← The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
Visa to Verified: How Diana Marks Became a Luxury Influencer Boss
00:50:58
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- [00:00]
Diana Marks
My mindset was, okay. So they told me it's practically impossible. What do I have to do? I'm gonna write and apply for 200 internships. I'm like, impossible. 200 sounds about right. Like, I'm just gonna start applying and see what happens, right? So, I mean, I'm not losing anything. I'm literally just trying, right? So I kid you not like, I sent 10 applications. The 10th responds to me. They invite me to an interview. And my very first experience in America was interviewing celebrities on red carpet events.
- [00:30]
Paul Alex
That's insane. Hey, guys, and welcome back to another episode of the Level up with Paul Alex. Guys, we have a phenomenal guest today. She goes by the name of Diana Marks. She's one of the top influencers that has been in the influencing game since 2012. Guys, she was based out of Los Angeles. Now she's based out of Miami. And, guys, what she's about to tell you will blow your mind. Do you ever wish that you can work with McLaren? Do you wish you can work with Tesla or any of these other car brands? Or maybe your favorite airline or maybe even your favorite luxury brand? Well, she is the go to person with over 2 million followers on all social media platforms. Guys, Diana Marks, welcome to the show.
- [01:21]
Diana Marks
Hi, Paul. Thanks for having me.
- [01:23]
Paul Alex
No, absolutely, Diana. So it's been a while. It's been like, a little bit over six months. You know, I feel like you deserted me after you were like, oh, yeah, you know, let's connect and have a session with digital marketing. And, you know, your agency started doing, like, started blowing up, started doing numbers. And then all of a sudden, I'm like, what happened to Diana? She used to be here every week at the office in Miami. No, I'm just kidding. Guys, if you guys don't know, I. I mean, obviously, you guys know I'm the host of the Level up podcast, but then also I do digital marketing for several of my companies, but I also help other consultants in the space blow up their brands. And essentially, that's how me and Diana met. But this is not about that. Let's talk about Diana. So, Diana. Okay, let's get to it. Question numero uno. How did you get into influencing? Because typically when people say, I'm an influencer, like, sometimes people don't take it serious. They're like, just like, what? Like, you have a social media brand. Like, what is that? So what would you say if somebody was to ask you, like, how did you get into that?
- [02:31]
Diana Marks
Well, Paul, I've been doing influencing as, you know, since 2012. So it's been a long time. So originally I was not even called an influencer, I was called a blogger. So I was still creating content, which is what influencers do. But I was creating it on the blog back in the OG days, you know, on the website, actually on actual websites, you know, online. And then I started working with brands through the blog and eventually through the blog, my brands, the ones that I worked with, started asking me questions on how to promote on my other social media networks. And I was on Facebook and Twitter at that time, I remember, and they wanted to promote on Instagram. And I'm like, there's no way I'm opening another social media channel. So technically I'm one of those few cases where I had brands wanting to work with me before I even had an account on Instagram.
- [03:18]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [03:19]
Diana Marks
So that's my unique kind of path towards it. But yeah, so since I started working on social media, that's when my kind of title became an influencer rather than a blogger. But the concept of working with brands has been with me obviously since 2012, and that's the only way I supported myself throughout my career. Obviously I launched my agency later in the later years in 2019, but from, from 2012 until 2019, I fully supported myself from brand deals alone.
- [03:50]
Paul Alex
That's amazing, because when most people start out on social media, okay, typically not in your case, I mean, based on what you're saying, I mean, it's phenomenal. But when most people start out on social media and they want to go ahead and work with brands, they do it like a part time gig. How did you even come up with the idea of saying like, hey, I want to work with brands, I want to actually be a blogger at that time, right? You're saying 2012, man, I can't remember what I was doing in 2012. What was it? Oh, yeah, I was almost a cop, you know, that wasn't until 2014. But yeah, yeah, I was around there. I was still in corporate America. But man, that's phenomenal. So tell the audience exactly how did you figure it out because you cracked the code.
- [04:31]
Diana Marks
Well, I mean, I didn't know that I cracked the code at the time, you know. So what I like to tell people is I was pretty much Delulu, right? So I started a blog because I was a new immigrant in America and I didn't know anything about anything, to be honest. Like I literally didn't know basic things like how to open a bank account, how to get a car, you know, and then I obviously didn't know how, like, how does the city where I lived, which is Los Angeles, work in terms of, like, where do people hang out? What are the coffee shops that are cool? You know, the city's pretty big, right? So back then, the source of information was Yelp, not Instagram, right? So I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna do this as a creative outlet. So I created a blog called LA by Diana, Los Angeles by Diana. And I initially was covering content about local places that I go to. So I discover a local coffee shop, I start writing a blog post about it. So back then, it was already kind of Instagram, like, in a way where you create content about it and then you do a little write up. Right now it's a caption back then on the blog, it's the same thing, like a picture and a little text about it. And so I discovered one time, literally, obviously, when you are starting anything new, you want to learn how to. How it works, right? So I was like, Googling how. How does. How do blogs work? Where do you host a blog? All of that information? And I found a blogger that was supposedly popular at that time. And she posted a picture of herself wearing an outfit. And she like, the bottom of the blog post said, sponsored by Louis Vuitton. And I was like, wait, what does it mean? Sponsored? Like, what? Like, does that mean? Like, she got paid by Louis Vuitton to post about it. And so for me, it was like, it's an impossible idea that I got fascinated by because somebody mentioned that, like, it exists in somebody's world, right? So I'm like, let me just try it. So I tried to create a post about fashion, right? So. Because obviously Louis Vuitton was a fashion post. So I created, like my very first fashion post. I didn't know how to pose. I didn't know even how I had questionable taste in fashion, you know, at that time. So I just, you know, started experimenting and I put up a blog post about fashion, and my engagement on the blog doubled. And the reason why is because I was posting about local places, but I was talking to the whole audience of the United States, right? So across all the country. So the fashion content resonated more because they're like, oh, I can get that Zara dress in my local Zara. Then nobody can go to the local coffee shop unless they're based locally, right? So that's where, first of all, my viewership went up, right? So. And second of all, I'm like, okay, so I'm going To double down that, because that works obviously in terms of the viewership engagement. Engagement back then was comments on the blog post. And then I started researching more about like how to work with brands, how to do all that stuff. And eventually my very first campaign with a brand was two months later, which was a campaign with Tony and Guy. It's a shampoo brand, actually wasn't a fashion brand. And they were inviting bloggers at that time to shoot a commercial. And I was one of the three bloggers that they invited. And these girls were doing this. That was like the biggest campaign for them. And they were doing this for two or three years prior to getting that campaign. And I was kind of like, I call it a beginner's luck, you know, So I kind of like started with a big time campaign already where I'm not just creating a sponsored blog post, I'm actually like in a commercial for a hair brand.
