Key Insights from #ImpactLA

We had an amazing speaker lineup and attendance at #ImpactLA including Adrianna Aguilar Juan , Senior Manager of Influencer Relations at Ulta Beauty , Rachel J. Lockett , Vice President of Marketing MAC Cosmetics North America, 雅诗兰黛有限公司 , and Zachary Erdmann n, VP of Consumer Engagement and Acquisition, Tatcha at 联合利华 .

Though I’m not giving justice one bit to the richness of insights and content that was shared, here are some of the key lessons from the conference:

On ROI…

• The best way to ensure a return on your marketing activities?is not to flood the zone but to make your brand vital to your communities. IM (influencer marketing) is uniquely equipped to support you in this regard.
• Though the concept of ROI is quite straightforward, taking short cuts to focus your IM program on sales/conversion is often short sighted and can lead you down a dangerous path; instead, find ways to acknowledge (and measure) the complexity and richness of the impact IM can have on brand awareness & advocacy, not just direct conversions, else you’re building an affiliate program.

On strategy…

• There are many pathways to success; the best way to find the right IM strategy for your brand is to stay true to your brand position, and optimize your organizational setup to keep teams aligned and agile.
• Paid media is becoming more and more creator-led; you can’t treat IM separately from your media strategy.

On measurement…

• When setting up your strategy (at the campaign or program level), cancel the noise from unquantifiable or unreliable indicators.
• When setting up your measurement framework, always lead with your business strategy (so that you hone in on the right KPIs, budget allocation, creator partners, and more).
• The simplest, yet most ignored, tip: always spend the time for a post-mortem after you complete a campaign - even better if this involves a spend efficiency analysis.

On relations with creators…

• If a partnership with a creator doesn’t yield the return you should expect, it can be reset.
• The best briefs for creators are barely a brief at all; give creators the flexibility to use their voice with their audience.
• Even when creators are small, you should treat them as if they are big; this is how you build relationships early with those who will become very successful later.

On managing conversations with leadership…

• When discussing your IM budget or results with leadership or finance, listen more than you talk; understand how they think about tracking success and find ways to fit within their framework.
• Prime your finance department that tracking ROI for IM is harder and less established than media.