By Sian Gaskell, Managing Director, CubanEight,

The influencer marketing industry is in growth mode and is set to be worth $9.7B in 2020.  As the industry evolves and matures, it is proving its worth on a global scale - building brands, increasing sales and engaging with customers. Larger proportions of marketing spend are being allocated to influencer marketing campaigns because companies realise that to generate impactful brand stories they need to do that in collaboration with passionate advocates.

And to date there has been a lot of focus on the influencers themselves – their rise, the type of influencer and transparency around their collaboration with brands. But as the industry has grown so has the need to be able to manage these campaigns with enterprise-grade technologies at scale – so what does it take to build out the profile of an influencer marketing platform?

At CubanEight we work with CreatorIQ, an influencer marketing platform, managing and optimising influencer campaigns at scale for global brands and agencies including Disney, Unilever, Airbnb, and Ralph Lauren. We knew that the campaign needed to build the credibility of CreatorIQ as the go-to platform for influencer marketing at scale, demonstrating that they understood the needs of their customers and continue to highlight their expertise and innovation.

Answering what is on the mind of customers fuels a campaign like this. We know that the influencer marketing industry is evolving and so are its practices and this is what will concern a digital marketing lead or head of influencers in a brand. Authenticity, transparency, measurement are all areas that are being worked out by brands, creators and agencies. We position CreatorIQ as an expert able to comment on these topics with media – from commentary on industry events such as Instagram abandoning likes through to articles on how to safeguard brand value or how to find the right creator for a brand fit. It is changing all the time, so we work closely with CreatorIQ on keeping that commentary timely and relevant.

We took the answering customer pain points to another level when CreatorIQ were hosting a panel at the Influencer Marketing Show and the panellists were CreatorIQ customers – Sky, Visit Britain and Gleam Futures. We created video content asking each of the customers questions that were common to CreatorIQ’s audience – What kind of metrics do you use to determine success perspective?  How do you approach the integration of influencer marketing channel into existing marketing mixes?  The content was created to be used by CreatorIQ across their social channels, on their website and we have integrated it into the content that we use with media.

Building the credibility of CreatorIQ as a brand has been a red thread through the campaign and we have forged strong relationships for Kam Zulawski who leads the business in EMEA with core media such as Talking Influence, The Drum, MarTech Series - positioning him as an expert and able to address industry issues and what is on the minds of customers.  Awards and industry rankings have been important too – Kam was recently listed in Talking Influence’s Top 50 and they are currently shortlisted for three awards at Influencer Marketing Awards.

Being a part of an industry that is taking shape is an exciting place to be. There are still industry standards being agreed, such as measurement metrics and transparency, to ensure that its validity as a channel remains.

However, what bodes well for the future is that influencer marketing sector is now being held in comparison to other digital marketing channels and a valuable addition to the communications and marketing mix.

Photo by Fidel Fernando on Unsplash