In this episode of Revenue Boost: A Marketing Podcast, titled, From Awareness to ROI: Maximizing Influencer Marketing for Revenue Growth, host Kerry Curran sits down with Sarah Dayes, Chief Client and Operations Officer at Acceleration Partners, to uncover how businesses can transform influencer marketing from a PR-driven awareness tool into a powerful, performance-based revenue channel.

Sarah shares insider insights on the convergence of influencer and affiliate marketing, revealing how top brands like Target and CVS are pioneering performance-based influencer strategies that drive real business results. They discuss the hybrid payment models that actually work, why nano and micro-influencers often outperform celebrity creators, and how to seamlessly integrate influencer content into your paid media and demand-generation strategy.

5 Key Takeaways:

1. Performance vs. PR: The role of influencer marketing is shifting—brands must balance awareness-building with measurable performance outcomes to see real revenue impact.
2. Hybrid Payment Models Work Best: Relying solely on upfront payments or commission-based structures is limiting. A hybrid model drives the best results.
3. Nano & Micro-Influencers Drive Higher ROI: Smaller creators with loyal, niche audiences often deliver better engagement and conversion rates than macro-influencers.
4. Paid Media Amplification is Essential: Boosting influencer content through paid channels (like Meta and CTV ads) increases reach and drives better performance results.
5. Scaling Requires the Right Infrastructure: Whether in-house or agency-supported, brands need a tech stack, operational structure, and leadership buy-in to grow an influencer program effectively. 

Tune in now to learn how to maximize influencer marketing for measurable growth!

Podcast transcript

Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:01.479)
So welcome, Sarah. Please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background and expertise.

Sarah Dayes (00:08.558)
Hi, Kerry. Good to see you. I'm Sarah Dayes. I am the Chief Client and Operations Officer at Acceleration Partners. We are a global partnership marketing agency with deep, deep roots in affiliate marketing. Over the last five years, I've also been building out our influencer practice.

I’ve been with AP for about 14 years now. I was employee number two or three, depending on how you look at it. It’s been fun to be on the journey from there to now, where we are a global agency of around 300 people all over the world.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:46.533)
Excellent! Well, I’m very excited to have you here today. So, I know, Sarah, you’ve been in the affiliate space for a while, and you’ve seen the evolution of influencers. Talk about how you’ve seen the landscape grow, evolve, and become more sophisticated, especially when it comes to creators and influencers.

Sarah Dayes (01:06.668)
Yeah, I think it’s been fascinating to watch, honestly, over the last four to five years. I think about five years ago, everyone in the affiliate space started asking, “What is this influencer marketing thing that’s happening?”

It became clear that there were a lot of similarities between affiliate and influencer marketing in terms of being a partnership channel and the nature of those relationships. Over the last three years, in particular, we’ve really seen that concept move into execution. At every conference, everyone was talking about this convergence, and I think in the last two years, we’ve started to see it truly come together.

The more sophisticated brands we work with—who tend to be on the cutting edge—are now looking at influencer marketing through a performance-based lens. When influencer marketing first started, it was purely organic. As brands saw the opportunity, nearly 100% of influencer marketing became brand-building, with all payments structured as flat fees. There was little tracking, maybe impressions or reach, but not much beyond that.

Now, what we’re seeing—where the convergence with affiliate comes in—is brands looking at influencer marketing with a performance mindset. They’re starting to track it more like we do in affiliate, where everything is measurable, and we focus on driving specific performance outcomes.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (03:02.961)
Yeah, you’ve definitely seen a lot of changes, both from the talent perspective and from a strategic standpoint—whether it’s affiliate versus upfront payments. It’s interesting because, when I talk to people in the industry, there still seem to be two camps about where influencer marketing should fit in a brand strategy.

Some people, especially those who come from a PR background, see influencer marketing as a pure awareness driver—upfront, flat-fee partnerships only. Then, others who come from an affiliate mindset see the huge value in commission-based models with measurable goals and outcomes.

At the recent Creator Economy Live conference, it was clear that there’s still no standardization. The influencer and creator economy hasn’t yet reached a level of maturity where everyone looks at it the same way or measures it the same way. That actually makes this an exciting time in the evolution of the space.

