This episode offers a granular look into Original Grain's highly selective and profitable YouTube influencer marketing strategy. Nate Lagos, CMO, details their unique approach to identifying, vetting, and optimizing influencer partnerships, focusing on niche content alignment and robust performance metrics like 'revenue per thousand impressions' (RPM) to drive significant ROI in a bootstrapped D2C environment.
Key takeaways
Prioritize niche content alignment over broad reach: Original Grain finds greater success and higher RPMs by partnering with influencers whose content directly aligns with their product categories (e.g., whiskey reviewers for whiskey barrel watches) rather than general lifestyle creators.
Implement a 'revenue per thousand impressions' (RPM) metric for influencer ROI: Calculate RPM by dividing revenue generated from an influencer by their video's total impressions, allowing for objective comparison and valuation of different creators.
Set a minimum view threshold for influencer vetting: Original Grain only considers YouTube creators averaging at least 5,000 views on their last 10 videos as a baseline for potential partnership.
Utilize custom discount codes for accurate last-click attribution: Assign unique codes to each influencer to track direct sales and calculate a conservative, worst-case scenario ROI.
Be prepared to walk away from deals that don't meet data-driven projections: Use RPM and view data to establish a fair offer, and don't be afraid to decline if an influencer's asking price doesn't align with your projected ROI.
In this episode, we talk to Nate Lagos, Head of Marketing at Original Grain. He shares insights into their marketing strategy and is selective about which influencers they work with and has found success with YouTube creators that have highly engaged audiences within their niche. TIMESTAMPS [02:00]: Nate's Background [02:40]: Original Grain's annual growth revenue [03:39]: Original Grain's marketing revenue percentage [04:14]: Original Grain's influencer marketing percentage [05:14]: 6x revenue in Q1 [07:12]: Original Grain's attribution measurement [08:18]: Product niche testing [10:00]: Niche testing category [12:04]: YouTube views consistency [12:22]: YouTube average views agreement [16:33]: How to keep the influencers going [17:59]: Deals usage rights with networks [20:41]: Potential ways to find new creators [21:50]: Effective tools to reach potential clients [24:00]: Contractor payment [27:13]: Nate's advice to upcoming influence marketers on YouTube
What does this episode say about influencer & creator?
Prioritize niche content alignment over broad reach: Original Grain finds greater success and higher RPMs by partnering with influencers whose content directly aligns with their product categories (e.g., whiskey reviewers for whiskey barrel watches) rather than general lifestyle creators.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Implement a 'revenue per thousand impressions' (RPM) metric for influencer ROI: Calculate RPM by dividing revenue generated from an influencer by their video's total impressions, allowing for objective comparison and valuation of different creators.
What does this episode say about analytics & attribution?
Set a minimum view threshold for influencer vetting: Original Grain only considers YouTube creators averaging at least 5,000 views on their last 10 videos as a baseline for potential partnership.
What does this episode say about influencer & creator?
Utilize custom discount codes for accurate last-click attribution: Assign unique codes to each influencer to track direct sales and calculate a conservative, worst-case scenario ROI.
What does this episode say about influencer & creator?
Be prepared to walk away from deals that don't meet data-driven projections: Use RPM and view data to establish a fair offer, and don't be afraid to decline if an influencer's asking price doesn't align with your projected ROI.
