Influencer marketing is essentially an endorsement deal a brand has with another human, instead of paying a platform for distribution (aka paying Facebook for Facebook Ads) you have the opportunity to pay another individual for what may comparatively be very underpriced distribution and awareness. Not only do you pay for distribution but based on the campaign you may also pay for the ad or content the influencer creates, which really has the potential to move the needle in your marketing efforts because the people who follow that influencer inherently trust them or value their opinion on the content or niche they create around. At the end of the day that's what influencers do– they're trusted voices in their space and they influence the culture around them through the community they cultivate.