Driving Results With a Data-Driven Approach to Creator Marketing

Billo

The creator marketing industry is set to hit $500 billion by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs. The sheer amount of money flowing into the space reflects the impact creators are having on businesses today and their growing influence on purchase decisions across every demographic.

But as more brands ramp up their creator partnerships and allocate more dollars to creators and content, expectations are rising. Marketers, from in-house brand teams to agency partners, aren’t just being asked to prove reach or engagement anymore; they’re being asked to prove performance. “What’s the ROI?” has become a common question when it comes to creator marketing.

While marketers can sometimes get lucky building campaigns off their gut, a data-driven approach is increasingly a requirement to deliver the performance that budget holders demand. And the best places to start? The briefs you develop, the creators you select, and the content you put live.

Here’s how to take a smart, data-backed approach across these areas to drive results:

1. Smarter Briefs: Turning Creative Direction into Performance

The brief is where campaigns succeed or fail. It sets expectations, provides guardrails, and guides creators toward the kind of content you want. Brands often lean heavily on messaging, aesthetics, and product features but miss the details that actually translate into results. Creators get freedom, but without clarity on hooks, CTAs, or formats, the end product can feel like a gamble.

A data-driven brief solves this by incorporating insights from past campaigns and industry insights. Instead of creators guessing what might work, you can point them toward what’s already proven to deliver.

• Concepts & Formats: Which storytelling formats drive results? Testimonial-style? Demo? Before-and-after? Challenge videos? Sharing data-backed formats gives creators a foundation grounded in performance.

• Hooks: The first three seconds often decide if viewers watch or scroll. Use past campaigns or industry benchmarks to identify which openings, visuals, or sounds capture attention. Share these insights so creators aren’t starting from scratch.

• CTAs: Don’t just tell creators to “include a CTA.” Highlight which ones historically move the needle for your brand—“Learn more,” “Shop now,” or “Don’t miss out.”

Why it matters: A strong brief balances creative freedom with data-backed direction. It doesn’t script creators; it empowers them to build on proven foundations instead of starting from zero.

2. Smarter Creator Selection: Beyond Follower Count

Follower count used to be everything. Bigger audiences meant bigger impact. As algorithms evolved and audiences fragmented, follower count became one of the least reliable indicators of performance.

Instead, focus on metrics that align with your goals:

• Engagement quality: Are followers active? Do they meaningfully interact with content? Comments often matter more than raw numbers.

• Performance history: Creators who consistently deliver above-average CTRs, ROAS, or conversions are stronger predictors of success than audience size alone.

• Format expertise: Some creators excel at storytelling, others at quick-hit trends, others at long-form education. Match creators’ strengths to the formats that historically perform well for your category.

Why it matters: This moves you from asking “Who looks right for our brand?” to “Who has proven they can deliver results for our goals?”

3. Smarter Content: Testing, Iterating, Scaling

The final piece is the content itself. Data should guide decisions not just post-campaign but in real time. Top-performing brands are constantly testing, iterating, and scaling.

• Test hooks: Run variations of the same video with different openings to see what grabs attention.

• Iterate on winners: Double down on formats or messages that work. Create variations to extend reach and longevity.

• Cut losses quickly: Data tells you fast when something isn’t working. Stop spending on underperforming ads and redirect budget to what’s proven.

Why it matters: This turns creative from a one-off gamble into a repeatable system. Scaling winners and cutting underperformers creates a compounding effect and each campaign gets smarter.

Smarter Creator Marketing Starts Here

The gravitation to data-driven creator marketing makes sense, but where do you actually get the performance data? Building internal tracking systems can take months, and analyzing creator performance manually won’t let you move as fast as today’s market demands.

That’s why Billo has evolved beyond its UGC roots into a full Creator Marketing Stack. With live insights from over 150,000 video ads and more than $280M in tracked purchase value, Billo enables brands to:

• Brief Builder: Enter your product URL to get 4 data-backed brief suggestions for hooks, CTAs, and concepts based on what’s actually driving performance in your category.

• Top-Performing Creator Matching: Get suggestions for creators with proven ROAS, CTR, and Hook Rate in your category. All stats are benchmarked against industry medians.

• Ad Performance and Iterations: Once your ads are live, Billo tracks their performance against each other and industry standards to provide you with iteration suggestions and improvements.