We’ve shared the importance of connection and authenticity when working with influencers. Now we look at how influencers can become an integral part of your plan.
Influencers as part of a long-term strategy
Influencer marketing used to be a one-off burst of activity to support a product launch or campaign moment. In today’s marketing mix, it’s most effective when treated as an ongoing, integrated strand of a brand’s strategy. The most successful brands are those that aren’t just casing momentary quick wins. They are building long-term relationships with creators and working with them across multiple touchpoints throughout the marketing funnel.
This shift mirrors the move towards sustained storytelling, where an influencer’s audience sees a consistent narrative unfold over time, reinforcing both brand and message through repetition and trust. The result is more authentic content, higher engagement, and better long-term ROI.
Aligning creators with your brand’s mission
Choosing the right influencer isn’t just about demographics. It’s about aligning values, tone, and intent. In short, find an influencer that in some way already reflects a brand's values and ethos.
Influencers are not extensions of your media plan. They’re extensions of your reputation. When chosen well, they amplify your brand’s purpose, not dilute it. In planning their influencer outreach brand should be asking:
- Does this creator’s community reflect the audience we want to reach?
- Do their values and voice complement our own?
- Are we looking for awareness, credibility, or conversion, and is this the right person for that goal?
What we’ve learned (and what we check every time)
Based on recent campaigns, there are a few things we now check every single time we engage with an influencer. It’s what works for us (and might not for everyone), but it’s been tried, tested, and refined.
First up, we talk. We discuss the brand, what it stands for, what appeals to their followers, and whether there’s a natural fit. Then we set expectations - what the campaign is about, what content needs capturing and where they’ve got free reign, what the call to action is, and when it all goes live.
We’ve learned that building rapport early, keeping communication clear, and treating it as a collaboration rather than a transaction gets the best out of both sides. When we’re in sync, the results speak for themselves authentic content that performs, not forced content that flops.
Paid vs Free
Let’s be honest - paid doesn’t always mean better. And it doesn’t guarantee you going viral. We’ve worked with both paid and non-paid influencers, and the data doesn’t lie. Some of our best engagement rates have come from creators who genuinely love the brand and aren’t charging a penny.
Paid partnerships can work, but they often come as a fixed package. Little room for flexibility, not much room for true campaign alignment. It ends up being promo, not partnership.
The real wins come from genuine working relationships. We’ve seen influencers create extra content off their own back because they believe in the brand. We’ve also been able to elevate them connecting influencers with each other, building joint campaigns, and in turn, increasing everyone’s reach, views, and engagement.
That’s when it really works when it’s not just a collaboration, but a community.
What’s next: the evolution of influence
The next few years will bring even more change. AI is already reshaping how brands find and manage creators, but there’s a danger in leaning too heavily on automation. AI can help with discovery, performance tracking, and even content generation, but it can’t replicate authenticity, emotion, or cultural nuance.
We’ll also see a continued move towards user-generated content (UGC) and creator-driven collaborations, where influencers aren’t just promoting a product but co-creating it. Meanwhile, audiences will keep gravitating towards raw, real content that feels human versus being overly produced.
We may also see a bigger shift in strategic partnerships, with multiple influencers working together around shared themes, causes, or campaign moments. It will be less about one loud voice and more about a chorus of trusted ones.
What this means for your next campaign
Influencer marketing is no longer a shiny add-on. It’s a strategic lever that needs the resourcing to be implemented correctly. The brands getting it right are the ones treating influencer work as a long-term partnership built on mutual value. They use data to guide decisions, but never forget the human side of connection. They align creators not just to the message, but to the mission.
At Project50, we help brands bridge that gap, combining research, strategy, and execution to make influence work harder and smarter. Because in a world full of content, audiences don’t want to be marketed to, they want to be understood. And that’s where real influence begins.
