When I was a junior copywriter, a CEO told me to cut a piece of writing in half. Fair.

Then he asked me to add seven more points that weren’t in the original. I stared at him, blinking. Like… that’s physically impossible, my guy.

But because I was young and wanted to impress, I nodded and got to work. I sat at my desk trying to defy the laws of space and logic, rewriting, reshaping, and trimming every sentence within an inch of its life.

Of course, it didn’t work. The final draft was a Frankenstein of unmet expectations.

I felt like I had failed.

All because I was handed an impossible task. Instead of pushing back, I internalized it.

That moment lives rent-free in my brain because it perfectly captures the experience so many influencer marketers have today: unrealistic expectations from people who don’t really understand the work.

Influencer marketing is a weird, wonderful job. It’s creative and analytical. It’s part logistics manager, part therapist. It’s full of feelings, spreadsheets, and “sorry, what size do you want that in?” emails.

But there are many things it isn’t. We asked dozens of influencer marketers what they wished their managers understood. 

Still explaining in 2025 #1 It takes time

Influencer marketing takes longer than people think.

No, you can’t "just find a few TikTokers by EOD."

No, you can’t "send the brief and launch tomorrow."

Sourcing, vetting, negotiating, briefing, coordinating, collecting content, tracking links, and reporting results –that’s not one job. That’s six. 

People outside the team think influencer marketing is fast because the end result looks effortless. But you know better. 

The 60-second Reel that made your CMO smile? That took three weeks, five emails, two rounds of feedback, and an emergency product shipment.

As Fernanda Marques puts it: 

Please stop asking us to move like we’re pushing pixels in Meta Ads Manager. This isn’t plug-and-play. It’s build-and-nurture.

Still explaining in 2025 #2 We’re working with humans, not ad units

You can’t A/B test a relationship.
You can’t automate trust.
You can’t “optimize” a person into liking your brand.

This isn’t media buying. It’s people management. These are real humans. With families, health issues, deadlines, good days, bad days, and lives happening. People are inconsistent, overcommitted, emotionally nuanced creatures with inboxes full of other brand requests.

This job is 80% emotional intelligence. You’re reading the room, adjusting your tone, knowing when to push and when to pause. You’re juggling shifting timelines and awkward asks. And handling it all with empathy.

Greta Zacchetti told us,

And when brands forget that influencers are human? It shows.

Just look at what happened with Happiest Baby last week. After a tragic stillbirth, an influencer's sister called them out for demanding the return of a gifted bassinet. Why? Because she could no longer post about it. Cue the backlash, apology, and public reckoning. (Not to mention the untold damage to brand equity!)

Soft skills aren’t soft when they’re the reason a creator re-signs with your brand.
But unless you’ve done this job, that work is invisible.

So I’m saying it out loud: it counts. It’s work. And every part of it deserves real credit.

Still explaining in 2025 #3 Impact isn't always instant

Some results you can track. Others are harder to pin down but no less real.

The content feels right. The creator nails the brief. The audience lights up. You see it in the saves, the DMs, and the comment section, which turns into a lovefest for your product.

But then you pull the report, and the numbers don’t exactly scream sales! Now you’re in a meeting trying to explain what did work. And why it still matters.

Measuring influencer marketing is tricky. Yes, we track performance. But not every outcome is instant or easily attributed.

As Namrata Thakker put it:

Sure, you can measure clicks and brand lift if you’ve got the right setup. But you can’t measure the whisper network, the buildup, the moment someone finally checks out after seeing your product five times in a creator’s Story.

Sometimes, influencer marketing is a trigger. More often, it’s momentum.

Sometimes, you hit the target right away. Sometimes, the impact builds quietly in the background. Either way, the value is there.

The hard part? Proving it in a spreadsheet.

Still explaining in 2025 #4 Influencer marketing doesn’t live in a silo

 If your influencer campaigns are flopping, it might not be an issue with influencer marketing. 

You can do everything right —find the right creators, hit the right angles, build the right momentum —and still miss the mark because of issues unrelated to your work.

Maybe the product wasn’t compelling, the landing page was confusing, or the site was slow or out of stock.

Michael Todner said:

That doesn’t mean influencer marketing isn’t effective. It means it’s not a substitute for good fundamentals.

If the rest of the customer journey is broken, no creator in the world can fix it.

Influencer marketing works best when it’s aligned with product, brand,  and performance. When the story you’re telling is matched by the experience that follows.

When that happens, it works. But it takes the whole team to get there.

Love this newsletter? Consider sharing it with colleagues or on your social media of choice. Georgina Whalen did and it started a great conversation. 

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.