Diana Marks
Diana Marks is a content creator, blogger, and social media influencer with over 1,5 Million followers and 9 years of experience in digital advertising, award-winning social media entrepreneur, and founder of one of a kind Instagram management agency Lux Digital Media.
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Transcript
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:09):
Right. Amazing. Diana, thank you so much for being here on the Scrunch Creator Economy Show.
Diana Marks (00:16):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:19):
Well, I'm so excited because I am a longtime stalker of yours and a subscriber of your email newsletter. So when you, you, oh
Diana Marks (00:28):
My God, you're gonna make me blush
Danielle (Scrunch) (00:29):
<Laugh>. I know. <Laugh>. It's so good. I was like, oh my God, I, we get to talk to her on the podcast. So I'm so excited to share your story because firstly it's super inspirational. And you have a thriving business, which I love in the creative space. But yeah, you're really doing things differently. So, and you provide so much amazing education and tools for both brands and creators. So just so excited to get stuck in. So why don't we just start by telling your story? How did you get here
Diana Marks (01:01):
<Laugh>? Well, it's quite a long story, but I'll try to be short and concise here. So, I started out as a, as a blogger back then, I wasn't considered an influencer cuz that term didn't exist, <laugh>. So that was a decade ago almost exactly a decade ago. I started out as a blogger and I quickly monetized my blog actually and started working with brands pretty fast. And over time, obviously my career kind of transitioned into social media with the rise of social media networks, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and of course years down the line TikTok as well. So that's kind of like my influencer story in a nutshell. And then I launched my agency like digital media probably around three years ago at this point. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it's just because, I mean, there's different reasons for it, but one of the main ones is because I was working with brands already and I noticed that brands like while they like working with influencers, they might not necessarily know how to manage their own social media networks.
(02:00):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we started the service where we help brands manage their social media accounts and we started getting personalities as well who wanted help in that department. And a couple of years ago, I d dove like really deep into influencer coaching as well. I've been doing one-off coaching over the years, of course. But I developed the entire program that we just put on the app. It's called Influencer Accelerator. So this is basically a continuation of my influencer accelerator coaching that we launched a couple of years ago. So that's where we are right now. So we still service businesses, we service influencers, and we have a lot of cool, amazing products and tools for them will literally help them how to do every single aspect of their business, how to manage it properly, how to manage their time, how to communicate with brands, how to negotiate with brands, and how to basically be effective business people.
Danielle (Scrunch) (02:58):
I love this so much because I feel like when you think about creators and influencer marketing, there's so much focus on the brand. You know, there's so much focus on the brand, reaching out to influencers, you know, asking for the right deal, like all of those kind of things. But not a lot of people actually focus on the influencer or the creator and actually how to help them run a business because they are businesses of themselves. So it's so important that they learn these skills. So how are you seeing that change? I mean, you've seen it all going from blogger to influencer to now servicing influencers. How have you seen the landscape change over the last decade?
Diana Marks (03:37):
Well, I mean obviously a lot, there's a lot more opportunity right now. When I started out it was like just direct brand deals. You know, right now there's so many ways to work with brands so many ways to monetize as an influencer and so many ways to use influencers as business as well. So there's no kind of like one solution fits all. And this is kind of like actually the most common mistake I see from businesses when they do influencer marketing, for example, a lot of them, they don't set their goals correctly. So once they try influence marketing, they're like, okay, we didn't achieve our goals. Right? So it was not successful. But the definition of success of an influencer marketing campaign is very different for every single brand depending on what stage of business they're in. So yeah, so right now I see like a lot more diversity, a lot more inclusivity, a lot more possibility. I mean, we are talking about people can now monetize by working with brands and have zero followers. Literally they can just create content for brands and they don't have to post it on their own social media accounts. Like that never existed when I started out <laugh>. So this is a very big change.
Danielle (Scrunch) (04:48):
Yeah, it's, it's so cool. Like I think about you know, again, we've been in the space for a little while and yeah, it was so much like focused on sponsored posts and I love how, you know, obviously we're seeing influencers who've kind of been around for a while monetizing in new and different ways. But it's almost like if you wanna be an influencer today and just get started, there's still actually opportunity out there.
