owed to a purchaser of goods
or services by the supplier (HG Organization).

Generation Z. Shown in are the newer generation born from 1997-2012 and are perceived
as being familiar with the internet from a very young age. This generation has a lot of
knowledge with how technology works and is very aware of almost everything going on in
the internet as well as the generation who are mostly affected by the different marketing
strategies (Merriam-Webster).
Impulsive Buying. is the tendency of a customer to buy goods and services without
planning in advance. When a customer makes such buying decisions at the spur of the
moment, it is usually triggered by emotions and feelings. Impulsive buying means making an
unplanned purchase (Agoncill0, 2018).

Influence. It is the ability of an individual to transform and shape the opinions of others.
Influencing at the workplace, then, is a process of transforming the behaviors of employees.
Also influencing the view of a listener to take the side of the influencer (Cambridge
Dictionary).

Loyalty. Is the commitment from customers to continue purchasing from a company based
on the benefits received from those purchases. Customer loyalty is largely based on price,
benefits, and rewards. The more value or benefits a customer receives, the more likely they
will shop with that company in the future (Collins, 2017).

Marketing. It is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and
society at large (Merriam-Webster).

Publicity. This puts your business in front of the public and media outlets so you can
showcase your products, services and company news (Merriam-Webster).
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter contains the review of theories and concepts and review of related
studies which were collected from other previous researches, journals, articles and books. It
possesses relevant discussions of concepts that are necessary to understand the meanings
that relate to the variables of this study. It can develop organized citations based on other
studies that can be related to the current study of the researchers. This section of the study is
essential to defend the researchers claims and support the empirical findings that will be
achieved in the concluding part of the study.

Review of Theories and Concepts

This section consists of the different speculation about the influencer marketing
strategies and customer brand perceptions. This will deliver ideas, facts and principles that
will support the study for further information.

In 2017, influencer marketing became a hot topic in the business industry. Based on
Google’s search data, it’s global popularity is at its highest level since records began. As
marketers seek new ways to capture our attention, it's no surprise that Influencer Marketing
has taken center stage in 2017. In this section, we will take a look at Influencer Marketing
from a theoretical perspective while also giving out a guide on how to put it into effect in
your marketing approach. Lazarsfeld, et al. (1944, cited in Trendjackers, 2019) proposed the
Two-Step Flow of Communication Theory, which states that ideas are communicated by
mass media (or advertising) to influencers, who then spread a reinterpreted message to the
general population. This shows that the views and attitudes of an influencer are crucial in the
development of ideas in the public sphere.

In addition, in the revised Two-step Flow of Communication Theory of Trend Jackers

(2019) it was explained that, in certain instances, using a social influencer to spread your
message is still likely to be more powerful than advertising. This is because when people use
social influencer marketing strategy directly, their message comes from the mouth of a
seemingly trustworthy and authentic source. As a result, most businesses may choose to
enhance their marketing campaigns by combining advertising and social influencers.
 The Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers (1994, cited in Trendjackers, 2019) explains
the theory behind how and at what rate ideas and innovations spread through specific
groups of people in society. It alludes to the notion that the spread of ideas and innovations
happens at different rates for different people, rather than simultaneously for everyone.
According to Rogers, society is stratified into five subgroups according to the rate in which
they are likely to adopt an idea which are the Innovator, Early Adopter, Early Majority, Late
Majority and Laggards. Typically, marketing influencers are likely to reside amongst the
Innovator and Early Adopter categories, which combined, make up only 16% of the
population. People who fall into the following categories, which account for the remaining
84 percent, are likely to be from the mass market. Because they are generally the first to
adopt new ideas and developments, social influencers are referred to as "trendsetters."

To know more about the Influencer Marketing Strategy, it is essential to define its
key points, 'Influencer Marketing' and 'Marketing Strategy'. Influencer marketing, according
to Chen (2020), is a sort of social media marketing that relies on product mentions and
endorsements from influencers–people with a significant social following who are thought to
be experts in their field. Influencer marketing works because social influencers have a high
level of trust among their followers, and their recommendations serve as social evidence to
potential clients of your brand. Gordon (2021) stated that "Influencer marketing is a way of
marketing that focuses on influential people instead of a targeted market using social media.
It identifies persons who have influence over potential clients and tailors marketing efforts
to those individuals.”

On the other hand, Marketing Strategy is also defined by different authors. Prof.
Philip Kotler (2018) of the North-Western University defines marketing strategy as the basic
approach that the business unit will use to attain its goals and which comprises elaborate
decisions (strategies) on largest markets, market positioning and mix and marketing
expenditure allocation. According to Barone (2021) A marketing strategy refers to a
business's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into
customers of their products or services. A marketing strategy contains the company’s value
proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other
high-level elements. A thorough marketing strategy covers "the four Ps" of
marketing—product, price, place, and promotion.

