Cynthia Ruff
Q What do you do?
“I help brands and agencies navigate the art and science of successful influencer campaigns.”
Through strategy, solution implementation, influencer pay, and coaching, my clients see a 4-8 hour time reduction per week per campaign with 10-30% increased ROAS.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
My corporate career in sales and HR consulting is where I learned how long and short-term incentives impacted performance. During this time, I was (and still do) write a lifestyle blog called Darling Down South. After 8 years of blogging, an MBA at Georgia Tech, and a start-up accelerator later, I found my true passion lies in leveraging science and data-backed approaches to navigate the art of working with influencers so brands can preserve positive relationships while scaling their impact.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
During my time in MBA (from 2019-to 2021) and my start-up accelerator, I collected over 10,000 unique data points on sponsored post-pay information. This robust data set and contract compilation allows me to recommend pay tiers for sponsored posts that are competitive and relevant to your brand's niche. I also partner with select Influencer Relationship Management companies to implement their solution on your behalf so that you can streamline your campaign process. This field is new slash non-existent but it will be the most popular marketing professional role in the next 5 years as the creator economy continues to expand and content democratization continues to fragment traditional ad outlets.
Q What are you working on right now?
My goal is to implement automated solutions for 100 brands/agencies this year. As a content creator myself, if I never have to submit a screenshot for as long as I create, then I will know my work as a solutions consultant will have been worth it.
Q What’s your style?
I love working with startups. I teach influencer marketing to the Georgia Tech Startup Accelerator, CREATE-X. Startups are fun, scrappy, hard-working, and enthusiastic about what they're building.
My work personally is refined and corporate reports with a down-to-earth spin because data is important and doesn't have to be boring.
Organized data, clean lines, direct and straight to the point. My website represents this well. https://theinfluencerconsultant.com
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
This job, Influencer Marketing Consulting, is my dream job. This is where I make a difference in the creator economy.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Brands and agencies who like spending human capital hours to collect influencer data versus paying to automate it. I'm not certain why they prefer to spend countless hours chasing creator's data down when it could all be sent to them on a weekly basis through thoughtful solution implementation. Most solutions pay themselves off in the first month/ quarter depending on how many campaigns you activate.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Email brands and agencies about the solutions I can implement for them so they can start saving 4-8 hours per week.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I wish I would have gone to therapy in college. I didn't realize how insecure I was and how much that paralyzed me from putting myself out there sooner. I lost out on opportunities. I ruminated on starting a blog for 5 years and I let myself be a doormat for others. Had I had the tools that I do now from being with a good therapist, I would not have wasted so much time commiserating and would have just taken action, asked for help, and taken responsibility for myself.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Building the membership portal of my website. How to build a login page and then have a separate but secure section for others to interact with.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I am looking to help every brand get onboarded with a solution that helps them streamline their influencer process. If you're collecting screenshots, searching for influencers manually, and just plain tired of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick, let's chat.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My ideal client is a company that has 1-6 dedicated marketing people and is looking to spend $20k-$250k in influencer marketing in a given year. I love working with growth marketing teams and startups. If you need to hit the ground running and move quickly, that's what I specialize in.
Q: What is your rate?
My prices range from $1,500 to $33,500 depending on the depth and breadth of your needs. For simple solution implementation, it's $1,500 + the cost of the solution you choose. I am very transparent about my prices and timeline. When you hire me, I will send you all of my a la carte rates and packages.
Package Overview:
Strategy & Planning: $5,000-$13,300
Solution Implementation: $3,000-$6,250
Influencer Pay Data: $1,500-$7,400
Solutions I represent range from $200-$2,500 a month for starter packages.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Please email me and tell me your top pain points of working with influencers.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Your Social Team. Manu is a genius at all things social media marketing. She is a great resource for people seeking the truth about instagram marketing.
instagram: @yoursocialteam
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Riding horses, being outside, and cooking.
This member profile was originally published in May 2022.