Partnered

The Creators Playbook

What this build is for

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

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 a brand says splits into facts and judgements. Buyers accept facts from you, but not judgements from the party who gains from them. "Kestrel's engineers work on the floor with your people" is a claim from Kestrel. From a retired plant manager who's watched them do it, it's a recommendation.

So a creator does three jobs, in this order:

1. Vouch (Believed): would the audience trust this person on this subject, unpaid?

2. Show the reason (Preferred): does the work show why Kestrel, in a way someone

• could repeat?

3. Put Kestrel in a moment (Known): do the right buyers now link the name to their

• situation?

In business-to-business categories, the creators that matter are rarely called influencers. They're practitioners with a following: a retired plant manager who writes about the floor, a podcast host who interviews COOs, an engineer whose YouTube videos half the industry has watched. Their audiences are small and exact.

This build is in the Partnered category: other people's voices, by arrangement. Its rule is the same as every build's: a creator is paid because a moment needs someone else's belief. A big following isn't a reason. Affiliates, paid per sale, are Partners and channels' nod, not this build.

The footprint, and what it reads from the chain

Creators lead the smallest footprint of any build: 1 cell and 1 moment.

It's one moment, but it's the one where a deal is often lost without anyone noticing. A plant manager who expects consultants to tell them what they already know will be polite in the meeting and quietly against the review afterwards. Nothing Kestrel says about itself answers that fear. Someone the plant manager already trusts has to have seen Kestrel's people on a floor.

It supports 5 more cells (17 moments):

• Owner · trigger, for the seven problems (Outbound leads): owners listen to other owners, and to the few voices who speak to them.
• Plant manager · trigger, for the seven problems (Social leads): a practitioner's post about firefighting reaches plant managers who'd never follow a consultancy.
• Owner · options, "Do we need outside help at all?" (Events leads): a podcast conversation with an owner who brought someone in.
• Plant manager · comparing, "Will they work on the floor with my people, or from a meeting room?" (the pitch leads, inside a deal): the creator's account of a day on a floor is something a plant manager can check for themselves.
• Owner · checking, "What do people I trust say about them?" (Events leads, inside a deal).

What it reads, and never rewrites:

Its slice of the Score, and its own audit

The pattern is the same as Events'. Inside a deal, when a plant manager or an owner meets Kestrel's people and its clients, Kestrel does well: 56 and 61. Out in the market, before anyone has met them, it scores nothing. A creator is one of the few ways to carry what happens inside a deal out into the market, in someone else's words.

The audit. Kestrel has worked with one creator:

The paid post failed every test: the wrong audience, Kestrel's words in someone else's mouth, and a subject (a stand) nobody was deciding anything about. The unpaid post from a client did what the paid one was meant to.

Step 1: the shape, the category's voices

The shape is the people Kestrel's choosers already listen to, by type, with who actually follows them. Count by audience, not by followers.

Size isn't the measure. Simone Wies, Alexander Bleier and Alexander Edeling studied 802 Instagram campaigns and found engagement with sponsored posts rose with follower count, then fell: a larger following means a weaker tie with each follower (Wies, Bleier and Edeling). In a niche B2B category, a retired plant manager with 12,000 followers, most of them plant managers, beats a general manufacturing account with 85,000 followers, most of them selling something.

Step 2: coverage, one trusted voice per moment

The coverage unit is a voice the chooser already trusts, on the subject of the moment. For each moment, ask who the chooser would believe, unpaid, and whether that person's audience is really made of those choosers.

Kestrel checked five candidates the same way: by reading 50 recent commenters on each one's posts (or 50 listener reviews and LinkedIn followers, for a podcast) and counting who actually works where Kestrel's choosers work.

Two voices cover the moments that matter. Ray answers the plant manager's fear, because he's been one, and plant managers know it. Dana's podcast reaches owners and COOs at the moment they're wondering whether outside help is worth it, in a conversation they'll listen to on a long drive.

The owner-checking and plant-manager-comparing moments, inside a deal, need no new creator work. What Ray and Dana publish is there for a buyer to find when they look Kestrel up, and the pitch can point to it.

Step 3: gaps, biases and jobs

One pattern: the creator sees the work, then says what they think. Kestrel provides access and facts. The creator provides the judgement, and the judgement is only worth renting if Kestrel doesn't write it.

Step 4: reconcile, the creators plan

A$12,000 in the first year, plus about four days of Kestrel's time: hosting Ray's floor day, preparing the podcast guests, checking facts.

Rejected, with reasons:

The general manufacturing account again. 4 of 50 commenters were Kestrel's choosers.

The large lean YouTube channel. A big, loyal audience, mostly abroad or still studying. Kestrel's engineers can answer questions in its comments in their own names, as Social's forum work; no payment.