Consumer brand perception is defined by the Business Dictionary as a marketing

concept that incorporates a customer's impression, awareness, or consciousness about a firm
or its offerings. Customer opinions are influenced by advertising, reviews, public relations,
social media, personal experiences, and other sources.
 According to LaMarco (2018), "everything affects customer perception, from the way
you position your product vertically and horizontally on a shelf to the colors and shapes you
use in creating your logo; even things outside of your control, which may seem innocuous,
such as the time of day when your customer interacts with your brand - even this will affect
consumer perception.

Because it represents the sum of a consumer's feelings, attitudes, and experiences

with a product or service, brand perception is essential in terms of customer buying
behavior. Taking a common product and adding components that provoke emotional
reactions is what moves the needle for businesses. The client is the one who determines their
brand perception based on the service or product provided by a company.

To look deeper, here are some of the definitions of authors about the key points of
Customer Brand Perception. Firstly is the Customer, as Kenton (2021) expressed that a
customer is an individual or business that purchases another company's goods or services.
Customers are crucial because they drive revenue; organizations cannot survive without
them. All businesses fight with one another to acquire customers, whether by aggressively
advertising their products, decreasing costs to expand their customer bases, or delivering
unique products and experiences that people like.

"The intangible total of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its
history, reputation, and the way it's sold," writes David Ogilvy, author of On Advertising
(2011). Perception, on the other hand, is defined by Gilmer (2016), "Perception is the
process of becoming aware of situations, of adding meaningful associations to sensations.

To sum up, Customer Brand perception about a product or service represents, not
what the company owning the brand says it does. According to Qualtrics, brand impression
is based on customer use, experience, functionality, reputation, and word of mouth
recommendation - both online and in person. In addition, User (2019) stated that "brand
perception is the sum of feelings a consumer has about a brand. When a consumer is aware
of a brand, these thoughts and sentiments occur, as well as when the consumer hears, sees,
or interacts with the brand and its product. A wide range of topics connected to a company's
customer interactions are covered by brand perception. From product production and
packaging to public relations and social involvement, brand perception is a top-level
measuring stick of a product's visual presence, goodwill, and emotional character. All of
these variables may have an impact on the product's success.
 Synthesis

The Influencer Marketing Strategy and Customer Brand Perception both consider the
view of a customer to a business. Influencers make sure that customers will be satisfied with
the product that they are promoting by showing different creative ideas to the public so their
product will be known more. If the influencer’s promotion is effective to its target market,
customers tend to be curious about the product, so they will give it a try and buy the product.
There are also times that even though the product is not promoted effectively, people still
buy the product by simply seeing an influencer who uses it. Also both of them are expected
to have a positive result, a good influencer marketing strategy and performance is equivalent
to a good customer brand perception.

People nowadays are very keen to every details of the product they are using due to
bad personal experience of other products so in contrast to the similarity of the two
variables, Influencer Marketing Strategy and Customer Brand Perception can be different in
some ways that a marketing strategy is used to promote a certain product or brand but it
does not mean people will actually have a good perception about it. Some people prefer to
experience the use of a product before they actually have a review about it without
depending on the influencers and their marketing strategies.

Review of Related Studies

The purpose of this section is to study the current and previous study concerning the
issue that is being talked about. All the main concepts by previous authors will be stated to
support the claims of the researchers and provide a rationale for the study. This literature
review will focus on critically analyzing tools that were previously used to measure the
influencer marketing strategies and the customer brand perception. This will also discuss the
impact of the variables with each other and how they affect the population targeted in the
whole study.

Influencer Marketing Strategy

To begin with, influencers are not a modern phenomenon. It is common knowledge

that humans have been influenced by others since the dawn of time. There have always been
leaders who guided and influenced others' actions, ways of thinking, and opinions, whether
for political, religious, or way of life reasons. Starting with Moses, who was considered the
first public relations practitioner (Burkhard, 2010), leading a nation based on a writing on
two stone tablets, to Jesus, whose narratives and acts continue to influence people around
the world today. In their two-step flow communication theory, Katz and Lazarsfeld said in
1955 that there are people who have the potential to distribute media information they get to
others, therefore giving that information more meaning and value (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955).

