Rising Adjacent Influencer Scout
Find emerging creators whose niche audience overlaps your next market
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
The scouting method borrows from baseball's minor-league pipeline: find creators at the equivalent of Double-A or Triple-A who are visibly rising but have not yet become obvious targets for every brand. The company starts with its precise audience, then maps both direct and adjacent interests. It searches for specialists whose followers overlap that audience and evaluates relevance, momentum, credibility, and engagement rather than raw follower totals. Adjacent creators can provide more leverage because they introduce the brand in a context competitors may overlook. Because emerging creators are less saturated with sponsorships, the relationship may center on co-marketing and mutual awareness instead of a large cash transaction. The output is a shortlist of distinctive, affordable partners positioned to grow alongside the brand.
Origin
Katie Burke described this scouting model using a baseball prospect analogy and a rural-real-estate example during Marketing Against The Grain.
Core principles
- 01Audience relevance matters more than total reach
- 02Emerging creators offer more differentiation than established celebrities
- 03Adjacent interests can reveal stronger partnership leverage
- 04Early alignment can replace expensive transactional sponsorships
How to run it
- 1
Define the audience precisely
Describe the people the partnership must reach by needs, interests, geography, or behavior rather than broad demographics.
Pro tip Use the audience that matters to the next growth objective.
Watch out A creator cannot be relevant to an undefined audience.
- 2
Map adjacent interests
List subjects the audience cares about beyond the product's literal category.
Pro tip Consider lifestyle, identity, work, entertainment, and community interests.
Watch out Do not restrict the search to creators who discuss the exact product.
- 3
Find rising specialists
Look for creators with credible expertise, improving engagement, and a growing body of distinctive work.
Pro tip Treat the search like scouting talent before promotion to the major leagues.
Watch out Follower count alone does not establish momentum or fit.
- 4
Score relevance and differentiation
Compare candidates on audience overlap, trust, growth, brand compatibility, and how rarely competitors use them.
Pro tip Review comments to determine who actually pays attention.
Watch out A creator used by every competitor offers limited differentiation.
- 5
Design mutual value
Approach the best prospects with co-marketing, creative access, expertise, or shared audience growth that benefits both parties.
Pro tip Build the relationship before the creator's price and commitments rise.
Watch out Do not assume an emerging creator should work without receiving real value.
In the wild
For a rural-real-estate company, Burke suggested looking beyond creators who discuss property directly. A rising cooking creator living in a rural setting and building a strong audience of Midwestern mothers could have substantial audience overlap while offering a differentiated path into the market.
→ The brand gains credible reach through an adjacent lifestyle community competitors may ignore.
Common mistakes
Buying the same celebrity as everyone
A heavily sponsored star is expensive and gives the brand little distinctive association.
Optimizing for total views
Large reach among the wrong audience is less valuable than trusted reach within a relevant niche.
Searching only the exact category
Literal category matches overlook adjacent communities where the audience already spends attention.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for niche brands seeking credible audience access through emerging creators with strong topical alignment.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for campaigns that require immediate guaranteed reach from an established celebrity.
From the transcript
“you want someone who's like double A, triple A on the on the rise.”
“You need to have the biggest TikTok star with views who is a specialist in all things rural or real estate.”
“Adjacent spaces are really where I think you get the most leverage in this space.”
From the episode
Live from INBOUND: Does PR Still Matter? With Katie Burke and Kipp Bodnar
Katie Burke