Sarah Dayes (04:29.622)
Yeah, absolutely. I’m eager to fast-forward five years and see where we land.

One thing I find interesting—and we’ll see how this plays out—is that the brands we work with that have really leaned into performance influencer marketing have been doing so for nearly two years now. Brands like Target, where we’ve built a well-scaled influencer program that runs on performance rails, are the same brands that, eight or nine years ago in affiliate, were the first to say, “Hold on, this can be more than just a bottom-of-the-funnel channel.”

They were the ones pushing for incrementality and recognizing the broader impact of affiliate marketing. Now, they’re applying that same thinking to influencer marketing, asking how they can show real returns and track performance more effectively.

So, we’ll see. Are they ahead of the curve again? Will other brands catch up in a few years? Or will influencer marketing evolve into something else entirely?

Kerry Curran, RBMA (05:53.403)
Yeah, that’s a great question and a really interesting observation. The brands that tend to be innovators—always pushing the envelope and finding better ways to connect with their target audience—are the ones leading the way in influencer as a performance play.

To your point, it will take time before we see standardization and maturity in this space. And who knows? Influencer marketing may evolve into something we haven’t even envisioned yet.

Sarah Dayes (06:34.006)
Yeah, absolutely. We’ll see.

What’s also interesting is how internal brand teams are evolving. Obviously, we see things from an agency perspective, but we’re also seeing changes in how brands structure their teams.

For example, we’ve worked with several enterprise brands where influencer marketing traditionally sat with brand and PR teams. Now, we’re seeing it shift into demand generation or digital marketing teams. That shift is an indicator of how these brands are thinking differently about influencer marketing, and we’re also seeing budget ownership move accordingly.

That’s a really interesting trend.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:14.267)
Yeah, and with that shift, how do you see influencer and creator teams integrating with paid social teams?

Sarah Dayes (07:26.958)
The brands that have been the most successful in influencer marketing have really strong, integrated relationships between their influencer teams and their paid social teams.

That being said, we still work with some brands where it feels like a turf war, and that’s never beneficial.

Where it works well, those teams collaborate effectively. One reason this integration is so important is that creator content has a massive opportunity for amplification with paid media.

Some brands, including many of our clients, use agencies like ours specifically for this reason. Even though amplification happens on the same platforms as traditional paid social (like Meta), it requires a different strategy to be effective. Some brands handle this in-house, while others prefer to leverage agencies that specialize in creator amplification.

In some cases, brands allocate 30% of their paid social budget specifically for amplifying creator content because it performs so well.

Of course, the Meta algorithm is always changing, but right now, it favors brands putting media dollars behind creator content rather than direct brand content. That’s why the relationship between influencer and paid social teams is so critical—it allows brands to maximize the impact of their creator investments.

Definitely, and I think we'll see more and more of that. In my previous roles, when I was more involved with social, that was a big part of it—amplification, using creator content as creative. We're already seeing it expand to native and video ads and CTV ads. There’s so much potential because audiences really love creator content.

Sarah Dayes (09:40.812)
Yeah, absolutely.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (09:42.833)
One of the questions that always comes up—going back to what we were talking about—is when influencer marketing is a pure PR play versus when it’s a performance play. There's a time and place for both across brand strategy.

So, when people ask, Should I be paying an upfront fee? Should I pay on commission?—how do you determine the right strategic approach?

Sarah Dayes (10:12.856)
Yeah, I think what we've found over the last three years—and it’s been interesting because we didn’t really know coming into this either. When we started working with influencers, many brands testing performance-based influencer marketing didn’t fully understand what they were getting into either.

Through testing across a variety of brands—different scales, levels of brand recognition, and product types—we’ve found that the easiest way to succeed with performance models is with brands that have very high brand recognition and ideally a broad product assortment.

Where it’s been more difficult is with niche, mid-market brands—including mid-market DTC brands. Brand recognition is the biggest factor. If you don’t have strong brand recognition, you need to be prepared to skew more of your spend toward upfront flat fees.

And if you think about it, that makes total sense. Creators have a delicate balance to maintain—they can only work with so many brands before they risk losing authenticity with their audience. So, successful creators have limited inventory.