- [07:56]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [07:57]
Diana Marks
So that's where obviously that was kind of a green light for me. In mentorship, you call it your first win, you know, so you like, your mind completely switches. You're like, oh my God, this is possible. And I got paid for it. And I'm like, I can't believe this. Like, I just literally got paid to have fun, to pose, you know, and to post about it, you know. So that kind of like completely unlocked the whole, the whole concept of a career for me.
- [08:19]
Paul Alex
So limiting belief out the door. Would you say being based out of Los Angeles, you had an advantage over other influencers?
- [08:28]
Diana Marks
That is a very good question, actually. So.
- [08:32]
Paul Alex
Well, this is the level up. I'm just saying.
- [08:34]
Diana Marks
Yeah, it's like you going in there, like straight to the core. Yes and no. So break it down. So yes, because I was exposed to a little bit more of the industry. The brands are based there, you know, there's a lot of headquarters that are based there. So yes, the industry pretty much started in big cities, which would be New York, Louisiana, Possibly Miami.
- [08:55]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [08:55]
Diana Marks
So it, this is an advantage. But right now I wouldn't say it would have mattered as much, you know, so back then, because the industry was so new, you know, that helped me a lot. But nowadays I think it really doesn't matter. As a matter of fact, I think nowadays if you're based in a smaller city, it's actually advantageous because you're pretty much taken over the local market there.
- [09:18]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [09:18]
Diana Marks
There's not a lot of competition now in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, New York, there are tons and tons of influencers and you have to be the best of the best in order to work with brands. Whereas if you're in a small town, you know, you have to just be doing good enough, you know, and you'll still get all the brand deals.
- [09:34]
Paul Alex
Man, I have so many questions I want to ask you about this, but. Okay, let's go ahead. And I remember in the very beginning when I first asked you, you know, what got you into influencing, you mentioned that you were an immigrant.
- [09:46]
Diana Marks
Yes.
- [09:46]
Paul Alex
Tell me that story. I'm very interested to see, like, how that journey of becoming an immigrant to the United States and then transitioning to becoming an influencer, did that give you any roadblocks?
- [09:59]
Diana Marks
Actually, as a matter of fact, I have an interesting story on how I came to America in general. So I was studying in England at that time. So in England, in my business school, they had an internship placement program. And I come there and I'm like, you know what, guys? I want to be in Los Angeles. I want to do an internship for a year. I'm going to take academic break, and I want to work in entertainment industry. And they're like, who is this girl? She's already. Because I was an immigrant in England at that time, right? So they're like, okay, first of all, for you to get an internship for a year, you have to be sponsored by a company, right? You can't just, like, roll into America, you know? Also, you want to work in entertainment. I was studying business, by the way, right? So they're like, it's kind of like, not the same thing, you know, so. And, like, I just had the idea of, I want to work in Hollywood. That's it, right? Just literally, just the idea. And so they told me, it's not possible for you. And I said, why? They're like, well, you're studying business. You're here on a visa in the uk, so the only internship you could possibly get is the local internship for summer. For the summer. Maybe in the business, maybe in the bank, maybe in the finance world, something like that, right? So I'm like, okay, so tell me this, how do I get that type of internship? I mean, it's possible to get an internship for a year. People do that, right? They're like, yes, that's right. So I'm like, how do I do that? They're like, well, you have to find a company that will sponsor you, which is impossible because you're not even a graduate yet. I'm like, well, but hypothetically, you know, like, how would I take these steps? They're like, well, find a company. And figure it out. We can't help you. So I go home and I ask Google. I'm like, how to get an internship in la. Internships?
- [11:36]
Paul Alex
La.
- [11:36]
Diana Marks
Entertainment industry. And my mindset was, I'm like, okay. So they told me it's practically impossible, so what do I have to do? And I remember I made a decision. I'm like, I'm going to write and apply for 200 internships. I don't know why 200? I just, like, had a thought. I'm like, impossible. 200 sounds about right, right? So I'm like, I'm just gonna start applying and see what happens, right? So, I mean, I'm not losing anything. I'm literally just trying, right? So I kid you not, like, I sent 10 applications, the 10th response to me, they invited me to an interview. And my very first experience in America was interviewing celebrities on red carpet events.
- [12:16]
Paul Alex
So that's insane.
