#305: The Case for Influencer Marketing in B2B with Brianna Doe (Founder at Verbatim)

#305 Influencer Marketing | This episode is a live session from Drive 2025 with Brianna Doe, where she breaks down why influence is now shaping every step of the buying journey, how smart B2B brands are borrowing plays from B2C, and what it really takes to build a creator program that doesn’t flame out on day one. She gets into the messy reality of picking the right creators and measuring impact without deluding yourself with vanity numbers.

Head over to exitfive.com/drive to join the waitlist for Drive 2026 and be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
  
• (03:22) - – Why Influence Drives Modern B2B Buying
  
• (06:17) - – What B2B Can Steal From B2C Playbooks
  
• (09:12) - – The Creator Engine Framework
  
• (12:29) - – Picking the Right Creators (Without Getting Burned)
  
• (15:47) - – Building Campaigns That Don’t Feel Like Ads
  
• (19:02) - – How to Measure Real Impact (Not Vanity Metrics)
  
• (23:38) - – Running a 90-Day Pilot That Actually Works
  
• (26:23) - – Scaling From One-Off Posts to a Full Program

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Dave [0:00:00]: You're listening to B2b marketing with me, Dave Gerhardt.

Dave [0:00:03]: Hey, it's Dave. Quick note before we get into this episode.

Dave [0:00:19]: This is a recording from Drive twenty twenty five, our annual event.

Dave [0:00:23]: Here at Exit Five.

Dave [0:00:25]: This was recorded live in Burlington Vermont at Hula as part of our event.

Dave [0:00:29]: And we'd love to have you at next year's event.

Dave [0:00:31]: We're bringing it back to Vermont, Stove vermont.

Dave [0:00:33]: You can go to Exit Five dot com slash drive to get more information, put your name on the waitlist list and maybe make it to next year's event.

Dave [0:00:41]: But we're bringing the audio recordings from these sessions to you live, well, recorded on the podcast because we thought it'd be a fun way to show you the stuff we talk about a drive and give you a sense of what it was like if you didn't get to be there.

Dave [0:00:54]: And if you were there, then you get to now re listen and maybe take notes again.

Dave [0:00:58]: So this is one of the sessions from Drive.

Dave [0:00:59]: Go and check it out, Get tickets, put your name on the waitlist list for next year, Exit Five dot com slash drive.

Dave [0:01:05]: Alright.

Dave [0:01:09]: I love this theme.

Dave [0:01:11]: A lot of stuff about social media.

Dave [0:01:12]: We talked a lot about, there isn't social media and marketing anymore social media is the way to do marketing.

Dave [0:01:17]: The thing that Harry mentioned about what Ramp is doing when I ask about posting that.

Dave [0:01:21]: I think that's the way that companies need to operate today is let's post something organically on social, see what works and then we can decide to spend and do more of that.

Dave [0:01:29]: And this next person has a...

Dave [0:01:31]: Has a a somewhat related topic and I love this.

Dave [0:01:33]: So We've been talking a lot about the power of in person.

Dave [0:01:36]: I first met our next speaker by chance.

Dave [0:01:39]: I got sat next to her at a at a dinner in New York a couple years ago.

Dave [0:01:43]: And now she's here to take our stage and make the case for influencer marketing in B2B.

Dave [0:01:48]: She spent fourteen years helping brands from scrappy startups, a household named stand out in a crowded feat.

Dave [0:01:54]: She's a founder of Verbatim and award winning influencer marketing agency.

Dave [0:01:57]: She's also an influencer strategist who's worked across B2c and B2b and a Linkedin creator herself if you don't already follow her.

Dave [0:02:04]: Giving her a true three hundred sixty degree view of influencer marketing.

Dave [0:02:07]: Please give a warm welcome at drive to the great B doe.

Brianna [0:02:26]: Hear me?

Brianna [0:02:26]: Can you hear me?

Brianna [0:02:28]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:02:28]: I've been asked maybe thirty seven times today if I'm nervous.

Brianna [0:02:32]: And I was like no No.

Brianna [0:02:33]: No not Nervous at all.

Brianna [0:02:33]: Everybody in this audience is somebody that I respect so deeply, and I feel

Brianna [0:02:37]: like I'm gonna black out.

Brianna [0:02:38]: So...

Dave [0:02:39]: Wait.

Dave [0:02:39]: Wait.

Dave [0:02:39]: We got wishes.

Dave [0:02:40]: Let's give her some noise.

Dave [0:02:41]: Let's go.

Dave [0:02:41]: You got it.

Dave [0:02:42]: Let's go.

Dave [0:02:43]: Kidding.

Dave [0:02:44]: You're good.

Brianna [0:02:49]: So first thing's first hi, I'm Brianna Doe.

Brianna [0:02:51]: Like Dave said, I work in influencer to marketing half for a long time.

Brianna [0:02:54]: Our clients are a mix of B e commerce, sustainability and on profits and B2B Saas.

Brianna [0:03:00]: And, honestly, I just love influencer marketing.

Brianna [0:03:03]: I was doing it long before I ever started creating content.

Brianna [0:03:05]: I think it's a very misunderstood market, and I think a lot of us do it really badly.

Brianna [0:03:09]: So very excited to chat about this today.

Brianna [0:03:11]: Quick pulse check who here has run an influencer or create led program before.

Brianna [0:03:16]: Raise your hands.

Brianna [0:03:16]: Okay.

Brianna [0:03:17]: Keep your hands up if you would call it successful.

Brianna [0:03:20]: Okay?

Brianna [0:03:21]: Awesome.

Brianna [0:03:22]: Another question who here has purchased a product, B2B or b based on content they soften an influencer.

Brianna [0:03:29]: Amazing.

Brianna [0:03:31]: I do it daily.

Brianna [0:03:32]: So awesome.

Brianna [0:03:33]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:03:35]: I'm very very very gullible very easily influenced.

Brianna [0:03:38]: So I'm a marketer.

Brianna [0:03:41]: We love our stats.

Brianna [0:03:42]: First things first Influence marketing is not optional anymore.

Brianna [0:03:45]: We can debate about it afterwards.

Brianna [0:03:46]: But for the sake of this, it's really not.

Brianna [0:03:48]: First things first is eighty four percent of B2B buyers rely on pure and industry leader recommendations, seventy five percent of B2B leaders, research products after engagement thought leadership content.

Brianna [0:03:58]: And eighty seven percent of B2B buyers give more credence to content featuring industry experts they trust.

Brianna [0:04:03]: And the thing is I'm preaching to the choir, but B2B buying behavior is not linear at this point.

Brianna [0:04:08]: People aren't just googling.

Brianna [0:04:09]: What's the best Crm or best employee engagement platform and then calling it a day and I'm choosing the first option that pops up.

Brianna [0:04:16]: They're piecing together insights from Linkedin Dms, comments from their peers, industry leaders, they respect.

Brianna [0:04:22]: They're piecing all that together slack communities, for example, and that's where their influence lives.

Brianna [0:04:27]: So if your strategy doesn't meet them where trust already lives and exists, you might as well be invisible.

