Influencer Marketing Strategy: A One-Page Template for 2026

An influencer marketing strategy is a one-page plan that answers eight questions: the one goal and the number you will judge it by, the audience and platform, the creator mix, the offer, the content and usage rights, the full budget, the timeline, and how you will measure. It sits above the campaign plan and the brief, and it is worth rewriting once a quarter. Start with one goal, five to ten small creators and one product, then repeat what worked with the creators who delivered.

Four well-known brands show the decisions at work. Stanley, a century-old drinkware brand, partnered with The Buy Guide, a commerce blog whose audience was a buyer it had rarely catered to, and CNBC reported revenue rising from $73 million in 2019 to $402 million in 2022, with 2023 sales projected to top $750 million. CeraVe’s co-founder approached creator Hyram Yarbro after seeing him recommend the brand on TikTok, and a L’Oréal executive told CNN in July 2020 that the attention had absolutely boosted sales.

Dunkin’ put creator Charli D’Amelio’s signature order on its menu in September 2020. Tubefilter reported, citing a Dunkin’ vice president, that daily app downloads rose 57% on launch day and cold brew sales rose 45% the day after. Gymshark’s founder sent clothing to the fitness YouTubers he watched and built a community of ambassadors, and CNBC reported its turnover growing tenfold in four years to £400 million. The pattern: name one audience, start with people who already use the product, give each campaign one job and go back to the same partners.

The numbers behind each line of the plan come from published surveys. In Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2025 survey the most common campaign objectives were sales (35.6%), awareness (24.4%) and user-generated content (18.9%). In its 2026 survey about half of respondents planned to expand work with nano, micro and UGC creators, and promo codes were the most-used measurement method (45.9%). In CreatorIQ’s 2025–2026 survey, brands ranked brand suitability first and follower count last when choosing creators, and gifting as a top driver of ROI fell from 71% in 2020 to 20% in 2025.

Budget from the bottom up: creators times pay, plus product and shipping, paid-ads usage, ad spend, fees and a buffer. As of October 2026, Influencer Marketing Hub’s planning ranges put one TikTok video at $50 to $200 from a nano creator and $200 to $800 from a micro creator, and Later’s 2026 guide says paid-ads usage typically adds 30–50%. The guide’s worked example runs two rounds for a candle brand on $4,885: eight creators at $250 each, then the best three with paid-ads rights, with ad spend behind the two best videos.

The template follows the fields of an Aurelia campaign: compensation, creators, deliverables, the brief, application questions, product, timing and contract. On Aurelia, a brand posts one campaign from a template, a blank page or an imported brief. The campaign goes live in the Aurelia creator marketplace, application questions screen creators, and Aurelia’s picks rank applicants by fit with the brief. Offers and agreements go out automatically, the brand’s budget is held until work is approved, and creators are paid to their bank when the brand approves their work. The workspace is free, with one platform fee added on top of the creator budget.