Explore every episode of the podcast Field Notes: Creator-led Growth Podcast

Influencer marketing, UGC, and paid media are becoming one connected growth engine. So why are so many brands still managing them as separate channels?

In this episode of Field Notes, Lily Comba and Sarah Crow sit down with Cody Plofker, CEO of Jones Road Beauty and host of the Marketing Operators Podcast, to unpack how leading brands are connecting creator partnerships, organic content, and paid social to drive performance.

Cody shares how Jones Road approaches influencer marketing and creative testing, why only a fraction of creators will become true performance drivers, and why bigger influencers can outperform micro creators when their content is used in Meta Partnership Ads. They also dig into creator whitelisting, paid usage rights, influencer briefs, attribution, and how to build a creator roster designed to compound over time.

They cover why influencer marketing should be treated as a long-term growth strategy rather than another paid acquisition channel, how brands can better connect influencer and performance marketing teams, and what changes when creator content is built for both organic and paid distribution from day one.

In this episode:

How Jones Road Beauty approaches influencer and creator marketing

Why UGC, influencer marketing, and paid media are converging

Meta Partnership Ads vs. traditional creator whitelisting

Why larger creators can outperform micro influencers in paid social

How to negotiate creator usage rights and build paid usage into briefs

Why even strong creator programs should expect most partnerships not to scale

Measuring influencer marketing when attribution is imperfect

How to build a long-term roster of high-performing creators

Field Notes is the operator’s playbook for brand, creator, and growth, hosted by Lily Comba, Founder + CEO of Superbloom. and Sarah Crow, Head of Creator Strategy at Superfiliate.

Meet Lily Comba and Sarah Crow, the hosts of Field Notes, a podcast about influencer marketing, creator partnerships, brand strategy, and growth.

In this episode, Lily, Founder + CEO of Superbloom and Sarah, Head of Creator Strategy at Superfiliate share how they built their careers in creator and influencer marketing, the experiences that shaped their approach, and why they created Field Notes.

With 20 years of combined experience and hundreds of millions in managed budgets, Sarah and Lily have worked inside the evolution of creator marketing from an emerging tactic to a core growth channel. They’ve seen what happens behind the scenes of influencer campaigns, creator partnerships, brand deals, paid social, and high-performing creator programs, including the parts that rarely make it into polished case studies.

They also share what you can expect from Field Notes: candid conversations with the marketers, founders, creators, strategists, and operators shaping the future of influencer and creator marketing.

If you work in influencer marketing, creator partnerships, social media, brand marketing, or growth, start here.

Field Notes is the operator’s playbook for brand, creator, and growth.

Field Notes is the influencer marketing show for brand marketers and creator partnership leads who want to know what's actually working. Hosted by two operators with 20 years of combined experience and hundreds of millions in managed budgets, Field Notes unpacks influencer marketing strategy, creator partnerships, and brand deals the way people in the room actually talk about them. Every episode goes past surface trends to break down what's driving performance, where brands and creators get it wrong, and how the best teams are evolving creator strategy.

Co-hosted by Sarah Crow (Head of Creator Strategy, Superfiliate) and Lily Comba (Founder + CEO, Superbloom).

More binge-worthy content here: ⁠https://www.superfiliate.com/field-notes⁠