They can’t push out too much paid content, or they'll lose their viewership. So, they are very careful about their collaborations—they need to know it will deliver a return.

Even if a creator really believes in your product, if it lacks strong brand recognition or is highly niche, the likelihood of them making enough on a performance basis to sustain their business is much lower.

Compare that to brands like Target or CVS, which have strong brand awareness and a vast array of products. Those brands see far greater success in performance models.

That being said… everything is hybrid. It is rare to get a pure performance-based return.

I think, years ago, many affiliate marketers had a vision of running influencers entirely through affiliate rails—purely on performance—and unlocking a pot of gold. But that’s not how it works.

A hybrid model is almost always necessary. The balance between performance-based payouts and flat fees varies based on the brand’s recognition and scale.

We emphasize this when brands come to us for help. One of our first questions is: What is your budget?

Not because we want to be greedy, but because we’ve learned that without a healthy budget—including upfront spend—99% of brands won’t see the return they expect.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (13:34.983)
That’s a really helpful answer. It puts into perspective that it’s not as simple as choosing one model or the other—it depends on brand awareness.

That ties back to marketing fundamentals—your audience needs to know who you are and believe in your value. Even in DTC, where the sales cycle may be shorter, trust and awareness still matter.

If you're not investing in awareness—whether through influencer marketing with upfront fees or other channels—you can’t expect sales to take off.

Sarah Dayes (14:31.158)
Absolutely! Think about it from a consumer perspective. When you’re scrolling through Instagram (or your platform of choice), how often do you immediately buy something from a paid influencer post for a brand you’ve never heard of?

Kerry Curran, RBMA (14:49.159)
Yeah.

Sarah Dayes (14:50.988)
Exactly—it’s a multi-touch journey, just like in affiliate marketing.

But what’s even more interesting with creator marketing is that creators may be hesitant to work with lesser-known brands in the first place. If your brand has low awareness, it’s not just a challenge to convert the consumer—it’s a challenge to secure partnerships with creators.

Creators are running businesses too, and they need to know their collaborations will pay off.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (15:11.257)
For sure. Speaking of niche creators, you mentioned that scaled performance programs tend to include a high volume of nano and micro-influencers. Can you talk about what that looks like?

Sarah Dayes (15:34.006)
There’s a ton of data showing that if you’re focused on performance-oriented influencer marketing—and looking at ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and conversion rates—then nano and micro-influencers consistently outperform larger influencers.

When you find the right creator for your brand, they often have a highly loyal audience that is more likely to convert.

So, we see stronger conversion rates and ROAS from nano and micro-influencers compared to top-of-funnel macro influencers.

That said, it depends on your goals.

If your influencer strategy is a brand play, then big-name influencers or even celebrities may make sense. But if you’re looking at it through a performance lens, nano and micro-influencers are typically more effective.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (16:30.289)
All right.

Sarah Dayes (16:41.494)
Micro and nano-influencers are the key to performance-driven programs.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (16:44.229)

For our audience, can you define "nano" and "micro" in terms of follower count?

Sarah Dayes (16:50.478)
Yes, great question! There’s no official cutoff, but typically:

• Nano-influencers: Under 100,000 followers
• Micro-influencers: Usually up to 500,000 followers

Once you cross into the millions, you’re typically looking at macro or celebrity influencers.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (17:11.397)
Thank you for clarifying.

Again, it goes back to quality and audience alignment—not just follower count. It’s all about finding the right fit for your brand and product. 

One of the questions we get a lot, or that we see as influencer marketing evolves, is whether brands should build it in-house or partner with an agency. So, talk about what it takes to build an in-house capability, and for brands considering that route, what do they need to think about?

Sarah Dayes (17:53.612)
Yes, we've learned a lot in the last few years. When we first started working with influencers, we were already a scaled affiliate agency, running some of the largest affiliate programs in the world. We knew a lot about running things at scale.

Even with that experience, we underestimated the operational lift and complexity required to run scaled influencer and performance-oriented influencer programs.

There are several layers to it. You have tracking, which many affiliate platforms now support, whether through the core program or an add-on like a creator portal.

