Influencer Fundraising Collaborations

I’m halfway through "The Partnership Economy: How Modern Businesses Find New Customers, Grow Revenue, and Deliver Exceptional Experiences", and it’s already changing how I view growth in today’s hyper-competitive landscape. This book is a blueprint for reimagining how businesses connect, collaborate, and create value. From leveraging influencer ecosystems to integrating B2B alliances, David A. Yovanno delivers actionable frameworks that turn partnerships into a superpower for differentiation and revenue growth. What stands out most is the emphasis on strategic alignment — how brands like Target and Walmart use partnerships to blend offline and online experiences seamlessly. ⏬ Examples of Integrating Influencer Partnerships with Traditional Marketing: 1. Amplifying TV Campaigns with Influencer-Driven UGC - Impact: Influencers’ relatable content humanizes the campaign, driving both awareness (TV) and engagement (social media). 2. In-Store Promotions Boosted by Affiliate Links - Impact: Combines physical retail (traditional) with digital tracking (affiliate partnerships), creating a seamless omnichannel experience. 3. Data-Driven Cross-Promotions - Impact: Enhances ROI measurement and tailors messaging to niche audiences. 4. Brand-to-Brand Collaborations for Co-Created Content - Impact: Expands reach by merging two audiences and leverages influencers to add credibility. 5. Loyalty Programs Enhanced by Influencer Advocacy - Impact: Builds trust through influencers’ firsthand experiences while reinforcing loyalty via traditional channels. ---------------------------------- Key Takeaways from "The Partnership Economy: How Modern Businesses Find New Customers, Grow Revenue, and Deliver Exceptional Experiences" ❇️ Unified Messaging: Ensure influencers’ content aligns with the tone/imagery of traditional campaigns to create cohesive storytelling. ❇️ Leverage Data: Use influencer analytics to refine traditional campaigns (e.g., A/B test TV ad concepts via TikTok polls first). ❇️ Cross-Channel Attribution: Track how influencer-driven traffic (e.g., UGC posts) complements offline conversions (e.g., in-store visits). By blending the authenticity of influencers with the broad reach of traditional marketing, brands can maximise impact while maintaining a consistent, customer-centric narrative. ---------------------------------- The partnership economy is alive with opportunity, and this book equips leaders to harness it. Whether you’re a startup founder or a Fortune 500 executive, David A. Yovanno’s insights will challenge you to ask: How can partnerships amplify my business in ways I haven’t yet imagined?  impact.com #bookfie

ive been the creator/influencer for brands such as HubSpot, Notion, and Tracksuit and ive hired creators/influencers for my clients. most creator partnerships fail because brands and creators talk past each other. here's how to set up your next creator relationship for success (part 1 here, part 2 in the comments): I. set up the right foundations 𝟭/ 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 instead of dumping ten features that you need featured in the posts, nail the one core insight you want your creators to talk about. creators thrive with constraints, not checklists. 𝟮/ 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 "post between march 15-20" beats "post on march 17." creators know their audience rhythms. a range lets them pick when engagement peaks. 𝟯/ 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 give them the story like you're pitching a reporter. the why it matters, what makes it newsworthy to get them excited about why their audience should care. they dont have the internal context. 𝟰/ 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 / 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 / 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 "i got early access to this, here's what i found" beats "here's what the brand told me to say." exclusivity creates authenticity. 𝟱/ 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 don't make creators guess what resonates. share 2-3 customer testimonials, case studies, or problem statements. gives them ammunition for authentic storytelling. 𝟲/ 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 one low-stakes post lets you see their style, gauge audience reaction, and adjust the brief. cheaper than committing to 10 posts and realising the fit is wrong. part 2 in the comments (linkedin character count limit lol): II. creative control & execution III. contracts & compensation IV. measurement & optimisation == the uncomfortable truth? most creator/influencer partnerships underperform because brands give no direction or too much control. clear vision + creative freedom + contractual clarity = actual results.

