The old discovery playbook is breaking down. People still search, but they also scroll, ask questions, compare options, and act on recommendations from creators they trust. Influencer marketing now sits at the centre of the buying journey, not at the edge of a media plan.
Brand discovery once followed a path marketers could plan around. Today, the journey might start with a creator’s video, a search query, or a question posed to AI. The first answer someone finds can influence which brands they consider.
I’ve seen that shift redefine what creator work needs to achieve. We once planned creator activity around a feed, a campaign window and a set of reach and engagement targets. That is no longer enough. Now, we need to ask how the content helps people discover, understand, and choose a brand, wherever those decisions happen.
Creator content travels across search results, AI-generated answers, retail environments, paid media and brand-owned channels. It can introduce a product, answer a question or provide reassurance before purchase. This work is becoming part of the infrastructure through which people find brands, and we need to plan it accordingly.
Search Is Becoming a Conversation
The search bar is no longer the only front door to a brand. People prompt an engine, refine the response and continue the exchange instead of moving from a results page to a single destination. That shift changes when and how brands enter the decision-making process. As AI plays a greater role in the path to purchase, its answers may influence people long before the last click.
Brands cannot leave that story to chance. Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, starts with clear, structured first-party information, but that is only part of the picture. The proof and context surrounding a brand online also shape what people find.
Creator content shows how a product fits into real life. It can explain what the product does, who it is for and whether it deserves attention. The goal is not to manufacture relevance for an algorithm, but to give people accurate information they can trust.
Creators Should Shape the Work Earlier
Advertising is competing with entertainment for limited attention. Creators understand what their audiences care about, how they discover new things and what keeps them watching. In my experience, that knowledge creates the most value when it shapes the brief itself.
"The search bar is no longer the only front door to a brand. People prompt an engine, refine the response and continue the exchange instead of moving from a results page to a single destination."
We’re increasingly bringing creators in to build the brief with us rather than simply asking them to answer it. Their knowledge of the audience can reveal which questions a brand should answer, which conversations it can credibly join and how its products fit into people’s lives. That perspective connects commercial goals with content people actually want to see.
This changes how we think about discovery. Creators can help brands understand the language people use, the information they seek and the content they trust across social and search. Bringing that insight into planning earlier leads to more useful, relevant content that people can find, engage with and act on.
Longer relationships deepen this contribution. Creators have time to understand the brand, while we build a clearer picture of what resonates with their audiences. Ambassador partnerships, product development and regular planning sessions can all give creators a continuing role in shaping the work.
I see clear commercial value in that accumulated learning. Each campaign informs the next. Over time, we make better creative decisions, strengthen audience connections and gain a fuller understanding of how those relationships contribute to business impact.
Visibility Is Only Part of the Picture
The marketing industry has spent too long confusing visibility with value. I’ve watched creator conversations move from “How many followers do they have?” to “What impact will this have on our business?” That is a meaningful change. Likes, reach and CPM remain useful measures, but they rarely show whether creator work changed a commercial outcome. Nor do they capture what happens next, including the searches the content prompts, the consideration it builds and its effect on other media.
That shift is also changing who sits around the table. Conversations once led mainly by influencer marketing teams now involve CMOs and CFOs. As budgets grow, expectations rise. We need to explain what the investment delivers and measure both the immediate response and the longer-term influence on brand preference, demand and growth.
For me, that means measuring creator marketing as part of the wider business. Consistent data gives teams a shared view of creator roles, formats, audiences and usage. Combined with geo-lift testing, media mix modelling and driver analysis, that view can reveal incremental impact and show how creator activity contributes across channels.
The most useful measurement informs the next decision. I want us to move beyond reporting what a campaign achieved and determine what to do next. That could mean building longer-term creator relationships, repeating effective creative choices or directing investment differently. Better evidence gives marketing teams, CMOs and CFOs greater confidence to decide where and how creator investment can support growth.
