“Buying trust is the most important thing that you can do in marketing today.”

Thank you for hosting me in your beautiful apartment. Tell me about yourself and how you see marketing in this world.

In my opinion, the best way to do marketing is by getting references and recommendations. This is why I find "influencer marketing" so effective. If you saw in the past so many beauty and fashion brands doing influencer marketing, these days you can see any brand. Buying trust is the most important thing you can do in marketing in 2022.

What is marketing for you?

Basically, it's everything. There are so many products that are the same, but if they win in marketing, they win in everything. I'm a huge believer that marketing is probably the most important role in every company. I think the way you sell it, that's the way for you to actually move the needle between similar products.

Most marketing agencies offer ads, billboards, TV commercials, radio commercials. But you're doing something different.

We do ads. But they're not typical ads. It's something that's way more recommendation-related. It makes it almost no-ad. The key is amazing content. If you work with the right influencers on amazing content, that will perform. This is what we do. We work with 100 to 200 influencers per month. We know influencers in almost every vertical. We know what works.

Talk to me about influencers. Maybe you and I think about it, but this is a new concept in the world.

I think it's an old concept that’s having an upgrade. Ten years ago, you're going to listen to my recommendation as your friend or an expert. Then you can support the idea from different places. You can do PR and you can do television, but you support it with the most experienced tech influencer that actually reviews the product, uses it, and likes it. You're going to listen to him.

The content is different when you're talking about an influencer's content versus a 15-second slot on TV. Right?

Yes. A good influencer, you don't need to do content with them. He will do that, which also saves a lot of production money. You just give the brief to the influencer, and he will do whatever is relevant for his audience.

Regev Gur, founder of Narrative Group. Photo: Dor David Malka

The company has a message to put out, but you're saying the influencer has more autonomy. How do you manage that struggle?

They need to do whatever is on the talking points. We talk a lot about content before we do any campaign. You want to make sure they are accurate with what the company wants to say. You let them go free in terms of the content, but you give them very accurate guidelines.

How do you manage the authenticity behind the influencer when there's financials involved?

That's an amazing question. I think all the influencers should be afraid because many influencers are starting to lose their credibility. This is why they take less projects. They don't want to recommend every single day about something else, then no one is going to believe them.

There must be a way for influencers who genuinely like a product and have a great following to monetize that.

They're saying they are going to do everything only if they believe in the product. I'm not sure it's the right thing. They do only projects where they care about the product. We work with the best tech companies out there, so we don't get many nos.

What does the process look like from the moment a startup is interested to the moment where I'm actually getting something out there?

It's a very long and hard process that we try to minimize. A B2B product is way more challenging because you need to convince the decision maker, which is not a regular person at home. He's way more judgmental. But I also believe Elon Musk and Adam Singolda and those folks are influenced by someone. How do you find this someone? How do you find this podcast he's listening to and integrate with this podcast? This is step number one, the research. How do we find those relevant places and influencers?

As Narrative Group, you get the request from the startup and then you try to figure out the best strategy, the best influencer, and which domain?

Yeah. It all starts from the meeting with the clients, but then from the research. After the research, we approve those people with the client. Then the reach-out part starts. They're going to answer us faster since we're already in this market for a good amount of time. This is the advantage of being an agency: you are in the center of everything.

After the reach out, the negotiation starts. Then it's the legal stuff. Then it's the content, which is the most important thing. You should do that content with them and make sure it's all amazing. They send you a script to approve.

It’s a huge process, but very interesting because we work with so many companies. I always tell my employees, "You work for 25 startups or companies." We're in the core of the business, which is marketing, so we know everything about the company. You never get bored because you work in so many verticals.

Which part do you enjoy most?

I obviously don't like the legal stuff. I like negotiation a lot. I found myself making between 10 to 20 negotiations per day. I'm exhausted by the end of the day, but I love it. I like to win it.

Where is the center of the negotiation?

They care about many things, and we care about many things. Number one: the cost of the influencers. Then it's the usage. Can I use those materials after the campaign? We always want to use those materials. The influencers know that, so there is a price tag for that. There are so many small things I can't even explain.

How long does this process usually take?

It really depends on the niche. But if we start working today, we're going to start delivering in approximately three weeks. Every time we have a good opportunity, we pitch it.

Give me a few examples of Narrative Group’s projects.

The last engagement we had so far was with Mrwhosetheboss. He’s super talented, huge amounts of followers. Not only followers, they listen to him. He influences people for real. This is what we are trying to find in an influencer: we care about the niche and the numbers, but we really care about his engagement.

We did the campaign for an Israeli company called Mine. In terms of views, it's going to hit two million, three million views. It's insane for an Israeli company. The review was amazing. We do many of those every week.

Going back to your childhood, who is Regev?

I had a great family. My parents divorced when I was 12. Then, I was in a survival mode where I needed to be the man in the house. I felt I needed to take ownership. I think this is what made me a success. I'm starving for success. I'm very happy I didn't come from a wealthy place.

I understand the intrinsic motivation of being successful, but where's the motivation for the work you're doing?

I believe during your life you need to give everything you have, to donate your money and to do good. My dream is to be a philanthropist. This is why I do everything I do. I think you need to finish with zero in your bank account when you're dead.

Michael Matias. Photo: Courtesy

Michael Matias, Forbes 30 Under 30, is the author of Age is Only an Int: Lessons I Learned as a Young Entrepreneur. He studies Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University, is a Venture Partner at J-Ventures and was an engineer at Hippo Insurance. Matias previously served as an officer in the 8200 unit. 20MinuteLeaders is a tech entrepreneurship interview series featuring one-on-one interviews with fascinating founders, innovators and thought leaders sharing their journeys and experiences.

Contributing editors: Michael Matias, Megan Ryan