Why are long term creator partnerships outperforming one off influencer posts?   Because in today’s marketing mix, consistency builds trust, and trust drives performance.   I’ve seen this pattern play out across gaming, tech, SaaS, and AI brands. A single post can spark awareness, but it rarely shapes behaviour. Long term creator relationships do something different. They give brands repeated moments of credibility, relevance, and authentic education in front of the same warm audience.   When a creator integrates your product into their everyday workflow, their community begins to understand it, not just notice it. And once people understand a product, they are far more likely to adopt it.   Here’s what long term creator partnerships actually deliver: ▶️ Compounding trust: Repetition builds familiarity, and familiarity builds confidence. ▶️ Higher quality content: Creators get better at showing real use cases over time. ▶️ Stronger ROI: You’re not paying for one spike. You’re paying for consistent influence. ▶️ Marketing assets you can reuse: Tutorials, demos, reviews, and deep dives that fit across paid, owned, and earned channels.   The lifetime value of creator content is rising fast. Brands that treat influencer marketing as an ongoing relationship, not a one off tactic, are already seeing the difference.   If you want influence that lasts, you need partnerships that last too.

There’s a difference between customer advocacy and collecting logos. Too many early stage SaaS companies still think the game is: ☑ Get a big name logo ☑ Put it on your homepage ☑ Job done (Dare I even say one of our competitors' site has quite a few logos that aren't their customers, some are even ours 🤷 ) ...and I think buyers are wising up to this... Same goes for influencers. If they’re not using the product or if they’re not mentioning you without being paid to, you’re not building brand. You’re renting inauthentic attention. At trumpet 🎺 we’ve started leaning heavily into real advocacy. The kind that isn’t bought, briefed or branded. What it looks like: → Users looping in colleagues offering great case studies → Our Slack channels getting DMs oh how users are getting results and telling us excitedly → Prospects mentioning us before we’ve even reached out → Champions posting about us unprompted on LinkedIn → Customers recording walkthroughs for their wider team → Referrals landing in our inbox with a one-line intro That’s the gold. It doesn’t just drive pipeline. It compounds. If you want to actually use advocacy beyond a throwaway customer quote on your site, here’s what we’ve found works: 🔁 Give them a reason to share. Make the product so damn useful (or delightful) they want to talk about it. Most advocacy is a reflection of product quality, not just marketing effort. 🧠 Involve them early. Co-create features, roadmap check-ins, share sneak previews. People advocate for what they help shape. 📦 Re-Package the advocacy. Turn casual quotes into killer social proof. That Slack comment? It can become a slide. That LinkedIn post? It can become an ad. But only if it’s genuine. 🙋 Celebrate the humans, not the logos. Spotlight your champions. Not the company they work for, but the person who took a bet on you. They’re the ones who’ll take you into their next company. We're not perfect at this yet - but it’s the main kind of “marketing” that doesn't need large budgets and that everyone can do. Logos are easy. Advocacy is earned.

I've partnered with 20+ brands over the past 2 years as a B2B creator with 200K+ followers across Instagram, Linkedin and Tiktok. Here's my hot take(?!) on what I've learned about influencer marketing that works vs. doesn't work. The difference between partnerships that perform and ones that flop usually isn't the creator or the influencer marketing team. It's how tight the product marketing is before the brief even gets written. I've worked with a lot of B2B companies that have genuinely complex products. But when the brief comes through, it's often a list of features to cram into a 60-second video. No clear positioning or ideal customer. No simple one-liner on the outcome. No priority on what matters most. So I end up guessing and inferring. Trying to figure out what the product actually enables for the user — when the brand knows this better than anyone based on their own customer research. (They're probably not expecting a product marketer on the other side. But here we are) 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: → 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳. Give creators a clear one-liner on what the product enables and the outcome to highlight — not just a feature list. If your product marketing team did the work defining positioning and messaging — share it with your influencers! I've even had a brand put a product marketer on the briefing call. Chef's kiss, thank you. → 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀. When I partnered with Anthropic, I gave my audience a downloadable Claude skill to get a 30-day build plan for their side project idea. Over 1,000 comments asking for it. Combined with Manychat, it drove engagement and gave people something actually useful. → 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺, 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀! One of my favorite partnerships to date has been with Adobe — we posted across platforms, including my Substack, which is rarely part of sponsored posts. That newsletter post let me tell a longer personal story that wouldn't have fit on other platforms about using the Photoshop product since high school, to a smaller but captive audience (8K subs at the time; 50% open rate). Different platforms, different storytelling. → 𝗙𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 = 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. The partnerships that tank are often the ones with a million requirements. Say the brand name in the first 3 seconds. Use this exact CTA. Hit these 5 talking points. The content ends up feeling and performing like a generic ad because there's no space to flex creativity after checking the boxes. The best brand partnerships feel like a collaboration, not a checklist. If you're on the brand side working with creators: tight positioning, creative freedom, and giving creators something valuable to offer their audience will consistently outperform a rigid brief! And if you're doing this already, you're the best!

