To effectively market your brand, you need to consider all your options. For instance, you might hire a celebrity to endorse your product or service. Celebrities have lent their names to products and services for the past 60-plus years, so this is not a new form of marketing.

Some examples of successful celebrity branding campaigns include Betty White for Snickers, Drew Barrymore for Covergirl, Jennifer Lopez for Gillette Venus, and Ellen DeGeneres for American Express. Typically, large corporations go after big-name celebrities, but even lesser known and local celebrities are beneficial.

Choose the Right Spokesperson

The celebrity that you choose will fall into one of three categories. The first consists of celebrities that are television and film stars, comedians, and musicians. The second category is athletes, including former or current professionals as well as Olympians and broadcasters. For the third category, you have experts. This is anyone who is an expert in a specific area such as medicine, fitness, fashion, finances, travel, and home design.

Choosing the right spokesperson for your brand is critical. You want someone that your targeted audience relates to and respects.

Know What the Celebrity Can Do for You

To grow your brand, the celebrity must accomplish three things. First, the celebrity will draw traffic to your business, second, be informational and influential, and third, attract media buzz. Ultimately, you want a celebrity with connections relevant to your product or service but also someone who naturally attracts media coverage.

Request Specific Services

Often, celebrities have strong personalities. Therefore, you have to maintain control and be specific about the services that you need. This might entail the celebrity doing a satellite media tour, making a personal appearance, being a keynote speaker, posting blogs on social media, conducting a national media interview, and so on. The more precise you are, the better for everyone involved with the branding campaign.

Have a Realistic Expectation for the Budget

Among the various challenges associated with celebrity branding, expecting too much for the budget is at the top of the list. If you go with a big-name celebrity, be prepared to spend $150,000 or more. However, you will spend around $7,500 for a reality star and $3,000 for a local celebrity. The amount that you spend depends on the celebrity but also the type of marketing that he or she performs.