Influencer marketing is the action of paying people to personally promote a product,

usually through social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. 75 percent of
marketers employ influencer marketing in their promotion plan, according to a 2017 poll by
the Association of National Advertisers. As the influencer marketing industry grows, some
universities are offering courses in influencer strategies and influencer-related public
relations. Influencers are those who can reach and resonate with a large audience.

According to Burclaff (2019), Influencers are those who can reach and resonate with
a large audience, but the size of that audience can vary: (1) Mega-influencers are celebrities
famous from acting or other highly public work with more than a million followers; (2)
Macro-influencers are typically "online famous," they have between 100,000 to a million
followers, and are what people discusses when talking about "influencers."; (3)
Micro-influencers are more niche, known in their industry, and can have follower counts
between 1,000 and 100,000; and (4) Nano-influencers, who have a more immediate
relationship with their followers, either because of their content or geographic focus, and
usually have less than 1,000 followers.

Influencer marketing has become a must-have and necessary component of

advertising. According to Augure (2015), 85 percent of U.S. businesses are using influencer
marketing as part of their marketing plan. That is why 75 % of the brands feel that
identifying the right influencer is the biggest challenge (Augure, 2015). Study conducted by
Schlesinger (2015) states that most marketers use influencers for content promotion and for
content creation. Because of this, agencies, online platforms, and many other services start
to specialise on influencer marketing these days. According to Angels, there are 160 startups
in 2016 trying to serve the influencer marketing challenges and needs.

Zeitek (2016) revealed that influence and persuasion has always been an aspect in
marketing strategies. It is therefore important to understand how persuasion works and
what affects us in our decision making when we want to take a deeper look in influencer
marketing later on. Cialdini (2015) sets up six principles of persuasion and influence that
helps to understand what engages people. These six principles are reciprocity, consistency,
social proof, authority, scarcity and liking. Adapting these principles to our digital status
quo, they can be translated to “boosting conversations in online marketing” (Ioanid, Militaru
& Mihai, 2015).

Customer Brand Perception

Customer Brand Perception is a study of people, groups, or organizations and the

processes they use to select, obtain, and dispose of items, services, experiences, or ideas to
meet needs that can affect how they view a certain brand in the market. According to Yu et.
al. (2019), brand experience is influenced by utilitarian and hedonic values, and brand
experience is influenced by brand attachment, brand trust, and consumer equity factors.
Brand attachment and trust have a good relationship. Brand equity has a beneficial impact
on customer lifetime value as a customer equity driver.

A positive brand perception can lead to positive thoughts and attitudes toward a
product/service or private label store, which can impact a customer's purchase intent.
Certain external elements, such as store brands, physical location, and timing (Das, 2014), as
well as some inner considerations, such as fulfilling a need, satisfying a preference, and
putting the consumer in a better position, influence purchase intention in a retail store ( Luo
et al., 2011).

The most important thing to remember about the aspects that affect brand
impression is that they are determined by your customers, not your company. Your
customers' perception of your products, services, and company as a whole is more important
than what your company claims to represent. According to Barrett (2020), the following are
some common elements that influence how customers perceive your brand: Advertising,
Personal experience, Customer service, Reputation,Branding, Price and Positioning.

Consumer positive perception towards a brand tends to reveal what motivates them
to make purchases. Understanding consumer behavior helps marketers understand how
consumers think, feel, and choose among alternatives such as products, brands, and the like,
as well as how consumers are influenced by their environment, reference groups, family, and
salespeople, among other things so that businesses can improve their products and services
to leave a great impression to the customers.

While dealing and knowing more about customer brand perception, it is important to
know the Customer focus because it is widely acknowledged as a primary source of
competitive advantage and enhanced business success. As a result, businesses must
understand their clients, which necessitates an examination of all the dynamics and aspects
impacting consumers' preferences and purchasing decisions. Client-oriented businesses
should focus on giving customers happiness and, in order to do so, should identify the target
markets they are targeting, including all of their dynamics and features. One method of
understanding consumer behavior and increasing satisfaction is to identify the
characteristics of the target market.

Business owners and managers must understand consumer behavior and how people
view their brand in order for businesses to succeed commercially. The link between
consumer perceptions and marketing strategy is highlighted because managers'
understanding of consumer behavior is critical to the effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
Consumer purchases reveal how successfully a company's marketing strategy matches
market demand. As a result, marketing starts and ends with the customer.

Synthesis

The studies about Influencer Marketing Strategy and Customer Brand Perception
correlates with each other. A good brand perception by the customers can be achieved
through effective influencer marketing strategies. The company management is responsible
for both variables as it is the one who will think of the marketing strategies for their product
and services to be known and have a good impact on the customers for their views about the
brand be positive. Observing the customers will give them an idea what to improve on their
products and what should the influencers do to effectively market the brand to the people
that will leave a good impression for a long time.

