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Creators’ Brand Loyalty: Quality Trumps All

Research shows Creators are careful with brand partnerships, considering product quality and reputation over compensation

As influencers continue to shape the digital marketing sphere, it is essential to understand their perspectives and motivations. Recent research from CreatorIQ reveals that creators prioritize their brand partnerships and have distinct considerations in mind when making collaboration decisions.

Most notably, they value quality over compensation, which ultimately shapes their satisfaction and loyalty to brand partnerships.

Product Quality Takes Center Stage
The study finds that 56% of creators now consider product quality as the most crucial factor when choosing whether to work with a brand. This marks a substantial increase from the 43% who cited it as their primary concern in the previous year.

Creators understand that their reputation is on the line with every brand partnership they enter. They recognize that their audience’s trust is hard-earned and can be easily lost if they promote subpar, or irrelevant, products.

Compensation: Important, but Not Paramount
While compensation is certainly a significant factor for creators, only 26% identified it as their top concern. It’s a noticeable drop from the previous year, indicating a slight shift in priorities. This doesn’t mean that creators are working for free or solely for passion, but it reflects a growing understanding that quality collaborations are more rewarding in the long run.

The study also found that only 9% of creators will work with brands offering lower-quality products for higher compensation. This finding reinforces how creators value their audience’s trust and the integrity of their content over monetary gains.

Satisfaction and Compensation
However, once creators do decide to work with a brand, compensation becomes a critical element. Most (59%) of creators cited compensation as the most significant factor behind their satisfaction with brand partnerships.

For more details on these findings, and for additional Creator Marketing Trends, download CreatorIQ’s Creator Economy Trends Report free today.

About CreatorIQ

CreatorIQ is the engine powering creator-led marketing for the world’s most innovative, iconic brands and agencies including AB InBev, Airbnb, Calvin Klein, CVS, Disney, H&M, Sephora, and Unilever. Our industry-leading data and robust technology help marketers discover, activate, optimize, and convert creator relationships at scale. By putting creators at the center of their marketing efforts, our clients unlock the full potential of creator relationships to expand brand reach, scale quality content production, grow customer engagement, and increase return on creator spend.

Founded in 2014, CreatorIQ is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in San Francisco, Denver, Austin, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, New York City, London, Auckland, and Kharkiv (UA). For more information, visit CreatorIQ.com.