Finding the right creators should be easy by now.
Creators are everywhere. Platforms are endless. Data is overflowing.

And yet, most brands still get it wrong. Not because they don’t have access.
But because they start in the wrong place.

The usual approach is familiar. Brands search for creators the same way they shop for media. They scan follower counts, sort by engagement rate, shortlist fast, and reach out even faster. It looks efficient on paper. In reality, it creates collaborations that feel forced, transactional, and easy to ignore. Audiences notice. And they scroll on.

The core mistake is treating creators as channels instead of people. When reach becomes the primary filter, alignment becomes an afterthought. That’s when the content starts to feel like advertising instead of storytelling. And once trust is gone, performance follows.

The brands that get creator marketing right think differently from the start. They don’t ask “who is the biggest?” They ask “who actually fits us?” They look at tone, values, and creative expression before they ever look at numbers. They care about how a creator shows up, not just how many people follow.

This shift matters more than most teams realise. Smaller, well-aligned creators consistently outperform larger ones when the message feels native. Their audiences listen because the partnership makes sense. The product doesn’t interrupt the feed. It belongs in it.

Another reason brands struggle is the way they manage creators internally. Discovery happens in one place. Outreach in another. Briefs in documents. Feedback in emails. Payments somewhere else entirely. Without structure, creators become one-off experiments instead of long-term partners. When there’s no system, there’s no memory. Each campaign starts from zero. Context is lost. Relationships never get the chance to grow.

This is where creator marketing stops being a tactic and starts becoming a strategy. Brands that win don’t “test creators.” They build ecosystems. They keep track of who worked, why it worked, and how to do it better next time. They invest in continuity, not just campaigns.

Finding the right creators isn’t about casting wider nets. It’s about creating better conditions. A space where creators can be understood before they’re contacted. Where brands don’t pitch blindly, and creators don’t feel like replaceable inventory.

Because the right creator is rarely the loudest. Or the cheapest. Or the fastest to reply.

It’s the one who fits.

And when the fit is right, everything else works better.