Influencer partnerships in the new creator economy

“Times are changing. The influencer job is legitimizing and people are trying to recognize, ‘Okay, this is my job. You need to pay me for my time.’” – Marisa Pardo, ABLE

Not so very long ago, most influencers would be more than happy to produce on-brand content in exchange for free product. But today, creators are full-time professionals. As such, brands must consider how they will develop long-term relationships with influencers on limited budgets.

If you’re like most brands, you can always jump “head first” into new influencer relationships without a history of successful campaigns. Hannah and Marisa face similar challenges but have established an approach to grow their creator campaigns into mutually-beneficial partnerships in a way that minimizes financial strain.

Leveraging influencers as affiliates and community curators

Breakdown of the GRIN Gets Real Podcast Q&A Episode

“There’s three line items in our budget. We’ve got a product gifting budget. We got our commissions budget which is forecasted as a percentage of sales… And then we have the flat fee budget.” – Marisa Pardo 

ABLE influencers all operate as affiliates, in that they each get an affiliate link and discount code. But that doesn’t mean that many of their creators don’t also enjoy flat fee payments and retainer contracts.

Brand-creator relationships must be nurtured over time. Impeccable communication, careful tracking, and sustainable processes allow ABLE and their partners to succeed.

“I look at it as affiliate [commission] versus flat fee. I think that’s the differentiating factor. Is this an affiliate partnership where you’re not paying me flat fee, or is it flat fee plus affiliate (which we like to be as generous as we can with that)?” – Hannah Jovaag, ABLE

In addition to discussing influencer-affiliate partnerships, this Q&A podcast covers:

Quotes from the episode

“And if they can do what they say they can do, they’ll make that back in their commissions. But just be honest about, ‘We’re a small brand. We have a small budget.’ We gotta test before we can pay them [high flat fees].” – Marisa Pardo
 
“They come in as an affiliate link and a certain level of a discount code and product gifting. And then they can level up based on the type of ROI that’s being driven.” – Hannah Jovaag
 
“If something’s an awareness play, then we want to get in front of the hottest traffic but then also be static (people can go back to reference it). That’s where an in-feed or reel might come in. Then when it comes to conversions, Instagram Stories is where the highest click-through and swipe-up rate is.” – Hannah Jovaag
 
“Just start following them in your personal account and watch how they talk about their brands. Are they funny? Are they serious? Are they authentic or does it look like an ad? Because it’s going to translate the same into your brand.” – Marisa Pardo