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 Bonjour Millionaire, The rumors are true. Some influencer ads I worked on performed better from the brand handle than [REDACTED]’s handle! Yes, I’m talking about HER. I couldn’t believe it, but the numbers didn’t lie. Blind spot, corrected. 👓 👓 👓 👓 Was this email forwarded to you? Sponsored by Aligned Growth Management But first, hi, did you miss the Influencer Whitelisting Guide? It's related to our topic today. ON THIS EPISODE OF GO-TO-MILLIONS ARE YOUR CREATOR BLIND SPOTS COSTING YOU REVENUE?Back in my agency days, I was SHOCKED at how many brands didn’t invest in whitelisting. No creator access, no partnership ads, nothing. It felt like a MASSIVE oversight.  I have been astonished to learn (from my own tests) that sometimes ads from brand handles significantly outperform those from creator handles. Even super famous creators, like the aforementioned [REDACTED]! Whitelisting used to be the gold standard. Less branded, more “native.” That’s always best, right? WRONG! At least, sometimes wrong. As so much in this industry, it depends. On the account, the creative, the audience. On whether it's classic whitelisting (running sponsored content through the creator's account), or a partnership ad, or boosting an organic post. There are no absolutes in this industry. Every campaign is an opportunity to learn, identify and CORRECT our blind spots. And, the 1st rule of blind spots? We all have ‘em. Especially when it comes to creators. 👓 B.S. #1: "LESS BRANDED IS BETTER." Not always. If you haven’t tested it, you don’t know. Take it from me, a person who worked on creator ads that performed better from the brand handle than [REDACTED]’s handle and won’t shut up about it. Whitelisting doesn’t follow the same rules as organic. The colder the audience and the less brand awareness you have, the more the calculus might shift. Moral of the story: RUN THE TEST! 👓 B.S. #2: "BIG CREATORS ARE ALWAYS WORTH THE INVESTMENT." Follower count and reach are organic rules, but again, we’re not talking about organic. Creator fame is probably less relevant than you think. You do need influencers. You don’t need the expensive platonic ideal of influencers to make $$$.  The algorithm’s on your side now. Customers being served your ads are less likely to know who specific creators are. Unless it’s Bella Hadid. (But even then, not always!) It all goes back to balancing big bets and a big batch. Work with creators of various follower counts. ALSO: Various looks, accents, ages, backgrounds (in life and in bathroom walls). Creative variance is VITAL. The winners may surprise you. 👓 B.S. #3: "YOU MUST WORK IN YOUR BRAND MESSAGING" Creator ads should sound like…the creator. Gasp. Written in their voice, in 1st-person, in their natural register. If you’re swapping in YOUR best-performing ad copy, you’ve lost the plot. This is where brand and growth should be MOST tightly connected. Because the creative judgment call is ALSO a spend efficiency call. If the copy sounds like their account got hacked, you’ll waste the handle access you paid for. You’re smarter than that. 👓 B.S. #4: "ONLY USE CREATOR ADS ON 1 PLATFORM" I know why people say this, but it’s not practical. Strong creator content CAN travel, and it’ll save you $$$ if it works. The key is having creator content with that low-fi, human quality that doesn’t sound like your copywriter. (No offense to copywriters. You know I celebrate them. Key word here is "YOUR.") Creator content sourced specifically for Meta whitelisting might also perform in AppLovin, Snapchat, or TikTok. If you’ve already paid for its production, the incremental cost of testing it elsewhere is pretty low. You’ll never know until you try… 👓 B.S. #5: "WHITELISTING = TOO MUCH $$$, TOO MUCH WORK, OR BOTH" Let’s say you’re starting from 0, like many brands I used to work with. If you suddenly unlock 50 creators, you’re going to refresh your audience beyond your wildest dreams (or ad credits). You’ll get a big batch going. You’ll feed the algorithm, and learn things through that. You’ll make back your initial investment. This whitelisting push could come from an internal team, an automated platform, or an agency. Promise me you’ll think about it this weekend. Or when you’re back at work on Tuesday ready for next weekend. There’s a lot of ad revenue out there, and it would look so good on you. 😎  Sponsored by Vibe.co Before I go, tell me: are you using your Klaviyo segments outside of email & SMS? GO-TO-MEME  P.S. Here are several brands that do partnership and whitelisting ads well. Watch how they move. Watch how they spend. We can all afford to study! Promix + HexClad (they are an Aligned Growth Management client and I actually met that team when I worked with HexClad) + ILIA + Nike + Fatty15 + The Row (kidding, they would never lol) Yours, Ari | ||||||||||
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