- [12:17]
Diana Marks
So not only did I get the internship, did they sponsor my visa sponsored my whole stay. But more importantly, from what I've heard later in the years, interns usually make coffees, apparently. But they send me on the ground, like literally interviewing celebrities on red carpet events the very first day. It was. It's an insane story. And for me, speaking of limiting beliefs, it was just like the idea of, like, okay, they told me it's impossible. I asked them, how do I make it possible, right? So I literally Google and I follow the steps. And for me, it was more about the ethic, right? The process of, like, I committed to 200 applications, right? So that's when I, you know, that's how I got there. So when I started my. My influencer journey, it was kind of the same thing. So I was already in the entertainment industry. I was interviewing celebrities on red carpet events. I was kind of like looking for another outlet, right, within the entertainment industry. And obviously the blog came up because I was just bright brainstorming. I was doing a lot of things. I went to an acting school. I was trying hosting, you know, like, I was really trying to see what sticks for me, specifically, what resonates. And so with the blog, it was the same concept. I was like, how many blog posts do I have to put up, right? So for the engagement, right? So for the audience on the blog, how do you grow the audience on the blog back then, right? So first of all, I didn't know any of that stuff, right? So I was literally googling all these questions, right? And Google wasn't really helpful, right? So you could, you could just get an idea. So how do you get all the viewership?
- [13:43]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [13:44]
Diana Marks
So I figured that people actually like throw their links on other blogs, on the websites and stuff like that. I was sitting there manually leaving comments with my like literally spamming the Internet with my blog. That's what I did. A repetitive action over and over and over again. And I think that is the trait of an immigrant in general. Because yes, I got lucky and my story is pretty crazy in terms of like the internship itself itself. But any immigrant always faces the concept of you need to, in order to go somewhere, you need to get a visa. In order to get a visa, you need to get sponsored by somebody you know or the university sponsor or whatever it is. Like, you know, you have to knock on so many doors and get approved so many times in order to just arrive to the country, right? And then you have to establish yourself and then you have to figure things out. So you have to, you, you have like inbuilt resilience just because of your circumstances in a way. So when I work with immigrants, I see a lot more potential, you know, for them to kind of like not be sidetracked by mindset, right? So because a lot of people give up too easily, right? Because they're so used to like to nos literally everywhere. Every door you knock is a no, you know, so you just have to keep knocking until you get to that. Yes. You know, and that's how you build your career in, I mean any career. But for an influencer specifically, that really I think helped me a lot.
- [15:05]
Paul Alex
I feel like with your story really resonates with me. The reason why I say that is because based on your background, your background is what allowed you to build that resilience. So coming in there with that proper mindset of, you know what, I'm not going to give up, I'm going to go ahead and at least give it a try and do it over and over and over again. Led you to that type of success early on. The fact that, you know, in business and you know this as well, it's about hitting that opportunity when it's there, right? And I think you saw the opportunity and you went for it and that's why it led you to be successful in influencing and now, you know, with the agency and everything that you're doing, helping influencers around the world. So to my follow up question with that, okay, what would you say is the biggest difference right now between being an influencer back in, let's say 2012 and 2025? What is the biggest difference right now?
- [16:12]
Diana Marks
Yeah, so that was kind of like something I wanted to add to what you were saying before. So in 2012, nobody knew it's even an industry, right? So I was basically like, like walking in the dark, you know, I was like betting on the career that could potentially not exist, right? So I was literally like, oh, that could be cool to be sponsored by a brand. Let me do that, let me do that again, you know, so it's kind of a discovery in itself. Whereas right now the industry is very well established. There are tons and tons of influencers that are having full time careers working with brand brands, right? So right now it's the best time to be an influencer because the, the groundwork is already here. We know exactly how brands work with influencers, what they're acquiring. Like there are all these rules and regulations in place, you know, how to build your career at scale, you know, you know how to do all these things. What I did is literally just like, literally walking in the dark, right? So I was like, like, they can pay, that's great. You know, I didn't know that you can negotiate with brands, you know that because everything was new and the brands didn't know that either, you know, so we were discovering all of this together, the influencers of 2012 and those brands, right? So right now we have a complete different environment for influencers. And I think right now is the best time. The best time to do this is always when the industry is established but still growing. And right now we're still growing. Of course, I don't think, I don't foresee this in this industry to ever decline in whichever capacity because there's so many social media networks now. There's so many. There's just so much going on, right? So, so yeah, now is the best time and the easiest time actually to be an influencer. Which is ironic because a lot of influencers think that now is the hardest time to be an influencer because. Exactly. The market is oversaturated. But what they don't know is that if they don't approach their career as a business, they will fail. You know, so that's the thing. When I was figuring things out, I didn't really approach it as a business. I was fully driven by the idea, right? So it was more like a discovery, you know, that led to a business, right now they have, if the influencers kind of do that, you know, they will not succeed if they're like, I'm just going to be creative and I'm just going to like, hopefully brands will Find me. That's what I see. I talk to influencers all day, every day. We've worked with thousands of influencers. Right. So that's what I see is the biggest problem for influencers.
- [18:40]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [18:40]
Diana Marks
The mindset that they have is like, as if they start creating content, you know, somehow the career, like, the actual financial benefits will come with it. And that's just not the case.
- [18:51]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [18:51]
Diana Marks
So right now you have to literally build it as a business from the ground up, from the beginning. So that's the main difference.
- [18:57]
Paul Alex
So a lot of influencers, where you're saying, Diana, is they want instant gratification and they're not willing to work for it.
- [19:03]
Diana Marks
Absolutely. Or they perceive themselves as. I'm a creative soul, you know, like, I shouldn't be thinking about the business side. I'm just gonna post what I like and hope for the best. You know, the biggest actually mindset issue that I'm seeing a lot among influencers is the fact that they. They always think that they don't have enough followers.
- [19:22]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [19:23]
Diana Marks
And so with me personally, I've monetized every single one of my social media networks individually. So not just because I'm working with a brand, you know, and I already know them, but I monetized my TikTok when I was like a 10K followers. And my first campaign on TikTok was like $3,000.
