Sean Frank, CEO of wallet company Ridge, has released a YouTube video detailing insights and strategies from years of influencer marketing campaigns that have accounted for over $10 million in spend.

1. Key Ad Units Drive Major Results

Frank identifies five primary ad units that form the foundation of effective influencer marketing: “In-feed social posts, story posts, in-content ad reads on YouTube, podcast ads, and content rights.”

Image source: @SeanEcom

According to him, “This is all you need to spend $10,000,000 or more.”

The Ridge CEO highlights YouTube content as particularly valuable. “YouTubers, in particular, are getting 100% attention share. The ‘time impression quality’ of these ads is high. Facebook ads are swipe-and-gone. A YouTube creator ad can be 2 minutes, where you are the focus,” says Frank.

2. Program Strategies Scale from Zero to Millions

Frank outlines program strategies that range from free to high-investment approaches. 

These include gifting (free product with no guaranteed posts), free product with guaranteed posts, affiliate programs, paying for content rights, flat fee posting, and CPM-based deals.

“Flat fee posting is the backbone of the whole influencer economy,” Frank explains. “It’s estimated the influence economy is $24 billion. Pay to post is half of it.”

While flat fee posting remains the industry standard at approximately 50% of all deals, Frank notes that CPM posting provides protection for both brands and creators. “CPM posting protects both parties. You can also put a floor and a cap.”

3. Base CPM Determines Influencer Pricing

Brands face different costs based on their product category and perceived risk. “Ridge can do deals for $10 base CPM. Crypto will cost $500. Boner pills could be $50-$500,” Frank states.

He attributes Ridge’s advantageous position to being “influencer safe,” explaining: “We’ve worked with influencers for years. I can show reviews, Shopify sales, and a highlight reel of working with all the top creators. This shows the influencer that we aren’t a scam and won’t steal money from their audience.”

4. Non-Endemic Partnerships Often Outperform

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Frank argues that non-endemic partnerships (working with creators outside a brand’s product category) frequently deliver better results than endemic ones.

“I think there’s a very strong argument that the best ad space possible is non-endemic,” Frank says. 

He explains that non-endemic creators face less risk to their credibility: “The fishing YouTuber risks their credibility recommending fishing gear, but has zero risk recommending a wallet.”

5. Reach and Competition Determine True Value

Frank reveals that larger creators often have more competitive CPM rates than mid-size influencers. 

“MrBeast will typically get more unique eyeballs than the Super Bowl. He’ll typically get 200 million views on a video,” Frank shares, adding that despite this, the YouTuber’s sponsorship rates are estimated at $2 million—less than a third of a Super Bowl ad’s $7 million price tag.

“The bigger the reach, the lower the CPM,” Frank explains. “Beauty creators could charge 60 or $100 per CPM because it’s a very niche audience, and there’s a lot of competition for that ad space. MrBeast, who has way more reach than anybody else, has a lower CPM just because almost nobody’s trying to bid on that ad space.”

Frank concludes that influencer marketing represents “the closest you can get to scaling word-of-mouth marketing,” citing its ability to capture attention in a way traditional advertising cannot match.