Marion Balinoff

If you’re judging influencer marketing on D7 and D30 ROI, you’re setting yourself up for the wrong conclusion. The long-term data tells a very different story.The long tail and the halo effect have always been the channel’s real strength. Very few channels keep working for you long after the campaign has ended. Influencer marketing does. Consistently.Yet budgets keep getting pulled way too early for teams to even see that impact internally.This new IPA dataset finally puts numbers behind what many of us have been saying for years.Here’s what the charts show:1. Short-term influencer ROI indexes at 99Right on the industry average. Nothing crazy at first glance.2. Long-term influencer ROI jumps to 151Suddenly influencers outperform paid social by a wide margin. Once you zoom out, the story flips.3. Influencers have the highest long-term multiplier of any channelThe compounding effect of influencer […]

👀 One of my most invaluable learnings over the last decade in influencer marketing? Look beyond the obvious verticals. It happened to me far too many times in my early days.I was convinced a specific content vertical would crush it… only to have it totally flop. If you’re new to influencer marketing, or find you've saturated your options, here’s a friendly reminder: Brand alignment when selecting influencers isn’t just about content themes. It’s also about audience and creator values. Just because you’re a travel app, doesn’t mean you should only work with travel influencers. The people who watch travel vlogs aren’t the only ones who travel!If you’re a cooking game, your options aren’t limited to food & cooking creators. Your cozy, relaxing puzzle game? Its top-performing vertical could just be True Crime. You’re severely limiting your scope if you’re looking […]

YouTube just announced Dynamic Ad Insertions for long-form videos and I think this could be a real turning point. In practice, it means sponsorship slots inside videos can now be swapped in and out. Instead of a brand mention living forever in one piece of content, creators can rotate advertisers over time. Suddenly, a back catalog of videos with steady traffic becomes monetizable again.As someone who buys both podcast ads and YouTube integrations, this feels like the two worlds getting closer. Podcasts have been selling impressions this way for a while. But YouTube is different, and the value of a sponsorship here goes beyond impressions.A YouTube integration is usually one sponsor, full share of voice, and carefully produced content. That production element is key: you can’t just change a line of copy, you need to film, edit and deliver an […]

Ever wonder why your influencer campaigns aren’t scaling? It might be your org chart. If you’re serious about driving real performance impact with influencers, stop treating Influencer Marketing as an ‘add-on.’ The moment it gets relegated as a sub-category under a different department or job role, the foundations start to crumble. ⚠️ Budgets become microscopic⚠️ Goals become vague and unfocused ⚠️ The perspective on possibilities becomes limited⚠️ Time allocated to strategy, testing, & analysis suffers Influencer marketing is so versatile. It can serve so many purposes, from brand awareness or identity & reputation management to community building and performance. But the minute you classify it under a traditional department, you limit its scope. You’ll really only see the full potential of influencer marketing, if it has its own dedicated function. Of course, that’s not to say Influencer Marketing teams should […]

Remarketing spend hit $16.4B in 2024… 3.5× more than UA.During peak season, 85% of iOS budgets went to remarketing. Marketers are doubling down on LTV.But many still see influencer marketing as purely upper funnel. That’s a mistake.In the campaigns I run, influencers don’t just drive installs, they:✅ Reactivate past users✅ Trigger second purchases✅ Reinforce brand value when it matters mostInfluencers can supercharge remarketing by:- Creating custom content for audiences who clicked an influencer’s affiliate link but didn’t purchase- Running Instagram Story ads targeting users who engaged with a sponsored post but didn’t follow or buyFor example:If an influencer shares a skincare launch and people click through but don’t check out, you can later retarget them with a carousel ad featuring a time-limited discount or a relatable testimonial, right when they’re more likely to convert.📣 My take: Creators don’t just drive […]

