Amber Kemp
Amber Kemp
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Amber Kemp +
The
Overview
Amber Kemp-Gerstel broke into a new niche and started landing major food deals with big brands like Coca Cola, Johnny Pops, and Hello Fresh in just four months.
Amber has spent the last several years building a successful empire with DIY crafts. But she was ready to expand into a new category, and she met with College of Influence to develop strategies to break through.
Now, 60% of Amber’s revenue comes from food partnerships.
Here are three things you can borrow directly from Amber’s actual growth strategy:
1. Tag Your Dream Partners
Content Creators sometimes shy away from tagging brands featured in organic videos because they don’t want to give that shine away for free. Trust me, we get it - but hear us out. Amber tags every brand she wants to work with in posts that she’s created featuring their products no matter what. She’ll tag anyone, from Cheezit to Amazon, if those products are in her video because she knows this will get their attention, and it benefits their customer base.
Recently, Amber tagged Fiskars in a crafting video, which gave her manager Amanda an opening to craft and send a pitch to the brand. And now Amber is creating paid content with Fiskars. This collaborative strategy between talent and manager aligning on the timing of pitches can land big partnerships.
What To Do: Identify three to five dream partners and think about how to weave them into your everyday / organic content. The key is to, of course, fit them in naturally. Repetition matters, so don’t post just one and done - this is worth doing at least a few times, in case the first one doesn’t catch their attention.
Example: You’re a food Creator who wants to partner with The Container Store. Film a satisfying pantry restock using a new organizing system or set of bins they released, organically tagging them. This is now your warm pitch.
Result: The brand sees two important things: genuine use or like of their product, and the performance data. When both are positive there is a much greater chance of scoring a paid partnership, bypassing cold emails, and building foundations for larger and long-term relationships.
2. Set Specific Expansion Goals
After working with COI in December 2025, Amber successfully broke into the food vertical. But this worked in part because she came to us with a specific goal in mind. Joey G was able to build her a strong and specific creative strategy, around that exact goal.
We recommended that Amber’s recipe and cooking content echo the exact format (and personality) of her crafting content. She is humorous and messy at times, and often keeps the outtakes in her final edits, like spilling ingredients or supplies. Leaning into this personality helped her expand her audience.
What To Do: Ask yourself what new category or vertical you want to expand into, and get as specific as you can. Connect the dots between your niche and this new niche.
Example: If you’re a travel Creator wanting to break into personal finance, don’t drastically change your format. Instead, just shift the subject matter in a subtle way: “This is how I saved three thousand dollars for this Japan trip using this company’s budgeting app.” Describe the financial process, while still showcasing the typical travel visuals your audience would expect to see.
Result: You successfully unlock a lucrative new vertical without losing your core audience’s interest. You’re addressing a common problem, which makes you ready to pitch for an entirely new category of brand clients.
3. Develop A Relationship With Your Audience
Amber asks her audience questions in her stories and posts in order to understand what they want more of. Her replies aren’t generic or formatted, they have humor and personality.
She even creates videos responding to certain comments that pop out. Someone left a snarky comment under Amber’s video where she mentioned that her “husband approved” a DIY window awning she wanted to make. Her next video featured some candid, sarcastic and funny storytelling while she did GRWM makeup (tagging those brands, as well) addressing her happy marriage and sharing a bit more about their personal life.
What To Do: Start replying to your audience’s comments. This signals to them that you’re actively involved. Instead of creating content “at” your audience, show them you’re willing to interact. You don’t have to address every troll, and you can focus on the mostly-positive ones, especially when your reply adds even more knowledge or value to what they’re asking about or commenting on.
Example: Someone comments on your morning routine video asking, “I love that coffee maker, but is it easy to clean? Mine sucks.” Film a quick reply directly to that comment sticker. Show yourself rinsing it out in real-time, include your honest review, tag the company, and drop a link to the product.
Result: This builds trust in two ways. Brands see that you can naturally talk about their products, and it shows your audience that you’re a trustworthy source for reviews.
