Holly Eddleston is Head of Influencer Marketing at BIG little LDN. When she isn’t planning our next award winning influencer marketing campaign, she’s rummaging through charity shops for “Nanna” fabrics to adorn her next tablescape and keeping in touch with her adopted donkey, Rusty, who makes an annual appearance in the local church nativity play at Christmas. She loves a cuppa, but it better not be anything but Clipper!

Tell us a bit about your background

I started my career working at Red Bull in the field marketing team and moved onto digital marketing at various London agencies once I’d graduated. I found my niche and honed my skills in influencer marketing (which wasn’t really a thing 13 years ago)

What do you love most about your job?

I love that my job constantly evolves, when a new platform is launched or when a platform introduces a new functionality, there is suddenly a plethora of new skills to learn, new talent to discover and a shift in strategy for best results. It’s always really exciting. I’m also a data nerd, I love going through results of campaigns, sharing learnings and uses them to improve future work.

What annoys you?

Influencers buying followers really annoys me. We make sure that we always do our due diligence to ensure that an influencer’s audience is genuine but a lot of brands and agencies don’t - and they’re getting robbed blind!

Why is due diligence so important?  

Our vetting process is long, in depth and very important. We check everything from audience location, age, brand suitability, past brand collaborations, engagement rate and quality of content produced. This really important to make sure that you’re getting value out of where you’re spending your money.

What makes a good influencer marketing campaign?

A campaign that fits seamlessly into an influencer’s feed. Something that entertains, teaches, offers a wanted discount or engages an audience. We always look at the comments and saves when our campaigns are live, I believe this is the most important when it comes to metrics as this is where you learn whether the campaign resonated with your target audience or not.

What can business owners expect from influencer marketing at BIG little LDN?

A diverse and well thought through talent offering, pin-pointed strategy and creative execution that brings their campaign and brand to life. Oh, and brilliant negotiation skills – we treat a brand’s money like it’s our own.

What is the one thing you wish more brand owners knew about influencer marketing?

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. We create campaigns around specific individuals so that the campaign fits seamlessly on their channel. There is also a lot of behind the scenes to get a campaign off the ground – contracting, negotiating, campaign planning, liaising with agents who can sometimes add another layer of complexity.

If you weren’t in Marketing what would have been your Plan B?

I would have loved to work in events or interior design. I do try to bring those passions into my work life though!