Crafting Win-Win Partnerships: 8 Key Insights from Danielle, Jack and Jen

We joined forces with Passionfroot and Notion to bring together our city's leading creators, influencer marketers and founders to discuss the strategies behind building successful creator and brand partnerships.

Our esteemed panelists included: ​Jennifer Phan, Co-Founder and CEO at Passionfroot, ​Jack Appleby, Founder and Creator at Future Social, and​ Danielle Ito, Influencer Marketing Manager at Notion.

Our panel discussion ranged from identifying key qualities in creators and brands for partnerships to the trends shaping the industry.

Here's a recap of the top takeaways from the panel:

1. Identifying the Ideal Creator-Brand Fit in 2024

When considering creators for partnerships, brands and agencies should look beyond mere follower counts to instead focus on a creator's alignment with brand values, their ability to engage authentically with their audience, and the quality of their content.

“Micro-influencers,” with their highly dedicated and niched-down audiences, are proving to be invaluable for brands seeking authentic and effective partnerships.

2. What Draws Creators to Brands

From a creator's perspective, brands that stand out are those offering creative freedom, demonstrating a genuine understanding of the creator's unique voice, and aligning with their values and audience interests. Authenticity and respect for the creator's artistry are key attractors.

3. Redefining Value in Creator-Brand Partnerships

When approaching brands to partner with, the panelists shared advice to creators about leading with unique positioning rather than just engagement stats.

This perspective encourages creators to articulate their distinct value proposition, focusing on how they can align with a brand’s mission and contribute to storytelling, rather than merely providing numbers.

For example, consider pitching a unique campaign idea to a brand to stand out!

4. The Importance of Direct Brand-Creator Interaction

The panelists emphasized the value of direct interaction between brands and creators, challenging the traditional reliance on talent managers for communication — especially in meetings. This direct engagement fosters a more collaborative and personalized partnership, allowing creators to contribute creatively to campaigns and ensuring alignment with the brand's vision.

It's a mutual benefit scenario, where brands gain insights directly from creators, and creators have a say in how they're represented and integrated into campaigns.

5. Making Creators Accessible to Brands

The panelists advised creators to facilitate easier contact by brands, suggesting practical steps like including contact information in social media bios. It may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many creators don’t think to include an email in their bio!

6. Measuring Campaign Success

Success metrics, as discussed, go beyond traditional KPIs to include areas like brand sentiment, audience engagement, and qualitative feedback (e.g., what are people saying in the comments!?)

That’s why some agencies and managers are getting ahead and using tools like siftsy to better holistically understand campaign performance and improve storytelling.

7. The Rise of LinkedIn

A consensus on the panel pointed to LinkedIn as a platform with untapped potential for creators. With B2B influencer marketing on the rise, brands and advertisers are increasingly turning their attention to LinkedIn and newsletters.

There's a ripe opportunity for creators to negotiate better rates and secure more lucrative partnerships here!

8. Creators Are Part of Your Marketing Strategy, Not Responsible For It.

An important reminder for brands is to view creators as integral components of their marketing strategy rather than as sole drivers of marketing goals. This perspective encourages a more holistic approach to marketing campaigns, recognizing the value of creators in the broader marketing ecosystem.

To view the whole panel, check out the video below. Shoutout to ​B&H & Bridget for recording the panel, now we have some evergreen content! 👇

Finally, a few closing shoutouts:

• Mitch from Big Whoop for generously photographing the event (pics to be shared next week).

• Onda for providing us their tasty tequila seltzers to enjoy! You’ve probably seen Drake’s “Onda Civic” mix.

• Elizabeth, Celeste, Brendan, Kaila, Janel, Emily and Isabela for volunteering to help with on-site event operations.

• Some great event recap posts from Hanna, Amanda and Natalia that inspired my recap above!

Upcoming Events

A lighter section this week!

I’m organizing a Winter Mixer in late February and have 2 spots remaining for sponsors towards food and beverages who want to get in front of this influential community.

If that’s you, shoot me an email here by the end of next week! 

Other events for the year are being mapped out, so stay tuned in future newsletters for more deets.

• Cameron Galbraith's latest podcast episode, Invested, with Brett Perlmutter from Bullet Pitch.

• Happy 3 year birthday to Fallen Media!

• Jade Beguelin being invited back to her alma mater, Georgetown, to talk about all things entrepreneurship and her brand 4AM Skin.

• Most creators making six figures have less than 1 million followers, new study finds (Elizabeth de Luna, Mashable)

• BeReal announced the launch of RealPeople and RealBrands (aka official accounts). We’ll see what this move does.

• Why Algorithm-Generated Recommendations Fall Short (Carey K. Morewedge, HBR)

• This video on B&H Photo & Video’s brief history!

• Accurate depiction of me with plans this weekend. Anyone relate?

• Have been enjoying using Notion calendar recently over Google Calendar! Now my main calendar and Notion calendars (eg. content calendar) are all synced up in ONE place.

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you thought by replying back to this email.

See you next week,

Brett

P.S. see the nyc easter egg in this newsletter? Lemme know.