- [19:39]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [19:40]
Diana Marks
So right now, TikTokers are like, how is that even possible? You know, but that's because I applied my business knowledge, you know, on that specific platform because it was a niche account. It was not even my main account as an influencer, as a public, personal.
- [19:52]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [19:53]
Diana Marks
So that's what I'm saying. Like, you know, the followers don't really matter. The number of followers doesn't really matter. It's the business approach that you take and the actual direction that you take that matters the most when you're building your influencer career.
- [20:06]
Paul Alex
So it's more about the intent that you're doing with your content and then your brand and who you want to.
- [20:13]
Diana Marks
Attract a thousand percent.
- [20:15]
Paul Alex
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. So before we go ahead and transition to you starting your agency, okay, which is a huge, huge step now, you being one of the biggest agencies in the online space right now, I wanted to ask you, where do you see influencing headed to in the future? Like, as far as a career, do you see it becoming even bigger? If you do, what is the next big trend in the influencing world?
- [20:41]
Diana Marks
Actually, that's a great question. There's so many Directions, like I said, because things, things are changing so fast. There are so many directions. But what I see a lot actually, and what I'm seeing with my clients too, a lot of people like you will get into the influencing side as well, right? So that means people who already have established businesses, right. And they're looking for other ways to add income or maybe lifestyle benefits as well.
- [21:08]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [21:08]
Diana Marks
So obviously, as you know, I connect influencers with luxury cars, luxury travel, hotels, all of that stuff and those costs add up pretty quickly. Right. So in a way for me, and kind of like my whole vision, by the way, for my agency, I know we're going to talk about it in a minute, is to teach people how to not only build their full time career, that's not interesting to me, how to approach their followers as a currency. So it's not just like the number that is attached to it, it's the number that you can monetize because consistently, like whatever it is that you want, you can get with your Instagram account, right. Or TikTok account or whatever, social media account, right. So that's what I'm seeing. That's where I'm seeing the shift, where I will see a lot, I'm hoping to see a lot more people with followers taking advantage of brand deals. And for the brands, I see the same kind of direction change, right. So before they would look for just traditional like lifestyle influencers, kind of like me, I'm the OG in the space, you know. So right now they're a lot more selective about the type of personality they want to align themselves with.
- [22:12]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [22:13]
Diana Marks
So that's where I see a lot more potential for actually even higher end brand deals for people who are super niche.
- [22:19]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [22:20]
Diana Marks
So for example, you, you're like, you have your own company that is very niche, you know, your audience is very specific. But if we were to approach a career properly, you know, depending on the goals, of course, if you want to add an additional six figure income or if you just want to travel for free, you know, it's just the direction that we would choose to take. But that would be just like an additional income stream for you, you know, or the additional currency for you where you can like save a lot of money on travel, on like luxury gifts, luxury products and even experiences.
- [22:50]
Paul Alex
That makes a lot of sense. Especially because, you know, I feel like everybody that has a business is turning into building a personal brand now because, you know, in the past few years, ever since COVID happened and everybody got locked down, a lot of companies went digital. They Went on social media, they stopped promoting the old school way right of the radio. Now they're using more Facebook ads or Instagram ads, or they're using micro influencers to go ahead and promote their items. So with that being said, let's go ahead and talk about your agency. So when did you start the agency and what exactly does your agency do?
- [23:27]
Diana Marks
Great question, as always. So my agency is like my baby, you know, so I'm very excited to talk about it. And of course, you actually participated in our success. So I'm very grateful that I met you last year and I'm very excited to update you on what we have going on. So I actually started my agency in 2019, so it's been a minute as well, and it's been a morphing agency. You know, we were kind of like, we were always doing the exact same thing, which is helping influencers work with brands and approaching their career as a business. Because that's who I am. That's how I built my career. But throughout the years, we've done different things, like coaching programs, like group coaching, like individual coaching. Like, we obviously have this director of context called the magic list. We call it magic because it's like if you start reaching out to these contacts strategically, you know, you will get campaigns, you know, and that's how it's pure magic.
- [24:18]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [24:19]
Paul Alex
And Diana, real quick, for the people that do not know what campaigns are, what is campaigns to the. To the person that is not in the influencing world right now?
- [24:28]
Diana Marks
Yes. A brand deal is actually when a brand compensates you to be on. On the, on your social media platform. Right. So basically, if a brand wants to.
- [24:38]
Unnamed Participant
Promote a phone case, right.
- [24:40]
Diana Marks
So they will just approach you, they will offer you a specific compensation that you will negotiate with them, and then you will create a content for your audience, you know, in your own talking style, and then you will post that content, and that is called a brand deal. It's an exchange of the promotion that you give to the brand. You know, you attach your personal brand, of course, to that and the actual brand receiving that promotion, and they compensate you financially for that. That's called campaign brand deal. Those are the same things, basically.
- [25:10]
Paul Alex
I love it. So it's like, basically like endorsements with like athletes, boxers, all that, Right?
- [25:16]
Diana Marks
Yeah. So imagine when I was starting out, those brand deals were only for celebrities.
- [25:22]
Unnamed Participant
Yeah, Right.
- [25:22]
Diana Marks
So like, imagine. Yeah, And I was just a regular person, an immigrant.
- [25:26]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [25:26]
Diana Marks
So new in the country, being sponsored by brands. That. That's like unheard of. That's ridiculous. You know?
- [25:32]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [25:32]
Diana Marks
It's a ridiculous concept, but now it happens everywhere, all the time. Yeah.
- [25:37]
Paul Alex
No, I. I love that. So what would you say would be the minimum qualifications for someone that, like, let's say, wants to become an influencer? Right. What do you think is the basic foundation they need to have in order to start landing deals, even small deals, you know, their first deal?
