Sometimes the gap is measurement

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📊 Your influencer ROI might be stuck at $5.78 when it could be $18

Average influencer marketing ROI sits at $5.78 for every $1 spent, while top-performing campaigns hit $18 to $20. 

That's not a small gap between good and great. It's more than a threefold difference, and the research behind it points to something specific: the gap traces to measurement and optimization discipline, not to fundamentally better creators or bigger budgets. 

A program stuck near the average isn't necessarily working with worse talent than a program hitting the top tier. It's very often just not measuring well enough to know which of its own creators and content are actually driving the difference.

That distinction matters because it changes what's worth fixing first. A team assuming the gap is about creator quality goes shopping for bigger names and higher follower counts. 

A team that understands the gap is largely a measurement problem looks at its own reporting first, since the fix for a $5.78 program isn't necessarily a different roster. 

It's often a clearer view into which parts of the current roster are already performing at the top-tier level and which are quietly dragging the average down.

Find out where your own number actually sits before assuming you know

Most programs have never calculated their own blended ROI figure with any precision, running instead on a general sense that the program "seems to be working" without the specific number that would tell you where you sit against the $5.78 to $20 range.

Calculate your actual return per dollar across your last full quarter of influencer spend, using the cleanest attribution signal available to you. Knowing your real number, whatever it turns out to be, is the starting point for closing the gap rather than guessing at it. Return on Influence Festival '26, powered by Modash, walks through exactly this on October 21.

Separate your roster into what's actually pulling toward $20 and what's pulling toward the average

A blended number hides the real story, since a program averaging $5.78 might contain individual creators or campaigns already performing at $15 or $20, dragged down by others performing well below average.

Break your ROI calculation down by individual creator or campaign rather than reporting one blended figure. The pattern that emerges usually points directly at where the optimization opportunity sits, without requiring a single new creator relationship to close it.

Build the measurement discipline that top-tier programs actually run on

The frameworks and real campaign examples behind how teams close this gap, featuring Leah Walker from Adobe and Tyler Vaught from Edelman among other industry leaders, are what the festival is built around. You can secure your free spot here, and if you can't attend live, the recordings arrive within 24 hours.

The difference between $5.78 and $18 isn't a bigger budget. It's usually just knowing which parts of what you're already running are actually working.

Together with Billo

Your competitor already knows their category's Q4 benchmark. Do you?

Every "Black Friday guide" treats Q4 like one big shopping event. It isn't - each category peaks on its own calendar.

• Apparel treats Black Friday as a volume play, trading ROAS for total revenue as it scales into December.
• A 30% hook rate looks strong - for Health & Beauty, that's just above average during Q4.
• Business & Industrial's best month last year was December, proving even B2B brands catch a Q4 lift.

Missed your category above? Wondering where your own numbers actually land?

Billo built a free calculator on 80,069 sales-objective Meta video ads across 14 categories from Q4 2025 - see your own category's peak month, benchmark, and fix in under a minute.

⚡ Amazon auto campaigns are research tools, not junk drawers

This framework treats close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements as separate traffic sources rather than blending them under one bid. Each represents different shopper behavior and should be evaluated independently.

Why it works: Breaking performance down by targeting group exposes differences in CPC, conversion, and order volume. Proven queries and ASINs can then move into manual campaigns for tighter bid and placement control.

Where it needs balance: Harvesting doesn't mean every winner should immediately be blocked from auto campaigns. Auto can continue discovering valuable variations around proven terms. The goal is controlled discovery, not eliminating overlap for its own sake.

🎥 Reel of the Day

What Works:

1. Build A Visual World - Medicube sells a “South of France summer” before selling skincare. Pink crochet, swimwear, sunshine and Mediterranean scenery give the products an aspirational lifestyle viewers want to enter.

2. Products Become Accessories - Tubes tucked into swimwear, serum paired with ice cream and eye masks styled beside handbags make skincare feel like part of the outfit. Product placement becomes fashion styling rather than advertising.

3. Show The Range Naturally - Multiple Medicube products appear without turning the Reel into a catalog. Each gets its own contextual moment, letting the brand showcase a wider routine while preserving the holiday narrative.

Choose one highly recognizable aesthetic and make the product belong inside it. Match locations, clothing, props, colors and activities so viewers remember the entire visual world alongside the brand. 

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Thanks for reading this edition! Keep pushing boundaries, testing ideas, and staying inspired. See you in the next edition with more ways to ignite your marketing success. 🥰