Bonus: The Future Is Human: How to Scale Your Creator Marketing Program (Without Losing Trust)

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Welcome to the DTC Podcast. Today we’re joined by Donatas Smailys, Co‑Founder & CEO of Billo, a creator‑marketing platform that helps DTC brands turn authentic creator videos into high‑performing ads.

Explore Billo

We dive into how brands can build a repeatable creator/content engine that integrates with ad funnels, why follower‑counts are becoming less relevant, how to brief creators with performance in mind, and why AI should support—not replace—human creators.

Key Takeaways

• Why creator marketing must be treated as a systematic channel, not ad‑hoc influencer blasts
• How to identify and match creators based on performance metrics (hook rate, CTR, ROAS) rather than follower size
• The role of AI and data in briefing creators, generating content variants, and feeding back into ad performance
• How brands at the $3‑M‑$10‑M revenue stage can structure the first 90 days of creator‑led campaigns
• Why authenticity still matters: synthetic avatar creators may work short‑term but risk long‑term trust and accountability
• The emerging concept of “Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)” and how creator/social assets feed into future search ecosystems

Whether you’re a DTC brand marketer responsible for scaling ads, or a founder looking to build long‑term acquisition engines, this episode gives you a clear blueprint for building creator marketing into your growth stack.

Timestamps

00:00 AI brief generator and purchase data

02:05 Why Billo started content at scale

04:15 Creator marketing as a system

06:20 Andromeda and creative diversity

08:25 Segmenting by the why

10:30 Let creators experiment and avoid fatigue

12:35 AI influencers vs authenticity

14:40 Meta partnership ads and Spark ads

16:45 Answer Engine Optimization AEO

18:50 Future of authenticity and human only

20:55 First three months on Billo plan

23:00 Performance backed creator selection

25:05 Pricing and ad volume cadence

27:10 Data loops AI variations and reuse

29:30 Scaling creator content into paid

Hashtags

#DTCPodcast #CreatorMarketing #InfluencerMarketing #UGC #EcommerceMarketing #PaidSocial #MetaAds #PartnershipAds #SparkAds #Andromeda #PerformanceCreative #AnswerEngineOptimization #AEO #Whitelisting #TikTokMarketing #AdCreative #CustomerAcquisition #DirectToConsumer #BilloApp #MarketingPodcast

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