- [25:55]
Diana Marks
Yeah. So ironically enough, I think it's mindset. It's literally nothing else. Because when I started out, I didn't even know how to create content. I didn't know how to pose. I was shy. I didn't. Like, I had questionable taste in fashion. But I was posting about fashion, right? So I've learned all of this, literally. I've learned how to pose. I've learned how to style myself. I've learned. I literally ended up at New York Fashion Week that very first year.
- [26:20]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [26:21]
Diana Marks
So with that in mind, it was only the mindset that helped me do that.
- [26:25]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [26:25]
Diana Marks
So the same thing goes for influencers nowadays. They need to understand that this is a business and it's a cutthroat business. It's true. You know, so if they don't approach it like that from the beginning, and then a lot of people get into influencing for the long. For the wrong reason reasons, because they're like, I want the clout. I want to talk about restaurants and luxury hotels. I. I think I'm meant to become an influencer, you know, so if that is the reason they will fail, like, by definition, you know, so if they know that this is a career they want to pursue, they want to really approach it as a business, you know, that's when they will succeed. So all of the skills, all of them, you can learn. Content creation, you can learn. It's literally applying the step, steps and discipline, posting every single day, you know, with the direction in mind, with the goal in mind.
- [27:08]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [27:09]
Diana Marks
So that's what a lot of people don't follow these days.
- [27:12]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [27:12]
Diana Marks
They don't have a goal. They're like, oh, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna post this. I saw something else, you know, so they completely get sidetracked from what they actually are, from what they're building.
- [27:21]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [27:21]
Diana Marks
So that's why they don't get the followers. That's why they don't work with brands. So if they are. They have the right mindset and the light or the right blueprint. That is the only. The only two things they need to succeed, actually.
- [27:33]
Paul Alex
So let me understand what your agency does. So your agency helps People become influencers or does it help already established influencers land deals? What exactly does your agency do?
- [27:47]
Diana Marks
We actually help any influencer.
- [27:49]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [27:49]
Diana Marks
So if you're an established full time influencer and you want to 10x your brand deals, we'll do that. If you're just starting out, you've never worked with brands before, but you have the followers. That's the only thing that we need, is for you to have some sort of following. We usually say like at least 10,000 followers, but we have influencers who have like 4,000 followers who are like crushing it. Literally landing like we have one of the clients having 15 brand deals in a month with 4,000 followers.
- [28:18]
Paul Alex
That's amazing.
- [28:18]
Diana Marks
Yeah, so that's actually showing you the mindset difference, Right. And also the system.
- [28:24]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [28:24]
Diana Marks
So what we do exactly is we integrate what we call a sophisticated way of saying would be a business acquisition system into their careers.
- [28:33]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [28:33]
Diana Marks
So in a nutshell, brands are influencers, clients, Right? So we teach influencers how to get clients at scale. And you know, how do you grow a business? You get a lot more clients and you make sure you work long term with the same clients.
- [28:45]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [28:46]
Diana Marks
Recurring revenue. So that's exactly what we do.
- [28:48]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [28:49]
Diana Marks
So we integrate, create the business acquisition system by giving them the tools, by giving them the training. And then my favorite part is because I've coached so many influencers, I know all the roadblocks and mindset is one of them. So they give up. So what we do is we do everything for them. It's a done for you part, literally. So for two months, they don't do a single thing. They just hop on one call with me, we talk about their career. It's not a brainstorming call, right? So we have them fill out some certain forms and everything. So I come in prepared to the call with the exact plan of action that we will execute for them. And all they need to do is just post the content that we will establish on that call. And the content will have to be as close to their personality as possible because that's the key to longevity. I'm all about building this business long term. Not for a year, not for two years. I've been doing this since 2012. You know, I'm still reaping the benefits of it. So that's what we do for our clients.
- [29:43]
Paul Alex
I love that. I love that. It's very simple. It's black and white. And people, especially now in 2025, I feel like with Instagram gratification they would, this would be a no brainer. But let me ask you this, okay? What if I'm not an influencer? What if I'm like a well known business guy, right? And I, I don't know, maybe I have a car dealership, but I have quite a bit of a following. Would I be able to work with you 1000%.
- [30:12]
Diana Marks
We have a lot of people like that too. You know, just like you need to have the followers, that is the only thing you need to have in any niche possible, right? And you can change the niche too, if you'd like to. We'll help you with the direction change if needed. We have a lot of female clients who are about to have a baby, right? So it's a whole different change in content, right? So a whole different direction. So we will help you go through that change. My goal is for you to understand how the system works so that you can apply it for years and years to come. In the done for you stage, we get you to results fast. You see how it works. You start already by actively interacting with brands. You know, you're not, we're not teaching you how to do it, we'll actually do it for you, right? So with that, you'll see the entire process A to Z. So my goal is after those two months, you'll be able to do that for any niche, any category, whatever goes through your life. If you want to take a break for a year and then start working with brands again, you can totally do that too. If you want to become a car influencer and then like all of a sudden you want to become like a travel influencer or combine the two, you know, we'll teach you how to do all of this, right? So it's just literally applying the same system and make sure it's strategic, right? Strategic content, strategic brands we're reaching out to with a strategic message so you understand why brands would be paying you and not somebody else. You know what I mean?
- [31:34]
Paul Alex
So everybody essentially has like an ideal brand that they could work with. How many, how many brands are you currently have like in your roster, do you network with.
- [31:44]
Diana Marks
Yes. So we have a network of 10,000 brands and it's growing, it's constantly growing. So in 2000 2019, when I started my agency actually we released so that directory of brands is called the Magic list. And so our original magic list was 100 contacts. So imagine from 100 contacts to 10,000 brand contacts in our directory. That's pretty impressive. You know, I'm very proud of this. And you know, for a regular Joe, it would just be like, look like contacts.