Brianna [0:04:33]: I really just wanna talk about Love Island.

Brianna [0:04:35]: So lessons we can borrow from B2C, First things first is the one on the left, we have Amelia Mold if anybody watches chicken shop dates.

Brianna [0:04:44]: She interviews celebrities.

Brianna [0:04:45]: She recently partnered with Bum to do a full fledged campaign.

Brianna [0:04:49]: And D brands win because they don't just hand creators a script.

Brianna [0:04:53]: They hand them a seat at the table.

Brianna [0:04:54]: So with her, this campaign was impeccable.

Brianna [0:04:57]: Right?

Brianna [0:04:57]: It wasn't a brand trying to borrow her audience.

Brianna [0:04:59]: It was Bum already leveraging the trust that she's built and leveraging the voice that she manufactured as well.

Brianna [0:05:04]: The content leaned into her style it leading to her humor.

Brianna [0:05:07]: She talked about being single.

Brianna [0:05:09]: She

Brianna [0:05:09]: talks She flirt with her celebrity guests, and that's why it worked.

Brianna [0:05:12]: It wasn't just about the delivery, she's part of the architecture.

Brianna [0:05:15]: And when you let creators shape the narrative instead of handing them a brief and saying, write this, post it.

Brianna [0:05:21]: Like an ad, the campaigns feel alive because they actually are.

Brianna [0:05:24]: Any Island fans in the room?

Brianna [0:05:26]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:05:27]: My gosh.

Brianna [0:05:28]: So few.

Brianna [0:05:28]: Okay.

Brianna [0:05:29]: Well, second one, Love Island Usa took the world by storm this summer, Nick and Land where a couple that came out of that.

Brianna [0:05:36]: Purpose here.

Brianna [0:05:37]: What happened is there so many jokes, so many cultural moments created from their relationship, and a big one was a lip combo.

Brianna [0:05:44]: The Ale war every day became a whole thing.

Brianna [0:05:47]: And so she partnered with a brand called Nic right after Love Island ended, and it sold out in about two hours.

Brianna [0:05:54]: They saw the wave and they jumped on it.

Brianna [0:05:56]: They didn't force the trend.

Brianna [0:05:57]: They didn't try to manufacture the experience.

Brianna [0:06:00]: They kinda of rode the wave that this couple was already creating.

Brianna [0:06:02]: And wrote that all the way to sellout up.

Brianna [0:06:05]: Finally, short term sparks in long term plays, final question I'll ask.

Brianna [0:06:10]: Gap, cats I ad, anybody?

Brianna [0:06:12]: K.

Brianna [0:06:13]: So for context here We also have the Sydney Sweeney in American Eagle, which I think is a good j position.

Brianna [0:06:19]: Right?

Brianna [0:06:20]: Not aligning with your customer base, not really aligning with the demographic.

Brianna [0:06:24]: J against gap who partnered with Cat's eye.

Brianna [0:06:27]: A diverse...

Brianna [0:06:28]: Multicultural girls group, twenty million views on Youtube, I think fifteen million number me.

Brianna [0:06:33]: But they did incredibly well, and there's been...

Brianna [0:06:37]: The thing is with them too, it's not just that they sold a lot of genes or that the ad went viral.

Brianna [0:06:42]: This became a trend all in its own.

Brianna [0:06:44]: If you get on Tiktok and look this up.

Brianna [0:06:46]: You'll see creators recreating the dance, wearing new gap jeans that they thought.

Brianna [0:06:50]: It's taking all life of its own, and so there's this mix between...

Brianna [0:06:53]: Okay.

Brianna [0:06:54]: We have this one moment that we can capture this one ad that won't live on in perpetuity.

Brianna [0:06:58]: But how can we turn that into a trend that actually transcend time and to an extent, Transcend culture.

Brianna [0:07:03]: So how do we actually do this with B2B?

Brianna [0:07:07]: That's great.

Brianna [0:07:07]: We're not selling with combos?

Brianna [0:07:08]: Right?

Brianna [0:07:09]: It's not as interesting, necessarily.

Brianna [0:07:11]: There are a few main things to consider before we dive actually implementing this yourself.

Brianna [0:07:15]: There's so many ways to partner with influencers outside of the sponsor posts.

Brianna [0:07:19]: I will say this plays a lot into your budget.

Brianna [0:07:23]: Right?

Brianna [0:07:23]: If you're a lean startup up, if you're new if you're testing this for the first time, you're probably not gonna get a hundred thousand dollars to build out a full influencer programming campaign, but you can leverage different types of content.

Brianna [0:07:33]: So we have the most straightforward point of view led Linkedin content.

Brianna [0:07:36]: This can be product explain.

Brianna [0:07:38]: This can be...

Brianna [0:07:39]: Product walk throughs.

Brianna [0:07:40]: This could be just content that talks about how they're implementing into to their tech stack whatever the case may be.

Brianna [0:07:46]: We also have Youtube explain and deep dives, webinars, conferences, creative live activations where brands are c hosting events with creators, they're just c creators experiences together instead of trying to own it on their own, podcast partnerships, c branded content, niche communities and multi channel activation.

Brianna [0:08:03]: So when you pair sponsored Linkedin posts with long term webinar series and Youtube explain.

Brianna [0:08:10]: Alright.

Brianna [0:08:12]: That's all great.

Brianna [0:08:12]: We love it.

Brianna [0:08:13]: But how do you actually do this for yourself.

Brianna [0:08:14]: Right?

Brianna [0:08:15]: So the way I break this down, I call the creator engine.

Brianna [0:08:17]: I come up with that name myself.

Brianna [0:08:19]: So you're welcome.

Brianna [0:08:20]: First tier is discover and c create.

Brianna [0:08:22]: So before you do anything before you engage with a single influencer before you sign any contracts need to understand what success actually looks like.

Brianna [0:08:30]: And I think a lot of the time, you know what I see when I was in house and working with clients.

Brianna [0:08:34]: You kinda create this in a silo.

Brianna [0:08:37]: You decide what success looks like.

Brianna [0:08:39]: You're not really talking to the sales team or product or Cs to get their point of view.

Brianna [0:08:44]: You're probably talking to your leadership team.

Brianna [0:08:46]: But I would venture to say that for a lot of folks and for a lot of marketers, there is gonna be a disconnect between what success looks like.

Brianna [0:08:52]: You run a campaign, it goes great.

Brianna [0:08:54]: You get five hundred thousand impressions, and then your Cmo asks you how many leads you generated?

Brianna [0:08:59]: How much revenue you generated.

Brianna [0:09:00]: And the answer as a match up.

Brianna [0:09:02]: Right?

Brianna [0:09:02]: So before anything else, dial in your Kpis, dial your metrics for success, and dial in the campaign parameters as well.

Brianna [0:09:08]: If this is a one time test or a three month test.

Brianna [0:09:11]: Like, how are we actually gonna refine along the way?

Brianna [0:09:13]: Do we make this more than just a static campaign.

Brianna [0:09:16]: And next, then you can start integrating creators into the process early.