How Influencer Marketers Can Support Their Growth and Media Buying Teams Instead of Just Focusing On Organic Social Awareness. Most influencer marketers only focus on strengthening brand and awareness with their influencer partnerships and are sitting on unfound revenue. Here are the two most powerful campaigns that influencer marketers should be focusing on to strengthen brand AND drive revenue: paid influencer affiliate + whitelisting campaigns. Here's why this combo is crushing it for DTC brands: 1. Unlock a new high margin revenue channel through affiliate Make sure that influencers have a high engagement rate, engaged community, and have experience driving affiliate sales for other brands. Pro tip: Negotiate hybrid payment terms for MINIMUM deliverables that gives them a path to earning more than their standard rate Here's what that looks like.. - negotiate a fee equal to 50% of their standard rate - 20% commission on sales - bonuses that ladder up for hitting revenue targets - auto renewal for hitting an ROI target. This will protect you from spending budget on influencer partnerships that don't deliver a healthy ROI. With commissions, bonuses, and and auto renewal - most influencers will post more content until the targets are met. This will lead to developing long term relationships with paid affiliates that drive high margin revenue for your brand. 2. 50+/mo High Converting Whitelisting Ads → Run ads directly from creator accounts → Higher trust + lower CPMs → Authentic social proof at scale → Higher ROAS Now your team will see you as an ad production funnel producing them fresh creative monthly that's high converting while testing new angles, concepts, and formats. This is the best way to widen your ad creative diversity with storytelling and social proof. - The more opportunities you can provide to creators to monetize their content the happier they'll be. Influencer marketers are usually sitting on influencer relationships that would be a good fit to drive affiliate or whitelisting revenue. The blocker is breaking down walls internally so that your efforts can support your paid/growth team. Schedule a meeting with them and show off your top influencer partnerships, content, and a plan on how you can start funneling them high converting influencer whitelisting ads monthly. A simple meeting could bridge the gap to getting more budget or a path to driving revenue from your influencer marketing strategy.

Nik Sharma might be the 🐐 of influencer marketing. Here are 18 of my favorite lessons from Nik on the power of influencer marketing + the right way to approach it as a brand: 1. By partnering with influencers, brands are able to integrate their products into a relevant community with a high conversion rate at a relatively low cost. 2. Fans expect influencers to promote products they care about. 3. Most influencers only want to work with brands that they believe in and promote products on their social channels that they would use. 4. More than 41% of consumers get more interested in a brand when they partner with a celebrity or influencer they love. 5. Traditional brands follow this template: Select the influencers. Give them free products + discount code. Pay them for a sponsored post. This approach is purely transactional and sets up the influencer marketing campaign for failure. 6. The goal of influencer marketing shouldn't be to pay them for sponsored content. Instead, you should develop a meaningful relationship that is beneficial for both parties. 7. Successful influencer partnerships are based on trust—not reach. 8. If brands are so focused on their return on investment, they can overlook the value social media influencers provide. 9. The best influencer marketing campaigns are multi-faceted. 10. Successful influencer marketing campaigns build brand loyalty, decrease customer acquisition costs, and enable marketers to track influencer-driven impact on a performance level. 11. By forging a relationship with the influencers you’re working with, they’re more likely to post about your brand without you even having to ask. This content is more native than the old-fashioned branded content with #ad front-in-center in the copy. 12. You need to find influencers with audiences that is closely aligned with your target market. 13. Find influencers who believe in your product. If they don’t, the content they create won’t resonate. 14. Offer to provide your product to the influencer to test before they have to commit. 15. When you work with an influencer that truly believes in your brand and appreciates your product, the content that they create is gold. 16. Don’t solely focus on the number of followers they have or their content, but rather, pick influencers that have a high engagement rate and have values, goals, and ethics that align with your brand. 17. Brands that treat influencers as partners as opposed to paid marketing channels will see the value in their campaigns. To take this approach, brands need to work collaboratively and focus on long-term gains rather than short-term revenue. 18. By selecting the right influencers, crafting your pitch, and maximizing your success, you’ll get more out of the partnership than a one-time increase in sales. You’ll get an entirely new audience to work with and an ambassador that’s sharing your product in effective, engaging ways. #influencermarketing #niksharma #marketing

