Don’t miss Creator Economy Live West this January 13 - 14 in Las Vegas! Connect directly with industry leading brands, get actionable insights from influencer marketing leads, affiliate pros, and future-proof your influencer marketing game. 

 

If you’re still treating creator content and paid media as separate line items in your influencer marketing strategy, you’re already falling behind! At Creator Economy Live East 2025, five powerhouse leaders dropped truth bombs on how to amplify your brand’s ROI by fusing creator marketing and paid media. They run through what’s actually moving the needle for brands like Reckitt, Fabletics, Church & Dwight, TrueLearn, and Iced Media.

Pressed for time? Get the full blog delivered straight to your inbox! 

Meet the Paid Media Trailblazers

060825 CEL 459

 

The Creator-Paid Conundrum: Are You Doing Enough?

Brands are facing three major headaches right now:

  1. Authenticity vs. Control: Let creators run wild...or keep your message on a tight leash? 
  1. Maximizing Value: Creator marketing isn’t cheap—so how do you make every dollar count?
  1. Measuring What Matters: Vanity metrics or true impact? You can’t afford to guess.

If you’re not obsessing over these questions, you’re leaving money (and reach) on the table.

 

Are You Amplifying Enough? Spoiler: Probably Not.

Here’s a stat to make your jaw drop:

72% of marketers are increasing their creator spend, but only 42% are amplifying that content with paid.

That’s wasted potential! If you’re not boosting creator stories, you’re missing your target audience, and losing to competitors who are smarter and faster.

 

Paid Media: Essential for Creator Marketing

Paid media isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a non-negotiable. It’s no longer a question of “Should we invest in paid?” but rather “How much more can we invest to maximize ROI?”

  • As Maggie put it bluntly, 90% of the time, paid influencer-created content massively outperformed brand-made assets. That’s not a fluke; that’s a trend backed by consistent data.
  • Jamie described paid as a “safety net,” especially in today’s volatile digital landscape where organic reach is increasingly unpredictable. Algorithms shift without warning, but paid media—powered by strategic influencer content—gives brands the control and consistency they need to thrive.

So, stop debating whether paid media “works.” The proof is overwhelming. Time to move influencer-driven paid content from the sidelines to the centre of your strategy. If you’re not already making influencers a core part of your paid media mix, you’re leaving serious results on the table. Start integrating them now—not next quarter, not next week. Now.

 

Why Being Real Wins Every Time

Kristen crunched the numbers and the verdict is in: creator-led content that feels real and raw outperforms polished brand ads—by a lot. We’re talking double the results.

It’s not just a hunch. People vibe with authenticity way more than corporate fluff.

Jamie backs this up too. Turns out, their smaller creators often beat the prominent influencers because their content feels like genuine recommendations, not just another ad. Your audience can tell the difference.

 

Listen to your audience

Stop overthinking the brief. Start with objectives and audience fit.

  • Batiste + Suni Lee: Maggie’s team didn’t separate paid from organic in the brief. They built paid usage rights into every contract and let Suni integrate the product into her real life. Result? 15-17% engagement (vs 1-3% average!)
  • Reckitt: Kristen’s approach? Paid-first, audience-first, and zero obsession with follower counts. If the content resonates, boost it everywhere—PDPs, Amazon, social.

Pro tip: Build usage rights into your contracts so you can repurpose winning content—on paid, email, site, you name it.

 

Cultivate Genuine Connections

Long-term partnerships beat one-offs—every time. Maggie and Kristen both reported their best-performing creators were those nurtured over years, not weeks.

Creators are humans, not content vending machines. Meet them, co-create, and treat them like the creative partners they are.

 

Unlocking ROI: Don’t Just Count Likes

In today’s performance-driven marketing landscape, success is no longer measured by vanity metrics such as likes or impressions alone. True ROI lies in understanding the FULL impact of your influencer and content marketing efforts—what drives conversions, builds long-term brand equity, and fuels sustainable growth.

Forward-thinking brands know that real value comes from tracking meaningful metrics that tie directly to business objectives, for example:

  • Church & Dwight goes beyond basic engagement. They leverage Creator IQ not only to monitor campaign performance but also to track Earned Media Value (EMV), assess sales lift from influencer activations, and even gauge inbound creator interest—a sign that your brand is gaining organic traction and credibility in the creator community.
  • Fabletics digs deep into customer acquisition cost (CAC), new customer volume, and, most importantly, how content performs across multiple channels. Is the influencer content versatile enough to repurpose across email, paid, website, and organic? That’s a key indicator of content quality and efficiency.
  • Brand Lift Studies offer invaluable insights into audience perception. It’s not just about who saw your content—it’s about what they retained. Did it influence their opinion? Did it drive them to take action? Measuring recall, sentiment, and intent can reveal whether your messaging is resonating on a deeper level.

Pro Tip: When your campaign is truly effective, you won’t need to chase creators—they’ll come to you. That’s organic brand equity in motion. A sign that your brand is becoming a magnet in the creator economy is the ability to draw attention, trust, and collaboration opportunities without needing to push.

 

Here’s Your Future Checklist:

  • Build paid usage rights into every influencer contract.
  • Prioritize authenticity over follower count.
  • Boost content that performs—no matter who made it.
  • Nurture long-term creator relationships.
  • Measure what matters: sales, lift, actionable engagement.