Brianna [0:09:20]: And what I like to say too is, you know, I get a lot of questions about budgets.

Brianna [0:09:24]: Like, how do I know how much influencers are gonna charge?

Brianna [0:09:26]: How do I know I can afford it?

Brianna [0:09:28]: You can ask them.

Brianna [0:09:29]: You can.

Brianna [0:09:32]: You can reach out to them.

Brianna [0:09:33]: I actually...

Dave [0:09:34]: They're supposed to be some, like, Sprint spreadsheet, like, some database with, like, everyone's rate in there.

Dave [0:09:37]: Yeah.

Dave [0:09:37]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:09:38]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:09:38]: Well, I mean, unfortunately, with Linkedin, especially, they don't like us having any data.

Brianna [0:09:42]: So you gotta build it on your own, but you can't just ask them.

Brianna [0:09:45]: Right?

Brianna [0:09:46]: And you could build your own spreadsheet, which I love to do.

Brianna [0:09:48]: But reach out to them, start to understand how they approach their own partnerships if they've done it before, what kind of...

Brianna [0:09:54]: Content do they prefer to produce and create, You'd like to do bundled posts.

Brianna [0:09:58]: How much do they charge?

Brianna [0:09:59]: If you wanna c host a webinar, how much an additional fee with that fee.

Brianna [0:10:02]: It's okay to start gathering information and take that back to your leadership team.

Brianna [0:10:06]: Then you get to build your brief, which is my favorite part.

Brianna [0:10:08]: So first, understand success, then talk to creators dial in your budgets?

Brianna [0:10:13]: And then as you start to create those contracts and nail down who you're gonna work with, build the brief to act as the strategic guard rails.

Brianna [0:10:21]: So how do you want them to show up online?

Brianna [0:10:23]: What do you not want them to say?

Brianna [0:10:24]: Do you want them to know about your brand, but maybe they don't know?

Brianna [0:10:27]: What will they not get out of product demo with you or explain their video that they wanna make sure they're able to highlight in their video content.

Brianna [0:10:33]: So the goal with the campaign brief is not to lock them in.

Brianna [0:10:36]: They feel like they're just creating an ad for your brand, but it is to give them enough of a boundary.

Brianna [0:10:42]: So they know where they have Leeway.

Brianna [0:10:43]: And so they can actually comfortably and authentically integrate their voice into their content instead of having to go back and forth with revisions Tier two, then you get to activate.

Brianna [0:10:54]: So repeat after me.

Brianna [0:10:55]: Our mantra is experiences.

Brianna [0:10:57]: Not just posts.

Brianna [0:11:00]: Now that's not to say you can't just do sponsor posts.

Brianna [0:11:03]: I...

Brianna [0:11:04]: This might be a spicy take, but I think sponsor posts do just fine.

Brianna [0:11:08]: It is not a lost art.

Brianna [0:11:09]: It's not dead.

Brianna [0:11:10]: But if there's nothing curated about it.

Brianna [0:11:13]: If you're not intentional about when you're launching campaigns, what you're having them post about.

Brianna [0:11:18]: What kind of experience you're creating for the consumer, then it's a bit of a loss start.

Brianna [0:11:23]: So integrate creators into your curated customer journeys.

Brianna [0:11:25]: And I think one thing to note here too is influencers are not your salespeople.

Brianna [0:11:29]: And I say that because it's really easy to say, I'd like to hire you to do five posts for me at this rate, publish them.

Brianna [0:11:38]: Things are gonna go great.

Brianna [0:11:39]: Then you come back.

Brianna [0:11:40]: I come back to you and ask you how many sales you've generated.

Brianna [0:11:43]: But you have no insight into the funnel.

Brianna [0:11:46]: That then people are going into, what messaging is in the email or the lead nurture inertia flows that they get afterwards, Like, you don't get to decide that, and so I can't put that on each to a certain next step.

Brianna [0:11:56]: But what does matter is making sure that any sort of influencer or content that you do create any sort of influencer or flows or campaigns that you do curate, it leads back to a purpose, and it leads them into a curated journey based on the experience that you've already started.

Brianna [0:12:09]: And if your budget allows, go beyond Linkedin, webinars Youtube, Tiktok.

Brianna [0:12:15]: We'll dive into this later, but your buyers do not just live on one platform.

Brianna [0:12:18]: And then finally, the third tier, but I would consider to be the most important part.

Brianna [0:12:23]: I mentioned this earlier, but your campaigns should never just be static.

Brianna [0:12:26]: You should be refining along the way iterating, what's working, what's not?

Brianna [0:12:30]: If you have a three month contract with a creator, and the first month is going horribly.

Brianna [0:12:35]: That doesn't mean that you shouldn't work with them again.

Brianna [0:12:37]: It doesn't mean you cancel the contract, it does mean you should ask yourself what the data is telling you.

Brianna [0:12:42]: If they're driving, back to my example, five hundred thousand impressions and no leads, is it the messaging?

Brianna [0:12:47]: Is it the creative?

Brianna [0:12:48]: Like, taking the time to understand what that story is and then iterating along the way will drive a lot more success.

Brianna [0:12:54]: Okay.

Brianna [0:12:55]: So choosing the right creators.

Brianna [0:12:56]: You know how to approach it, you gotta build your campaign brief.

Brianna [0:12:59]: You have to iterate along the way, but who should you partner with.

Brianna [0:13:02]: And I think one of the most the things I hear the most is just work with micro creators or just work with Macro.

Brianna [0:13:08]: Either work with somebody with ten thousand followers or work with somebody with two hundred thousand followers.

Brianna [0:13:13]: Really the question is down to what your goals are for your campaign, which drives back to what we talked about originally, but there are four main tiers that I bucket creators into.

Brianna [0:13:21]: We have the practitioner experts.

Brianna [0:13:23]: Right.

Brianna [0:13:24]: So high authority, but also needs reach.

Brianna [0:13:26]: They deep subject matter expertise and their trusted voices within very specific segments.

Brianna [0:13:31]: Like it day their heart, actually.

Brianna [0:13:33]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:13:34]: Then we have the cultural amplifier.

Brianna [0:13:36]: So maybe they have high trust.

Brianna [0:13:37]: And or authority, but they're reach reaches more broad.

Brianna [0:13:39]: It's not just one market segment or one Ic.

Brianna [0:13:42]: There's value in that too, but it really is gonna go back to your campaign goals.

Brianna [0:13:45]: Community connectors.

Brianna [0:13:47]: This is where we're talking about moderate authority, but very niche reach.

Brianna [0:13:49]: That person with fifteen thousand followers, but ten thousand of them are decision makers at series b startups or attention and drivers.

Brianna [0:13:57]: So very broad reach, not really curated or niche content.

Brianna [0:14:01]: And so that's gonna be best for things like top of funnel awareness, brand impressions, things like that.

Brianna [0:14:06]: Alright.

Brianna [0:14:07]: So you got your creators.

Brianna [0:14:08]: You have your campaign brief, now what?

