The £1M TikTok Strategy

Ever heard the stories of brands making millions by getting creators to produce short-form content on TikTok and Instagram and wondered how they do it? The secret isn't paying huge sums to influencers with massive followings. 

We sat down with marketing expert Cody Schneider to break down the exact playbook for leveraging creators—especially those starting with zero followers—to achieve explosive growth. This strategy is a game-changer for UK-based mobile apps, e-commerce brands, and anyone looking to master short-form video. You're about to learn why paying an influencer £1,484 for one post is a waste of money compared to paying a creator £660 a month for 30.

The internet has changed. Thanks to platforms like TikTok, the "For You" page algorithm has completely reshaped content discovery. It's no longer about who you follow (your social graph); it's about what you're interested in. The algorithm's only goal is to keep you on the platform longer by serving you hyper-relevant content, regardless of who created it.

This is where the distinction between an influencer and a creator becomes critical:

• Influencer Marketing (The Old Way): This model relies on paying someone with a large following to tap into the supposed "trust" of their audience. You pay for a single post, hoping for a big splash.

• Creator Marketing (The New Way): This model focuses on partnering with individuals who are skilled at creating engaging content within a specific niche. Their follower count is irrelevant; their ability to create content that the algorithm loves is everything.

As Cody explains, "followers, man... that's not how the internet works anymore whatsoever." Brands need to focus on creators who understand their niche and can generate views, not just influencers who have already built an audience.

Let's break down the maths to see why creators with zero followers are a smarter investment than established influencers.

The Influencer Scenario:

Imagine you pay an influencer with 100,000 followers £1,484 for a single post. The hard truth is that virality is rare. Statistically, only about one in ten posts becomes a high-performer. With only one "at bat," you have a mere 10% chance of that post being an outlier. That £1,484  post might only get 30,000 views, a disappointing return on your investment.

• Cost: £1,484

• Posts: 1

• Views: 30,000

• Cost Per 1,000 Views (CPM): £49

The Creator Scenario:

Now, instead of paying for a single post, you partner with a talented creator. You offer them £660 a month to post one video per day (30 videos total) across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. The creator starts a brand-new account affiliated with your brand (e.g., "YourBrandAlley").

• Cost: £660 or less 

• Posts: 30

• The Power of Volume: With 30 posts, you have 30 chances to strike gold. Based on the 1-in-10 rule, you can expect at least three of those videos to significantly outperform the others.

Let's say those 30 videos get a combined 500,000 impressions.

• Views: 500,000

• Cost Per 1,000 Views (CPM): £1.34

The difference is staggering. You're achieving a CPM that is over 35 times cheaper than the influencer route. This is the arbitrage that savvy marketers are exploiting.

The advantage doesn't stop there. Compare this creator strategy to simply buying paid ads.

The average CPM for paid ads on a platform like Meta (Facebook/Instagram) is around £4.45, depending on your industry. For your £660 budget, you'd get roughly 150,000 impressions. With the creator strategy, you achieved 500,000 impressions for the same spend.

You're getting 3x the reach for the same price, and the content feels organic and native to the platform, which always performs better than a polished, corporate-style ad. People in the UK and everywhere else prefer to discover products through authentic content, not disruptive ads.

Ready to implement this strategy? Here’s the step-by-step process.

1. Find Your Creators

The first step is to find people who are already creating content in your niche.

• Manual Search: Spend time on TikTok and Instagram, actively watching videos related to your product or industry. The algorithm will start feeding you more of that content, and you'll begin to see the same creators appear repeatedly.

• Use a Tool: For a more efficient approach, use a platform like Stormy AI. It helps you discover creators by category, handles the outreach, and even negotiates pricing, saving you a massive amount of time.

2. Outreach and Onboarding

Reach out to the creators you've identified with a clear offer. A common starting point is £660/month for one video per day.

Once they agree, the key is that they create an entirely new account for your brand. They are starting from zero followers, leveraging their content creation skills to tap into the "For You" page algorithm.