Diana Marks (05:12):
Oh, a ton. And I think there's a lot of tools right now that are available. For example, for me, whatever I put in my coaching program, that took me years to come up with myself, right? So right now people have access to coaching tools like mine or others, you know, there's a lot of free material out there. Like when I was working with brands years and years ago and I was like googling any sort of question that I would have, you know, in regards to working with brands, there would simply be no answer. Yeah. Cause the industry was just like emerging, right? So there was definitely not a lot of information. So right now, if you really wanna dive into becoming an influencer, it's much easier. It's almost a little overwhelming with the amount of information mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. But once you sort through it, through the information and understand how it works, I think it's much easier to monetize now than years ago.
Danielle (Scrunch) (06:03):
Yeah, absolutely. And do you have any tips? So for an influencer or creator who was like, okay, you know, I've built up a little following and I haven't monetized yet and I really wanna get started. Do you have any tips for them kind of when they're first starting to reach out to brands?
Diana Marks (06:20):
Well, absolutely. I think the most important part is to identify the personal brand. And a lot of influencers, they think it's their niche, but the personal brand is a little bit beyond the niche, right? It's all about like people right now with the rise of the video content, people relate with people and personalities Yeah. More than just aesthetic pictures, right? And so when I talk about personal brand, it's what you stand for. It's your values, it's your persona, your demeanor, your behavior. And basically people relate with you, you know, on a much deeper level just because, I mean, they watch you for reasons that they associate with you or they aspire to be you, right? So once you identify the personal brand, and we can actually break it down into little subcategories very easily and develop the personal brand for influencers within my program.
(07:10):
So once we identify that that's kind of not only helping the influencer become very clear on what type of value they provide to the brand and therefore directed pitching pitching process much more professionally, but also it's much easier for them to post content as well. So now they know exactly what they're gonna be posting about on social media, how they're gonna position them themselves on social media and so forth. And of course pitching email templates. This is what we provide as well in the coaching, but also more importantly, we teach them how to customize them because no brand outreach is ever the same. All brand connections are very different and you will not necessarily land a paid brand deal right away. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> it's all about building relationships with brands, showcasing your value to the brands and eventually closing down deals.
Danielle (Scrunch) (08:00):
I love this so much. So I'm actually a salesperson by trade. Like that's my Oh, perfect. You know, corporate career and I Oh,
Diana Marks (08:09):
That's of your alley for sure.
Danielle (Scrunch) (08:11):
<Laugh>. Totally, totally. Yeah. But it's so funny because I feel like there's, you know, a lot of influences and creators who kind of think, you know, all I do is just post amazing content and build my followers, I'll land those brand deals. But I actually think, you know, everything you just said, you know, it's about actually building a relationship with a brand. You've gotta get visible to the brand. You know, like they might not even see you if all you're doing is focusing on your content and followers. So I love that you actually teach people almost a sales process. So how to build a relationship, reach out to the right people, and then not expect it to come off on day one, but you know, over time close those bigger deals.
Diana Marks (08:48):
Exactly. And we provide all the tools to make it as simple for them as possible, but they still need to do the work. Yes.
Danielle (Scrunch) (08:54):
You know, <laugh>, so,
Diana Marks (08:56):
Yeah. And, and that's an an interesting conversation I have with a lot of prospects that are not necessarily part of my coaching program. They are excited to become influencers and then I kind of break down to them what the influencer career and journey entails. And they're like, you know what? Maybe I don't wanna be an influencer anymore.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:13):
Maybe this sounds like a lot of hard work
Diana Marks (09:16):
<Laugh>. Exactly. But if you really like what you do, it's all about creating content and building relationships. And there's always a system, just like in every business, there's a system that you can build for yourself that works for you. No influencer business is the same. Every single influencer monetizes in different ways. So as long as you enjoy what you are doing, I think you, it's easy to become successful nowadays.
Danielle (Scrunch) (09:39):
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And I love as well. One big mistake that I see influencers make is kind of reaching out to a brand in their dms and just, you know, wanna collab. So I love that you are like, no, you actually gotta, you know, explain your value, build a relationship and take time to actually work with, I feel like some people forget that there's a human on the other side of the brand who you're reaching out to <laugh>.