Brianna [0:14:11]: This is something I was dealt with when I was in house, how to actually make this win for your team.

Brianna [0:14:16]: And the first thing is starting back when you're defining success.

Brianna [0:14:20]: Like I keep saying and I'll probably be beating a dead horse.

Brianna [0:14:23]: If you are aligning with your team at the very beginning before you have any content published, you're gonna be in a much better position than you are six months down the line when your campaign is running smoothly, but you have no actual results to show for it.

Brianna [0:14:35]: Because you didn't align on success at the beginning.

Brianna [0:14:37]: So typically, what you'll see is four different segments for what they're looking for.

Brianna [0:14:41]: Executive and C suite, we're looking at pipeline generation or influence pipeline, high intent leads or category Association Great.

Brianna [0:14:48]: For sales.

Brianna [0:14:49]: Obviously, insulin pipeline or pipeline gen, product, you're looking more at trials or freemium sign ups and Cs maybe like, account retention and expansion.

Brianna [0:14:56]: And just to note, you do not have to hit all these at once.

Brianna [0:14:59]: Most campaigns won't and probably shouldn't.

Brianna [0:15:01]: You're gonna pick one primary and one secondary metric, but it is important to look at the other metrics that you're still influencing anyway.

Brianna [0:15:08]: So you can tell that full story when you're reporting.

Brianna [0:15:11]: Okay.

Brianna [0:15:12]: So step one, you know what you're gonna find success.

Brianna [0:15:15]: You know what you're gonna tell your team, you know how to communicate the wins to them, when you're launching an influencer program, the goal is not be everywhere.

Brianna [0:15:21]: It's to learn quickly and to design smarter place over time.

Brianna [0:15:24]: And the brands that win are anchoring their strategy in business outcomes, not just in more followers or partner with creators with more followers.

Brianna [0:15:31]: So first things first, take a step back.

Brianna [0:15:34]: Ditch Linkedin, ditch Youtube, and ask yourself what impact you're actually trying to drive.

Brianna [0:15:39]: If you're choosing creators that are based on your Ic and your goals, you might actually realize Linkedin is in our first channel.

Brianna [0:15:46]: Or maybe we'd dedicate dedicate less spend to Youtube and more to tiktok.

Brianna [0:15:51]: It's interesting to consider, but it is important to remember that follower accounts really don't matter.

Brianna [0:15:56]: They kind of do unless you're looking to focus on brand awareness and impressions.

Brianna [0:16:00]: And what I would say too is you don't have to spend five hundred thousand dollars to run a test.

Brianna [0:16:05]: You don't have to work with every creator.

Brianna [0:16:07]: But you do have be intentional about the ones that you are partnering with.

Brianna [0:16:09]: Pick three to five, run a very intentional experiment and then design one or two focus plays around that.

Brianna [0:16:15]: Maybe it's a mix of sponsored posts with some webinars or cobra branded content.

Brianna [0:16:19]: And at the same time, if you're running all these tests, but you don't know what success looks like or you don't know how you're gonna measure success, you're gonna be stuck in the same loop.

Brianna [0:16:27]: So engineer were gonna call your learning loop.

Brianna [0:16:29]: Gonna use those activations to test narrative, formats and crater types before you expand your budget, your campaigns or even your channels.

Brianna [0:16:36]: And then measure with matters.

Brianna [0:16:38]: So like I said, one primary metric, one secondary, typically, what I see in b2b b is lead gen or direct conversions, and then maybe brand awareness, impressions, reach, things like that.

Brianna [0:16:50]: But have the two main ones that you're tracking, continue measuring the rest, continue reporting out on those, but frame the story that you're telling your team and your company.

Brianna [0:16:58]: Or on the two main metrics that are gonna define success.

Brianna [0:17:01]: Alright.

Brianna [0:17:03]: So then with step two, you're turning those signals into strategy.

Brianna [0:17:05]: So it's been three months, six months.

Brianna [0:17:08]: Campaigns are going well.

Brianna [0:17:09]: Experiments are running smoothly, You're working with good creators.

Brianna [0:17:12]: Maybe you're getting more budget.

Brianna [0:17:13]: Maybe you just wanna stop working with three and continue working with the other four.

Brianna [0:17:17]: This is when you can start moving from one off campaigns or just sponsor post into longer longer term activations.

Brianna [0:17:23]: This is when I recommend moving from Let's say a bundle of three sponsor posts to an ongoing partnership for nine months.

Brianna [0:17:30]: And when you can start layering your influence, moving from just sponsor posts or just a webinar series to testing other channels, testing and person events, testing micro events, That's when you can really start expanding on the influence that you're starting to leverage.

Brianna [0:17:44]: And also continue to make sure your budget works harder.

Brianna [0:17:47]: I think the thing that I see so often is, you know, you get more budget.

Brianna [0:17:50]: You get more span it's exciting.

Brianna [0:17:52]: You're spending money everywhere, but you're not measuring the way that you should.

Brianna [0:17:56]: Easier to scale harder to continue measuring.

Brianna [0:17:58]: So make sure you're building scalable measurements, you could report out to your team.

Brianna [0:18:03]: And it should always always always map up to your business priority.

Brianna [0:18:06]: Demand gen, audience growth, whatever the case may be, remember your North star.

Brianna [0:18:11]: I do think it's important to note to you know, in influencer marketing, it's so easy to default to the same ten well known voices.

Brianna [0:18:18]: I don't know if it's just my Linkedin feed, but I see people calling this out all the time.

Brianna [0:18:21]: You know, you see the top ten influencers that I follow that list, and it's the same people over and over again.

Brianna [0:18:27]: But buyers want to see themselves in your strategy, they wanna see themselves in your ads, they wanna see themselves in your influencer content.

Brianna [0:18:33]: And when you don't do that, you lose relevance.

Brianna [0:18:35]: When you do do that well.

Brianna [0:18:37]: You gain trust.

Brianna [0:18:38]: And so the companies that reflect the audiences that they're targeting consistently outperform Deloitte and cancer actually did a research study on this, and they found that representative campaigns typically see sixteen percent higher sales across the board.

Brianna [0:18:51]: So it's more than just a D initiative.

Brianna [0:18:53]: It is actually tied back to business outcomes.

Brianna [0:18:55]: And it's one thing, you know, to kinda just plug some diverse creators into your ads or your campaigns.

Brianna [0:19:01]: It's not that it takes time to understand who your audience is, what actually matters to them, how they represent themselves or how they want to be represented.

Brianna [0:19:09]: Do that research and then plug them into your campaigns that way as well.

Brianna [0:19:12]: So if your influencer program if features the same five voices everyone else, it's important to ask yourself, are you really building influence or you just broadcast them into the same echo chamber?

Brianna [0:19:21]: So a couple of case studies so that we can nail this down.

Brianna [0:19:25]: One is sem rush, did anybody go to spotlight last year.

Brianna [0:19:27]: I think it was in Amsterdam.

Brianna [0:19:29]: So they actually started with an invite only influencer influential program in London, tested it out with ten to twelve marketing creators and they structured it, like a B pop up.