Having a good product but the marketing strategy is ineffective, the brand will still
not be known by many people. Good product without proper advertisements or a good
marketing strategy with a not-so-good product cannot boost the brand. Even though you
have a high quality service/product yet people think no one avails your company's service,
customers will likely have a bad perception of your brand. Same goes with the good
marketing strategy, if your product is low quality and not worth any penny, people will only
have a bad point of view when it comes to your brand.
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research design, respondents of the study, data gathering
instrument, research procedures and statistical design used by the proponents of the
research in order to interpret and analyze the data gathered by the researchers in accordance
to their problem statements and hypothesis.

Research Design

The study focuses on the relationship between the influencer’s marketing strategies
and the customers’ brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas.

According to Calmorin et al. (2008), the Descriptive method is suitable whenever the
subjects vary among themselves and one is interested to know the extent to which different
conditions and situations are obtained among these subjects. The word survey signifies the
gathering of data regarding present conditions. Survey is useful in providing the value of
facts, and focusing attention on the most important things to be reported.

Descriptive method of research is the method that the researchers used in their study
because it is the most appropriate method since the purpose is to describe how the
influencers' marketing strategy affects the brand perception of a customer. Moreover, it can
be used to find if there is a significant relationship between the role of influencer and
customer. This method aided the researcher's information and helped test the hypothesis of
the study. The researchers considered this method as the most appropriate research design
because the study can be explained better with the use of it.

Population and Sampling

This section establishes the overall number of individuals or participants that may be
subjected to the study, as well as how the samples will be chosen using a sampling technique
that is applicable to the research design.
 This study targeted the costumer's from Generation Z of San Jose, Batangas as their
respondents. The researchers aimed to gather 100 customers born in 1997-2012 or 10-25 in
age as respondents for this study. There are some methods of sampling that can be used by
the researcher to choose from. However the researcher did one sampling method from this
population, the sampling technique to be employed is purposive sampling technique with a
quota of 100 respondents. The purposive sampling technique is a non-probability sampling
which purposely chooses participants according to some identified variables or respondents
who are pre-determined who meets the criteria. In addition, this study will have the right
and enough number of respondents that enable it to conduct a proper analysis of data for
this study.

Research Instrumentation and Metrics

The instrument that was used in order to collect data or information needed to know
the effectiveness of influencers’ marketing strategy to the customers’ brand perception
among Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas is a constructed survey questionnaire online
through the use of google forms.

A questionnaire is a document containing questions and other types designed to

solicit information appropriate for analysis (Earl, 2008). The items that the researchers used
in their questionnaires were taken from other previous studies about the influencers’
marketing strategy and customers’ brand perceptions from the research papers on the
internet.

The first part of the questionnaire includes the profile of the respondents such as age,
gender and family’s monthly income. It is necessary to know the respondent demographic
profile to better analyze their responses. The second and third part of the questionnaire
consists of the statements from the different sources which are related to the variables of the
study. The second and third part is all about the Influencer’s marketing strategies and
Customers' brand perception, some questions are derived from a previous research paper
questionnaires by Vejnović, M (2020), “Effect Of Influencer Marketing On Brand Awareness
And Purchase Intention: A Study Case Of Slovenia".
 Data Gathering Procedure

To solve the issue statements presented in the first chapter of this study, the
researchers will use a survey as a data collection method. In data analysis, it will also be
utilized to test the hypothesis for the analysis of data. The following are the procedure to be
done by the proponents:

Data Collection. The survey questionnaire will be prepared by the researchers. It

will be given to the target responders without coercion. They will administer the survey with
the highest standards of honesty and integrity as part of the ethical concerns in the execution
of the study. The information gathered will be entered into spreadsheets for analysis.

Data Analysis. After collecting the data, the researchers will analyze it using the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and numerous descriptive and inferential
statistical methods.

Data Interpretation. The results of the analysis should be pushed forward for
interpretation by creating conversations based on the figures and calculations. Furthermore,
the findings will be compared to those found in the literature review.

Statistical Treatment of Data

To have a better understanding and analysis of the data gathered, different statistical
tools should be used by the researchers:

Frequency Distribution. A descriptive statistical tool used by the researchers in

answering the profile of the respondents and sorting the data according to their common
characteristics. The researchers used it to show the group profiles of the respondents.

Percentage. It is calculated by dividing the total or the whole number by 100.

