Define the Goal First
Awareness, conversion, and content production are three different purchases that happen to involve the same person. Decide which one you are buying before you search, because the right creator for one is often wrong for the others. A clear goal also tells you what to measure, which is the difference between a program and an experiment.
Where to Find Creators
Your best candidates are usually already talking about your category. Search your own mentions, your competitors’ comments, and the platforms where your customers actually spend time. Marketplaces and agencies can widen the funnel, but nothing replaces watching a creator’s content and asking whether their audience is your customer.
Vet Before You Brief
Never brief a creator you have not vetted. Reach can be purchased, engagement can be botted, and history can be buried one scroll deeper than you looked. The full checklist lives in Vetting Creators; the short version is verify the audience is real, the engagement is human, and the back catalog is something your brand can stand next to.
The Brief
A working brief states the goal, the required messages, the disclosure requirements, and the boundaries, then leaves the creative execution to the creator. Audiences follow creators for their voice; a brief that scripts every word buys advertising at influencer prices. Say what must be true, not how it must be said.
What to Pay
Creator pricing is production plus audience plus usage rights. Expect to pay separately for the right to run the content in your own channels, and be suspicious of any rate that seems to include everything, it usually includes nothing in writing. Fair pay, scoped clearly, is what brings good creators back for the second campaign, and second campaigns are where the returns live.
Put It in Writing
Every term that matters goes in the agreement: deliverables, timeline, revisions, usage, exclusivity, and payment schedule. Creator Agreements for Brands covers the clauses in detail. Verbal deals protect no one, and the partnership that starts with a clean contract rarely ends in a dispute.
Brand Safety
Every creator partnership puts your brand's name in someone else's hands, and no contract fixes a bad hire after the fact. CGA Verified confirms a creator's identity, eligibility, and commitment to professional conduct against a published standard, so the basics are settled before the first email. Look for the CGA Verified badge on a creator's Mosaic profile before you hire.
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Footnotes
Our eligibility requirements are thoughtfully crafted by a diverse committee of creative professionals from all backgrounds, ensuring inclusivity and representation across the industry.
We proudly support members from all cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. As a Guild, we stand with the LGBTQ+ community and are committed to fostering an environment of equality and acceptance for all.
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