10 Questions with Alice Bull
Digital marketing powerhouse and Founder of Tiktok-first agency Gratified.
Introducing Alice, the founder of Gratified and a powerhouse in the digital marketing and influencer space. Known for her insightful TikTok content on industry trends and strategies for growth, Alice’s journey has been anything but conventional.
From dropping out of university and running her first digital business at 15, to leading client services at major agencies like Ogilvy, Influencer, and Billion Dollar Boy, she’s seen it all.
Today, she shares her insights on everything from building a successful TikTok account to navigating the ever-evolving world of influencer regulations. Let’s dive in!
Oh, hello Alice, you are BIG on TikTok talking all things industry news and how to grow on TikTok, now the founder of Gratified but give me the back story – how did you get here?
Hi, Sedge! Thank you for having me.
I dropped out of university after my first year, which is something I was ashamed of for a long time. I'd always felt a little 'different' - I started my first digital business designing websites when I was 15 after becoming obsessed with learning HTML library books - and it all made a little more sense when I was diagnosed with ADHD last year. I simply found it too discombobulating to go from a structured school environment to a self-led university one.
I adore the conversations I've seen popping up about university degrees and their relevance to both start-up life and creative careers. I thrived on having a couple of years of industry experience over a degree.
Anyway, since we got dial-up internet at home when I was a teenager I was OBSESSED with the way the internet connects people across geographical, lifestyle, and demographic boundaries. I also loved to write, so I used my Web1.0 skills to build myself a blogging CMS and started journaling online.
From there I incorporated as much web as I could into my early post-uni drop out career - I may have been the only person to sign a recruitment agency up for a MySpace profile - and I got my first pure Digital Marketing job heading up Vice Magazine's online properties when I was 22.
After a surprise pregnancy at 24 I ran a small social and influencer consultancy, and after 7 years of self-employment came back to agency life, leading Client Service functions at Ogilvy, Influencer, and Billion Dollar Boy.
I also spent time playing on the other side of the fence as an influencer, where I was lucky enough to work with some of the best clients around (I developed recipes for Waitrose, went on holiday with Mark Warner and the Thai Tourism Authority, and spoke on behalf of Google). Oh, and I also wrote a book that was published by Hodder and Stoughton, and produced an Etsy-sponsored podcast.
Returning to agencies in 2019 was intentional on my part: I loved being self-employed but wanted to learn how the big players operated in terms of commercials, operations, and growth. And last year whilst on maternity leave with my third baby it became clear that I wouldn't be able to return to the role I had been employed in, so I took the plunge (for the second time) and started my agency, Gratified.
How has being a founder differed from being an employee?
To be honest, having run a consultancy before and working closely with the CEOs of the last two start/scale-up agencies I was in, I thought I knew it all. I really didn't (and don't!). It's an entirely different proposition to be a founder vs being a freelancer (vs being an employee!).
The main difference is the absolute multitude of skills you need; I'm currently my own accountant, strategist, biz dev, marketing, legal... and if you don't know how to execute these functions, you soon learn ("hey chatGPT, please explain VAT to me as if I'm an 11 year old").
I've also found the weight of responsibility to deliver exceptional work while creating awareness of our business and growing as swiftly (yet sustainably) as possible to be huge - the definition of building the plane while flying it.
I made the decision to make my first hire three months in, and doing the work to pay two people's salaries instead of just your own is big. I feel so much more responsibility when it comes to making the 'right' decisions for our future - and the future of the business.
Though at the same time that's a great motivator - I thrive in a leadership and mentoring role and having a big team is something I miss so much about employment, so I'm looking forward to growing and bringing more talented people into the Gratified fold as we expand.
It comes up a lot on TikTok about the length of time you have worked in influencer marketing, break it down – how have you seen the industry evolve over that time?
Undoubtedly the skills of creators have come on leaps and bounds. Hiring a creator to work with a brand used to simply be a platform for awareness, a couple of Images on instagram, now you can get a director, producer, cinematographer, actor - all in one ROI-friendly package.
When I first started in the industry it was all very low-fi - no contracts, nobody doing this for a living. There was no attribution, so it was impossible to understand the effectiveness of what we were doing. It was very much 'ehhh stick this on your MySpace wall, I'll give you some free gig tickets, we'll see what happens'.
It's been both an honour and privilege to see how we've grown since back then; from seeding brand messaging with long-form content writers (bloggers) to the Instagram boom, all the way through to crafting branded YouTube shows and now the era of the creator economy where influence and influencers touches literally every part of our lives.
I love how we've almost now come full circle, with Substack and Beehiiv now providing huge income opportunities for creators; I'm absolutely here for the return of long-form content writers, perhaps it'll bring along the return of our long-term attention spans?!
You have carved out a niche for yourself with being the go-to for influencer regulations and calling things out when you see them, how do you keep up to date on the guidelines?
