I paid $25,000 for an influencer collaboration, they brought in only $96

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 dissect what makes the top performers distinct, and how poor performers may have diverted from the ideal set up.

This is an opportunity to really break things down to a granular level:

Briefs, targeting, visual assets and nuances, talking points, tone of voice, CPMs, overall budgets, reach, seasonality, deliverables, content alignment.

Big spend doesn’t always equate to big returns if you’re missing deeper strategic insight.

It takes time, data, and comprehensive optimisation to build towards more consistent returns, but when you do, the results are so worth it.