3. Manage and Scale

Don't just work with one creator; work with five to ten of them. This creates a powerful growth flywheel:

• Compound Learning: With 10 creators posting daily, you have 10 new data points every single day. One of those videos is bound to be an outlier.

• Share the Wins: When one creator finds a format that works, share that insight with your entire team of creators. They can then remix and replicate that success.

• Management: Managing creators can be a hassle. A great tactic is to identify your top-performing creator and promote them to a manager role. Pay them extra to oversee the others, ensure videos are delivered, and share learnings. Most teams manage this communication in a simple Discord server or WhatsApp group.

4. The Tech Stack for Success

To run this playbook effectively, you'll need a few tools:

• Discovery & Outreach: Stormy AI

• Performance Tracking: Shortmize or Viral App. These tools allow creators to submit their videos and automatically track views and engagement, so you can measure the success of your campaigns.

• Content Research: Virulo or Sand Castles AI. These platforms scrape and aggregate viral short-form videos, making them searchable. You can find proven concepts in your niche and give them to your creator team to remix.

This approach is particularly powerful for businesses where the purchase decision is quick and can happen on a mobile device.

• Mobile Apps: The success of apps like Focus Tree, which scaled from zero to over two million users, is a direct result of this creator strategy.

• E-commerce Products: This works exceptionally well for products with an "impulse buy" price point (e.g., under £22). It's also a perfect fit for leveraging TikTok Shop.

• B2B & SaaS: While it may seem counterintuitive, this strategy can also be effective for building top-of-funnel brand awareness. By creating massive digital surface area, you increase branded search volume on Google and Amazon, as people who discover you on TikTok will search for you elsewhere.

1. What is the main difference between an influencer and a creator? 

An influencer's value is tied to their existing audience and follower count. A creator's value is their skill in producing engaging content that algorithms favour, regardless of their follower count. This strategy focuses on a creator's skill, not their fame.

2. Why should I hire someone with zero followers?

Because followers don't matter on algorithm-driven "For You" pages. A brilliant video from a brand-new account can get millions of views if the content is engaging. You are paying for their content creation skill and the potential for algorithmic reach, not for access to their followers.

3. Is £900 per month a fixed price?

No, it's a strong starting point for negotiation. Some creators might ask for more, others might accept less. The goal is to establish a cost-per-video model that is significantly cheaper than buying paid ads or hiring expensive influencers.

4. Do creators post on their own accounts or a new one?

They should post on a brand new account that is specifically created for your brand (e.g., "YourBrandCreatorName"). This allows you to build a branded asset and ensures the content is fully dedicated to your product.

5. How do I actually track the ROI of this?

The primary metric is your Cost Per 1,000 Views (CPM). As shown, it can be far cheaper than paid ads. You should also track softer metrics, like the increase in your branded search volume on Google and Amazon using a tool like Google Search Console. A spike in people searching for your brand name is a strong indicator of success.

6. Is this strategy only for B2C companies in the UK?

While it's most direct for B2C (mobile apps, e-commerce), it's also a powerful top-of-funnel strategy for B2B. It builds massive brand awareness within your industry. If your target customers in London or Manchester are on TikTok or Instagram, you can reach them and build mental real estate.

7. What are the biggest challenges?

Creator management is the biggest hurdle. It can be time-consuming to find, onboard, and manage multiple creators. This is why hiring a top performer to act as a manager is a recommended best practice.

8. How many creators should I start with?

A good starting point is to test with 5 to 10 creators. This gives you enough volume to see results and generate learnings quickly without being overwhelming to manage. You can then scale up by keeping your best performers and replacing the ones who aren't a good fit.

9. What if none of the videos go viral?

"Viral" is a high bar. The goal is to find "outliers"—videos that significantly outperform the average. With a volume approach (e.g., 300 videos a month from 10 creators), it's statistically very likely that you will produce several outliers. The learnings from those successful videos are then used to improve the performance of all future content.

10. After a video performs well organically, what's the next step?

Once you identify a winning video, you should take that content and put paid ad spend behind it. Videos that perform well organically almost always perform exceptionally well as paid ads, further lowering your customer acquisition costs.