Updated: Sep 18
When your bills do not depend on brand deals, “no” becomes a very easy and very useful word.
A few weeks ago, I posted a hair serum I genuinely love. Someone messaged me and asked if it actually worked or if it was a brand deal.
Fair question.
It was not sponsored. I bought it myself. It works. I shared it because I liked it.
But the fact that someone had to ask stayed with me.
I have worked in PR for most of my adult life, and because I own an agency, I have never had to depend on brand deals to pay my bills. That has always given me the luxury of saying no. I do not need to manufacture enthusiasm for a product I would never buy, a restaurant I would never visit, or an experience I would never choose on my own.
My credibility matters more to me than a check.
From the agency side, I have also seen how influencer marketing actually works. I have watched creators rave about products from companies that approached me, products I knew for a fact did not work. I have seen the same person call three competing products their absolute favorite within the same month. Apparently we are all expected to believe every serum is life-changing and every protein powder has completely transformed someone’s morning routine.
Please.
That kind of content may convert for a minute, but it costs something much harder to earn back: trust.
My followers know that when I recommend something, I mean it. That trust exists because I have never had to say yes to anything. I am not going to spend years building credibility just to trade it for a discount code and a forced caption.
That does not mean I will never accept a partnership. It means the fit has to be rare and obvious.
Sometimes a restaurant, hotel, or business will cover my dinner or experience in exchange for a post. I am comfortable saying yes when it is somewhere I would have chosen and paid for myself anyway. The brand alignment has to feel natural before anyone offers me anything. If the complimentary part disappeared, I should still want to be there.
The same standard applies at Neon.
Many of the brands that approach us looking for creators are brands I genuinely believe in. Before we even take them on as clients, I often meet with the founders or CEOs several times. I want to understand the product, the restaurant, the service, and the people behind it. I need to know the offering is good enough for our name to sit beside it.
I also have relationships with the influencers we bring into campaigns. I am not going to hand someone I respect a messy or inauthentic deal and tell them to sell it to their audience. That would be dishonest, bad business, and, quite frankly, a PR nightmare. If I would not confidently recommend a client to a creator I know personally, we should not be representing that client in the first place.
The good partnerships do exist. They are usually long-term, creatively flexible, and built with brands that understand audiences can smell a script from a mile away. If I cannot naturally integrate something into my life and content, it is a no. If I have to use language I would never actually say, it is a no. If the brief requires me to pretend a product changed my life after using it twice, absolutely not.
Something else shifted for me over the last few years. I became much more protective of my creative energy.
I would much rather say no to 99 percent of paid partnerships so I have the freedom to create content I am actually excited about. Creatively, I do not have an endless supply of juice. Saving it for my own ideas matters to me. I do not want every post to begin with a deliverables list, three mandatory talking points, and someone asking if I can make it feel more organic.
Nothing says organic quite like twelve rounds of approvals.
Today, I have a much healthier relationship with social media as both a professional creator and a user. I work with very select partners that allow me creative freedom and make sense in the life I already live. I spend less time scrolling, less time keeping tabs on what everyone else is doing, and more time making things because I have something to say.
That is also why I am excited to bring Blogzio back.
I can share a thought without turning it into a campaign. I can write without organizing an entire photoshoot around the idea. I can be useful, honest, funny, opinionated, and finished before anyone sends me a mood board.
I am not anti-brand. I am anti pretending.
I am not saying every gifted dinner is fake or every influencer partnership is dishonest. I am saying the audience deserves to know there is still a real person behind the recommendation, and that person should be willing to say no when the money is good but the fit is not.
So, to answer the question about the hair serum: yes, it really works. No, it was not a brand deal. And if something ever is paid, gifted, or part of a partnership, I will tell you.
The partnerships you do see here will be rare, intentional, and real.
I have simply raised the price of admission, and money alone cannot pay it.
Credibility can.