- [32:13]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [32:13]
Diana Marks
So, but these are literally, this is the key for, for us to access those brand deals.
- [32:19]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [32:19]
Diana Marks
Building relationships with these contacts. That's why we are so exclusive.
- [32:23]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [32:23]
Diana Marks
So we are working by invitation only. So it's not like if you want to join us, you know, we welcome, we welcome everybody.
- [32:30]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [32:30]
Diana Marks
We want to make sure we can screen you. And the biggest screening would be the mindset how serious you are, because we're about to connect you with big time brands.
- [32:38]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [32:38]
Diana Marks
So we want to make sure that you are able to handle that. And by handling that, it literally like showing up on a call because you might have to connect with McLaren on the call and talk to them. And if you can't show up on a call with us, we can't trust you with McLaren, you know, so that's why we have to be very careful with what we've built. Because these are very, very sensitive context and sensitive data. And we want to make sure that we connect you, we make your dreams come true, but at the same time, we don't sabotage those relationships as well.
- [33:06]
Paul Alex
Wow. What is a client? Okay. One of your favorite, I guess, client success stories that you've had? Because I've had quite a few. I mean, I've had some that cry like it made me cry. It's just a great feeling to help other people.
- [33:21]
Diana Marks
Yes.
- [33:22]
Paul Alex
But what would you say is one good client success story that you would want to share with the audience that's listening to this right now?
- [33:29]
Diana Marks
That is a great question. So we have a lot. So those stories that like where clients come in and they didn't have brand deals and now they have 10, now they have 15, now they have $50,000 in cash and product value in travel and cars, you know, so those are great. But my most favorite one is when people's lives are impacted beyond just like the dream come true scenario.
- [33:51]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [33:52]
Diana Marks
So one of the clients that we have, her name is Carrie. So she got a $15,000 surgery, stomach tightening surgery, after having, I believe she has four or five kids. So a lot of kids basically.
- [34:06]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [34:07]
Diana Marks
So it's not the concept of the surgery that she got for free.
- [34:10]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [34:10]
Diana Marks
Which is amazing, by the way. 15,000, you know, in exchange for literally your social media currency.
- [34:16]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [34:16]
Diana Marks
So that's huge. But it's the life change that comes with it because she got her confidence back right now. She has more energy, she, she's more confident. She loves herself now. She's able to pursue different things.
- [34:29]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [34:29]
Diana Marks
So for me, these are the biggest, the key success stories.
- [34:33]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [34:33]
Diana Marks
Because that's what I'm preaching basically, right. I want people to understand that social media, if approached as a currency, can get you anything. Like a lot of times people think like, oh, if I'm rich, then I want to go travel here or do this or connect with this brand or even like, I don't know, try to be in a movie.
- [34:51]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [34:51]
Diana Marks
So we can help you even get connected with those contacts through your social, through the power of your social media. So that is huge. And to me it's like, it's literally a dream making machine in a way, you know, so when I, when I hear stories like this, you know, that's the ones that are, that get me teary for sure.
- [35:09]
Paul Alex
No, I love that. And I mean, I think you're the right person to actually work with in this specific space because it seems like you've hit every aspect, especially coming from la.
- [35:20]
Diana Marks
Yes.
- [35:21]
Paul Alex
Of influencing, dealing with celebrities, interviewing, going ahead and acting and, and such, Right?
- [35:27]
Diana Marks
Yes.
- [35:27]
Paul Alex
So question, I've always had these conversations with different, you could say the associates of mine. And what do you say the influencers that have like, let's say millions of followers and they launch like, I heard a horror story. There was a influencer who launched her own clothing brand and no one bought her clothing brand. She had a million followers. You would think with a million followers she would at least make a couple hundred thousands of dollars, right. In sales, but she made zero. So what are influencers that have massive following but are broke doing wrong?
- [36:07]
Diana Marks
Well, first of all, they don't narrow down their personal brand, right? So if you're trying to appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody, right? So a lot of times, times also they don't understand marketing. Marketing doesn't work like this anymore, right. Where you post one story and the product gets sold out like it never worked like this. But I mean, nowadays it's impossible, right? So for us to make a purchasing decision, we need to see this product everywhere, right? So but if we're going back to the influencer mistakes, it's literally not understanding who they are and how they relate to the audience.
- [36:38]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [36:38]
Diana Marks
Just because they think it's cool to open a brand.
- [36:42]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [36:43]
Diana Marks
So a clothing brand doesn't mean the audience wants this, Right. So they don't really relate with the audience like this. Or maybe they think they're a fashion influencer, but the audience perceives them completely differently.
- [36:53]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [36:53]
Diana Marks
So we don't know this. And that's why a lot of times when we start working with influencers, the very first step we do is we have one on one consulting call on the personal brand. We cannot reach out to brands if we don't understand the value of an influencer, right? So the value to his audience or his or her audience or to the brands. And usually it's the same thing. And that's why, yes, we don't grow followers for our influencers, but as a byproduct of what we do. Followers grow organically because now the influencer is not lost. They know exactly how they're going to position themselves online, what they're going to post about regularly, and that attracts a quality audience because they know what to expect from them. They want to see the same content. So they start following more and more, the algorithm adjusts and now they have more followers, right? So we never promoted our services as growing their following. This is not what we do. I don't perceive myself as an expert in growing the following, which is ironic because I have a lot of followers, but I've been doing this for a very long time. So in a way, maybe throughout time, I took advantage of algorithms, you know, because they have changed over the years. But yeah, as a byproduct, our influencers grow their followers as well. And that's the irony of it all. It's almost like in a way, it's a perfect synergy. If you align everything, your purpose, your personality and your goals, you know, everything starts working out, right? Your followers are growing, you start getting brand deals, you know, so it's like a perfect world that we curate for them.
