After years of relying on affiliate sales, retailers are rushing to roll out their own creator programs en masse to make creator commerce more measurable, scalable, and controllable. But creator Lola Torres, who won influencer shopping platform LTK’s beauty creator award in 2024, has built her career on affiliate marketing, and she’s sticking with it despite how labor-intensive it is.
Torres started her creator career six years ago, regularly posting her daily outfits that fell under an elevated but affordable price umbrella for women with her body type. At first, she did a lot of free work, but over time, she leaned more into affiliate marketing, focusing her content on a handful of brands and building a following on both LTK and Instagram.
Most creators make the bulk of their money from brand deals, with affiliate links more of a side hustle for them. But Torres has done the opposite: she’s prioritized the steadier drop of affiliate income over the lumpiness of brand deals.
Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.