Brianna [0:19:37]: So they had a photographer out there to do heads shots, they had them do, like, a street team activation where they stop people in the street and ask them questions about their marketing programs.

Brianna [0:19:45]: That did well.

Brianna [0:19:47]: And so their next step was to turn into a whole in real life conference.

Brianna [0:19:51]: So in Amsterdam in twenty twenty four called Spotlight.

Brianna [0:19:53]: That led you five hundred plus organic social posts, three million impressions and a thousand attendees and they're running it back this year as well.

Brianna [0:20:00]: Second example, Sprout social.

Brianna [0:20:02]: So they c micro events and dinners across the country with top creators.

Brianna [0:20:06]: And what you'll typically see if you haven't seen this online is they tie it to a conference or an event that's already happening in that city.

Brianna [0:20:13]: They did it with inbound.

Brianna [0:20:14]: They did it with spotlight, I believe.

Brianna [0:20:16]: So they sponsor these community led events instead of creating the event themselves, creators and then inviting a bunch of random customers to it.

Brianna [0:20:23]: What they do is they tailor it to the audience at the creator they're c hosting with speaks to, and they host ten twenty, maybe thirty people.

Brianna [0:20:30]: Then they use that creator content across different channels, and they will also send creators as brand reps to industry events.

Brianna [0:20:37]: And so this is what I mean by micro events or experiences that you can curate.

Brianna [0:20:41]: I will say...

Brianna [0:20:43]: I wouldn't start with this if you're trying to prove out influencer marketing, in your brand or in your company.

Brianna [0:20:48]: It is important to validate it with something that you can measure quantifiable tangible success because that's how you're gonna get the budget that you need for events like this.

Brianna [0:20:55]: When you're ready to start investing in longer term relationships and building more experience for moments, micro events with creators are a great idea.

Brianna [0:21:03]: And Nevada, is natalie only Marco Twilio here.

Brianna [0:21:07]: Okay.

Brianna [0:21:08]: I feel like an info for them.

Brianna [0:21:09]: I talked about them all the time.

Brianna [0:21:10]: But basically, they built a hybrid influencer advisory program with product and audience fluency.

Brianna [0:21:15]: So essentially, any creator they work with, gets regular demos.

Brianna [0:21:19]: They get access to content before it goes live, and they don't rely so much on follower accounts.

Brianna [0:21:24]: They actually focus more on subject matter expertise.

Brianna [0:21:27]: And then they also...

Brianna [0:21:28]: The creators also create content for them.

Brianna [0:21:30]: But they're a lot more focused on finding ways to integrate the creators or the advisors into their program into their existing tech stack and marketing strategy rather than just partnering with influencers Across Linkedin who have a ton of followers.

Brianna [0:21:41]: So to bring it all home, you have your ninety day pilot, What I always recommend to anybody that wants to influencer into marketing.

Brianna [0:21:47]: If you can only do it for a month or for sixty days, it's just not long enough.

Brianna [0:21:51]: The absolute minimum is ninety days, I would always aim higher.

Brianna [0:21:55]: But ninety is great to start.

Brianna [0:21:57]: So the first thirty you're gonna set up to learn.

Brianna [0:21:59]: Understand who you're trying to target what their pain points are for the specific campaign, how you wanna engage with them and who you wanna partner with?

Brianna [0:22:07]: Nail down your budget.

Brianna [0:22:08]: You can start with asking creators first to get a better idea, then onboard the creators.

Brianna [0:22:12]: This is when you take time to do product demos, walk through if they're not already using the products.

Brianna [0:22:17]: And then you can do content brainstorm as well.

Brianna [0:22:19]: I do this with creators all the time.

Brianna [0:22:20]: You do a sixty minute walk through with them.

Brianna [0:22:22]: Brainstorm with them for another sixty, and then give them basically a library of content that they couldn't build on for themselves.

Brianna [0:22:28]: Lock in at least three deliverables per crate.

Brianna [0:22:30]: If you're doing an ninety day pilot, it should be no less than one sponsored post per month.

Brianna [0:22:34]: Maybe two to three, if you have the budget, and make sure you're building out your tracking and measurement before you start.

Brianna [0:22:39]: Next thirty days, you have your creators locked in, contracts are signed, brief are sent out.

Brianna [0:22:44]: You start to activate your campaigns and monitor the performance.

Brianna [0:22:47]: So this is when you start test your messaging, your initial messaging.

Brianna [0:22:49]: And then collect feedback, not just from your audience but from the creators themselves?

Brianna [0:22:53]: How's the audience reacting.

Brianna [0:22:55]: How are they liking the content that they're producing?

Brianna [0:22:57]: Do they feel like it's resonating with their audience?

Brianna [0:22:59]: Are they seeing the results that they would wanna see from their content?

Brianna [0:23:02]: This is when you can start to refine fast, but you also have to move quickly and be willing to pivot as well.

Brianna [0:23:07]: And then track the movement across the funnel.

Brianna [0:23:09]: Let's say you're looking for just generated pipeline and impressions.

Brianna [0:23:14]: Right?

Brianna [0:23:15]: But see how many people are getting stuck at different stages in the funnel as well and also a great thing to see is how it's influencing customer retention if it is at all.

Brianna [0:23:23]: And then by day ninety, this is when you can take all the performance data, analyze and adjust.

Brianna [0:23:27]: So that create a feedback, any early signals you saw, double down who's performing well.

Brianna [0:23:32]: Maybe kick out who isn't, and then use those learnings to evolve into longer term partnerships.

Brianna [0:23:37]: And once you pass those ninety days, that's when you can scale be on the pilot.

Brianna [0:23:41]: So double down on what's working, This is when you can start speaking to the leadership team to a deeper extent as well about what's working and what's not.

Brianna [0:23:47]: What you're gonna do differently, who you're gonna partner with, what Ic this is resonating with and which one it isn't.

Brianna [0:23:52]: You can start layering new activation types and then build for repeat.

Brianna [0:23:56]: And then this is where you can move from what I consider, like, scattered campaigns to a clearer system.

Brianna [0:24:00]: Okay if this isn't all flushed out on day one.

Brianna [0:24:03]: It's okay if it is all flushed out on day ninety.

Brianna [0:24:05]: And I think what's interesting too is day one eighty, two years in, You're still gonna be pivoting You're still gonna be refining, but you are gonna have a much clearer grasp of what's working and looks not.

Brianna [0:24:15]: You can make sure you're partnering with the right creators and wasting less of your time.

Brianna [0:24:18]: And that's all I have.

Dave [0:24:27]: Love it.

Dave [0:24:27]: I haven't bunch of questions for you actually.

Dave [0:24:29]: So one of the things that's challenging and, like, this started out, like, I did a bunch of this early before Ex exit I became a real company.

Dave [0:24:37]: And so I have interesting, like, point of view as, like, being an in an influencer.

Dave [0:24:41]: Right?

Dave [0:24:41]: And I think one of the things that is hard to...

Dave [0:24:44]: I think it's because it's a new channel, I think a lot of marketing leaders and teams kind of just like, they expect to throw money on it and a result to magically happen.

