Branding Through Influencers

If I had to run a B2B influencer program from scratch, here’s how I’d approach it... 1. Start with “why” I’m a firm believer that every campaign needs to ladder up to your team and org OKRs. And no, “our competitors are doing it” isn’t a good enough reason. Think about: → Are you trying to drive pipeline, awareness, or retention? → Who are you targeting and which B2B creators already hold influence in that space? → How will you measure success in a way that actually matters? 2. Build your influencer ecosystem I’ve always said and I’ll say it again, especially for enterprise organizations, pairing an external influencer program with employee advocacy is the best approach. Work with external creators to drive awareness and reach while empowering your internal brand ambassadors to build credibility and trust from within. The best programs do both. 3. Co-create, don’t just sponsor The strongest partnerships are built on collaboration, not transactions. When developing briefs, either co-create with select creators or give them room to put their own spin on the story. You’ll get more authentic, engaging content and a partner who’s genuinely invested in the outcome. 4. Launch a pilot campaign Start small and experiment. Our first campaign was just that, a test. With a modest budget, we wanted to validate if partnering with creators could actually move the needle on performance (spoiler: it did). 5. Measure relationships, not just reach Don’t just stop at conversions. Instead, look at: → Earned mentions: How many people are organically talking about your campaign? → Sentiment lift: Are brand perceptions shifting in your favor? → Engagement: who’s in your comment section? → Search visibility: are you ranking better for relevant topics or LLMs? Building a B2B influencer program isn’t about borrowing someone else’s audience, it’s about building a trusted network around your brand. Start small, learn fast, and focus on relationships that compound over time.

I want to share a perspective that might be unexpected: Influencer marketing may not always directly contribute to your sales. Here’s why Brands are treating the influencers like a human billboard. They hand over a script to creators to recite in front of the camera and expect the customers to love it. But it leads to the audience feeling disconnected not just from the influencer but also from the brand. A report stated that 72% of consumers unfollow influencers promoting products in an inauthentic way. I recently unfollowed an influencer whose sponsored content felt like a blatant advertisement, completely disconnected from their usual style and personality. A classic example is when Tata Tea launched “Fruski” in 2017 and did influencer marketing on Twitter(X) with different creators, one of which was comedian Biswa Kalyan Nath. He tweeted about the product but it was so plain and boring that it seemed to be scripted and didn’t sound like a comedian’s tweet at all. This led to a failure. The audience wants authenticity and value from the creators. But some brands forget this and force their product into the creator’s life and content. The right approach to influencer marketing is to identify creators where your product naturally fits into their content and lifestyle. An excellent example is how Noise leveraged Virat Kohli's love for Chhole Bhature and fitness to promote their brand in the #SunoDilKaShor campaign. At Vavo Digital | Influencer Marketing, our approach is to prioritize authenticity and value alignment. We integrate strategies that ensure the messaging resonates with the creator's audience and drives real impact. This includes: - promoting genuine conversations around the product or service. - conducting thorough research to match brands with suitable influencers - encouraging influencers to incorporate products seamlessly into their content By focusing on authentic collaborations, we aim to create a win-win situation for both brands and influencers, building trust and long-lasting relationships with their respective audiences. What’s a recent influencer’s branded content that you loved or hated? #influencermarketing #marketingcampaign #marketing