- [38:18]
Paul Alex
So if you had someone who was looking to break into the influencing world, out of all the social media platforms, which one would you recommend to start off with first?
- [38:28]
Diana Marks
Well, I mean, that's a great question, you know, so we help influencers across any social media platform, literally anything, like even LinkedIn influencers, we can help them. The process of brand deals acquisition is the same for us, right? So everything is custom, but the concept is the same.
- [38:44]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [38:45]
Diana Marks
So I would recommend, if somebody's starting out, to start with still Instagram, even though, you know, a lot of people are kind of like, you know, maybe you have to diversify and stuff like that. YouTube is of course, amazing. My fear with YouTube is commitment. A lot of influencers cannot commit to create long form content regularly, you know, so at least with Instagram, you know, they can commit to regular creation of short form content, you know, so that's where, that's why I would still suggest Instagram. Plus the brands, they still look At Instagram a little bit. They value it higher than TikTok, you know, or YouTube. Right. Well, I mean, I take that back. So they, they value YouTube a lot, but they're like, there's fewer people in that space, if that makes sense, you know, so that are actually crushing it, you know, whereas on Instagram, it's easier to crush on it because, again, like, it's a short form. Content.
- [39:37]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [39:38]
Diana Marks
So, yeah, but for the brand's perspective, whenever we optimize something, somebody's account, for example, the main account that we optimize is Instagram. It's almost like a business card for us, you know, that's going to be representing the rest of their accounts, even if they're huge on YouTube, by the way.
- [39:52]
Paul Alex
No, I, I love that. So let me, let me ask you this. What would you say if a person right now was to tell you, okay, I currently am a prior detective, and, you know, I started a couple simple, boring businesses, and I want to get some free Emirates flights for me and my wife.
- [40:20]
Diana Marks
Who might that be?
- [40:21]
Paul Alex
I don't know. I don't know. It sounds familiar. But what would you tell that person? Like, what would be the strategy that you would advise that business owner to do in order to do that? What a r. We're going to, we're going to do a masterclass right now, right? Right, Emilio. Yeah, we're going to do a masterclass. So let's, let's, let's, let's educate our audience on how to get free Emirate flights. Guys, as a business owner, all right?
- [40:44]
Diana Marks
So obviously you have the followers that is the foundation.
- [40:47]
Paul Alex
Yes.
- [40:47]
Diana Marks
So you come to us, you say you want to do this. The first thing we do is personal branding.
- [40:53]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [40:53]
Diana Marks
So you already have an established personal brand, which is great. But what we're going to add is a little bit more content that relates to the Emirates.
- [41:02]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [41:02]
Diana Marks
So when we're going to pitch you to the Emirates, we're going to position you as a perfect person to promote their airline. That means your audience should technically be buying from the Emirates in the future.
- [41:14]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [41:14]
Diana Marks
So in order for them. We'll say that in the pitch. So in order for them to believe what we're saying, they have to see it on your profile.
- [41:20]
Paul Alex
Got it.
- [41:21]
Diana Marks
And in order for them to see it in your profile, we need to create content relevant to the Emirates. What I mean by that is that's a luxury airline, right? So we got to introduce luxury lifestyle content into your content. So we want to showcase that you're going to high End restaurants want to showcase that, you go to high end hotels, right? So you start integrating that, your audience gets trained on that as well. And the brands now see that you're, you're in the world, you're in the luxury lifestyle world and that's when we'll approach the Emirates. Right, so we're not going to start with a pitch, we're going to start with your content first and then we'll write the perfect pitch, present you in the best possible way, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve in the way that we present you. But the most important thing is we need to make sure that the pitch, what we write in the email resonates with the content that is posted. That is why we don't, we can't just say here's the pitch, here's the contact of the Emirates, go for it.
- [42:19]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [42:19]
Diana Marks
So everything has to be strategic. And so then we write the pitch, we reach out to that brand and the irony of it all is they might not even say yes. And what do we do then? So what do we do? How do we connect influencers with their dream brands? Right, so I'll actually lay out the entire blueprint on how you actually eventually will still work with Emirates. So if they say no or they don't respond, well, first of all, we always follow up, right? Because, because these brands receive hundreds and hundreds of emails. You know, we want to make sure we're on top of the inbox, but we also want to prove that we're serious.
- [42:49]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [42:49]
Diana Marks
So if you're following up, that means you're serious about working with them. But we don't stop there because of the magic list. We have all airlines, literally every single airline that exists, we have these contests. So now you have luxury content. We start pitching you to all airlines across the board. So maybe the Emirates are not, not interested right now, but maybe Qatar Airlines is running a promotion and they're now flying influencers to Qatar. So what you're going to do is you're going to jump on that campaign, fly to Qatar for free, still have a vacation with your wife, right? Enjoy Qatar. Yes. You're not still in Dubai, but you already have clout and you have Qatar backing up your personal brand.
- [43:32]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [43:33]
Diana Marks
So that's how you add that content. And now what do we do? We re pitch to the Emirates maybe half a year from then.
- [43:40]
Paul Alex
Yeah.
