Build a brief on data, not gut feeling

Assumptions and guesswork won’t give you the brief to hit your KPIs. You need data.

And you have the data on what resonates with your customers, you have your “money messages” and you just need to uncover them to then pass them in the influencer brief.

Where do you have them?

In reviews and comments from existing customers. You might be familiar with this, since we did some digging into reviews and comments in a previous newsletter.

Here’s how to turn those findings into stellar influencer briefs.

Step 1: Discover what actually sells.

Gather at least 100 authentic reviews for your product (or a competitor’s). Paste them into an AI tool like ChatGPT or Gemini and use this command:

Prompt: “Analyze the reviews below. List the top 5 pain points, top 5 desires, and top 5 objections of my target audience, using their own words.”

You’ll get a list of ready-made arguments that resonate directly with your customers.

Step 2: Set clear rules, but give creative freedom.

The creator needs to know what’s non-negotiable and where they can insert their own creativity. Ask AI to create a structure that clarifies this:

Prompt: “Create a ‘Must-Haves vs. Creative Freedom’ table for a campaign. In the ‘Must-Haves’ column, place [e.g., showing the product in use, the discount code]. Leave the rest in the ‘Creative Freedom’ column.”

Tip: Cap your “Must-Haves” at 6 points and let the creator handle the rest.

Step 3: Arm your influencer with copy that converts.

Instead of vague guidelines, give them specific phrases that are proven to work. Use the insights from Step 1 and ask AI:

Prompt: “Based on the identified pain points and desires, suggest 3 catchy sentences the influencer can weave into their video/photo caption.”

Ditch one-off posts for a consistent hero narrative

One-off posts are yesterday’s strategy. Consistent messaging and a recurring face give you an edge today.

When a creator or brand hero appears in multiple assets—across different contexts and locations—brand recall soars. And your audience naturally starts connecting the product with that person. The best part? You can do it without booking a single extra photoshoot.

An important note: You must have the influencer’s consent to use their likeness this way, and that usually comes with an additional fee.

Here’s what you can do quickly and repeatedly:

• Generate contextual creative on demand. Upload your ambassador’s photo to an AI tool (like gpt-image-1 or flux) and generate visuals for three different scenarios: in the office, on the beach, and for a Black Friday promo.
• Build a video series. Plan a weekly series of 3-4 short videos built around a single story arc. Use tools like Midjourney video or Google’s Veo 3 for visuals and ElevenLabs for high-quality audio dubbing.
• Remarket to engaged viewers. Set up a retargeting campaign for anyone who watched ≥50% of the first video in your series.

This can also be your way to create a long-term partnership and brand ambassador program instead of one-off collaborations.

Actively monitor results and shift budget to your winners

Believe it or not, influencer marketing is not a set-it-and-forget-it channel.

You have to quickly identify the winners and double down on them with more budget.

You don’t need a pricey, automated system for this. You need a simple process and an intelligent assistant like GPT. Your biggest advantage here is speed—making decisions in 24-48 hours, not weeks.

Step 1: Pull the hard data (after 24-48 hours).

Dive into your ad manager and social platform analytics (e.g., Instagram/TikTok Insights). Focus on two things:

• Quantitative Data: Which creative has the highest CTR from your UTM links?
• Engagement Data: Which video has the highest watch-through rate or the most saves?

Pick your top 3 and bottom 3 performers based on these metrics.

Step 2: Uncover the “why” with GPT.

Numbers tell you what works; comments tell you why. Grab 15-20 of the top comments from both your best and worst-performing posts. Then, drop them into GPT.

Prompt: “I’m analyzing a campaign. Here are comments from Video A (high CTR): [paste comments]. And here are comments from Video B (low CTR): [paste comments]. Compare them. What topics, questions, and emotions dominate each group? What in Video A drove a positive reaction, and what might have caused Video B to fail?”

In seconds, GPT will spot the patterns—whether people are praising a specific feature, loving the creator’s humor, or complaining about a hard sell they didn’t understand.

Step 3: Act immediately—reallocate your budget.

You have the hard data and the qualitative analysis. Time to make a call:

• Pause spending on the low-CTR creative with negative or indifferent comments.
• Boost the budget by 20-30% on the posts driving clicks and positive, engaged discussions.

With this simple system, you stop guessing. Instead, you optimize your campaigns on the fly, steering your ad dollars exactly where they’ll generate the highest return.