A thought popped into my head while I was in the shower. And as we all know, shower thoughts are the best thoughts. 

Influencer marketing really IS all about relationships.  

Think about it. Every interaction a creator has with your brand shapes that relationship. It hides in a bunch of jargon like "Negotiating," "Contracting," "Sourcing," and "Tracking." 

But strip away those terms, and you'll see that everything you do with a creator builds, maintains, or unravels a relationship.

Whether you manage 10 creators or 1000s, each one has a relationship with your brand through you! If you’ve been in the industry a while, I know you’ve had the same shower thought. 

“This is a relationship business.”

As your program scales, you'll need to make tough calls about what you can personally handle. But if you're managing up to 50 creators yourself? Keep as much of the relationship personal. The extra human effort pays off.

How?

• It gets easier to recruit the same creators because they like working with you. 

• Those creators tell their influencer buddies about how great it is to work with you. Now, other influencers want to work with you. 

• You get better deals because when you have a good relationship with a creator, you’re both motivated to find a win-win outcome. 

• The quality of their work becomes more compelling. Partners who feel valued and understood tend to produce more authentic content.

• There’s also a high chance you’ll get mentioned organically. 

Here are five key relationship moments you want to keep human for as long as possible to get those sweet, sweet benefits. 

Relationship moment #1: Making a meaningful first impression

Your first outreach email sets the tone for everything that follows. Generic compliments will always come across as blah. You're saying, "You, fellow human, are just another acquisition channel I need to prove ROAS for."

If you want to improve your overall response rates or really want to work with a specific creator, you have to do your homework. 

We surveyed 51 marketers about influencer outreach. Over half said they combine templating with customization. Luckily, a small touch can make a big difference. For many surveyed, just 2 thoughtful intro sentences based on the creator's profile are key.

Those extra minutes studying a creator's work can set you apart from the flood of generic “your aesthetic matches perfectly with ours” pitches.

Relationship moment #2 Having real conversations 

You can’t automate charisma, connection, or creativity. These elements make influencer marketing what it is.

Having honest 1:1 conversations — on calls, through email, or in person — directly impacts the content influencers make for you. 

As Teri Simone from Nieu Cabinet Doors told us, 

We all know that messy feeling when a negotiation feels like it’s about to get stuck or derailed.

Marit Tiesema, Sr KOL & Ambassador Specialist, Loop Earplugs, suggests: 

When you have the influencer in front of you, you can better assess the value they bring to the table and close an improved deal than you would’ve on email alone.

Relationship moment #3 Personalizing your offers 

Cookie-cutter offers might be faster, but they're rarely strategic.

Nycole Hampton dropped the mic when she told us: 

Every creator brings something unique — their style, audience, and creative approach. When you standardize offers, you ignore what makes the creator special.

Instead, you want to build custom deliverables based on each creator's strengths. Are they crushing it on Reels? Make that your focus. Do their carousel posts drive engagement? That's what you want to pay for.

Relationship moment #4: Providing thoughtful feedback

Let's talk about giving feedback. It matters more than you might think. When you share specific insights about their content, you're not just helping them improve. You’re investing in their growth. You’re building trust. 

A tool can tell the influencer that their first video performed much better than their second one, but only you can tell them why.

These conversations reveal which creators excel and what elements make their content work so well. If you pay attention to those patterns, you’ll learn from your top performers and share those lessons with other partners. Then, everyone gets better.

This feedback loop often holds the key to improving your entire influencer program.

P.S. Personalized comments are best reserved for long-term influencer partnerships. 

Relationship moments at IMS USA 2025

Just as creator relationships need personal attention, so do your connections with fellow influencer marketers. The Influencer Marketing Show USA is where the brightest minds in creator and influencer marketing come together to share challenges, solutions, and fresh perspectives.

When: April 22-25, 2025

Where: Hollywood, Florida

What: Three days of expert insights, lively debates, and unmatched networking with top brands, agencies, and tech shaping the creator economy.

Learn more and sign up

See you next Thursday!
Eleni Zoe xx
Marketing @ Modash. Say hi on LinkedIn or visit Modash.

📌A NOTE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ

The tips in this newsletter might not be right for your specific case. Use good judgment when deciding whether to take advice from the internet—even mine. My team and I survey & interview influencer marketers whose advice and observations come from their direct experience. ROI is meant for you to connect the dots and be inspired or challenged to think about your influencer marketing in a way you haven’t before.