Mean Distribution. This is a statistical tool to measure the central tendency which
is like an average method. It computes the average or middle value in the distribution based
on the actual response of the agreement of the respondents. It will be used for the data
collected from the questionnaire using a 4-point Likert Scale which can be verbally
interpreted as:

1 - Strongly Disagree
 2 - Disagree

3 - Agree

4 - Strongly Agree

Linear Regression. It is used to examine the value that an independent variable

contributes to a dependent variable. The researchers will use this statistical tool to predict Y
from X. Y is the dependent variable, and X is the independent variable wherein they will use
the value of X to predict the value of Y.

Pearson r. It is a measure of the linear dependence between two variables X and Y

giving a value between +1 and -1 inclusive, where there is total positive linear correlation, 0
is no linear correlation, and -1 is total negative linear correlation. It was used to determine if
there is a significant relationship between the influencer’s marketing strategies and the
customers’ brand perception among the Generation Z in San Jose, Batangas.
 QUESTIONNAIRES

[Part 1] PROFILING QUESTIONS

Demographic Profile

Name:___________________(Optional) Age:____

Sex at Birth: [ ] Male [ ] Female

Family’s Monthly Income:₱________

[Part 2] INFLUENCERS’ MARKETING STRATEGIES

Express your level of agreement or disagreement in each of the statements based on

its applicability to your own experiences with influencers. Put a check (/) on the
corresponding boxes. Use the scale:

1 - Strongly Disagree

2 - Disagree

3 - Agree

4 - Strongly Agree

STATEMENTS 1 2 3 4

CONTENT

I own at least one (1) social media account.

I spend more than two (2) hours a day watching my

favorite influencer’s contents.

I am always updated on what my favorite influencer

posts on social media.
I enjoy the advertising contents of my favorite
influencer.

REACH

I use two (2) or more social media platforms.

I can see what my favorite influencer posts about

even though I do not search for it.

My favorite influencer posts advertising content on

different social media platforms.

My favorite influencer shows up on any social

media platform.

INTERACTION

My favorite influencer’s advertising post gains

many likes in a short period of time.

My favorite influencer has many followers.

I like to engage in real-time interaction with my

favorite influencer.

I enjoy interacting with my favorite influencer.

PERSONALIZATION

My favorite influencer knows how to advertise a

product effectively.

I like creative content from an influencer.

I like content that I can relate to.

I think influencers can advertise their products

uniquely.

RELEVANT CONTACTS

I am close with a famous influencer.

I have a close friend/relative that is close with a

famous influencer.
 I once had a 1 on 1 conversation with an influencer.

I am followed by famous influencers on any social

media platform.

STATEMENTS 1 2 3 4

PEER EFFECTS

I have a friend with the same favorite influencer as

mine.

I know many influencers because of my friend.

I use a product by an influencer because my friend

likes him/her.

I also get attached to different influencers because

of my friend.

INFLUENCE

I feel influenced by the influencers I follow.

I always get inspired when I see an advertisement

post of an influencer.

I get convinced easily by many influencers when

they endorse a product.

I get influenced to purchase a product/ service an

influencer is endorsing.

[Part 3] CUSTOMERS’ BRAND PERCEPTION

Express your level of agreement or disagreement in each of the statements based on

its applicability to your own experiences with the brand endorsed by influencers. Put a check
(/) on the corresponding boxes. Use the scale:

1 - Strongly Disagree

2 - Disagree

3 - Agree
 4 - Strongly Agree

EXPOSURE

I only found out about a brand after a famous

influencer endorsed it.

I now know many different brands because of a

famous influencer.

While reading a famous influencer's advertising

post, I felt a desire to purchase the product itself.

The expertise of the influencer made me trust the

endorsement.

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

I tried looking for a brand when a famous influencer

endorsed it.

I bought a product because it is from a brand that a

famous influencer used.

I am willing to buy any products that a famous

influencer endorses.

I always got a positive impression of a brand when a

famous influencer endorsed it.

FAN LOYALTY

I bought a product because it was endorsed by a

famous influencer but ended up liking the product
itself because of the quality.

I like all the brands endorsed by my favorite

influencers.

I do not care if a product has a bad quality as long

as a famous influencer endorses it, I will still
purchase it.

I preferred a product with my favorite influencer’s

memorabilia and I’d like to keep it as souvenirs.
 INFLUENCE

I trust brands that were endorsed by the influencers

I follow.

I get inspired to follow the brands my favorite

influencers are collaborating with.

Influencer collaborations with brands I do not like

is making me want to unfollow the influencers I
follow.

If an influencer has a positive opinion about the

brand they endorse, I have as well.

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