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6 influencer marketers describe how their business has changed, what brands are still spending on, and the future of 'paused' deals

Apr 10, 2020, 18:24 IST
Jordan S. Singer/JJ Yosh"Even if brands aren't willing to purchase endorsement deals right now, we still need to be able to sustain ourselves," said JJ Yosh, a travel and outdoors influencer based in Colorado.
  • Many advertisers have paused influencer marketing campaigns in recent weeks to save on costs, retool messaging, and make adjustments to sponsored content that previously required travel or on-site production.
  • Some brands are also paying for fewer additional services from influencer marketers, and some have asked for more time to make payments as they deal with economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
  • For influencers who rely on brand deals to earn a living, the ambiguity of having a campaign on hold has led some creators to pursue alternative sources of income.
  • Business Insider spoke to six influencer marketers to learn more about what it means for a campaign to be "paused" and what they think the future looks like for the industry.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Many brands have postponed influencer-marketing campaigns in recent weeks in an effort to cut costs and avoid appearing insensitive during a public-health crisis.

For creators, it's unclear when - and if - these sponsored content opportunities will return.

"A lot of brands are going on hold and pausing right now," said JJ Yosh, a travel and outdoors influencer based in Colorado. "Even for the deals that we have in place that have already been secured, many brands don't want us to post right now because they just feel like it's insensitive to be promoting things amidst this crisis."

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Some brands are delaying campaigns so they can make logistical adjustments to influencer work that once required travel or on-site production. Others are pushing back launch dates to retool campaign messaging that was written before the coronavirus outbreak and now feels out of touch. And several influencer agencies told Business Insider that having a campaign "on pause" is often just a polite way of saying that it's cancelled.

"In some cases, it means that it is postponed until the third or fourth quarter, but that can also be a nice way of saying this campaign is not moving forward but there may be another opportunity in the future," said Joe Gagliese, the CEO of the influencer marketing agency Viral Nation.

"When it comes to postponed, it is uncertain when we will resume operations," said Alessandro Bogliari, CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory. "Everything is still not clear so we cannot define with the clients when and what are going to be the next steps. All clients so far - and knocking on wood - are paying what they owe and there hasn't been a shift in terms of payments."

Some brands are unwilling to pay for campaign add-ons, and some are asking for new payment terms

While brands in categories like beauty and tech have continued to run influencer campaigns during the coronavirus outbreak, several have reached out to their influencer agencies to renegotiate payment terms as they face financial setbacks from the pandemic.

Once influencer marketer told Business Insider that they'd seen a few brands ask to extend the number of days that they have to pay for a campaign from 30 to 45 days. Another marketer said they'd seen a large range in client payment terms in contracts, with some making full payments upfront and others asking for 120-day payment deadlines.

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"Everyone's deferring payments everywhere," said Vickie Segar, the CEO of the influencer-marketing agency Village. "When you're in a crisis situation, your job is to have liquidity and hold liquidity."

While many brands are continuing to make payments for active campaigns (albeit on delayed timelines), some are cutting back on the types of services they're willing to pay for in contracts.

One influencer-marketing agency told Business Insider that its clients are no longer paying for add-ons like hiring higher-end influencers or amplifying content through paid promotions like Facebook ads. The company said its active campaigns are also more unpredictable, with brands asking to stop and start at various points in the month rather than setting an initial timeline and running on an ongoing basis, a cadence that was once the norm for its influencer campaigns.

Some advertisers are postponing campaigns in order to retool messaging or make production changes to adhere to shelter-in-place policies

Several advertisers have delayed influencer campaigns in recent weeks in order to retool messaging to avoid appearing tone deaf.

Daniel Schotland, the COO of the influencer agency Linqia, told Business Insider that some of its clients have had to push back a campaign's launch in order to give influencers time to create new content for campaigns that were conceived before the coronavirus outbreak.

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"Our strategy team is working closely with clients to readjust campaigns to make sure the influencer content will work in this new environment and not seem tone deaf or insensitive," Schotland said.

Other marketers said they'd postponed campaigns in order to make logistical changes to accommodate shelter-in-place laws.

"We had a few in-person events that became at-home photo shoots and livestreams," said Mae Karwowski, the founder and CEO of the influencer-marketing agency Obviously. "A street style photoshoot became an at-home photo shoot."

Influencers are looking for new revenue sources as brand campaigns remain paused

Because many influencer campaigns are on hold indefinitely, digital creators are turning to alternative sources of revenue to continue earning a living.

Some influencers have been leaning into YouTube advertising revenue, a source of income that allows them to earn payment in real time based on the number of video views they can attract.

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"We're coming up with other ideas on how to generate income," Yosh said. "Even if brands aren't willing to purchase endorsement deals right now, we still need to be able to sustain ourselves. Some of the ways that we're doing that is we're coming up with additional revenue streams through YouTube ads."

Some digital creators with video, photography, and animation skills have been working as pure content creators (rather than influencers) for brands, helping to fill a void as many production companies shut down photo and video shoots in order to adhere to social-distancing measures. Other influencers have been leaning into commission-on-sales revenue by adding affiliate links to their social-media posts, an income source that's been threatened in recent weeks as some major retailers shutter parts of their affiliate programs.

"We really need to adapt if we want to survive," Yosh said. "You need to create a business that's sustainable and can adapt to any changing environment."

For more information on how brands, creators, and marketers are adjusting to new consumer behavior during the coronavirus outbreak, read these Business Insider Prime posts:

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