Scripted posts. The fee buys access to an audience's trust; a script turns that trust into an advertisement. Kestrel gives facts and access, never words.

Paying clients to post. A client who's paid to praise you is a creator, and has to disclose it, and their colleagues will discount it. Clients who post do so unpaid, as in the Social Playbook.

Affiliate codes or referral fees. That's Partners and channels' nod, and Kestrel doesn't pay for referrals.

The anatomy library

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.

By format:

Disclosure lowers 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, and an audience that finds out later trusts both of you less. Disclose early and plainly, and win the belief back with what the creator shows.

Briefs

The creator brief carries facts that must be right and leaves the words to the creator. This is the brief Kestrel gave Ray Hollins.

CREATOR BRIEF Ray Hollins: a day on the floor, then a series
WHY YOU Plant managers believe you about floors. We'd like you to
               see how we work and say what you think, good or bad
THE MOMENT A plant manager wondering: "Will they just tell us what we
               already know?"
THE ACCESS One day at a client's plant, week 3 of a six-week review,
               with the client's written agreement. Walk the floor with
               our lead engineer and the client's plant manager. Ask
               anyone anything
FACTS TO GET What a review is: six weeks, on the floor, at a fixed price
RIGHT (A$45,000 to A$90,000 by number of lines). Any result you
               quote: ask us for the signed figure, or ask the client
YOUR WORDS Entirely. We won't see posts before they go out, except to
               check a client's name or number if you use one
YOU MAY SAY What you didn't like. What you'd do differently. That
               someone else would suit some plants better
DISCLOSURE "Paid partnership with Kestrel Advisory" in the first line
               of every post
THE SERIES The floor-day post, then three posts over six months on
               firefighting problems you've seen fixed; reviewed after three
FEE A$7,000 for the day and four posts, paid whatever you say
WE'LL MEASURE Who comments; plant managers who mention your posts to us;
               nothing else is asked of you

The finished example: Ray's day on the floor, written in full

Ray's floor-day post, as he wrote it, and the opening of the first "Floor Time" episode. Kestrel, Hartwell Plastics, Ray Hollins, Dana Mercer and everyone else are invented. Hartwell agreed in writing to the visit and to being named.

1. Ray's post, on LinkedIn, in week 3 of Hartwell's review.

• Paid partnership with Kestrel Advisory. They paid me for a day on a floor and a few posts. They haven't seen this one.
• I've spent 30 years on the receiving end of consultants. Most of them told me what I already knew, in slides, and left. So when Kestrel asked me to watch one of their reviews and write what I thought, I said yes mainly to find out if they were any different.
• I spent Tuesday at Hartwell Plastics, on lines 2 and 4, in week three of six. Three things stood out.
• They were on the floor, not in the meeting room. Their lead engineer, Priya, spent the morning at the presses with Dave Okafor, the plant manager, and two setters. I counted: in eight hours, about forty minutes in an office.
• They didn't bring the answer. Dave told me this annoyed him in week one. He wanted to be told what to fix. What they did instead was measure scrap by shift and by tool for two weeks, with his setters doing the counting. By week three the setters had found the two tools behind most of the scrap. Dave's view now: "If they'd told us on day one, we'd have argued. We found it, so we believe it."
• Not everything was good. The first morning's workshop had too many sticky notes and not enough time on the floor. Two of the operators I spoke to still weren't sure why the review was happening. I said so to Priya, and she wrote it down. I'll believe it's fixed when I see it on the next one.
• Will they just tell you what you already know? On Tuesday, no. They told Hartwell's people how to find out what they didn't know, and let them find it. Whether it holds is the question I'd ask in a year, and I'll go back and ask it.

2. The opening of "Floor Time", episode 1, in Dana's words.

• "Before we start: this episode is a paid partnership with Kestrel Advisory, an operations consultancy. They suggested the topic and the guests. They don't get to edit what anyone says.
• My guest is Helen Dorsey, managing director of a 230-person fabricator. A few years ago she had to decide whether her problems were ones her own team could fix, or whether she needed someone from outside. Later on we'll hear from Kestrel's head of delivery, Mark Ellison, who worked with her. But first: Helen, when did you first think you couldn't fix it yourselves?"

Dana's questions for Helen, agreed in advance in outline only: what she tried first; what made her bring someone in; what it cost in time and disruption, not just fees; how her people reacted; what she'd do differently; when an owner shouldn't bring anyone in.

3. Where it's linked. Ray's post is linked from the website's "How we work on the floor" page, under "What an outsider saw", and from the pitch's answer to the plant manager's comparing question. The episode is linked from the references page, beside client references.

