Influencer marketing shifts from add-on to core strategy

Kolsquare has published research arguing that brands that treat influencer marketing as optional risk falling behind, as the practice is now embedded in mainstream marketing activity.

The findings point to growing use of influencer marketing within broader communications and advertising work in the UK and across Europe. In the UK, 52% of marketers already integrate influencer marketing into PR and communications strategies, while 46% link it to wider brand campaigns. The same share use paid media to amplify creator content.

Across Europe, 49% of brands now include influencer marketing in PR and communications activity. The report argues that marketers are moving away from treating creator work as a separate or experimental channel and are instead tying it to wider commercial targets.

That change is also affecting how campaigns are assessed. Likes, reach and impressions have long been standard measures in influencer marketing, but brands are increasingly looking for campaigns to deliver clicks, web traffic and sales.

Rather than relying on isolated sponsored posts, marketers are using influencer activity across several stages of the customer journey. The research points to rising investment in longer-term creator partnerships, user-generated content and affiliate activity as part of that shift.

Budget shift

Spending plans in the report suggest the trend is likely to continue. Across Europe, 82% of marketers plan to increase spending on paid amplification of creator content, 59% expect to invest more in long-term creator partnerships and 55% plan to raise spending on user-generated content.

The report also points to broader integration of influencer work into internal business systems. Brands are increasingly connecting influencer activity to eCommerce tools, customer relationship management systems and affiliate tracking, making it easier to identify which content is linked to sales and customer growth.

As a result, influencer marketing is being measured alongside other channels rather than in isolation. This marks a shift in how marketing teams justify spending and evaluate returns from creator-led campaigns.

Trust factor

Kolsquare’s research also says campaign performance is closely tied to trust between creators and their audiences. It argues that content seen as authentic and grounded in a genuine relationship can perform better, and adds that clear disclosure of paid partnerships does not harm results.

That suggests marketers should focus less on hiding sponsorship and more on choosing creators whose audiences see them as credible. The emphasis, the report says, is on fit and trust rather than pure scale.

Quentin Bordage, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Kolsquare, said: “Influencer marketing has changed rapidly. It’s no longer about reach alone; it’s about achieving tangible results. Brands already using it properly are building it into their wider marketing campaigns, while those treating it as an add-on risk falling behind.”

Kolsquare provides influencer marketing software and describes itself as focused on compliance standards in the UK. It says it works with brands including Coca-Cola, Sony Music, Publicis, Sephora, Clarins, Nissan and Lush, and is part of team.blue, a European digital services group with more than 3.3 million customers in 22 countries.

The report’s central message is that many brands no longer treat influencer marketing as a stand-alone branding exercise, but as a measurable part of the wider marketing mix tied to traffic, sales and customer growth.