Enjoyed being on The Logical Indian podcast with host Mauli Saxena, to talk about Influencers and the Creator Economy. Here's the link to the Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gNseTFzP 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀: • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 → 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆. For years, brands chased eyeballs: impressions, likes, views. But attention is cheap; bots and algorithms can inflate it. Trust is scarce. Nano and micro influencers are winning because they trade in credibility, not vanity metrics. Attention can be bought, but trust has to be earned. • 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺-𝗨𝗽, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗽-𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻. In the West influencer marketing is top-heavy (celebrities, mega creators). In India, the future is bottom-heavy - millions of nano-creators across Bharat. Because of Language diversity + regional trust + aspirational middle class. • 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭 & 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮 = 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Gen Z grew up with filters and fakery - so they can sniff inauthenticity instantly. They’re immune to glossy advertising. They want honest, messy, vulnerable creators. They respect influencers who say “this is paid, but I trust it.” They punish dishonesty with unfollows. • 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴’𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗢𝗜? Biggest question from CMOs: Does this actually move sales? Truth: Influencers are powerful at top-of-funnel discovery, but used sensibly can drive action. A Harvard Business Review stat:  𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥-𝘰𝘧-𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥-𝘰𝘧-𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩. • 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆: Brands and influencers both chase “authenticity,” but end up hiding the fact that it’s paid. That creates consumer distrust. Trust is currency — creators who are honest will win. • 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?  𝟭. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀 above a threshold. Licensed Influencers?  𝟮. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼-𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 They all have the technology to do this. Noticed how quick large network owned copyright videos are pulled off by Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube?  𝟯. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 . More teeth to law. SEBI's guidelines on fintech influencers (#fininfluencers) are a good beginning. Manisha Kapoor, The Advertising Standards Council of India, RVCJ Digital Media|Marketing Mind, Shubham Sachdeva| Hilda M. | Jaya Bellani | influns | Samriddhi katyal | #CreatorEconomy #lnfluencerMarketing #InfluencerROI #TheAttentionEconomy | Indian Influencer Governing Council 

Let’s talk about sponsored posts for a second. First things first: I've never been paid for a post in my life. I don't have a policy against it, but my standards are probably too high for it ever to happen. A while back, I got a pitch from a company called AiSOAP through an influencer platform called "Head Creator" (made by Headai, an "AI marketer") which I never signed up for. I declined, not because the offer was insultingly low (though it was- $72.99 for sponsored content is its own brand of wild), but because I don’t use the product, I don’t believe in the product, and they explicitly wanted me to pretend it wasn’t an ad. I posted about the experience but didn't name names. You’d think that would be the end of it. Instead, they just sent the same request again. Same copy-and-paste campaign. Same instructions to “make it feel authentic,” mention their product, encourage people to go to their website, and (best of all) explicit instructions not to use the “branded content” or “paid partnership” labels. Which is, by the way, illegal. Let’s just be clear about what’s happening here. This is a request for me to trade my credibility, my trust, and my integrity for an illegal sponsored post disguised as a real endorsement, all for less than what most of us charge for a session. Hard no. It's time for these kinds of tactics to start backfiring, starting with me calling them out by name in this post. If your business model depends on tricking people into thinking their peers just “happen” to love your product, maybe it’s time to rethink the business. And if your platform is spamming people with these requests when they didn’t even sign up maybe you should rethink your platform. This ain't it. #transparency #influencermarketing #mentalhealth #ethics

Meta and Google just made influencer selection 10x smarter, but most brands still pick creators like it's 2019. For years, choosing the right creator meant scrolling through profiles, checking engagement rates manually, and hoping your instincts were right. That's changing fast. With APIs from Meta and Google, you can now analyze three critical factors before spending a single rupee: 📍 Relevance: Know exactly who follows them. Age groups, cities, interests, demographics. No more assumptions about whether their audience matches yours. 📍 Reach: See which creators consistently perform well. Check if their content style aligns with your brand. Understand their real engagement percentages, not vanity metrics. 📍 Results: Predict organic performance and estimate what partnership ads will deliver. Whether you need reach, views, leads, or sales, you'll know before you commit. This isn't about removing creativity from influencer marketing. It's about removing guesswork from the business side of it. That is why at Influencer.in we’re taking this further with AI-powered, prompt-based discovery. Instead of filtering through hundreds of profiles, you'll describe what you need and get matched with creators who fit. And you can run partnership ads for any objective (including leads or sales) and track outcomes via influencer marketing. The brands winning in influencer marketing aren't the ones spending the most. They're the ones using data to spend smarter. Are you still picking influencers based on gut feeling?