What to notice. Ray's first line is the disclosure, and his second says Kestrel didn't see the post: both make the rest more believable, not less. He says what annoyed the plant manager and what he didn't like, which is why a plant manager reading it will believe the part that's good. The judgement ("on Tuesday, no") is his; Kestrel couldn't have written it, and wouldn't be believed if it had. And the post answers the moment's question in its own words, which is the one thing the brief asked for.

Templates

1. The creator fit scorecard. Score each candidate 0, 1 or 2 on each line before talking money. Under 7 means no. The scale is a working rule, not tested against sales. Kestrel's scores for Ray and for the account it paid before:

2. The creator brief.

CREATOR BRIEF [creator: programme]
WHY YOU [what their audience trusts them on]
THE MOMENT [the chooser's question, in their words]
THE ACCESS [what they'll see, with whom, with whose agreement]
FACTS TO GET [what you do, what it costs, the signed results; where
RIGHT to check any number]
YOUR WORDS [entirely theirs; what you will and won't check]
YOU MAY SAY [what didn't work; who'd suit some buyers better]
DISCLOSURE [the exact words, and where they go]
THE SERIES [pieces, over how long; when it's reviewed]
FEE [amount, paid whatever they say]
WE'LL MEASURE [what you'll look at; nothing asked of them]

3. The disclosure checklist. For every paid piece, before it goes out. The rules differ by country: in Australia, the ACCC reviewed 118 influencers in 2023 and found 81% made posts that raised concerns under consumer law (ACCC). Check yours.

• The disclosure is in the first line, or the first seconds, not after "see more" or in a hashtag at the end.
• It uses plain words: "Paid partnership with [brand]", not "#sp" or "#collab".
• It's on every piece in the series, including reposts and cut-downs.
• Any gift, free service or access counts as payment if it was arranged.
• On podcasts, the host says it aloud at the start, and it's in the show notes.
• Every fact the creator states about you matches your website and Credentials.
• Any client named has agreed in writing to that piece.
• You've kept a copy of each piece and its disclosure.

In the campaign plan

Creators work slowly and on their own schedule, so they're timed loosely to campaigns, never tied to a launch date.

Running it

Who owns what. At Kestrel, the marketing lead owns the creator list, the fit scores, the briefs and the disclosure checklist. The head of delivery chooses which review a creator may visit, and asks the client. The lead engineer on that review hosts the day. Credentials checks any figure a creator asks for. Nobody at Kestrel edits a creator's words.

Paying whatever they say. The fee is agreed before the creator sees anything, and paid whether they praise Kestrel or not. A creator who writes something critical and gets paid anyway is the best advertisement this build can buy.

When a creator gets a fact wrong. Ask them to correct it, with the source. Never ask them to soften a judgement.

Common mistakes

The bias to watch in the team: the halo effect. One impressive trait colours the whole judgement. A large following looks like influence, so teams assume the person must be trusted, relevant and worth the fee. Fifty commenters, read one by one, usually say otherwise.

The business check and the measures

Revenue: the plant manager's fear loses deals quietly. If Ray's post settles it for even two plant managers a year, before or during a deal, it has probably paid for itself: one saved review is worth more than the year's A$12,000.

One truth: a creator's facts come from Credentials; their judgements are their own. The two are never mixed up.

The proof is real: creators see real work on a real floor, with the client's agreement. Nothing is staged.

Capacity: about four days of Kestrel's time a year, mostly the lead engineer's floor day and preparing podcast guests.

On the measurement ladder: reach, followers and likes stay on the diagnostic rung. Judge each creator on these:

The Loop for this build

After every three pieces, and each half-year, the Loop (step 11) asks: did the creator's audience come to believe something about Kestrel it wouldn't have believed from Kestrel?

What Kestrel's first year would look for. Ray's floor day and three series posts published, each disclosed in the first line. At least three plant managers in deals mentioning Ray's post. Both "Floor Time" episodes released, and at least two owners at the round tables saying they'd heard one. And the plant manager's framing moment above zero at the next rescore, because something a plant manager trusts now names Kestrel.

Shapes by business type

Feeling a bit overwhelmed?

You should be, a little. One moment, and still: the category's voices counted, 50 commenters read for each, a fit scorecard, a client persuaded to let an outsider walk their floor, a brief with facts but no words, disclosure in the first line of every piece, a fee paid whatever they say, and a review after three posts. Most firms pay the biggest account they can find to post what the agency wrote.

RocMode does part of the heavy lifting:

The moment, and the question to answer. Your choosers and their moments, mapped from what's known about your brand, so you know which fear a creator needs to meet, and in whose words it's asked.

Choosing creators, briefing them and checking disclosure is still work for people. RocMode doesn't do it.

Join the RocMode beta