Dave [0:24:54]: Yeah.

Dave [0:24:55]: And it's like, we don't treat it, like, it, like, if you ran a bunch of Google Ads and the Google Ads were shitty because they drove to shitty landing pages and shitty offers, Are you gonna go to Google and say, well Google doesn't work.

Dave [0:25:04]: Yeah.

Dave [0:25:05]: And I think a lot of...

Dave [0:25:06]: I think a big part of this and you hit on this is, like, understanding what the offer is and having a real strategy versus, like, oh, we're gonna we're gonna pay Brianna to do a post and we're gonna get this one off thing.

Dave [0:25:16]: How do you think about, like, working with companies?

Dave [0:25:19]: Or do you have any examples of, like, of offers that have been effective Because unlike strategy consumer brands.

Dave [0:25:26]: The offer is not always just direct sales.

Dave [0:25:28]: And, like, in B2b, it could be eight to twelve months before I, you know, I I've seen Brianna post three times over the course of the year, and then I also went to one of their webinars, and I also did this other thing and then I ended up buying Do any advice around, like, how marketers can coach their teams and leadership on, like, how how to think about the the offer and the result of these?

Brianna [0:25:49]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:25:49]: Well, I think it's funny.

Brianna [0:25:50]: You bring up Google ads too because I I feel like leadership teams do that.

Brianna [0:25:54]: Like, ads won't work when they say, Google doesn't work for us.

Brianna [0:25:57]: Let's turn it off and try another platform.

Brianna [0:25:59]: So I think it's actually very similar pain point.

Brianna [0:26:02]: You expect to just throw this messaging and it'll work with creators too and it just won't.

Brianna [0:26:06]: Right?

Brianna [0:26:07]: You're dealing with human psychology with the way people would digest information and consume it.

Brianna [0:26:10]: But I think about the offer, they really need to tie back to what what your customer actually cares about or what your target audience actually cares about.

Brianna [0:26:18]: You know, I forget which company is, there was some agency.

Brianna [0:26:21]: I think Tim Davidson work there where you did, like these the these gift cards that apparently, I already really just loved.

Brianna [0:26:26]: It's like, these twenty five dollar gift cards, and they were closing like, crazy.

Brianna [0:26:29]: For some reason that works.

Brianna [0:26:30]: Right?

Brianna [0:26:31]: And so it might be a pattern interrupt, it might not be the offer that you think it's okay if it's a longer sales cycle, But what I would ask myself or ask my team is Okay.

Brianna [0:26:39]: What are the short term wins that we can account for here, especially if it's a longer sales cycle, What are the long term wins?

Brianna [0:26:45]: And then how can we incentivize people, not just once read this post, click this button and get twenty five percent off, But how can we continue to engage them throughout the course.

Brianna [0:26:54]: Of that influencer campaign or about activation.

Brianna [0:26:57]: When I think it just starts with understanding where your customers are at.

Dave [0:27:00]: And the other thing is, what's your take on, like, how to actually go and find creators or Tell you what I say to people and you can maybe poke calls in it, but...

Dave [0:27:08]: This question drives me nuts because I feel like as a marketer, there's not gonna be some magic database that has a list of people in your industry.

Dave [0:27:16]: Doesn't this just come back to, like, having a strong opinion about your industry actively watching listening to podcast, watching videos on Youtube, seeing who's who has a voice on Tiktok.

Dave [0:27:27]: Like, I I do think we kinda expect there's...

Dave [0:27:29]: There to be some magic database of, like, oh, we sell into finance and, like, here's the ranked followers versus finance first, Don't you need to actually know?

Dave [0:27:37]: Like, do you do you feel like it has to be firsthand knowledge of where the creators are or maybe am Am I wrong is there some way to to figure out who in who's influential in your space?

Brianna [0:27:47]: There are two ways.

Brianna [0:27:47]: So there are actually some platforms.

Brianna [0:27:48]: If you're looking for Linkedin.

Brianna [0:27:50]: Specific creators, Limelight is a great one.

Brianna [0:27:52]: I don't believe you can filter by industry, but you can see, like, which audiences they speak to what the demographics are, and then actually reach out to them through limelight as well, I believe.

Brianna [0:28:02]: Outside of that, there is G.

Brianna [0:28:03]: There's a aspire where you can categorize some by content type, content pillars, like, the typical audience they speak to.

Brianna [0:28:10]: I don't use any of those.

Brianna [0:28:12]: I prefer more manual approaches.

Brianna [0:28:14]: So what I actually like to do is speak to customers, existing customers and ask them who they follow and who they trust and that this a lot in fintech as well when you're speaking to accountants?

Brianna [0:28:23]: Like, what newsletters do you follow?

Brianna [0:28:25]: Which podcasts you listen to?

Brianna [0:28:28]: Are there creators that you look to to give you up to date accounting information or accounting news, it's a little manual, but you should be speaking to your customers anyway.

Brianna [0:28:36]: So it's kind of a win win.

Brianna [0:28:38]: But you can speak to your customers understand who they care about, who they trust already.

Brianna [0:28:42]: And then another great way, also bit manual, but just Google literally, like, top fintech influencers.

Brianna [0:28:49]: Top x creators.

Brianna [0:28:51]: You'll start to see these curated lists across Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and you can use those as, like, your first step defining creators and then look at who they're following and engaging with, then you'll build a flywheel.

Dave [0:29:02]: Like a lookalike audience.

Brianna [0:29:03]: Of creators.

Dave [0:29:04]: Questions for Brianna on influencer influencer marketing.

Dave [0:29:06]: Yeah.

Participant 3 [0:29:08]: So for that, that top left college quadrant where maybe you want an influencer who can go super deep in subject matter expertise in, like, a niche of a very niche industry.

Brianna [0:29:18]: Mh.

Participant 3 [0:29:18]: You've mentioned a, like, you can choose to, like, drop three, work with four and like, a lot of plural.

Participant 3 [0:29:22]: Is it feasible to do this with, like, one influencer versus a pool of influencers if you're in a niche industry?

Brianna [0:29:33]: Yes.

Brianna [0:29:33]: Short answer is yes, You can.

Brianna [0:29:34]: One your data is going to be minimal, because you can test less content types, less messaging, things like that.

Brianna [0:29:43]: And you're also just behold until whoever their content happens to perform that day as opposed to kind of spreading the risk across four to five influencers are three to four.

Brianna [0:29:52]: I will say if you're gonna partner with one creator, you have to look at the short term wins or metrics a lot less.

Brianna [0:29:59]: Still track them and measure them obviously, but you're gonna be looking at or what I recommend is looking at way longer term partnership because you're gonna work with them pretty closely or you should work with them closely on finding the messaging along the way, pivoting to different types of content, focusing on different kinds of campaigns with them and seeing what lands.

Brianna [0:30:15]: My recommendation is at least three, but you can't make it work with fun.

Participant 4 [0:30:20]: Hi Stephanie.

Participant 4 [0:30:20]: I signed my first influencer.

