Benchmark Reports Read Honestly
Does Influencer Marketing Really Pay Off?
For brands selling to a broad audience, yes — it’s a $32.55 billion industry. For a local service business, usually no: reviews are your influencers.
Most pages answering this question quote one number — “$5.78 for every $1 spent” — without saying where it came from or how old it is. We checked. Below is what Influencer Marketing Hub’s own reports actually say, how to read the famous figure, and the answer for the business owner the industry reports weren’t written for: the plumber, the dentist, the roofer.
What the benchmark reports actually say
| Figure | Source | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| $32.55 billion industry in 2025 | Influencer Marketing Hub statistics page | Brands keep spending; that's the strongest evidence it works for someone |
| “$5.78 earned per $1 spent” | IMH 2020 Benchmark Report | 2019 data; earned media value (exposure priced as ads), not revenue |
| 87.49% expect influencer budgets to increase | IMH 2026 Benchmark Report, 600+ respondents | Confidence among marketers already doing it |
| 65.9% expect returns within one month | IMH 2026 Benchmark Report | Fast spike, fast fade — hard to separate from everything else you're doing |
| 79% of enterprise marketers struggle to measure influencer ROI | IMH statistics page | The honest caveat, from the same publisher |
| Nano-influencers: 6.23% Instagram engagement, highest of any tier | eMarketer, June 2025 | If it makes sense locally, it's at the small end |
Read together: the industry is large and growing, the people in it expect it to work, and most of them can’t prove it did. That’s not a condemnation. It’s a reason to be specific about whether it fits your business.
Does it pay off for a local service business?
Usually not, because your customer isn’t an audience. Nobody follows a creator waiting to be told which plumber to call; they call when the pipe bursts. At that moment the “influencers” are reviews — 98% of people read them before choosing a local business (BrightLocal) — and, more and more, an AI: 45% of consumers used AI tools like ChatGPT to find local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before (BrightLocal 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey). Money that would go to a creator does more in reviews, listings, and a site the AI can read.
When a local creator can make sense
When people choose you by looking, not by searching: restaurants, gyms, salons, med spas, boutiques, anything with a walk-in and a visual result. A nano creator with a few thousand real neighborhood followers, paid a modest fee or in kind, is a cheap test — treat it as the experimental 10% in the 70/20/10 rule, not the plan. Measure it with a code or a question at checkout, because the reports above show even big brands can’t measure it otherwise.
The recommendation that does pay off
Get named when the customer asks
A creator’s post fades in a week. Being the business ChatGPT or Google’s AI names when someone asks “who’s a good HVAC company near me” keeps working, and there’s no ad or sponsorship that buys it — it’s earned from your website, reviews, and listings. That’s what Get Recommendeddoes for $97 a month flat, three to six months to be named, walk away if you’re not. Run the free audit first to see where you stand today.
The influencer that matters most for a local business is the AI answer
Free audit: whether Google’s AI and ChatGPT name your business when customers ask who to hire. No signup.
Influencer Marketing — FAQ
Does influencer marketing really pay off?▾
For brands selling products to a broad audience, the industry's growth says yes: Influencer Marketing Hub puts the market at $32.55 billion in 2025, and its 2026 Benchmark Report (600+ respondents) found 87.49% of marketers expect their influencer budgets to increase. But the honest caveat is in the same data: 79% of enterprise marketers say they struggle to measure influencer ROI. It pays off for the businesses that can measure it. For a local service business, it usually doesn't apply at all.
Is the '$5.78 for every $1 spent' figure true?▾
It's real but old, and it isn't profit. The figure comes from Influencer Marketing Hub's 2020 Benchmark Report, based on 2019 campaigns, and it measures earned media value — an estimate of what the resulting exposure would have cost to buy as ads — not revenue. It's still repeated on the same publisher's statistics page today. Treat it as 'influencer posts generate a lot of exposure per dollar,' not 'you'll get $5.78 back.'
Does influencer marketing work for a local business like a plumber or a dentist?▾
Rarely, and not the way it works for a shoe brand. Your customers aren't an audience that follows someone; they're people with a leak. The 'influencers' that decide whether they call you are reviews — 98% of people read reviews before choosing a local business (BrightLocal) — and, increasingly, AI: 45% of consumers used AI tools like ChatGPT to find local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before (BrightLocal 2026). A local creator can help a restaurant, gym, or salon. A roofer's money is better spent on reviews and being findable.
What about small or 'nano' influencers?▾
They're the version that can make sense locally, because engagement runs higher and prices lower. eMarketer reported in June 2025 that nano-influencers have the highest engagement rate on Instagram of any tier, at 6.23%. For a business with a visual product or a walk-in location, one local creator with a few thousand real neighborhood followers can be worth a test. For a service you hire twice a decade, it's still the wrong tool.
How fast should influencer marketing pay off?▾
Marketers expect it fast: 65.9% of respondents to Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 Benchmark Report expect returns within one month. That expectation is part of why it's hard to judge — a post spikes and fades. Compare that to being named when someone asks ChatGPT who to hire, which takes three to six months to earn and then keeps working. Different tools for different jobs; most local businesses need the second one first.
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