Easy peasy - they're incredibly slow moving!
Seriously though, this is one of the biggest frustrations I have. Our regs have been pretty static with only minor updates and clarifications since 2018, and the industry is crying out for change.
They don't in any way reflect the nuance of relationships that influencers and creators enjoy with brands and commercial entities, and the 'one rule for all' stance can be confusing for consumers. Much like case law, we rely on prior rulings to set a precedent - which is why the high-profile ones are seen as so important - so sometimes clarity of rules is at the pace of the rulings themselves.
I have understood the outrage from industry figures at some recent ASA rulings (ahem) as on some levels they're absolutely right when they say our disclosure rules aren't fit for purpose. That being said, the rules are the rules, and until we have better options they need to be followed.
In terms of keeping up, I read the ASA rulings as they come in (every Wednesday). As these set the standard for future behaviour it's always interesting to have a view on them as they drop.
How do you see the guidelines evolving over the next few months, in an ever changing industry?
Probably not a lot; the ASA set their priorities for the year ahead fairly well in advance, so I don't think we'll see many changes in the next 12 months. AI is one of their biggest focuses from 2024-2028, so if anything we'll see the attention here rather than on the creator economy. And as a body that's funded by the industry itself (via a stipend placed on brands/agencies) they're strapped for cash, and with the entire ad landscape to monitor there just isn't enough manpower to go round to solve our industry's problems as it evolves so quickly.
The US has the FTC, a government-funded body, to police their influencer marketing industry. They have the power to impose fines and larger sanctions on non-compliant influencers/brands, and although I don't see this happening in our lifetime I think it'd be a great way to finance the application of fit-for-purpose regs
6. Do you think you can have the confidence to call out what you see in the start of your career or is this something that grows overtime as you build your industry expertise?
Some days I still don't have the confidence now! I find it such an uncomfortable experience, yet it's something I feel so strongly about.
I adore this industry, and having worked in it since the beginning I've seen it shift, change, and grow over time. We do however still find ourselves at the bottom of the respect pile when it comes to marketing practices (though we're slowly clambering our way out...), and until we're able to rise to a level of professionalism that does not include the flouting of consumer law, we won't be taken seriously.
We're such a new industry and consumers deserve to understand what they're buying into when they invest their time (and often money) into their influencer and social media relationships. No matter how uncomfortable I've found it (and that's been hugely), I'm proud I've edged the needle forward in this regard.
How do you find the time to run an agency, run a TikTok account, running a family..?
I don't!
The main way I hold things together (ish) is marrying a partner who understands how important what I do is to me, having him cheer me on from the sidelines, and fostering an equal and fair division of labour in our home. That hasn't come without hours of discussion, a few tetchy conversations on the meaning of the mental and emotional load, and a whole heap of organization - but I truly think parity in home and family life is one of the most crucial things you can do to keep all those plates spinning.
Honorary mention to our cleaner who comes once a week and has done for the last two years - I adore her and couldn't be without her - as well as far too much Deliveroo/Tesco Whoosh on the 'tough weeks'. And the kids who afford me way more patience than I probably deserve.
TLDR: it's a never ending juggle and I always feel like I'm not meeting the mark on one area of life - but we try.
What do you think is the secret sauce to growing a successful TikTok account?
Be adaptable. The algorithm moves quicker than we do, and if you don't keep up you'll soon become a flop. We see so many accounts that reach a respectable level of TikTok 'fame' fast - and then their views disappear. You have to flex and change alongside the platform otherwise you'll simply sink.
Once you understand how it's fairly easy: you need to keep your eye on two things,
1. TikTok's commercial priorities, because this influences how the algorithm behaves (i.e. right now they're pushing multi-part story times as they have introduced new between-playlist content ads).
And 2. user behaviour (despite TikTok pushing longer-form vids up to 60 mins so they can introduce mid-roll ads the adaption from audiences has been slow, so stick to shorter content that's more easily consumable). The rest is all just consumer and marketing psychology, and creating good content.
What’s the biggest mistake you keep seeing people make on TikTok?
Producing the content they want to make rather than producing the content their target audience wants to see. TikTok is a value-exchange entertainment platform: what are you providing your viewers in exchange for the 2 minutes they're spending in your company? If the answer is 'I don't know' or 'nothing' - you probably shouldn't be posting.
If you were going to give one piece of advice to someone wanting to set up a business – what would it be?
Don't! Only kidding. Absolutely do, you'll grow immeasurably, whether you plan to or not.
Again, be adaptable and flexible. If you set out on this journey thinking you want to provide XX product and service to YY customers and don't diverge from that path, you'll probably fail. Because the most important part of a business is being able to granularly identify who your target customer is, and what their pain points are that you can solve better than others on the market. And you won't be able to do that without some trial and error!