Our newsletterVendor reportAspire, 2026
Brands are split on which influencer strategy drives the most ROI: ambassador programs 24%, UGC in paid ads 23%, one-off campaigns 22%
Performance measurement
Influencer marketing strategy with the most ROI for brands, by strategy type
Influencer marketing strategy with the most ROI for brands, by strategy type| Strategy | Share of respondents (%) |
|---|---|
| Long-term ambassador program | 24% |
| UGC in paid ads | 23% |
| One-off influencer marketing campaign | 22% |
| Affiliate marketing | 17% |
| Product seeding/gifting | 8% |
| Other | 6% |
- Reader Note:
- Brands were asked which influencer strategy drove the most ROI for them. The three answers sit within two points of each other, which is inside what a sample of this size can separate, so the finding here is the absence of a winner. ROI is each brand's own judgement rather than a measured return. Aspire does not say when the survey ran.
- Evidence:
- Self-reported behaviour
- Vendor interest:
- High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- Sample:
- Mixed methods: Aspire internal platform data from creators and campaigns, plus surveys of nearly 900 marketers and creators; exact split and sampling method not disclosed.
Reader Note:
Evidence:
Vendor interest:
Sample:Good for
A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.
Not for
- Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
- This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.
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