Diana Marks (10:05):
Exactly. And also there that human might not necessarily be the human that makes a decision in regards to influencer marketing, because obviously that came also from my experience because we manage business accounts for brands. Yeah. So when we manage the accounts, you know, we manage those messages in bulk. So obviously a lot of influencers, while they can be added potentially to a list of influencers, they might not necessarily land that paid brand deal that they were looking for. So obviously as an influencer, I teach people in my community to be very professional and email communication is still number one <laugh>. Yes. In terms of being professional. And we actually go over everything, the timing of the email, the rules of following up, because that's important as well. Yeah. As you know, from sales, you know, you need to follow up with your prospects. So all of this is covered very much in deep in depth, sorry, <laugh> in my influencer accelerator app.
Danielle (Scrunch) (11:01):
That's so awesome. I love that so much. So, okay, so we talked a little bit about creators and brand deals. Are you seeing any other opportunities outside of brand deals for influencers or creators to make money these days?
Diana Marks (11:16):
Oh, absolutely. Well, obviously we touched upon creating content, but not necessarily working with brands. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But beyond that, there's a lot more influencers that come up with their own products mm-hmm. <Affirmative> whether it's digital product or a physical product. Back in the, when I was kind of like in the height of my influencer career before my, I launched my agency I mean, I'm still a working influencer and I work with a lot of brands right now. A lot of them I truly enjoy working with <laugh>, but obviously I juggle a lot of hats. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So when I was actually doing it only full-time as an influencer it took me a little bit to I noticed that a lot of influencers that had a big following, they were launching brands or they were launching their own products, but only those who had a big following.
(12:05):
Yeah. Whereas right now, people don't have to have a huge following in order to monetize. And sometimes it's actually easier to monetize through your own products with a small following as well, because smaller following is niche following mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And it's also beneficial for brand deals. And it's equally beneficial for sales if you wanna sell something to your audience because they're gonna be very much into the specific niche that you are covering. So this is kind of like one of the ways to venture out as an influencer, all sorts of products, digital products, physical products, whatever your heart desires and whatever you feel inspired to be promoting regularly. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> influencers can definitely jump on on that train. And of course in addition there could be various different services as part of your influencer career, right? Like for example, I launched an agency out of my services, right?
(12:57):
I launched like digital media and we started helping out businesses, but it doesn't have to be a gigantic agency like I did. You know influencers can just work on a consulting basis with brands, you know, consult brands on their experience working as an influencer and on, you know, the whole industry in general. Of course they need to, to understand how this works. So this is the most important part. So that's why it's extremely important for influencers to be educated on every level on of influencer marketing because that way they can monetize their skills in so many different ways.
Danielle (Scrunch) (13:33):
You had. That's so cool. And I love that you touched on that. You don't have to have a really, really large following to be able to do that. And that's interesting because I've seen influencers that have, you know, multimillions of followers who actually really struggle to monetize cuz they're audience is so broad and so general. But yeah, the small influences, I feel like your engagement's a lot higher as well in the early days when you've just got sort of a small number of folies. Like people are really loyal and excited and it's a lot easier for influencers to reply to every comment and you know, you're really engaged <laugh>, you know, when they're a little bit smaller.
Diana Marks (14:10):
Yes. It's a hundred percent true. I'm actually, it's so funny because a lot of my people in my community, influencers, they can get better brand deals than myself <laugh> because they have a more niche following. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, obviously I have a different level of brand deal that I will be securing as an influencer because every size of influencer will be working with different kind of deliverables, some different goals. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Because obviously my goal as an influencer with a big following is to deliver awareness, right? Yes. So it's gonna be really hard for me to drive specific sales of a specific product unless it's very directly related to my niche, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So whereas niche influencer smaller influencers micro influencers they can actually convert into sales much easier and they're not gonna deliver as much awareness of the brand because obviously they don't have that many followers, but they will drive convergence better than a bigger influencer. So if a brand, for example, is executed an influence executing an influencer campaign, I would suggest for them to work with both sizes, bigger influencers and smaller influencers. Cuz these are very different goals that they're achieving while working with these types of influencers.
Danielle (Scrunch) (15:25):
Yeah, I love that. It's it's really interesting. I think sometimes brands think if they just find the one perfect influencer, oh yeah. Their whole life will change. So I love that you touched on micro influencers and then the bigger influencers and kind of using a combination of both. Cuz I feel like experimentation in influencer marketing is so important. What do you think about working with different niches, different sizes, and how to kind of scale a, a campaign over time?