Before you post about a sponsorship, run this checklist or risk being ignored. Here is the 13-step checklist to make sure your sponsorship messaging lands. This is about shaping a story across every layer of influence. 1/ Start with an internal positioning memo If your team can’t explain why this partnership matters to the business, your comms will default to fluff. Write the real story before briefing anyone. 2/ Assign ownership to each layer of communication Break down responsibilities across brand, execs, partners, social, and PR. No one owns “sponsorship comms” as a whole, it’s a stack of overlapping influence. 3/ Define the executive narrative system Each leader should have a message tied to the partnership. CEO for business trust. CTO for technical alignment. CMO for positioning. Each message builds authority at a different altitude. 4/ Write for perception shift, not reach Choose one shift you want to drive: → Seen as a category leader → Trusted as an innovation partner → Associated with elite performance Everything should reinforce that idea. 5/ Identify your high-trust targets Don’t write for everyone. Write for analysts, enterprise buyers, investor advisors, journalists, whoever carries influence inside your niche. 6/ Build an internal-to-external calendar Line up what you’re saying internally (sales, investors, leadership) with what shows up externally (owned channels, media, partnerships). 7/ Structure your race-week or activation window Every high-visibility moment should have pre-baked storylines, exec posts, media hooks, and assets ready to go. Don’t just react, deploy. 8/ Align with the rights holder’s comms rhythm If the partner is posting, your comms should either: → Amplify → Add depth → Create a new angle Too many brands ghost their own deal after the press release. 9/ Create a feedback loop across all teams Set up a short, weekly cadence: → What was said → What landed → What gaps appeared Fix messaging in motion, not at the end of the season. 10/ Use internal content as external proof Town hall decks. Product demos. CEO memos. When you repurpose these into public comms, they show consistency. And consistency = trust. 11/ Map your storytelling against business levers Don’t stop at “it’s good for the brand.” Show how messaging supports hiring, retention, B2B growth, or investor visibility. 12/ Audit your executive footprint every quarter How often are your execs showing up in the conversation? Who’s resharing them? Are they quoted in media? Silence kills narrative power. 13/ Build a strategic recap system After each big comms push, capture: → What the audience heard → Who responded → Where the brand now sits in the conversation That insight builds the next wave. This is how brand leaders build comms systems that reposition.

Influencer marketing advice I’d give you (if I wasn’t afraid to hurt your feelings 😅) I’ve spent millions on creator campaigns. Here’s what most brands are still getting wrong. (And if you’re spending £50k+ a month, this might sting a little.) → You probably need more creators, not fewer. Early campaigns aren’t about perfection - they’re about signal. If you’re placing big bets on 3-4 creators, you’re not testing. You’re gambling. → That celebrity deal you’re pining for? Don’t. Blow. The. Budget. If you’re still building brand equity - don’t skip steps. Work with lots of creators, find ones who convert. Then scale up. Even then? One celebrity post won’t change your business. → If a creator’s views aren’t consistent, you can’t predict anything. Not reach. Not ROI. Not even visibility. Stop planning for their best post. Start planning for their worst-case baseline. → You’re probably giving creators too much creative freedom. “You know your audience best” is not a strategy. You either: a) Back a format they already know works b) Or give them one that you know converts - and scale it with paid media → If you’re trusting AI to pick creators based on demographics + view count... You’ve already lost. 🧠 Psychographics > everything. If your customer doesn’t aspire to be that creator - there’s no influence to buy. → If you’re not negotiating rates, you’re just donating budget. Agents will always shoot their shot. Doesn’t mean you pay it. → If you don’t understand target CPMs by niche and platform, you’re not buying media. You’re letting yourself get played. If you've been around long enough you'll know that creator rates are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Know what you're willing to pay and let them convince YOU they're worth more. In the pic: Here's a realistic look at a big-budget influencer marketing campaign with us at WE CREATE POPULAR® You'll notice: → Virality didn't necessarily drive conversions → Spend stayed flat, but conversions optimised over time → 9-12 months in, came the biggest ROI - and it's only getting stronger This is how it looks when brand and performance start living in harmony ✨

Plot twist: Your influencer campaigns could be performing 10x better than you think 📊 Most brands are massively underestimating their influencer ROI because they're only looking at discount codes. Real example from our agency:  → Client thought cost per customer: $1,000 (based on discount codes) → Actual cost per customer: $82 (based on pixel data) → That's 92% of customers going untracked! 🤯 The attribution reality: Even our most sophisticated clients with seamless tracking see a minimum 40% "halo effect" of unattributed sales. For luxury/considered purchases? We're talking 100%+ unattributed impact. Why this happens: → People screenshot products and buy later → They share with friends who purchase → They search your brand name directly → They purchase but don't use the code. What to track instead:  ✅ Pixel data and site behavior analysis ✅ Brand lift surveys ✅ Search traffic spikes ✅ Overall sales velocity during campaign periods ✅ Customer journey mapping The takeaway: If you're only measuring discount code redemptions, you're probably missing the majority of your influencer marketing impact. Time to dig deeper into your data. Your CFO will thank you. How are you measuring the true impact of your influencer campaigns? #InfluencerMarketing #MarketingAnalytics #Attribution #ROI #Data #performancemarketing

