This week on VelociTEA, Emily and Forrest break down their proprietary Influencer Activation Pyramid: a five-layer framework for B2B influencer content that moves from owned content at the base through sponsored, paid, earned, and organic at the top. They explain why you can't skip levels, why "paid is predictable," and what happens when brands mistake organic buzz for a birthright. Plus: why AI could never replace a great sales dinner, and the FTC disclosures your brand needs to be aware of.

This week on VelociTEA, Emily and Forrest break down the most common mistakes they see on both sides of influencer marketing: the brands and the creators.

They talk about why brands get into trouble when they over-control messaging, chase only “big names,” or try to hide sponsorships instead of owning them. On the creator side, they unpack the pitfalls of losing your voice, overpricing yourself out of your ROI, overloading your audience with sponsored content, and letting AI flatten the very credibility people follow you for in the first place.

The throughline is simple: the best influencer marketing works when both sides know who they are, act like real partners, and don’t try to be sneaky.

Traditional PR is dead. Attention is the new currency.

In this episode of VelociTEA, Emily and Forrest talk about how PR teams are adapting to a world where content creators can function like journalists, analysts, or something entirely new. They discuss how brands should think about influencer relationships, why treating creators like traditional press often fails, and how PR, marketing, and influencer teams can collaborate.