Participant 4 [0:30:22]: We had our first webinar was really successful so I got budget for three more webinars.

Participant 4 [0:30:27]: But now I'm struggling because my...

Participant 4 [0:30:31]: I wanna ingest, like, more product into it, but my product is technical it requires professional services and since we're not B2B?

Participant 4 [0:30:38]: We can't just, like, send a tube lipstick.

Participant 4 [0:30:40]: So how are you seeing the influencers that you work with use product, like, in their day to day.

Participant 4 [0:30:46]: If I can't just turn it on for them overnight.

Participant 4 [0:30:49]: What's what's a creative solution.

Participant 4 [0:30:50]: It's a Saas platform, so we help automate the Mundane parts of sellers days.

Brianna [0:30:56]: Mundane parts of fun?

Participant 4 [0:30:57]: Of a seller's day, like, account planning deal qualification forecasting.

Brianna [0:31:00]: How did you...

Brianna [0:31:01]: Sorry.

Brianna [0:31:01]: I have questions for you?

Brianna [0:31:02]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:31:02]: How did you structure your first webinar?

Participant 4 [0:31:05]: I mean, it was a one time contract signed a webinar said if I was successful if I hit The registration goals and the M sql goals, I would sign three more.

Participant 4 [0:31:11]: So we did hit those goals and we signed three more together, but it was more thought leadership.

Participant 4 [0:31:16]: That okay.

Participant 4 [0:31:17]: Product specific.

Brianna [0:31:19]: Were there products, like, integrations or mentions within the webinar or is it...

Participant 4 [0:31:22]: Yeah.

Participant 4 [0:31:22]: The the person on our side, that's what we did.

Participant 4 [0:31:25]: We would show up, and we would ask them a question, and would be like, oh, and by the way, this is how we do it?

Participant 4 [0:31:30]: Okay.

Participant 4 [0:31:30]: So there's product mentions.

Participant 4 [0:31:32]: But, like, if I want them to get behind the camera in my product?

Participant 4 [0:31:36]: Are you seeing people do that with influencers?

Brianna [0:31:39]: I am.

Brianna [0:31:39]: I wouldn't say it performs.

Brianna [0:31:41]: Okay.

Brianna [0:31:42]: Very well the with...

Brianna [0:31:43]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:31:44]: I think the thing with c hosting webinar with a creator is kinda go back to what I alluded to with influencers aren't salespeople.

Brianna [0:31:50]: You're leveraging them, I would assume because of their thought leadership and the credibility and trust that they fill with their audience.

Brianna [0:31:56]: So what I'd recommend is what, like, looking at the funnel that you have going into after the webinar Still continue with the product integration, still mention the product.

Brianna [0:32:05]: Maybe even have a segment during the webinar where you just talk about the product for a little bit.

Brianna [0:32:09]: Another recommendation I have is if you have a Q and a element if you don't, add one.

Brianna [0:32:13]: But if you have a q and a element, manufacture some questions in there that you can then speak to the product specifically But I wouldn't put the onus on the webinar and the influencer alone just to handle.

Dave [0:32:25]: Yeah.

Dave [0:32:25]: Just to just to build on that, I think I think in B2B, it's different.

Dave [0:32:27]: Like, nobody...

Dave [0:32:28]: I think the play would be, like, use that relationship to get interest above a new audience.

Dave [0:32:34]: Yes.

Dave [0:32:35]: And then it's on you after to nurture and follow up and to share product related stuff.

Dave [0:32:40]: And it's like, hey, we earned your...

Dave [0:32:42]: Like, use the webinar to get people to know, like, and trust you and and for some reason, and then now you have the right to, like, reach out to these people and have something thoughtful to say.

Dave [0:32:51]: I think especially in B2B a lot of times the influencer and creator types of partnerships.

Dave [0:32:55]: It is it is different than, like, here's me trying on this lipstick?

Dave [0:32:58]: It's more like, can we...

Dave [0:33:00]: Do we have a shared mission around, like, the story that our company sells and so, like, your mission, you're your Ic is.

Dave [0:33:06]: Yeah salespeople, finding influencers who make interesting content to salespeople, like, the dream one would be, like, you do a collaboration with Corporate Natalie.

Dave [0:33:14]: Right?

Dave [0:33:15]: And and or corporate Bro.

Dave [0:33:16]: And it doesn't...

Dave [0:33:17]: You don't need them pitching your product.

Dave [0:33:18]: You're using their their audience.

Dave [0:33:20]: That's the whole point of influencer or thing you're drafting off an audience that's that's not yours.

Dave [0:33:23]: Right?

Brianna [0:33:24]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:33:24]: We're even building off that, Like, partnering with somebody who specifically has built trust with a sales audience, like, the Kevin Do

Participant 1 [0:33:31]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:33:32]: Or John Barr because then they're gonna bring more of that audience and you have to do best work to bring them in.

Dave [0:33:37]: What else?

Dave [0:33:37]: You in the back?

Dave [0:33:38]: Shouted it out, sir?

Participant 2 [0:33:40]: Glad you sales my.

Participant 2 [0:33:43]: So can you talk about how do you discuss the brand with clients

Brianna [0:34:05]: Okay.

Participant 2 [0:34:06]: The super, Way whatever but it was just getting four red in final conversations the have you seen this while I joke, like I I haven't seen that I don't know joke.

Participant 2 [0:34:17]: Wanna start to look at my goodness this company.

Participant 2 [0:34:20]: I'm not hearing It's the first I've heard.

Participant 2 [0:34:22]: I'm not hearing anything positive about the brand, and it's been like this one influencer can't just trash entire startup.

Participant 2 [0:34:29]: So...

Participant 2 [0:34:30]: Yeah.

Participant 2 [0:34:31]: There's an inherent recipe involved with bringing you talk about how do you cover that

Brianna [0:34:36]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:34:36]: That's third question.

Brianna [0:34:37]: I think first off, my assumption with that story would be...

Brianna [0:34:40]: They did not...

Brianna [0:34:41]: Okay.

Brianna [0:34:42]: Hopefully that marketer is in this room, But whoever that marketer is, my assumption is they didn't speak to...

Brianna [0:34:46]: Like, maybe their sales team or to Cs us or to some other department about the influencer program or campaign before it launched.

Brianna [0:34:54]: Like, when I hear about an influencer campaign flop so tragically like that.

Brianna [0:34:59]: It's typically because it's built in a silo.

Brianna [0:35:01]: And to an extent, they're probably not even asking the influencer of themselves for their opinion.

Brianna [0:35:05]: They're handing them a brief.

Brianna [0:35:06]: And maybe it looks fun or it looks engaging, but they're not taking the time to truly understand if it's what their Ic is looking for.

Brianna [0:35:12]: And so that I start with that conversation with risk with brands is...

Brianna [0:35:16]: Okay.

Brianna [0:35:17]: Your Ceo might have this cool idea or your head of marketing might have this cool idea.

Brianna [0:35:20]: Let's actually pre validate it a bit, look at who your customer base.