Then, there’s contracting, which can be more nuanced than in affiliate marketing. Some influencers work directly with brands, while others work through talent agencies, which changes the contracting process.

And then, of course, payouts and invoicing—we’ve learned a lot about how this works in the influencer space. If you look online, you'll see that even agencies have struggled with this operational aspect.

Sarah Dayes (19:30.934)
For brands building in-house, it’s critical to understand the technology and operational requirements. You need a smart tech stack to manage everything.

Some brands go with all-in-one platforms, while others layer multiple solutions—one for invoicing, one for contracting, and so on. Making those choices strategically is important.

Then, you need a plan for managing influencer talent.

In performance-based influencer programs, where you’re working with a high volume of influencers, it is simply not possible to manage everything manually without a large dedicated team.

So, how will you structure it? Will you use a platform, mass outreach tools, or some other system? Thinking strategically about how you will manage that scale is essential.

Another critical factor—whether in-house or with an agency—is securing investment and leadership buy-in.

We've seen some brands struggle because they try to start with a tiny test investment and scale later. That’s a mistake.

It doesn’t mean you have to spend millions upfront, but you do need a healthy budget for the initial test. Leadership buy-in is also key—you need some runway to refine your approach.

If you don’t have that, you may not see the returns you expect.

This is where agencies can add value—because they already have relationships with influencers. They know who performs well in different categories and can match the right influencers to the right brands more efficiently.

That’s one of the big advantages of working with an agency.

If you go in-house, you own the influencer relationships, which is great—especially for macro or celebrity partnerships.

But if you’re focused on performance, you might not get it right immediately. You need to find influencers who align with your brand and know how to monetize effectively.

That takes trial and error. If you don’t budget and plan for a learning curve, you risk shutting it down before it has a chance to succeed.

The last thing you want is to pull the plug too soon because you didn’t allocate enough time or budget.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:25.541)
It’s definitely complex. And as we talked about earlier, it’s still evolving. It’s about finding the right approach.

I obviously grew up in the agency space and strongly believe in the value agencies bring in this scenario.

So, talk about how your team helps clients—and what the benefits are of working with a partner that has already figured out best practices.

Sarah Dayes (22:55.126)
Yes, I’d say there are a few key things.

First, the operational side. Like I said, we learned the hard way and had to stumble our way to success. Now, we have a strong, well-oiled system that understands all the complexities.

Second, experience with specific influencers and performance data.

It’s not about reusing the same influencers for every brand—but when we already know that a creator performs well in a certain category, we can match them more efficiently.

Third, technology and sourcing.

Sure, brands can buy influencer tech, but agencies already have customized solutions, with data, metadata, and tracking in place—so we can find and manage influencers much faster.

Finally, centralized relationships and negotiation power.

Because we work with multiple brands, we can negotiate better deals with influencers and talent agencies, which saves brands time and money.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (24:43.941)
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. You understand the landscape, the strategic approach needed, and what works—whether it’s a hybrid model, upper-funnel awareness, or performance-driven scale.

So, for people listening who have been on the fence about testing influencer marketing—or those who started small but need to scale—what foundations should they have in place to make it a key revenue and brand driver?

Sarah Dayes (25:25.356)
Yes. Some of this ties back to earlier points.

First, internal support and commitment. You need buy-in from leadership and a real budget behind the initiative.

A purely performance-only approach with no budget will not scale.

Second, operational readiness. Brands need to decide:

• What tech stack will you use?
• Will you go all-in-one or layer solutions?
• How will influencer management be structured?

If you don’t plan for scale, it’s harder to make it work long-term.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (26:36.581)
Excellent! Sarah, thank you so much. This was incredibly valuable. I loved diving into this with you.

So, how can people get in touch with you or your agency if they want to learn more?

Sarah Dayes (26:49.494)
For our agency, you can find us at https://www.accelerationpartners.com/

And you can find me on LinkedIn—Sarah Dayes—easily searchable there.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (27:02.287)
Excellent! Sarah, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your expertise.

Sarah Dayes (27:10.786)
Thanks for having me. It’s great to see you.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (27:12.593)
Thanks, you too.