The operator who has built a billion dollars of brand this way
Jess Hatzis has helped build more than a billion dollars worth of consumer brands. She co-founded Frank Body and the branding agency Willow & Blake, and over the last year she has rebuilt 134-year-old Betts from a school-shoe afterthought into a fashion destination.
The through-line across all of it is that she does not chase reach. She chases the right people, repeatedly.
“I’ve never found influencers with millions of followers to be particularly great at awareness or conversion. We were very particular about wanting to work with people who had strong fashion credentials, because for us it was about getting people to see the brand through that light.”
- Jess Hatzis, Co-founder, Frank Body and Willow & Blake
What Is a Frequency Effect in Influencer Marketing?
A frequency effect is the idea that influence comes from repetition, not from a single placement. One post is one moment, and one moment rarely moves anyone. People need to see a brand several times, from sources they trust, before they act on it.
Jess Hatzis puts it in physical terms. Influencers are living, breathing billboards online, and you would never put one billboard in one random suburb and expect it to sell all your stock.
It Is Frequency, Not One Big Post
Stop treating a single post as the result. The lever was never a bigger name for a one-off. It is the same credible people showing up for you long enough for their audience to believe it.
That holds up on the numbers. A new ambassador usually does very little in the first couple of months. The momentum tends to arrive around the fifth to seventh time their audience sees them with you, not the first.
Few operators have leaned into that longer than Lust Minerals. Stacey Hollands has kept some ambassadors for the better part of a decade, which is the clearest proof of what staying power actually buys you.
“We’ve been with some of the influencers for eight plus years. They’re like family, part of our community, and we don’t just work with them as a once-off. With a new ambassador, it’s around month three, which is generally five to seven touch points, that we start to see the momentum.”
- Stacey Hollands, Founder, Lust Minerals
Pick People Who Already Believe, and Treat Them Like Partners
A customer can spot a paid post that does not fit a creator in about half a second, and that mismatch is where most of the wasted spend goes. So start with people who already use and love the product, then build a relationship rather than a transaction.
The activewear brand Freddy is a good example in practice. Joel Azzopardi built their whole creator approach around treating influencers like partners, to the point that creators now come to him.
“Being really responsive, having clear communication, and building genuine relationships with influencers who love your brand goes a very long way. By being selective with the people we work with, it is very rare now that we would get burnt.”
- Joel Azzopardi, CEO, Freddy Australia
Look at how you treat your creators, not just who you pick. The brands that win here run it like a relationship, not a media buy.
Bring Them Together, and Do It on Repeat
This is where Jess’s eventing comes in, and it is the cheapest way to get everything above in one go. Frequency, content and a real bond, all at once. Get the right people in a room, or on a walk, and do it regularly.
A single beautiful event is lovely and then it is gone. A repeated one builds the relationship and gives you a steady stream of content. Jess does it for about a tenth of what booking each person individually would cost, and you do not need her budget to start.
You can see the budget-free version at Deja Marc, where Rosie Collins swapped paid spend for weekly walks with mums, and turns every one into content.
“You need a frequency around it. A lot of brands do a one-off event and it’s really nice, but our audience needs repetition and a frequency of these in-person meetings. And then we capture that and turn it into content as well.”
- Rosie Collins, Founder, Deja Marc
Pick a simple format you could run every month, and plan from the start how each one becomes content.
The Takeaway
Influence was never one big post from one big name. It is a relationship. Spend less on the one-off, more on the people who actually believe in the product, and bring them together often enough to build something real. You usually get more back.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a frequency effect in influencer marketing?
It is the principle that influence comes from repeated exposure, not a single post. Audiences typically need to see a brand five to seven times from trusted sources before they act, so the same credible creators showing up repeatedly outperform one-off placements from bigger names.
How many times does someone need to see an influencer before it drives a sale?
Operators like Lust Minerals and Frank Body point to around five to seven touch points, which often lands near the third month of an ambassador relationship. New ambassadors rarely deliver in the first couple of months, so the payoff comes from committing to the long game.
Are influencer events cheaper than paying creators individually?
Yes. Jess Hatzis estimates a well-run event costs roughly one tenth of what it would take to engage the same calibre of creators for individual posts. You get a batch of content, real relationships and repeated exposure from a single spend.
How do you choose the right influencers for a brand?
Start with creators who already use and love your product and have credibility with the audience you want, rather than chasing follower count. Then treat them like partners with responsive communication and proper briefs, so they keep creating for you and rarely misfire.
Based on Episode 642 of the Add To Cart podcast with Jess Hatzis, Co-founder, Frank Body and Willow & Blake. Join the Add To Cart community for free.
In this Playbook:
- Influence works on frequency, not one big post, so the same credible people need to show up for you again and again
- Pick creators who already believe in your product, then treat them like partners rather than a media buy
- Bringing creators together in person, on repeat, buys frequency, content and a real bond for about a tenth of the cost
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