Should Small Brands Build a Creator-In-Residence Program?
This is like inviting a YouTuber, artist, writer, or anyone else with a following to base their work on your small brand. Now, should small brands build these programs? Small brands and businesses need the extra push that influencers and creators can provide to boost branding efforts.
Attracting Talent: What’s the Catch?
The first question is always, “Why would a creator want to do this?” Small brands don’t have buckets of money like Nike. So, you must find a way for a brand to be valuable for the creator by offering creative control, providing marketing resources, paying, or providing the company’s network so that the program becomes attractive. If you can do this, a program can turn out to be really useful for the brand and the creative talents it supports.
Attracting the right creator is really important. A creator must care about what the brand is selling and doing. The person must have values so that what they create does not contradict the mission of the business. So, it will be useful to put time into selecting a creator. It will be better for the creator, and it will be better for the business.
Producing Content Improves Reach
Great content is what the internet runs on. And a CIR program is meant to make content. When a brand finds a cool creator and releases a good amount of exciting content that improves brand reach, the brand content will get sent from friend to friend, and the number of people to buy stuff grows.
If the content only says, “Buy our product,” the program might fail because nobody wants to listen to advertisements. But, when creative people join, exciting content will come from it. This is why creator programs might grow marketing for a brand. If businesses only pay attention to profits or sales numbers, then they should carefully monitor the content just to make sure it does well.
Speaking of all this online buzz, maybe your brand already has an Instagram account. It’s possible. To boost an existing profile, companies may look into whether they should buy Instagram followers for growth because so much traffic is online these days! Some programs do this while also having a CIR program. It goes without saying to exercise a high degree of careful planning.
Measuring Success: What’s the Point
A brand must be careful to measure the result of the creator-in-residence program. You can watch the number of people that visit your business stores or online, and you can see if there are positive brand mentions. A company can also check if sales increase. It is up to the brand to think of all the different parts it values with the program but to keep track. Also, remember a CIR program gives you content and creative people and can grow your customer base. It’s more than just money! If you don’t remember all this, then you might evaluate the program wrong.
Navigating Legal Considerations
Okay, so what about the legal side? It’s easy to get so focused on creativity that you forget about contracts. Get a good agreement. Make it very clear who owns what. The brand owns the brand, and the creator owns the creative work, or the opposite documents it. This is so the program doesn’t become a legal mess.
Also, consider things like liability insurance. What if a creator gets hurt at your place? What if something goes wrong because of the content they create? You really should make sure this kind of protection is in place. Thinking ahead and getting the legal stuff right is annoying, but it pays off.
Prioritizing Clear Communication is Key
Setting expectations from the very start makes life much more simple. Create a schedule for publishing content during the program. Make an agreed deadline or a quota system with your business for content deliverables. Don’t assume that the business and creator have the same plans; be clear and concise to save time and headaches.
Make a collaborative process with both business people and the content creator. The business may believe that it knows its customers in and out, but the consumer is not always listening to the business! The artist must be able to exercise their own creativity in order to get true customer attention.
Conclusion
Creator-In-Residence programs are great! They will do a lot for your brand when starting off. They do cost money, so be creative with your budget. Also, make sure they match your ideals. If you find some people who do, then your business can grow.
Sources:
