What Do You Want To Know About Influencing?
I'm ready to talk about it...
I launched this newsletter a little over a year ago. I had no expectations and quite frankly, no plan. All I knew was that I could no longer participate in an industry that didn’t in any way align with my personal actions or values. As far as my career goes, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m still figuring it out. But I feel confident in my decision to walk away from influencing, despite the financial challenges, I can finally speak freely and openly about an industry that is, in my opinion, a lot of smoke and mirrors.
I’ve shared honestly and openly over the last year, but I’ve been hesitant and a little afraid to fully go there when it comes to talking about the influencer industry. It’s an estimated $250 billion industry with a lot of powerful people and brands behind it. I was also a part of it for many years, and I have to come to terms with that.
I think there’s a lot that most people don’t know about the influencer industry, and I want to change that. In the coming months I’ll be writing about all the things people aren’t talking about when it comes to influencing. How much do influencers actually make? How does affiliate marketing really work? Is there such thing as a genuine recommendation anymore? How can you tell what’s an ad and what’s not? What are influencers required to disclose?
I’m sure you have your own questions, and I hope I can help you answer them. Drop them in the comments (or my inbox). It’s time for some transparency, and truth.
I would love to know how that crazy industry affected your sense of body image / if you experienced any sort of hyper fixation on how your body looked? Maybe this didn’t affect you at all but anyways.. I would be curious to know !
Is there any hope for small brands like mine to get noticed? I launched a luxury throw pillow line (www.fairhavencircle.com) for the sole purpose of preserving dying textile traditions in India. I’ve gotten a ton of feedback that my pillows are stunning and the quality in line with top brands like Schumacher and Kravet. And yet, cutting through the noise is so hard. What do we do? How can we get noticed? Is there any hope? How do we compete with the ad budgets of big brands when influencers are asking $5K for blog posts and an also staggering number for instagram content? Is there a platform to find influencers who want to “do good” and support brands with a mission? Mine is small batch, artisan made, with an emphasis on the provenance of the craft. So much of what we do is environmentally conscious. We have zero waste. The water we use is recycled into the construction industry. Our printing processes don’t pollute drinking water. Our cotton is sourced via the Better Cotton Initiative. All amazing things that are hard to do as a small company on a shoestring, self-funded budget, but nobody is hearing about us. Would love your thoughts!