One of the BEST pieces of advice when it comes to choosing influencers for your campaign: 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.' 🪺 Versatility in your mix is essential. Sizes, verticals, sub-verticals.It mitigates risks in the present, and opens up opportunities for the future.When you've got a variety of influencers of different sizes and different verticals or sub-verticals, you can- Drive impact at scale in vetted verticals- Simultaneously test and discover new areas for scalability - Reach and engage with diverse subsets of your target audience- Risk-proof collaborations with bigger creators with a volume of smaller creators with engaged audiencesNaturally 'versatile' doesn't mean you just spread your spend wide...Deeper investments in 'core' verticals are still important, remember data is only reliable when you have a big enough dataset to analyse.I typically put 80% of my budgets into vetted […]

Influencer Marketing spend is set to scale to $13.7B by 2027. But here's what 54.7% of marketers really want in return.➡️ Proven higher ROI compared with other channels.Every year, there's a sweeping statistic suggesting influencer marketing is the future.And yet, every year, there's a *but*.And that is almost always invariably tied to ROI and measurable impact.Yet, for being so adamant on measurable impact, so many teams seem reluctant to buy into best practice.Here's the thing, if you want measurable impact and positive ROI, you need to:- Invest enough to actually move the needle- Factor in the organic traffic & wider funnel impact- Test & iterate enough to figure out your optimal set upIf your processes and fundamental approach to measuring success don't account for the nuanced behavioural impact of influencer marketing, you won't see that 'comparable' ROI, even with the […]

❓ "Can we pay influencers based on the number of installs or sales they generate?" That IS the dream scenario for marketers, isn't it? But there's a difference between affiliates and influencers. Sure, in a marketer's ideal world, influencers would only get paid for the sales or installs they generate. But that wouldn't be the fairest agreement. Creating engaging, on-brand sponsored segments isn't easy. There's often a long-tail and wider funnel impact in influencer marketing. And critically, most conversions from influencer campaigns occur organically. And most creators know that too. Which is why even if you tried, you'd rarely get many influencers agreeing to pure performance-based payment models. But... what if a video you’ve paid a flat fee for underperforms? I get it. It's a valid concern. Especially when you're working towards strict performance goals. 3 ways to mitigate risks […]

📢 Say it with me: Big influencer budgets ≠ Big impact... Here's how you can still make tight influencer marketing budgets work for you: 1️⃣ First, 'tight' shouldn't mean insufficient. You still need to spend enough to see a visible uplift in your organic traffic. 2️⃣ Just testing the waters to scope out the value of the channel?Consider a smaller market with minimal UA spend so you can see an uplift with minimal investment. 3️⃣ Allow time to plan and execute so you can activate micro-influencers at scale. Smaller creators = engaged reach + lower risk. Tough to execute at scale, but great when you're starting out.4️⃣ Try securing CPM-based or hybrid deals with influencersMay be a tough bargain, especially with smaller creators, but it's always worth a shot. It helps keep CPMs in check.A sound strategy is what determines […]

A mistake = failure. And failure = A sign to give up. If this is the mentality within your team, good luck with ever achieving meaningful growth in your craft. In my career, I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside patient managers and colleagues who saw mistakes and missteps as opportunities to learn and grow. Some of my most important learnings in influencer marketing have come in retrospect, after seeing firsthand what not to do.Case in point, I only realised the importance of avoiding seasonal custom influencer assets after a six-figure collaboration nearly fell through due to the influencer wanting to rework and delay the video.Another early lesson? Always cap CPM-based deals.I once negotiated a deal based on $20 CPM without a maximum cap, assuming the video would perform in line with the creator’s usual range (with a maximum of […]

I paid $25,000 for an influencer collaboration... but they brought in only $96.89.... and that was 11 months ago. Did that mean we stopped working with Influencers altogether? Absolutely not. The results of singular collaborations are NEVER an accurate sign of the potential of influencer marketing as a whole. In fact, you will have campaigns where 70% of your influencer collaborations may be unprofitable.But there’s 2 key things to remember with that Once you’ve got your ideal set up, even if only 30% of the collaborations are profitable, the returns will usually be enough to meet your overall goals.The unsuccessful collaborations are as important as the successful ones to collect data and flash out your strategic understanding.It is SO important to treat every influencer collaboration and campaign as a learning and data collection opportunity. With each campaign, you need to […]