Diana Marks (15:54):
A a hundred percent true. It's pretty much as any marketing in general, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, so it's all about calibrating. You can't like execute a perfect marketing campaign from the get-go. You need to figure out what works for your business and what are your goals, obviously. So the same thing goes within fossil marketing. You gotta test out different niches, different types of influencers. And of course you gotta understand that one influencer is not gonna sell out your entire store, even if it's the most famous influencer,
Danielle (Scrunch) (16:24):
Even if it's Kim Kardashian
Diana Marks (16:26):
<Laugh>. Exactly. Exactly. Unfortunately doesn't work this way in 20 22, 20 23 and moving forward <laugh>.
Danielle (Scrunch) (16:33):
Yeah, no, it's, it's really interesting. I love, I love that good solid marketing foundation approach. It's, you know, get back to basics and understanding who your customer is and experimenting. That's super cool. So you, te said 2023. So tell me, what do you think is coming next for influencer marketing? Like what trends are you starting to see? What's sort of changed over time?
Diana Marks (16:57):
Well, TikTok obviously took over <laugh> the entire market. Yeah. there's a lot less aesthetics that brands are going to be looking for. They're going to be moving more into casual content. Video content is of course already a trend. I don't see a decline in that. I think it's only gonna be an increase in that. However, this is kind of like one of the main tips that I always give to influencers who are tuning in to listen to me, you know, who are watching my lessons. I'm not saying you should switch right away. For example, if an influencer never did video, you know, so they were only creating pictures, now all of a sudden they start freaking out. They're like, oh my god, brands are not gonna be working with me anymore. First of all, it takes time for the entire industry to transition.
(17:43):
Yeah. That's number one. And number two is that does not mean that pictures don't exist anymore. They still do. Yeah. So it's just a matter of understanding how to sell yourself. And as long as you basically move with the trends and with the market and start introducing that content slowly and obviously start monetizing the content slowly you'll be able to sustainably monetize as an influencer in the long run. That's basically one of the tips that I actually give to obviously my entire coaching community. But more importantly, this is the rule that I had to follow over the years as an influencer. And that's why I was able to create consistent income for years and years for decade now as an influencer. Just because I was kind of like observing the market. I was watching the trends, I was seeing words going, and then I was slowly adding that type of content and that those type of trends into my own online presence.
(18:38):
And of course in general I see a lot of diversification of channels as well. I don't think there's gonna be just one platform anymore. Like back, like even a couple of years ago, it was all about Instagram, right? So brands would not even care at that point, you know, about other social media networks and now they're kind of like dabbling into TikTok as well. I think it's gonna be a lot of cross promotion, right? Yeah. So if you have your presence on different social media networks, you are likely to secure more brand deals and provide more value to brands. And I think brands are gonna be looking for something like that as well.
Danielle (Scrunch) (19:13):
Yeah, I think that's such an important point. I was having a conversation with somebody a couple of days ago about blog content and long form content and I'm like, I, yeah, I feel like everyone got obsessed with Instagram, but there's so much, so much value in blog content and bloggers still, even though we think bloggers is such an old term, actually tapping into them as a part of your ma marketing strategy is like still so important.
Diana Marks (19:40):
A hundred percent. And it's long-term plays as well because blogs take a while until they not only they reach their own audiences, but then they start trending on search the engines, right? So you can actually, even I myself have some of the blog posts that are getting traffic that are like from years ago just because they were calibrated by keywords and stuff like that. So it's kind of the same with long form YouTube videos. Yeah. so it takes a while for them to start trending. So I think this is a very important aspect of marketing as well. And it, you are a hundred percent correct that bloggers are still very much relevant and they still monetize <laugh>.
