Question 1

How does influencer marketing actually work?

Accepted Answer

A brand pays someone with an audience to feature its product — and the mechanics of pricing, contracting and disclosure are considerably more structured than the casual appearance suggests.

**The tiers**, which behave differently:

**Nano** (roughly 1,000–10,000 followers) and **micro** (10,000–100,000) typically have **higher engagement rates and stronger audience trust**, cost far less, and are frequently better value per pound than large accounts.

**Macro** and **celebrity** deliver reach and brand association at much higher cost, with engagement rates that usually fall as audience grows.

**How pricing is set.** There is no fixed rate. Fees are negotiated from follower count, engagement rate, niche, **usage rights**, exclusivity, and deliverables. The two clauses that move price most:

**Usage rights** — whether the brand may reuse the content in its own paid advertising, and for how long. This is routinely underestimated and is where disputes arise.

**Exclusivity** — whether the creator is barred from working with competitors, and for how long. A long exclusivity period is a real cost to a creator's business and should be paid for.

**The payment models:** flat fee per deliverable; **affiliate or commission**, where the creator earns per sale via a tracked link or code; gifting, with no fee; and long-term ambassador retainers, which generally outperform one-off posts because repeated exposure builds association.

**Disclosure is a legal requirement, not etiquette.** Any commercial relationship — payment, free product, affiliate commission, family connection — must be **clearly and prominently disclosed** in most jurisdictions. Regulators have repeatedly acted against both creators and brands, and **the brand is generally responsible too**. "Ad" placed where it is seen before engaging beats a buried hashtag.

**What to check before paying:** engagement quality rather than follower count; audience location and demographics, which frequently do not match the brand's market; **purchased followers and engagement pods**, which are detectable; comment authenticity; and past brand work.

**How to measure:** unique codes and links, lift studies, branded search volume, and — most simply — asking customers where they heard of you.

Question 2

How does affiliate marketing actually work, and who gets paid for what?

Accepted Answer

A performance model where a third party — a publisher, creator or comparison site — sends traffic to a merchant and is paid only when a defined action occurs, usually a sale. The mechanics are

Question 3

What is the difference between an agency retainer, a project fee and a commission model?

Accepted Answer

Three ways of paying for marketing services, each creating different incentives — and the incentive structure, more than the headline rate, determines what you actually receive. Retainer. A fixed

Question 4

What is user-generated content, and what are the rules for using it?

Accepted Answer

Content made by customers rather than the brand — reviews, photos, videos, posts — and it is highly effective precisely because it is not advertising, which is also why the legal position is more

Question 5

What is brand architecture, and when does a rebrand actually make sense?

Accepted Answer

Brand architecture is how a company organises the relationship between its brands — the corporate name, product brands, sub-brands and endorsements — and it is the decision that determines whether

Question 6

How do loyalty programmes actually make money?

Accepted Answer

Rarely through the loyalty itself. Most programmes earn through a combination of margin funded by suppliers, changed purchase behaviour, unredeemed value, and — for the largest schemes — selling the

Question 7

What is a lookalike audience and how is it built?

Accepted Answer

A lookalike audience (Google calls its equivalent similar segments) is a group of people an ad platform assembles because they resemble an existing group you supplied — your customers, your website

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