This week, I reviewed a very old campaign report where the numbers just didn’t add up. Despite working with “top-tier” influencers, the engagement was lackluster, and the ROI? Let’s just say it wasn’t worth celebrating. It got me thinking: Are we looking for impact in all the wrong places? Here are 3 ways I wouldn’t recommend to find authentic influencers: 1️⃣ Judging by follower count Bigger isn’t always better. Some influencers with massive followings buy fake followers to inflate their reach. The result? Poor engagement and no real audience connection. 2️⃣ Ignoring audience relevance Partnering with an influencer just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’ll resonate with your target audience. Relevance trumps reach every time. 3️⃣ Skipping the research Trusting vanity metrics like likes and comments without digging deeper into audience demographics or past campaign results often leads to wasted budgets. Here’s how I’d do it instead: 🥉 Prioritize engagement rates Focus on influencers with an engagement rate of 4% or higher. Tools like Qoruz or HypeAuditor make it easy to vet genuine influencers. ↗️ Look for niche authority Partner with influencers who specialize in your industry. For instance, beauty brands in India thrive with creators like Sungjemlila Longkumer, whose audience deeply trusts her recommendations 🪧 Collaborate Long-Term Build relationships with influencers for ongoing campaigns. Long-term partnerships show audiences that the influencer genuinely believes in your brand. Remember: Numbers may lie, but trust doesn’t. Authentic influencers with real impact focus on building relationships, not just counting followers. What’s been your biggest challenge in finding genuine influencers? Share your thoughts below—I’d love to help! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I'm Aanushree I craft influencer marketing campaigns that resonate, engage, and deliver results. If your brand is ready to build lasting relationships and drive real impact, send me a message to explore how I can help #InfluencerMarketing #socialMedia

During my time at Shopify, one of the most underappreciated products that our customer success managers loved recommending to merchants was Shopify Collabs. Launched in August 2022, Collabs is a rebranded version of the Dovetale app, designed to bridge the gap between merchants and content creators in today’s booming influencer and creator economy. This product allows brands to discover influencers who align with their needs and budgets while empowering creators to monetize their content effectively, and position Shopify as a leader in the global marketplace for online products and influencer marketing But why is this important? Influencer Impact: 49% of all participants, and a staggering 87% of Gen Z participants, report choosing products recommended by influencers. This makes influencer partnerships a crucial strategy for brand visibility and engagement. Cross-Platform Reach: Platforms like TikTok, projected to reach 955 million users by 2025, offer enormous potential for brands to extend their reach and tap into diverse audiences. Measurable ROI: With tools like shoppable videos and social commerce integrations (think TikTok Shopping, YouTube, and Firework), brands can now directly measure the impact of influencer campaigns on key metrics like conversion rates and average order values (AOVs). Take, for example, Kevin Lee and his team at immi, a brand redefining the ramen industry. They use Shopify Collabs to build authentic relationships with ramen enthusiasts by sending out hundreds of samples to creators. This not only garners valuable product feedback but also helps identify creators who are genuinely excited to champion the brand. Over time, this strategy has enabled Immi to grow a community of over 400 members and more than 145 affiliates, driving substantial referral sales for the brand. While Shopify Collabs is a powerful tool, it’s also worth exploring other influencer marketplace platforms like GRIN, Upfluence, Creator.co, and Tagger by Sprout Social to see what best fits your brand’s needs.

Advocacy (not just reach) is the new ROI. I’ve worked across media, influencer marketing, and content for decades, and one thing is clear: reach alone doesn’t move the needle anymore. Brands are finally waking up to the fact that real influence isn’t about visibility - it’s about trust. We recently ran a campaign featuring micro-influencers, shot on their phones and with no frills. It outperformed a big-budget macro and mega influencer campaign. Why? Because the audience of micro influencers knew they genuinely used the product. That authenticity drove advocacy, not just awareness. Today, it's not enough to pay for a post. If a creator doesn’t understand the brand or believe in the product, the content falls flat. What works is when creators are properly onboarded and educated about the benefits, given time to experience the product or service, and then empowered to create content in their own voice. It reminds me of the editorial world, where editors would test and review products before recommending them. It would become their ‘seal’ of approval, and it meant something. The credibility was earned. Advocacy isn’t a one-off hashtag. It’s built through shared values, long-term partnerships, and mutual trust. It’s about who will still champion your brand 3, 6, and 12 months from now and are they also your potential customers. Brands that invest in these relationships will win. And creators who see themselves as storytellers, not just content engines, will thrive. The future of influencer marketing isn’t about more eyeballs - it’s about deeper impact. And if you're still measuring success in impressions alone, you're missing the bigger picture. #advocacy #contentmarketing #creators #impact