Danielle (Scrunch) (20:21):
That's so good. I I love it. It's a really good point around diversification. So I think both for brands and their marketing strategies, really testing out different channels and not kind of getting that shiny object syndrome of just Instagram. And then even from a blog, an influencer, creator, blogger, whatever we wanna call them side actually them experimenting with different channels as well. And, and I always say to influencers, you've gotta have your own website, you've gotta have your own home base. Oh yeah. So, you know, if Instagram shuts down tomorrow, you've still got somewhere where you are capturing your email list and, and traffic as well, so people know where to find you
Diana Marks (20:59):
A hundred percent. And also not every influencer is going to be made for let's say TikTok. And that's okay. You can still monetize other platforms. So that's kind of like the biggest issue and fear I see from influencers. They're like, oh my god, now YouTube shorts, you just told us about TikTok, now we have to be on YouTube shorts. And I'm like, you don't have to be everywhere. You can try out for sure. And I do recommend trying out your presence on every network to see which one resonates with you the most. But you don't have to have presence on every single network. You do have to have presence on a few of them, but not all of them because you can't keep like you said, kind of like trying to you know, reach that shiny object because it, you are never gonna get there and you're just gonna exhaust yourself. So it's all about pacing yourself, trying new things and understanding that you can't be everywhere <laugh>, but you'll still be able to monetize regardless of where you are.
Danielle (Scrunch) (21:56):
Yeah. That is such amazing advice. I love it. So what do you see the challenges in the industry? Where do you see people kind of getting unstuck when it comes to their influencer marketing,
Diana Marks (22:08):
Getting stuck or unstuck?
Danielle (Scrunch) (22:10):
<Laugh>? Oh, getting, maybe getting stuck. And so what kind of challenges and how do they overcome them?
Diana Marks (22:16):
So from a business perspective, I would say it's not defining their goals correctly and kind of like not understanding how the influencer marketing works. Not calibrating the influencers, not doing enough testing. I see a lot of businesses who tried I don't know, sending products to three influencers. They didn't get any sales and they're like, okay, influencer marketing doesn't work. And I'm like that's not exactly how it works. <Laugh>, you know, <laugh>. Yeah. So kind of like understanding what goes be behind. Influencer marketing I think is the biggest hurdle, you know, the biggest struggle for businesses. And that's where companies like mine come in. We do consulting, we kind of break down the entire strategy and we obviously customize the strategy for them. And again, the, the first strategy might not work and that's totally fine because it's all about, like I mentioned earlier, calibrating mm-hmm. <Affirmative>.
(23:08):
so this is kind of like the biggest hurdle and to the way to get unstuck is obviously to either find professionals like myself or educate yourself. Yeah. There's a lot of information right now that is available. I know it might be overwhelming and that's actually like another thing too. You might find like so many different opinions, right? Everybody's an expert and everybody has like a different opinion. So I would suggest to kind of like, it's kind of like you process the news, you listen to everything, but then you kind of like interpret it your own way. So yeah. I
Danielle (Scrunch) (23:40):
Love that. That's a good analogy. <Laugh>.
Diana Marks (23:42):
So it's kind of like the same way here with, in in, with all sorts of like influencer marketing and the business side of it. I would recommend to kind of like listen to all sorts of opinions mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and form your own, but more importantly practice. So that's kind of like my biggest advice. And it goes the same for influencers, right? It is much easier right now to find somebody who has walked that path and simply either follow their advice for free or just start working with them on a more deeper level. Regardless of what it is, there's a lot of free information out there. You just need to find people who you really trust, who have a good track record obviously as well. And just simply educate yourself. And like I mentioned, it doesn't have to be one coach. It can be several different sources of information.
(24:29):
You just process it and kind of like start testing it out. And again, it's all about testing. That's another issue that I see a lot of businesses and influencers are having. Like for example, they okay, they understand how to monetize as an influencer, but they're not trying it so they're like, okay, yeah, lemme try to sell one product. They do like one story, they don't sell it. And then they're like, okay, so I can't introduce products because I can't sell them. And I'm like, that's again, not this for, not entirely how it works. Yeah. but it's all about testing, committing to whatever goal you set for yourself, seeing how it works. And as with anything in entrepreneurship and business, it's all about calibrating and analyzing, right? So it might not work a hundred percent. That's totally fine. You just adjust the path and keep testing until you achieve success in your niche.
Danielle (Scrunch) (25:19):
That is absolutely awesome. Well, Diana, thank you so much for joining us today on the Scrunch Creator Economy. Show your wisdom and insights. Oh my gosh. Anytime. You're welcome back. Anytime. But your, yeah, your wisdom and insights for both brands and creators is absolutely phenomenal. So thank you so much for your time.
Diana Marks (25:40):
Thank you for having me and have a beautiful day.
