Mastering Influencer Marketing in Regulated Industries: Navigating Compliance, Aligning Brand Goals, and Driving Success

Podcast Guest:  Joelle Moroney

Host: Kerry Curran

Title: Mastering Influencer Marketing in Regulated Industries: Navigating Compliance, Aligning Brand Goals, and Driving Success


Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:01.067)

 

And welcome Joelle, please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background and extensive experience.

Joelle Moroney (00:08.724)

 

Hi, Kerry. So great to be here today. Joelle Moroney, CEO of Creator Collective. We are an advisory boutique firm working with creators, empowering creators, curating technology, as well as a global brand strategy for social impact.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:26.081)

 

Excellent. So I know, Joelle, you've been in the, you've had a front row seat really in the, to the evolution of influencer and creator and ambassador strategies. So share a bit about what you've seen and how it's changed.

Joelle Moroney (00:42.996)

 

Absolutely. So thanks for that tee-up for sure. Starting in, what I would call the first-gen version of influencer marketing in the creator economy with Timing and Conde Nast whereby it was at the time more celebrities and editors that were endorsing and or promoting the best in the breed for services and products through editorial and thought leadership.

I was lucky enough to be with InStyle, RealSimple, and Gourmet at the time. And then evolved into analytics, right? Because we all have to monetize the work that we do, which is of course a revenue boost platform. And in doing that, I went into what was cutting-edge technology with Data Zoo which was acquired by Roku, as you may know. And then also of course Yahoo. So.

Now here we are fast forward into what I would call 2.0, 3.0 creator version with influencer marketing. I feel that this will continue to proliferate the marketplace as we're looking to have influencers and creators tell brand stories in a very authentic manner that lands with their audiences.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (01:55.821)

 

Yeah, so as you've seen the explosion in the 2.0, as you said, what has been the most exciting to you?

Joelle Moroney (02:04.268)

 

Well, when I look at this, I think it's more about the fact that we're all creators in our own right. And it's also about letting authentic voices ring clear in verticals that we all care about, whether it's finance, food, travel, technology, there are ways to lean in and learn more about the best places to go, the best places to eat, the best guidance and principles in terms of your investments. We know for a fact that people are now leaning on TikTok and Instagram for advice with their healthcare as they are with their finances. So this is a very powerful platform and the accrued economy is starting to drive not just Fortune 500 companies, but also smaller companies as well.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (02:56.237)

 

No, excellent. And you're right. We've seen just how prevalent and pervasive really the TikTok people are getting your rate, financial advice, and healthcare advice. When I was involved with some research last year and actually a number one source reported that, in the survey, the number one source for information related to financial services was actually influencers. So at first, it made me a little bit nervous.

Because obviously, you don't want your Tick-8, you know, just a TikTok celebrity giving you investment advice, but then realizing, you know, it looked into it more and it's, there's so much even just general 101, let's get, you know, Dave Ramsey type of, let's get your finances in order type of, type of content out there that is useful, valuable and beneficial.

And to your point, having that, the brand kind of drives that conversation or builds the framework for that conversation can be so powerful for brands, financial institutions that want to build those connections with those audiences that are consuming that information and trying to learn and change their financial road. 
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Talk about, so I love about kind of what your POV and your experience, what you've, you've shared with me is really how you help those kind of more highly regulated brands and institutions build those influencer strategies through that really authentic brand storytelling through brand ambassadors. So share a bit of how you build that framework and kind of start to make sure that you're helping brands connect and drive that audience engagement.

Joelle Moroney (04:59.05)

 

Absolutely. So just Kerry, there is a little lag. I don't know if it's on your side or my side with the wifi. You were freezing up a couple of times.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (05:04.535)

 

Yeah, it's okay, it'll be okay. It downloads to your computer and then.

Joelle Moroney (05:07.606)

 

Okay, cool.

Yeah, so I'm glad you brought that up because I do specialize in highly regulated industries, financial services in particular, as well as healthcare. And I say that because there are very strict guidelines that the creators must adhere to, right? In terms of making sure that they are landing within the guardrails of the guidelines for the company. Also, FTC guidelines we have to be mindful of as part of that.

And there are very experienced creators that we can curate to make sure that we know they are tried and true and also vetted properly within the selection. So I work with, again, empowering creators directly via talent agents and or creators directly that I have relationships with. Also curating different tech platforms that specialize in those particular areas to make sure that we are properly vetting these creators.

It is important because what we're finding more than ever, the CFO and CEO are very concerned, especially in our economic and political environment, that the influencers are going to stay on brand reputation, which is critical, certainly with financial services and different guidelines. And when you're providing this sort of advice, whether it's medical and or financial, there have to be some disclosures.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (06:25.177)

 

Mm-hmm.

Joelle Moroney (06:35.626)

 

I found in my work with healthcare that there were often ISI guidelines that we would have to put through the feed, which may look like a sort of impediment to some of the actual creator flow, but it's part of the disclosure and it lands well. It's fine. The audience knows that that's an important constituent to that as well.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (06:56.483)

 

That's great. And so when you're working with brands, you want to make sure you're tying it back to everything based on their business objectives. know creator and influencer, it can be a shiny objective. We need to do this. I saw a TikTok is big, but talk about how you make sure it really kind of connects to that, that is what they're trying to achieve with their other marketing strategies.

Joelle Moroney (07:17.804)

 

Yes. Yes. So I did mention that first and foremost, we want to make sure that we are building out a strategy that is in direct alignment with the business objectives. And then also the key metrics for success. What do the brands care about? What are they being held accountable for? This is where ultimately the ROI comes in and certainly the revenue model. But what we will also do is build out a brand brief so that we are very clear on the targets, the personas, and who they're looking to reach.

As well as the actual creator that will be representing the brand specifically. Then we look at the narrative that the client, in my case client, but a brand will want to make sure they're communicating to their audiences, keeping it tight and simple so that we are being very efficient with the creator's content and storytelling. The third element is looking at KPIs, right? Because we want to make sure that we're monetizing this and looking at the analytics.

Often I recommend or we look at a hybrid KPI because we're looking to build out awareness, certainly with revenue boost in your platform, you're doing this regularly with different clients, but we're also making sure that we're monetizing this from a building a greater awareness, upper funnel, as well as lower funnel conversions. That said, that will also help predicate what type of creator and who we want to align with the brand because their following will help with the engagement.

And for example, there are often brands that want to have awareness with a mega or a celebrity. Let's say Dunkin' Donuts, for example, with Charli D'Amelio. But then you're also going to want to have lower funnel conversion and have micro, and macro influencers who are regular customers at Dunkin' to share their story because we find call to action works well … 

Kerry Curran, RBMA (08:45.571)

 

Yeah.

Joelle Moroney (09:09.998)

 

… when we have audiences that are super hyper-engaged with the micro and mega influencers.

Kerry Curran, RBMA (09:17.261)

 

No, that's great. And so you're working with the brand team at the, the, the marketing team and kind of brand lead at the con, the client side, and then building that brief, making sure you're aligned on the creators and the KPIs. And then, you know, talk about kind of how you help them navigate choosing the right creators or influencers to be part of the program?

Joelle Moroney (09:43.466)

 

Absolutely. So once we've identified all of the different sorts of framework elements, we then start to look at the influencer discovery process. And a lot of it can be a heavy lift on, certainly on my side, I have di