Protecting Your Brand in the Age of AI, Nano Creators Prove They’re Better, 5 Tips for Using Creators, and More

In our current and changing digital world, protecting your brand identity is more important than ever. If you’re trying to navigate the complexities of AI and digital content, here are some tips on how companies are keeping their brand safe and sound:

• Empower through education: Knowledge is power. Educate your team about the ins and outs of AI-generated content and digital best practices . The more your team knows, the better equipped they are to represent and protect your brand effectively.
• Human + AI collaboration: Think of AI as your creative assistant. Companies are leveraging AI to help craft brand identities that resonate deeply and authentically. By maintaining a human-in-the-loop approach, businesses ensure their brand voice stays consistent and true to its values, no matter how much technology is involved.
• Enhancing customer experiences with AI: Using AI in customer service will transform how brands interact with their customers. AI-powered solutions like chatbots, personalized recommendations, and predictive analytics not only improve customer service efficiency but also enhance customer satisfaction, fostering stronger brand loyalty and a positive brand image.
• Protecting intellectual property: Be vigilant about claiming and protecting your intellectual property rights . This includes trademarking brand names and unique product names, patenting innovative technologies, and copyrighting creative works to prevent misuse and infringement. These legal protections ensure that your brand's identity and innovations are safeguarded from competitors and counterfeiters.

Staying current with the latest tech trends ensures you’re creating a safe space for your brand to thrive. Instead of being spooked, learn how to befriend and harness constantly evolving AI tools to build trust and authenticity with your audience in this fast-paced digital age.

Proof That Smaller Influencers Drive Outsized ROI

A recent academic study confirms that brands get better ROI when they work with nano and micro creators than larger creators. Why? Because more followers lead to less engagement per follower. The study looked at nearly two million sales data points across hundreds of paid endorsements and analyzed both revenue and cost of campaigns.??

Nano and micro creators beat larger creators on all three metrics:?

1. Revenue per follower
2. Revenue per reach
3. Return on influencer spend

The ROIS numbers were particularly telling. Larger creators drove 3x more revenue but were 18x more expensive than nano creators. Note the study only looked at DTC companies in fashion and beauty, and creators between 1,000 and 1.4M followers. Isn’t it fun having academic rigor applied to ROI in the creator space? Read a summary of the study here.

5 Tips for Making the Best Use of Creators

Speaking of influencers big and small, we all already know content creator marketing has become an essential part of brand marketing strategies.?

But figuring out how to balance brand goals with audience interests in creator campaigns is not so well known. In this age of authenticity, if the content is too promotional, it will alienate followers and could even damage a brand's reputation. If the content is not relevant to the audience, it won’t get engagement and its purpose goes unfulfilled.

Five tips for how to strike the balance:

1. Choose the right creators. Choosing creators who fit with your brand feel and values is crucial. Outcomes are more authentic when an influencer aligns with and has genuine passion for your brand. Audiences are more likely to trust and be persuaded by recommendations from such creators.
2. Define clear goals. Know what you want to achieve with your influencer campaign. Clearly identify your target audience, goals, and how you’ll measure success. Then work with influencers to create content accordingly.
3. Provide clear creative briefs. Your creative brief should outline your campaign goals, target audience, and desired messaging. Clear instructions will help your influencers create content that is both on-brand, engaging for the audience, and consistent with your goals.
4. Encourage influencers to be creative. Don't just give your influencers a list of talking points and ask them to create content according to some formula. Encourage them to be creative and experiment with their own ideas. It will give them the freedom to create content that feels fresh, is more authentic, and is more likely to appeal to their audience.
5. Measure outcomes and make adjustments as needed. Regularly monitor campaign outcomes and make adjustments if you need to. Pay attention to engagement metrics and feedback from your audience. If your campaign is not performing according to your goals, you may need to make changes to your approach.

Find out more about the value of creator marketing and how to put together a plan .

One Production Company’s Game-Changing Talent Casting Strategy

Paxeros is an award-winning production company based in Los Angeles. Thanks to their talented team of directors and in-house production experts, they serve as a one-stop shop for branded content and video, documentary and narrative film, and TV production services. TOMS, Sling, DoorDash, Doritos, Mattel, Expedia, and many other high-profile brands have relied on Paxeros for their video production needs.

Using Backstage’s huge talent pool and innovative talent management tools, Paxeros was able to:

• Access a broader pool of quality talent
• Engage talent more quickly
• Screen talent more effectively
• Efficiently find the perfect fit for diverse roles

Read the full case study here. ?

What Else You Should Know

• Which brands will weather any TikTok storm [The Drum]?
• Anime as a marketing channel? [Digiday]
• Baseball’s throwback ad strategy [Marketing Brew]
• AI assists already delivering for content creators [eMarketer]

For inspiration: 2024 Clio Award Winners