How Augmentum Turned Influencer Seeding into a Growth Engine With SARAL

In the world of influencer marketing, most brands treat product gifting as a one-and-done transaction. Send product, hope for content, move on to the next creator. But what if there was a better way?We needed answers, so we sat down with Sambhav Chadha, Co-Founder of Augmentum Media, a team that specializes in helping health and wellness brands scale through influencer marketing.

Working with industry leaders like Lululemon, Nooma, and Fussy, they've developed a systematic approach that takes traditional product seeding and turns it into a scalable marketing engine.

Here's what we learned →

A Different Approach to Influencer Marketing

The traditional approach to product seeding isn’t the most effective. Most brands treat creator relationships like a transactional lottery.

"Seeding is a term that's been completely misrepresented in our space for a long time. The majority of brands and agencies doing seeding are doing it because they want to get the creatives almost out of assumption that the influencers are going to create content."

So, what does a strategic approach look like?

Augmentum follow a three-stage influencer strategy that goes does not rely on hope →

1. Stage 1: Product Seeding: Strategic product sends to vetted creators
2. Stage 2: Affiliate Conversion: Converting engaged creators to ongoing partners
3. Stage 3: Paid Partnerships: Investing in proven performers

"We use seeding as a relationship tool. We send products to influencers that we want to start to build a relationship with. We typically then funnel 15 to 25% of them through into an affiliate or ambassador program. And then from there, we're using all of that data to decide who to run paid partnerships with."

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Okay, but how do you actually make this approach work in the real world?

Breaking Free from Spreadsheet Management

Before SARAL, Augmentum's operations relied heavily on Google Sheets and manual processes.

While they had set up some pretty good automations, the system required constant maintenance.

"Stuff breaks just all the time. You can ask any kind of systems or automation expert and they'll tell you that they'll build it once, but they need to continue being there because automations break and software changes."

This maintenance overhead was pulling the team away from strategic work and limiting their ability to scale campaigns effectively.

Enter SARAL.

Scaling with The Right Tool

The switch to SARAL provided three key advantages for Augmentum's operations:

• All-in-One Platform: “There's no other platform that allows us to do our program in one place. Having everything from discovery to relationship management to affiliate tracking in a single platform is game-changing.”

• Creator Discovery: "Having access to over 200 million influencers is way more than some of these larger platforms where you have to manually enter every single creator.”

• Responsive Support: "The SARAL team has been incredibly quick to resolve technical issues and implement our feedback.”

The Results Speak for Themselves

Let's talk numbers. For one of their flagship clients, a leading UK personal care brand, Augmentum's approach knocked it out of the park:

• 1,500 new customers found their way to the brand through trackable discount codes
• Creators delivered 2,600 fresh pieces of content (with full usage rights!)
• Their content reached over 3.5 million potential customers
• 550 creators became active affiliates and brand champions

"We've reached out to over 6,000 influencers through SARAL, seeded products to 1,900 of them, and now have 550 active affiliates posting regularly. The Relations tab in SARAL has been a game-changer for managing this kind of scale."

The million-dollar question is…. How do you turn these numbers from a one-off success into a repeatable strategy?

Here's the Thing About Influencer Marketing...

Sambhav drops some truth that most brands need to hear:

"Influencer marketing isn't about throwing money at the problem. It's about putting in the work. You're not spending hundreds of thousands on influencer posts and calling it a day. You're investing time in building real relationships."

And this is where having the right tools becomes crucial:

"When you don't have proper systems in place, even saving 20% of your team's time each week makes a huge difference – both for your team's sanity and your bottom line."

What's Next for Augmentum?

The numbers tell an exciting story:

• They're turning 35% of seeded creators into active affiliates (that's huge!)
• Shipping out 250+ products monthly through SARAL
• On track to get 5,000 pieces of fresh content in the next six months
• Breaking into new European markets with bigger brands

What Can Other Brands Take Away From This?

If you're looking to level up your influencer game, here's what matters:

1. Stop treating product sends like a one-off game – build real relationships
2. Get your systems sorted before you try to scale
3. Let the data tell you which creators to bet on

Want to see how SARAL can help you build something similar? Let's talk.