Creators pivot as brands’ spending goes into ‘freeze mode’

Cartwright, who has 75,200 followers on Instagram, was eventually able to get the brand deals (she declined to name the specific brands) moving again by adjusting contract terms and timelines. Her official contracts with the three brands are still being finalized, but they will be “restructured into a different form,” while trying to keep the same financial rates, she explained. Mother’s Day is usually Cartwright’s “Super Bowl,” but now those content deals will potentially shift to June or July as brands stay cautious, she added.

As a compromise, Cartwright has observed that some brands are trying shorter-term partnerships. For example, she said some of those brands proposed doing one-off deals with her as opposed to working on something longer-term. In other cases, brands are simply pressing pause on deals with creators until they feel they can have more confidence in the market. “[Brands are saying]: ‘We don’t even know if we’re going to be able to pay people and keep our lights on as a result of how everything’s playing out with the tariff situation,’” Cartwright said. “I don’t think [the deals are] all dead. It will come, but I think it’s going to be shifting on the timing.”

Cartwright is one of three creators who spoke with Digiday about dealing with the fallout from the impending tariffs and ongoing economic uncertainty. With the current climate squeezing ad budgets, some creators are thinking about how to change up their business strategies as they face a slowdown in the volume of brand deals or see deals fall through completely in the financial negotiation phase — pressuring them to adjust their contract terms, make recession videos and pivot to other revenue streams in the meantime.

Creator Sarrah Strimel Bentley, a Broadway actress and breast cancer survivor, also said she senses hesitation from brands, and estimates about a 50% reduction in content rates proposed through deals with four different brands in the children’s, beauty and health categories that approached her recently. Her TikTok (where she has 60,300 followers) and Instagram (where she has 115,300 followers) primarily focus on women’s health and her experiences with cancer and motherhood, so she’s particular about which products and brands she promotes on the platforms.

By far the biggest difference for Strimel Bentley in these potential partnerships compared with brand deals she’s worked on in the past has been the brands’ unwillingness to negotiate rates and terms, especially since tariffs began rolling out. She said most of her revenue currently comes from brand deals, such as sponsored social content for products for women going through menopause, and multi-year brand spokesperson contracts. (She declined to name specific brands.)

“They’re not coming to the table negotiating,” Strimel Bentley said. “I’m probably not going to change any of the way that I’ve been moving through this business, but I’m noticing I’m saying no a lot more.”

Three of those four potential deals mentioned by Strimel Bentley have fallen through at this point, with one still open for discussion — but the others dropped out of negotions with Strimel because they couldn’t settle on compensation. While brands are less likely to budge on compensation, she said they also expect a bigger “scope or work,” and for less pay than Strimel saw under previous contracts. For instance, brands want more volume while paying less for a Reel or series of posts. Overall, Strimel said she is also seeing fewer deals come through in recent months.

Even though Strimel Bentley didn’t intend on becoming a creator as a long-term career, she wants to continue building her following: “My page is a place for women to go when they’re experiencing, maybe not just breast cancer, but any sort of health issue that came out of nowhere at a younger age,” she said.

Contract-wise, both creators and brands have to be more flexible coming to the table right now, according to creators and influencer marketing executives. But some creators say brands aren’t willing to negotiate at the moment, which is slowing down the rate of content deals.

Diversifying revenue

Some creators see diversifying their revenue streams as the path forward, and are emphasizing authenticity and community and demonstrating their expertise beyond traditional influencer metrics to manage the uncertainty of the moment.

Cartwright, for example, is growing her primary revenue through her business RM Consulting, which she started six months after becoming a creator two years ago. Her content focuses on motherhood, maternal health and reproductive topics, so right now she does a variety of speaking engagements, makes educational resources and recently started a virtual community membership called The Village.

“I’ve had to re-establish what my value is,” Cartwright said. “My value as a creator is not having trending audio clips — but what it is doing is creating community spaces. … We’re getting creative and doing more exciting, different types of executions for collaboration, like in-person events [and] virtual webinars.”

Strimel Bentley has diversified into public speaking, and she’s writing a book and developing a one-woman cabaret show. She said she plans to continue to create content and keep her existing compensation structure.

“Just wait it out. It always kind of turns around,” added Strimel Bentley.

Creators aren’t alone in dealing with this shift in brand deals. Influencer agencies are starting to feel the squeeze, too. It’s not just a matter of the brand deals themselves, but brands are also pushing for more when it comes to measurement as they zero in on the efficiency of their campaigns in the current climate. As a result, agencies are hearing more from clients on measuring their returns over what might be considered vanity metrics.

A bigger emphasis on measurement

The measurement issue is perhaps more pronounced as there was already a growing sentiment for influencer marketers to emphasize “ROI over brand awareness,” said Amanda Acevedo, director of talent at G&B Digital Management. “Brands and agencies increasingly prioritize tangible results,” Acevedo added, “like conversions and website traffic, over softer metrics” — like brand sentiment, share of voice and social shares, for example.

When it comes to spending on the agency side, four influencer agencies told Digiday that clients aren’t pulling or reducing their budgets just yet — but there’s definitely been a change in their tone and a bigger emphasis on measuring results and staying flexible. So far, these agencies feel secure about creator investments.

“Our brands are really kind of staying the course for the time being,” said Natalie Silverstein, chief innovation officer at influencer agency Collectively.

Actually, Silverstein said it’s possible agencies could see an uptick in spending if history were to repeat itself: “During times of uncertainty, [brands could] focus more of the budget into social [media], where you can shift gears pretty quickly,” Silverstein said. “Doing some pattern matching from the last economic downturn, we’ve seen [creator spending increase] for sure.”

Alex Dahan, founder and CEO of creator marketing agency Open Influence, also said there’s been “no slowdown in creator spend” up to this point. But if anything changes, spend could be reallocated to channels where creators are performing, whether it’s paid, organic or retail media.

But, much like the creators themselves, all agencies can do is wait and see.