- [43:41]
Diana Marks
And when we repitch what we do is because we do everything strategically and at scale, you know, so it's automatic. System repitching is automatic. So it's not like you're manually writing those emails. We do create that pitch email first manually ourselves, but we use automation on the back end. So automatically you repitch to the Emirates and guess what? Maybe in half a year they do run influence or campaigns. And who's going to be the top person? They'll consider the one who just worked with Qatar Airlines, because that's another luxury airline that has the same clientele, literally the same clientele. So if the another luxury airline backed you up already and you already have the content, so you have not only like the content side but also like the credibility aspect of it all right? So with a big time major airline, that's when you get a deal with Emirates. So in a way, as a, like, as a side effect, you'll end up with two trips instead of one, you know, but that's how we get you to any dream brand deal. So it's not immediate because a lot of influencers come to me and they're like, I want to work with McLaren, just give me their contact. You know, it doesn't work like this, you know, so it's relationship building for years and it's establishing yourself as an expert in that niche specifically. So for me with cars, I've worked with cars cars for around a decade at this point, you know, so that's why I'm a top car influencer, right? And even then I didn't work with McLaren every single year. I work with McLaren whenever they work with influencers, right? Whenever they're open to working with influencers. These brands go through cycles too, just like everything else, right? So sometimes they work with influencers, sometimes they only run ads. They don't focus on influencers at that point in time. So it's always changing. So it's a matter of being at the right place at the right time. But we do that strategically and at scale so that you always have something going on in your career that's amazing.
- [45:25]
Paul Alex
So part of your process is you're basically allowing influencers and business owners to be part of your network, it's a network that you built personally. So you do have to vet them, you have to make sure that their content's top tier. So not only are you getting business owners and influencers connected to their brand deals, but you're actually hooking them up by actually fixing their content 1000% plus.
- [45:51]
Diana Marks
Now we're getting to the point where brands actually prefer our influencers, right? Because they know that these are business savvy influencers. They'll know how to Handle the conversation. They'll know how to negotiate. I actually use my personal connections to, A lot of times I work with brands as a, as an influencer myself. And they're like, we know you have an agency. Can you recommend somebody from your agency for us as well? And I know exactly who I can recommend based on their niche and the qualities that they're looking for, the personality type they're looking for.
- [46:20]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [46:20]
Diana Marks
So in a way you're completely correct. It's a network that they're becoming a part of.
- [46:25]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [46:25]
Diana Marks
So. And there's so many. Not only will pitch them individually to these brands, but because I know them and because brands know me now, I can personally connect. And I'm doing this actually regularly for my influencers. I can connect, connect brands with the right influencer and I can feel confident about it because I know that this influencer has gone through my program. So in a way they're graduated from an academy, you know, that basically makes them a professional influencer.
- [46:51]
Paul Alex
Yeah. All right, Dan, that's some remarkable information. I'm definitely going to have to talk to the wife and possibly me. Like, I've always wanted to go ahead and build my authority as a business owner and I know in the online game it's all about a semi flash, you know, you know, humble brag, you gotta say, like, hey, I'm, I'm in first class at Emirates or Qatar Airways. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's just the way it goes. Right. People love to see that lifestyle no matter what. So with that being said, where can people find more information? Let's say if they just wanted to like read up on information on, you know, on your agency working with you or even talking to you, how can they contact you?
- [47:32]
Diana Marks
Well, they can contact me on Instagram, ayannamarksofficial or my agency, UX Digital Media. It's connected on my Instagram account, of course, just DM us and we'll go from there, you know, so we're very friendly. We talk to a lot of influencers, hundreds of influencers every single day. The best part about it is when I get on the call with an influencer, I can like literally, without even like talking to them, pinpoint what's going to be the current struggles and how we can help them out.
- [47:59]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [47:59]
Diana Marks
So I literally see the entire path, you know, it's just a matter of them seeing this path as well. But yeah, so Instagram is the best way to connect with us.
- [48:08]
Paul Alex
And then, Diana, one motivational quote. To have influencers and anyone else who wants to be an influencer level up in 2025, what do you got?
- [48:20]
Diana Marks
Once you learn how to do something, you cannot unlearn it, you know, so that's knowledge is power, for sure. You know, so take me, right? And my story on how I got my internship completely not related to business at all, right? So to completely not related to anything. It was just the concept of 200 companies that I'll write to and then eventually one hopefully will open the door.
- [48:43]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [48:43]
Diana Marks
So it's the same like once you learn how to apply. Apply a certain skill anywhere, you can just apply it in every part of your business. By the way, speaking of your business, Paul, for your influencer career, if we apply our business acquisition system on how to get brand deals, you can actually replicate that process on how to get your own clients for your three companies as well. So that is the beauty of it. All, right? So you learn the system, but it can be applied anywhere.
- [49:10]
Paul Alex
I love that. I love that. And like you said, knowledge is power, guys. Your network is truly your net worth, for sure.
- [49:17]
Diana Marks
Yes. And I do want to second that. We did level up as an agency, thankfully, thanks to you.
- [49:23]
Paul Alex
I appreciate that.
- [49:24]
Diana Marks
Absolutely. You've played an important and integral part in building my business in general because we've always done what we do, obviously in the best possible way, but the structure of the company, the corporate knowledge, if you will, it's all from you.
- [49:38]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [49:38]
Diana Marks
So you've helped me break through a lot of my limiting beliefs in the business side.
- [49:44]
Unnamed Participant
Right.
- [49:44]
Diana Marks
In the building. Like not just the business side, but the corporate side of my business.
- [49:48]
Unnamed Participant
Right?
- [49:48]
Diana Marks
So that's where we literally took off right now. And we're blowing up like crazy.
- [49:53]
Paul Alex
I see it.
- [49:53]
Diana Marks
And all thanks to you. And I'm very grateful that I got a chance to work with you last year and I'm very excited to what's going to happen in a couple of years from now.
- [50:01]
Paul Alex
No, I appreciate that. But at the end of the day, it has to work or it has to work. Right? You remember I used to say that all the time. So, guys, that is it. Diana Marks here on the level of podcast. Guys, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone that you love that can actually take advantage of the information that Diana Marks has gone ahead and provided to us. It's amazing, guys. You guys can change your life if you put 110% into it. Okay, once again, this is Paul Alex, the level podcast me. Make sure to leave a five star rating on Spotify and Apple podcasts and make sure to give us a thumbs up on YouTube, guys. I'll catch you on the next one.