Ep #018: Scaling to a nine-figure business using influencer marketing (with Sean Frank)

In this episode, we’ll be talking to Sean Frank the CEO of Ridge, and how he worked alongside a wide range of influencers and used the paid-for post channel, to scale Ridge into a multi-million-dollar brand.

• [00:59]: Introduction to Ridge. 
• [01:49]: Joining Ridge. 
• [03:11]: Agency Brand Dichotomy. 
• [05:13]: Importance of working for an agency when starting up.
• [06:16]: Working with agencies at Ridge.
• [07:45]: Marketing budget of a 100-million-dollar brand.
• [09:23]: Percentage of marketing budget spent on influencers.
• [10:11]: How Ridge spends its influencer marketing budget on influencers.
• [11:48]: Team Dynamics. 
• [13:35]: Reasons why influencer is Sean's favorite channel of marketing.
• [15:14]: Gaining influencers’ trust. 
• [17:18]: Sean's paid for post preference to product seeding.
• [19:15]: Leaning towards YouTube on paid-for post ads.
• [22:12]: Losing money on paid-for post ads.
• [22:50]: Importance of user-generated content (UGC). 
• [24:55]: Benefits of paying for post despite half the bids losing money. 
• [26:17]: Number of creators Ridge has worked with long-term.
• [27:55]: Expanding into different product launches with community.
• [30:23]: Drawback of having consistent influencers to work with.
• [32:31]: People getting started with influencers but concerned about ROI.
• [34:01]: Word of mouth.
• [35:39]: Working with Macro Talent.
• [38:26]: Advice for a 10-million-dollar brand starting out with influencer marketing.
• [40:20]: Inherent risk of marketing.

• “Influencer marketing is the only form of digital marketing that can build some sort of goodwill with an audience” – Sean Frank
• “We use paid-for post because part of it is just platform and the fact that our resources are better spent on a more ROI focused channel” - Sean Frank
• “A lot of our strategy is trying to get ad creative at scale that is, getting content posted one and then repurposed. ” – Cody Wittick

Cody Wittick: Twitter

Taylor Lagace: Twitter

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