The “Brand” Doctor Dillema The email landed in my inbox last Tuesday. “Dr. Patel, we’d love to discuss a partnership opportunity with our wellness lifestyle brand…” I stared at it for a long time. Not because I was flattered (though I was). Not because I feel it’s a conflict of interest. But because I could already hear the whispers. Here’s what they don’t teach you in medical school: Your white coat comes with invisible chains. The Hippocratic Oath says “First, do no harm.” But what it really means in 2025 is: “Don’t do anything that makes other doctors uncomfortable.” Because medicine has an unspoken rule: We don’t sell. We heal. We don’t endorse. We advise. We don’t influence. We inform. Except that’s not true anymore. When I explain a procedure to a patient, I’m influencing. When I recommend a treatment, I’m endorsing. When I post about pain management on LinkedIn, I’m selling my expertise. The difference? One pays me directly. The other pays me in reputation. But here’s the question that keeps me up at night: What if the lifestyle brand actually helps my patients? What if their ergonomic products prevent the injuries I treat? What if their wellness approach reduces the pain I manage? Is it more ethical to stay silent and watch patients suffer? Or to speak up and be labeled a “sellout”? Because that’s the real dilemma: Other physicians aren’t protecting patients. They’re protecting the profession. From change. From evolution. From reality. The reality that patients are already taking advice from: - Influencers with no medical training - Celebrities with personal trainers - Companies with marketing budgets While doctors sit in ivory towers debating ethics. Maybe the most ethical thing I can do is step down from the pedestal. To use my training to guide, not just treat. To prevent, not just cure. To influence for good, not hide from influence entirely. Because here’s what I’ve learned: Trust isn’t about purity. It’s about transparency. My patients don’t need me to be perfect. They need me to be honest. About what works. About what doesn’t. About what I believe in. Even if it’s a brand. Even if I get paid. Even if other doctors disapprove. The white coat was supposed to symbolize healing. Not hiding. When did protecting our reputation become more important than protecting our patients?

A lot of DTC founders would assume that getting Kylie Jenner to endorse your product is a golden ticket to rocketship growth. But studying Matthew Hassett's (founder & CEO of Loftie) journey through FERMÀT reveals something far more fascinating: maximizing viral moments requires systematic conversion infrastructure. While celebrity endorsements can naturally ignite incredible growth, Loftie proved that turning these moments into sustainable revenue requires the ability to rapidly create and test targeted shopping experiences. Their transformation through AI-driven FERMÀT funnels validates everything I've been seeing in modern DTC. Here's how they leveraged our platform: 1. Building Narrative-Driven Journeys → Completely eliminated generic product pages (generic PDPs = a common mistake) → Created dedicated funnels with perfect message match from ad to checkout → Every value proposition strategically aligned for maximum impact 2. Strategic Social Proof Integration → Built dedicated Kylie Jenner shopping experiences that actually convert → Headline and banner messaging "Kylie's favorite alarm clock" and "Kylie's 2024 holiday pick" → Layered in Vogue, NYT, WSJ coverage at key decision points 3. Science-Backed Experiences → Developed deep funnels around sleep science and circadian rhythms → One funnel ("Why Sleep Experts Swear by This Sunrise Lamp") drove 19% AOV lift → Proved celebrity proof + education creates exponential impact The transformation happened in just 6 weeks: • 66% CVR improvement • 26% ROAS lift • 25% CAC reduction This challenges how many founders do celebrity endorsements. It's not about plastering the endorsement everywhere - it's about building systematic conversion paths that maximize every click. This is exactly why I'm so bullish on post-click optimization. I've seen time and time again that when founders combine viral moments with seamless funnel design with FERMÀT, the results are exponential. Curious to hear from other people – how you thinking about maximizing viral moments?