08-31-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Creators are your best PR

Partnerships with subject-matter expert creators influence how your brand is perceived.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

For decades, strategic communications operated in two distinct lanes: You pitched journalists for earned credibility or you bought media for controlled reach. That model rested on one assumption: Institutional newsrooms held a monopoly on audience trust.

Things have changed. While traditional media remains essential for reach and corporate validation, audiences increasingly rely on self-published experts to make sense of complex industries. These experts host technical podcasts, write deep-dive newsletters, publish how-tos on TikTok, and break down industry shifts on YouTube.

Yet most organizations don’t know how to work with them or where to put them. If your goal is a durable reputation, independent creators belong at the center of your earned media strategy.

THE ANTI-INFLUENCER SHIFT

The word “influencer” carries a lot of baggage. The early era of creator marketing was built on lifestyle endorsements: pay a celebrity, hand them a script, and get a sponsored post.

Today’s landscape, especially among B2B decision-makers and technical audiences, has waning patience for........

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