PlusUp Field Guide · E-commerce
5 ways e-commerce brands can build better creator marketing.
Not another influencer list. Five moves we use to turn creators, creative strategy and media buying into one growth engine — one that gets smarter every month.
Why listen to us
Ten years in e-commerce, from both sides of the sale.
We've spent over a decade inside online brands — writing the creative, casting the creators and buying the media. Not watching from the outside, and not running one discipline while someone else guesses at the other.
Along the way we've helped brands use creator marketing to do more than look busy: grow into real companies, and sell for nine figures.
10+
years in e-commerce
$100M+
in brand exits
1
loop that compounds
How we learned it
- 01
We bought the media.
Over a decade running paid social, search and shopping for online brands. That's where we learned what actually makes people buy — and how quickly good creative burns out.
- 02
We worked with creators.
We watched the same thing happen twice: one-off influencer posts that looked great and never moved revenue, and brands treating creators as a line item instead of an asset.
- 03
We put them together.
The brands that grew — and sold for nine figures — ran creators, creative and media as one system. Same story, tested constantly, budget behind whatever worked.
The five ways
Five moves. One loop.
Read them in order — each one feeds the next, and the whole thing compounds.
- 1
Way 01 · Cast
Cast creators like a show, not a campaign.
Most brands rent strangers for one post. The ones that win build a recurring cast: a brand character people recognise in the feed, real customers who look like the audience, and outside creators who bring their own point of view on the category.
- You get
- + Brand character
- + Customer creators
- + Creator partners
- 2
Way 02 · Brief
Brief for a test, not a vibe.
Before anything is filmed, we mine reviews, support tickets and comments for the words customers already use. Then every brief carries one hypothesis — one audience, one insight, one message — so each asset teaches you something, whether it wins or not.
- You get
- + Customer language map
- + Hook library
- + Testable briefs
- 3
Way 03 · Produce
Run an always-on engine, not a one-off drop.
Recurring formats — demos, founder stories, UGC series, testimonials — make production repeatable and cheap, and keep a steady stream of fresh creative coming in instead of one expensive shoot every quarter.
- You get
- + Always-on series
- + Monthly creative drops
- + Refresh cadence
- 4
Way 04 · Amplify
Turn creator posts into paid media.
A creator post that earns attention organically is the cheapest creative you will ever test. Whitelist it, put budget behind it on Meta, TikTok and YouTube, then let search and shopping catch the demand it creates. One budget, two jobs.
- You get
- + Whitelisted creator ads
- + Paid social & video
- + Search & shopping capture
- 5
Way 05 · Learn
Judge creators by what they teach you.
Reach is a vanity number. We read results by creative, creator and angle — not just channel — so winners get scaled, losers get cut, and every round of briefs gets sharper than the last.
- You get
- + CAC · ROAS · LTV
- + Creative scorecards
- + Next-round briefs
Way 01, up close
Every brand needs a cast of three.
The Character
A recurring face or persona that makes the brand instantly recognizable in the feed.
The Customer
Real buyers who look and sound like the audience, sharing honest product moments.
The Creator
Outside voices with their own community and point of view on your category.
Is this for you?
Built for brands ready to scale.
- ✓ You sell online (DTC, Amazon, Shopify or retail + e-com)
- ✓ Paid social works, but creative fatigue is real
- ✓ You've tried influencers and want something repeatable
- ✓ You want creative and media decisions made together
Work with PlusUp
Let's put these five to work.
A 30-minute call. We'll look at your current creative and media and map the first two moves.
Start a conversation ↗