When Kristyn Snell reached out to five parenting bloggers in 2017, their willingness to promote her product for free revealed a stark reality: influencers were drastically undervaluing themselves and their work.

This moment of insight didn’t just change her business—it impacted the lives of those bloggers and many more to come. 

Today, her company, MODERNSPEAK, is rewriting the rules of influencer marketing, focusing on transparency and empowerment in a field often shrouded in opacity.

The Canadian agency’s approach goes beyond traditional influencer management.

It fosters unique collaborations between brands and tourism boards while leveraging content creators’ skills for commercial projects at competitive rates.

In an exclusive interview with Net Influencer, Kristyn shares how she and her team are betting on automation, diversity, and transparency to build a more supportive ecosystem in the female-dominated influencer marketing space.

A PR Pro’s Dive into Business Ownership 

With a background in public relations and tourism marketing, Kristyn stumbled into talent management after running campaigns for her letterboard company in 2017.

“I reached out to about five parenting creators, and all of them came back to me and just agreed to do it without any compensation,” she tells us. 

This experience revealed a gap in the market. 

In response, Kristyn pivoted her letterboard company into an influencer management agency. 

“I decided to pay them back for what they did for me [by agreeing] to walk them through their next few partnerships to teach them how to advocate for themselves,” she explains.

And so, MODERNSPEAK was born. 

The company grew quickly, attracting 14 creators within weeks. It has since expanded through word-of-mouth referrals, focusing on helping creators turn social media into full-time careers.

Kristyn acknowledges the challenges of her unexpected foray into business ownership. 

“I never went to business school. So when this sort of accidental overnight business kind of happened, some of the biggest challenges [were] just learning in the early stages what it means to have a business,” she says.

Despite these hurdles, MODERNSPEAK has developed to prioritize transparency and creator empowerment in an industry often criticized for opacity. 

Kristyn is now launching the software Digitote to automate administrative tasks for talent managers and increase transparency for creators.

Bridging Brands and Creators with Strategic Partnerships

MODERNSPEAK fosters strategic partnerships between brands, tourism destinations, and social media influencers.

“We’re always trying to figure out how can we make this a solution that will make everybody win,” Kristyn says. 

This approach has led to innovative collaborations, such as pairing a smartphone brand with a Californian city for a content shoot.

The agency differentiates itself through its legal and financial infrastructure. 

“We have an in-house lawyer,” Kristyn explains. “We don’t redline our contracts as talent managers because we just don’t have the skill set for that or the full knowledge or understanding to fully protect our creators. We aren’t trained lawyers, so we hired one to join our team.”

MODERNSPEAK’s approach to campaign metrics goes beyond traditional measures. 

Kristyn notes, “Sometimes you can’t always look at just the number of views or the engagement, but [consider] what was the sentiment?” The agency also emphasizes the importance of shares and saves as indicators of content resonance.

To optimize campaign performance, MODERNSPEAK strategically times content releases. 

“If big things are going on in the news or on socials, we’ll work with our brand partners to delay content going out so that we can make sure that people are back to their regular scheduled consumption,” Kristyn tells us in the interview.

The agency is exploring alternatives to view guarantees, focusing instead on usage and licensing opportunities.

Holistic Approach to Campaign Success Metrics

MODERNSPEAK adopts a multifaceted approach that goes beyond traditional performance indicators.

“One thing we started doing is post-campaign surveys,” Kristyn explains. These brief questionnaires, sent to creators and clients, provide valuable insights into campaign satisfaction and effectiveness.

For creators, enjoyment and audience reaction are key metrics. 

“A big metric for us is the creator saying, ‘That was great. I loved that campaign and want to work with them again,'” Kristyn says.

This sentiment often translates to higher-quality content and stronger brand alignment.

“Brands that just provide highly curated talking points and creative briefs might not be that successful,” Kristyn explains. “In my experience, brands that put their trust in creators to create content they know their audience will respond to are always the most successful from a metrics and personal sentiment perspective.”

On the brand side, success is measured by achieving campaign goals, which can range from sales targets to engagement metrics. 

Kristyn notes, “Hearing from them that they had reached sales or engagement goals… that’s a win for the creators.”

MODERNSPEAK also values long-term relationship building. Repeat business and positive word-of-mouth are considered significant success indicators. 

“If people want to work with us again and continue building that partnership,” Kristyn says, “then the reputation we earn from all sides of our work becomes a key measure of success in my mind.”

Transparency and Collaboration

Kristyn anticipates significant shifts in the creator economy. She highlights the growing distinction between content creators and influencers as a key trend.

“We work with content creators primarily, who also happen to be influential in their space,” Kristyn explains. “But I don’t know that the industry has embraced or understood the difference between how to pay influencers and how to pay content creators.”

The entrepreneur sees opportunities for brands to leverage content creators’ skills for commercial projects at competitive rates. 

Kristyn emphasizes that this approach doesn’t mean brands can exploit content creators by undervaluing their work. Instead, it reflects a more affordable alternative to hiring large commercial teams. 

“Brands have now come to realize that they can hire a content creator to shoot their commercial for them at a fraction of the cost and with fewer resources,” she notes.

The agency is taking industry changes head-on, with plans to launch Digitote. 

This project management platform automates the administrative tasks of being a talent manager so they can focus on revenue generation.

Kristyn believes automation and AI will play crucial roles in talent management, allowing agencies to focus more on revenue generation.

Transparency is another area where Kristyn hopes to see progress. 

“I’m loving the conversations that are happening, the vulnerability that’s happening in the space,” she says. “It’s so long been a Wild West industry, and I think more people demand more structure.”

Looking ahead, Kristyn advocates for greater collaboration within the industry. 

“I’d love to see more reciprocity. I’d love to see more people just sharing information and knowledge and learning,” she says.

Image: MODERNSPEAK’s Team

Diversity, Storytelling, and Strategic Partnerships

MODERNSPEAK aims to diversify its roster, focusing on storytellers from varied backgrounds and countries. 

“We want to have a diverse roster of storytellers,” Kristyn reveals. “People from different countries and backgrounds have incredible stories to tell and different ways of creating content.”

The company plans to expand its strategic partnerships, particularly between brands and tourism boards. 

Kristyn emphasizes, “We have goals around how we want to build out this strategic partnership piece. We would love to see more brands and tourism boards collaborate.”

Beyond specific metrics, MODERNSPEAK’s overarching goal is to maintain its commitment to quality and integrity. 

“Our goal is just to keep doing great work with great people,” Kristyn says. The agency employs a social contract to ensure alignment with its values and target audience.

Kristyn hints at upcoming developments, urging stakeholders to stay tuned. 

“We are making some big moves, so there’ll be some exciting things coming up,” she concludes, pointing to the company’s Instagram and website for future announcements.