Chapter 25

Creators

A creator sells belief you can't make yourself, so you're renting it, and the rules of belief apply.

What changed

Creators are now a line in most marketing budgets. In the US, brands' direct spend with creators rose from US$13.9 billion in 2021 to US$29.5 billion in 2024 (IAB). The IAB, the US advertising industry body, projected US$37 billion for 2025.

Most of that money is bought like media. Creators are chosen by follower count, handed a script and judged on reach and engagement. The creator becomes a billboard with a face.

That misses what's being bought. Buyers believe a creator because the creator has been right before, about things they care about. That belief is the creator's, not yours. You can rent it for a while. You can't own it, and a script spends it.

What it is for

A creator's real job is to make a claim believable to people who wouldn't believe it from you. That's the Believed stage, paid for.

What a brand says splits into facts and judgements. Buyers accept facts from you, but not judgements from the party who gains from them. "It's easy to use" from you is an advertisement; from someone they've watched for two years, it's a recommendation.

So a creator does three jobs, in this order. First, vouch (Believed): would the audience trust this person on this subject, unpaid? Second, show the reason (Preferred): does the post show why you, in a way someone could repeat? Third, put you in a moment (Known): do the right buyers now link your name to their situation?

Creators don't answer the buyer's detailed questions; your website does. Most creator work doesn't close the sale either. The exception is affiliate and shop selling, where the creator is paid a commission on each sale. A commission rewards closing, not belief, so watch accuracy closely, and test before you scale, because codes credit sales that may have happened anyway.

The anatomy of a good one

A partnership is a programme, not a post. Choose the audience once, get four things right in each piece, then repeat over months and review.

The right audience [Known]. Start with who follows the creator, not how many. Simone Wies, Alexander Bleier and Alexander Edeling studied 802 Instagram campaigns and found engagement with sponsored posts rose with follower count, then fell (Wies, Bleier and Edeling). A larger following signals a weaker tie, so each follower is less moved. Choose on fit first and size second.

Clear disclosure, first [Believed]. Say it's paid, at the start, in words anyone understands. In Australia, the ACCC reviewed 118 influencers in 2023 and found 81% made posts that raised concerns under consumer law (ACCC). When an audience finds out later, both of you lose the belief.

The creator's own words [Believed]. Their voice, their experience, their caveats. Wies and her colleagues found that original content weakened the drop-off at large follower counts.

Something true to show [Believed · Preferred]. A product to use, proof to point at, your reason. A number the creator found themselves is a fact, and it travels.

A path to check you [Answered · Bought]. The buyer will search your name or ask an assistant. What they find must match what the creator said: the same price, claim and proof.

A series, reviewed [Known]. One post is an ad. The same creator returning over six months is a relationship the audience can watch. Review after three pieces, and stop a series that isn't working.

The mistake most teams make

They write the script. The fee buys access to an audience's trust. The script turns that trust into an advertisement, so you pay the creator's rate and get a banner's effect. The creator bears the rest of the cost after you leave. That's my reading of the research, not a measured result.

So give the creator the facts that must be right, and leave the words to them. Say in the brief that they may show what didn't work, then don't penalise them for it.

Disclosure does lower persuasion. Martin Eisend and colleagues pooled 61 papers and found it "reduced brand attitudes, credibility, and source evaluation" (Eisend and colleagues). The rules require it anyway. My working rule: disclose early and plainly, and win the belief back with what you show.

How you know it's working

Keep reach, follower counts and engagement on the diagnostic rung. Judge each creator on leading measures: audience fit, from their data or a sample of 50 commenters; the share of comments that ask the buying question; new customers who name the creator when asked what was happening when they first thought of you; branded search after each post; and the share of posts whose facts matched your one truth exactly.

An example

The bookkeeper for cafés, an invented example, scored three creators. A food reviewer with 180,000 followers reached diners, who don't hire bookkeepers. A café owner with 9,000 followers posted about running costs, and 31 of 50 sampled commenters ran a café.

She paid the café owner for four posts over six months. The owner used the Monday report in her own café and posted her wage cost each month, in her own words. In one month it went up. She said so, and said why. Each post opened with "Paid partnership" and linked to a page with the same promise. One café owner from the comments became a client and later wrote a review, which a machine can read.

The full playbook. The Creators Playbook, with the creator fit scorecard, the creator brief and the disclosure checklist, is free at rocmode.com/playbooks.

Whose evidence this is. The IAB is the US advertising industry body, and its spend figures rest on an Advertiser Perceptions survey whose sample isn't published. The ACCC is a regulator. Peer-reviewed sources: Wies, Bleier and Edeling; Eisend and colleagues. The large academic studies measure engagement, not sales.