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Theory Road.
Capabilities / Influencer & Creator Marketing

Creator marketing that is tracked to the sale.

Creator marketing tends to fail in one of two ways: a large fee paid to one well-known account with no way to tell what it sold, or a pile of product sent out with no plan for what happens next.

Step 1 of 2

How can we help you get found?

What do you need help with?

Next: name, email and budget. That’s it.

We run it as a system. Creators are found for fit with your buyer, not follower count. Each one is on a clear agreement covering deliverables, usage rights and disclosure. The best content is put behind paid budget as Spark Ads or partnership ads, and every creator carries a unique code or tracked link so sales can be counted. We work with three kinds of creators, each for a different job: UGC creators who make content for your ads without posting it, influencers who post to their own audience, and affiliate creators paid on commission, including through TikTok Shop. We do not keep a talent roster or broker celebrity deals. We source creators for each program and manage them directly.

What is included

Deliverables, not adjectives.

  1. Creator program plan.

    Which mix of UGC, influencer and affiliate creators fits your product, margin and channels, how many creators to start with, the budget split between fees, product and paid amplification, and the numbers each part is judged on.

  2. Creator sourcing and vetting.

    Creators found by searching the platforms and creator marketplaces for your category, checked for audience location, comment quality, past sponsored work, brand safety and signs of bought followers before anyone is contacted.

  3. Seeding and gifting.

    Product sent to a vetted list with a clear, no-obligation note, shipments and responses tracked, and creators who post organically moved into paid or affiliate relationships.

  4. UGC production.

    Briefs with hooks, talking points and shot lists, creators paid for raw and edited video your team can use in ads, product pages and email, delivered with the usage rights spelled out.

  5. Creator ads.

    Spark Ads on TikTok and partnership ads on Instagram and Facebook run from creator posts with their authorization, tested against brand-account creative so budget follows what sells.

  6. Contracts, disclosure and rights.

    Agreements covering deliverables, dates, payment, exclusivity, usage and whitelisting windows, with FTC disclosure requirements written in and checked on every post. Your attorney reviews the template.

  7. Attribution to sales.

    Unique discount codes, tracked links, affiliate platform tracking and TikTok Shop affiliate reporting rolled into one readout of revenue by creator, so renewals are decided on sales.

Who this is for

  • E-commerce, CPG, beauty, supplement, pet, outdoor and home brands whose products show well on camera
  • Brands that need a steady supply of ad creative that looks native to TikTok and Instagram
  • Companies selling on TikTok Shop or planning to, who need affiliate creators producing video
  • Teams that tried influencer marketing once and could not tell what it sold

Platforms

  • TikTok
  • TikTok Shop
  • TikTok Creator Marketplace
  • Instagram
  • Meta partnership ads
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Shopify
  • Impact.com
  • Klaviyo
Questions

About influencer & creator marketing.

What is the difference between UGC, influencers and affiliate creators?
UGC creators are paid to make content for your brand to use, usually in ads, and often do not post it themselves. Influencers post to their own audience, so you are paying for reach and trust as well as content. Affiliate creators earn a commission on the sales they drive, as with TikTok Shop affiliates or programs on affiliate platforms. Most brands do best with a mix: UGC to feed ads, a small group of influencers for credibility, and affiliates to scale on commission.
Do you have a roster of influencers or celebrity relationships?
No. We do not keep a talent roster, represent creators or broker celebrity deals. We source creators for each program based on fit with your buyer, vet them, and manage them directly. That keeps the choice about your audience rather than whoever an agency needs to book.
What are Spark Ads and partnership ads?
They are ads run from a creator's post, shown under the creator's name, with the creator's permission. On TikTok they are called Spark Ads and use an authorization code the creator generates. On Instagram and Facebook, Meta calls them partnership ads. They generally look and perform more like organic content than brand-account ads, and the creator agreement should say how long you may run them.
How do you handle TikTok Shop affiliate creators?
We set up open and targeted collaborations with commission rates that fit your margin, send samples to creators who apply and look right, follow up to get videos posted, and put the best-selling videos behind paid budget. Our TikTok Shop page covers the shop setup and fulfillment side.
What do creators need to disclose?
Under the FTC's Endorsement Guides, a creator with a material connection to a brand, whether payment, free product or commission, must disclose it clearly and conspicuously in the content itself, not buried in a profile or a stack of hashtags. The platforms also offer built-in paid partnership labels. We write disclosure into every agreement and check posts before they are amplified. Your attorney should review the contract template.
Who owns the content creators make?
Usually the creator, unless the agreement says otherwise. What you get is a license: where you can use the content, for how long, and whether you can run it as paid ads. We negotiate usage terms up front and track expiry dates so content is not run past its license.
How do you track creator sales?
Each creator gets a unique discount code and tracked link. Affiliate creators are tracked through an affiliate platform or TikTok Shop's own reporting. Creator ads are measured in the ad platform with server-side conversion data. We combine those into one revenue-by-creator view, and our affiliate partnerships service covers building a larger commission-based program.
What does creator marketing cost?
It varies widely by platform, creator size and usage rights, so we budget per program rather than quote a rate card. The main lines are creator fees, product and shipping for seeding, affiliate commissions, and paid budget to amplify the best content. Starting with many smaller creators and scaling the ones that sell is usually cheaper than one large fee.
Work with us

Let us look at your influencer & creator marketing first.

Send a short brief. We will come back within one business day with what we would fix first and what it would take.

t@theoryroad.com

Step 1 of 2

How can we help you get found?

What do you need help with?

Next: name, email and budget. That’s it.