Brianna [0:35:25]: That's actually trust like what kind of content actually resonates with them to the extent that we can figure that out, and that's how we'll mitigate that risk, Especially in B2B, it's very risky to do fun catching content.

Brianna [0:35:37]: And I think it can also flop really easily because humor just isn't really a big part of B2B marketing.

Brianna [0:35:43]: So you you'll to be very careful in the weigh the risks, and that's what typically I say, the C suite.

Brianna [0:35:46]: I also do say if you want to run a campaign like that.

Brianna [0:35:49]: If you wanna kinda test the waters, start with something that your audience will actually be expecting first, and then maybe get creative once you have like, initial messaging and validation built out.

Brianna [0:35:59]: That's where I would start.

Dave [0:36:01]: Does that mean influencers are bad or, like, couldn't have been the company that put out that shitty campaign and they still would have gotten roasted.

Dave [0:36:06]: Right?

Dave [0:36:07]: Like...

Brianna [0:36:10]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:36:16]: Yeah.

Dave [0:36:16]: Maybe but that's what Harry talked about.

Dave [0:36:18]: That's the risk, and I think you you do know, and sometimes you have to try something crazy.

Dave [0:36:22]: I think a lot of times though if it's gonna be that bad.

Dave [0:36:24]: So there's usually a red light.

Dave [0:36:25]: There's there's a...

Dave [0:36:26]: There's a yellow flag behind the scenes at, like, somewhere.

Brianna [0:36:30]: Well, that's another thing too.

Brianna [0:36:31]: Like, when I think about...

Brianna [0:36:31]: Let's see, the notion faces campaign.

Brianna [0:36:33]: People were tearing that apart on Linkedin.

Brianna [0:36:35]: I consider extremely successful.

Brianna [0:36:37]: The city we American Eagle.

Brianna [0:36:39]: I hate to say it But like, there's stock.

Brianna [0:36:41]: Increased, the jeans are selling well.

Brianna [0:36:43]: I guess, like that.

Brianna [0:36:44]: So what's successful?

Brianna [0:36:46]: Okay.

Brianna [0:36:46]: People are making fun of it.

Brianna [0:36:47]: So maybe not did it impact their bottom line.

Brianna [0:36:49]: We don't actually know.

Brianna [0:36:50]: I think that's the part that we can't speak to for not working on the team or seeing those results.

Brianna [0:36:55]: But it is worth asking, like, okay, is this just driving conversation and what kind of conversation is it sparking?

Brianna [0:37:01]: I would say that one would be unsuccessful because if they're making fun of it to that extent?

Brianna [0:37:04]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:37:07]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:37:10]: But that, yeah.

Brianna [0:37:11]: That's what I would...

Brianna [0:37:12]: That's what

Brianna [0:37:12]: I asked.

Dave [0:37:14]: Go to Harry.

Participant 1 [0:37:16]: Okay, just a quick one I see when this stuff happens.

Participant 1 [0:37:18]: Sometimes it says this ad, and they tend to not work as well as that?

Participant 1 [0:37:22]: Is there a way of getting around that or do you have any advice for for dealing with that?

Brianna [0:37:27]: That's Are you talking about, like, the specific ad disclosure?

Participant 1 [0:37:29]: Yeah.

Participant 1 [0:37:29]: Add disclosure.

Brianna [0:37:31]: So first thing I'll say, Federal Trade Commission does require the influencers disclose up to ram partnership?

Brianna [0:37:36]: Whether it's paid, product is given in return whatever the case may if there's some form of compensation, They have to disclose it.

Brianna [0:37:42]: So the ways around it, I think one thing creators could do better and brands can encourage them with this.

Brianna [0:37:47]: Is you don't just have to put, like, hashtag add at the bottom, I think that's really off putting.

Brianna [0:37:50]: You can say, really grateful to partnered with x y z with notion.

Brianna [0:37:55]: Right?

Brianna [0:37:55]: Really grateful to part of with whatever brand.

Brianna [0:37:57]: I think finding ways to integrate it into your content as a creator is a lot more effective, but that also ties back to the kind of campaign you're building.

Brianna [0:38:04]: As the brand.

Brianna [0:38:05]: So giving them the opportunity to create their own content and have creative freedom, will allow for more, like, seamless integration like that.

Brianna [0:38:11]: And spicy take, like, if it still flops, the content probably wasn't great.

Brianna [0:38:14]: So use that to refine your messaging for the next...

Brianna [0:38:17]: Activation that you do with that creator, see what landed and what didn't.

Brianna [0:38:21]: Chances are It's not just because they said it was an ad.

Brianna [0:38:23]: I think a lot of it...

Brianna [0:38:24]: A lot of time it ties back, like, audience alignment or just their caught off guard.

Brianna [0:38:27]: Like, the product doesn't align with their audience.

Brianna [0:38:29]: They've never heard them talk about it.

Brianna [0:38:31]: They've never talk about, like, their tech stack before, for example, creators also need to find a way to make sure the content aligns with their audience, but brands needs to make sure they're partnering with creators who can make that seamless integration.

Brianna [0:38:42]: Does that answer your question?

Participant 1 [0:38:44]: Cool.

Participant 1 [0:38:44]: I was just gonna make a comment on that.

Participant 1 [0:38:45]: That campaign and and if you're in your, I apologize.

Participant 1 [0:38:48]: I'm sure many of you in this room, were probably invited to take part in that, and I know that I was.

Participant 1 [0:38:53]: And if they were to just follow your framework, I think that would not have been quite the disaster that it was perceived to be on social media.

Participant 1 [0:39:01]: Because just me as the person that didn't participate, but got the kit.

Participant 1 [0:39:05]: It was given to me, and I'm not sure others twenty four hours before the launch date.

Participant 1 [0:39:09]: Didn't know what it was or what it was for.

Participant 1 [0:39:12]: It was just a question from Ceo saying, hey, do wanna participate in this?

Participant 1 [0:39:16]: And I said, sounds cool.

Participant 1 [0:39:17]: Send me more.

Participant 1 [0:39:18]: Yeah day before campaign, yours your stuff.

Participant 1 [0:39:20]: You look at it and you go.

Participant 1 [0:39:21]: It's a little weird, and then this ads.

Brianna [0:39:25]: Yeah.

Brianna [0:39:25]: I think that's And not special on this brand too, I think any brand that's trying influencer marketing is, especially the B2B space, That's worth celebrating And worth encouraging.

Brianna [0:39:32]: I think that speaks to the reactivity element of it two, like, a effective.

Brianna [0:39:36]: If you give you your creators more time to digest the campaign and give their feedback.

Brianna [0:39:40]: You're also gonna be able to refine it even before you launch it.

Brianna [0:39:43]: That's also you should have contracting in place.

Brianna [0:39:45]: So just a note there.

Dave [0:39:47]: Cool.

Dave [0:39:47]: Alright.

Dave [0:39:48]: You can find Brianna after if you want.

Dave [0:39:50]: Give it up for Brianna.

Brianna [0:39:51]: Thank you.

Dave [0:39:56]: Hey.

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