Influencer marketing can help a brand build awareness, reach new audiences, strengthen trust, or drive sales by partnering with creators who have relationships with those audiences. Its growing place in advertising makes it a serious channel to evaluate—not proof that any particular campaign works. The strongest programs start with a clear objective, choose creators for audience and brand fit, measure results against that objective, and disclose material relationships clearly.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a partnership in which a brand works with a creator to communicate with the creator’s audience. The arrangement may involve paid content, free or discounted products, or another benefit. A creator’s audience relationship and style can make the partnership useful, but neither popularity nor a large following guarantees that the right people will see or act on a message.
The term also covers more than a single sponsored post. A campaign may involve several creators, content formats, or distribution arrangements, including direct brand partnerships and work arranged through platforms, media companies, or intermediaries.
Why has influencer marketing become a major advertising channel?
In the United States, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) projected creator-economy advertising spend at $37 billion in 2025, a 26% increase from its 2024 estimate. IAB’s November 2025 release put the comparable figures at $13.9 billion in 2021 and $29.5 billion in 2024. These are estimates of U.S. advertising dollars intentionally invested in creator partnerships and planned creator adjacencies—not a global total for every business activity described as influencer marketing. IAB’s 2025 release explains its estimate.
IAB also reported that 48% of ad spenders considered creators a “must buy” in 2025. That describes the ad spenders in IAB’s research; it does not mean that nearly half of all businesses must use creators. The figures show that the channel has become a planned media investment for many advertisers, not that an individual campaign will be profitable.
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How can influencer marketing help a brand?
IAB’s 2025 report lists several objectives brands pursue with creator campaigns. The percentages below are reported campaign goals, not evidence of measured lift or proof that creators caused the outcomes.
| Reported campaign objective | Share reported by IAB |
|---|---|
| Build awareness | 43% |
| Reach new audiences | 41% |
| Enhance brand reputation or trust | 35% |
| Drive online sales or conversions | 32% |
IAB’s 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report describes the objectives and the challenges advertisers face. A brand should treat each objective differently: awareness calls for evidence that the intended audience encountered the message, while sales goals require a way to connect activity to purchases or conversions. A campaign may pursue more than one goal, but it should define which outcome matters most before launch.
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How should a brand select creators and structure a campaign?
IAB identifies finding the right creators as a challenge for advertisers. Follower count alone is an incomplete selection rule: the partnership should make sense for the audience, brand, and campaign purpose. Compare potential options on the criteria that affect the decision:
- Audience fit: Does the creator reach people relevant to the product or service?
- Brand fit: Does the creator’s subject matter and way of communicating suit the brand and the claims it can support?
- Objective: Is the campaign intended to build awareness, reach new audiences, support reputation or trust, or produce online sales or conversions?
- Measurement: What observable result will be used to assess the objective, and can the campaign collect it?
- Partnership route: Will the brand work directly with creators, through a platform or media company, or with an intermediary?
Set the objective and measurement approach before choosing a route or approving content. That makes it easier to compare partnerships on more than exposure and to identify whether the available reporting can answer the business question.
How do you measure an influencer campaign?
Start by deciding what would count as success, then use a measure that corresponds to that outcome. For example, a campaign meant to reach new audiences needs evidence about audience exposure; a campaign meant to drive sales needs a way to observe sales or conversions. Do not treat a reported goal, view, or engagement as proof of revenue impact unless the measurement actually establishes that connection.
The sources cited here establish common advertiser objectives and measurement as a challenge, but do not establish a causal return-on-investment figure or show that creator campaigns inherently outperform other channels. A credible assessment should therefore distinguish activity from outcomes and avoid claiming more causal impact than the measurement supports.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Do influencers have to disclose sponsored posts?
For U.S.-facing endorsements, a material connection between an endorser and a brand may need disclosure. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says this can include payment, free or discounted products, and other perks. The disclosure should be hard to miss and placed with the endorsement so people can notice and understand the relationship. A built-in platform disclosure tool alone may not be sufficient. The FTC’s influencer guidance explains when and how to disclose; its 2023 announcement about the revised Endorsement Guides discusses clear and conspicuous disclosures, platform tools, virtual influencers, and potential responsibilities of advertisers, endorsers, and intermediaries.
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What should readers take from the growth in influencer marketing?
Creator advertising is now a substantial U.S. media investment, and advertisers use it for several distinct goals. Those facts make it worth considering when the audience and campaign objective fit. They do not establish that a creator partnership is automatically effective, that it will outperform another channel, or that a reported industry spending forecast predicts results for an individual brand. Sound decisions depend on fit, measurement, and transparent disclosure.
Further reading
For readers seeking a practical book on implementation, Entrepreneur Press lists Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing by Stephanie Garcia and Eric Butow as a trade paperback published May 7, 2024. This is a further-reading option, not evidence of campaign results.
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