Influencer marketing training taught by the agency that runs the campaigns and answers to the ASA for them
A private day for brand and agency teams who commission creators. Vetting, contracts, usage rights, the UK disclosure rules, whitelisting and measurement, taught from campaigns we are running this quarter.
At your offices anywhere in the UK, at our Leeds studio, or live online. Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT.
This is for brands, not for people who want to become influencers
Worth clearing up first, because the search term is ambiguous. This course teaches organisations how to commission, brief, contract and measure creators. It does not teach anybody how to build a personal following or make a living as an influencer.
In-house marketing and comms teams
About to run a first creator programme, or taking one back in house from an agency.
Teams already running campaigns
Spending real money on creators and unable to prove what it produced.
Anyone carrying the compliance risk
If your name is on the sign-off when a post goes out unlabelled, this day is written for you.
The course programme
Nine modules across a full day. Every one is anchored to a real campaign rather than a textbook, because we commission creators for paying clients continuously.
Influencer strategy and where creators fit
What creators are genuinely good at, what they are not, and where they sit against paid social and earned coverage. We start by working out whether influencer marketing is the right answer for what you are trying to sell, because sometimes it is not.
Finding and vetting creators, including fake followers
Building a longlist, then the vetting that most brands skip. Engagement rate benchmarking by tier, audience quality and location checks, the signals that indicate bought followers or pods, and the past-content review that stops you paying somebody whose old posts become tomorrow’s problem. We reject creators on this basis regularly and we will show you the actual checks.
Briefing, negotiating and what a rate card really means
Writing a brief a creator can work from, what UK creators actually charge at each tier, what is negotiable and what is not, and why the cheapest quote is usually the most expensive outcome. Includes gifting, and when gifting stops being realistic.
Contracts and usage rights
The part nobody teaches and everybody argues about later. Licence periods, exclusivity, territory, whitelisting permissions, renewals and buyouts. A post you paid for is not a post you own, and the difference between three months of organic use and a twelve month paid licence is the single most common source of dispute in UK influencer work.
The UK rules: ASA, the CAP Code and CMA guidance
What must be disclosed, how, and where in the post. The difference between advertising rules enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority under the CAP Code and consumer protection law enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority. Who carries liability when a creator fails to label properly, which is not the answer most brands assume. Gifting, affiliate links, contra deals and reposting all have different requirements.
Most training in this market is built on a United States syllabus and cites the Federal Trade Commission. That is the wrong regulator for a UK brand, and following it will not protect you here.
Whitelisting and boosting creator content as paid ads
Running creator content through your own ad account, partnership and Spark style ad formats, the permissions you need in the contract before you can do any of it, and why this is now where most of the performance in a creator programme actually comes from.
Measurement and return
The model we use on live campaigns. What can be attributed, what cannot, reach against engagement against action, and building a report that survives a finance director asking where the money went.
When it goes wrong
A creator posts something reputationally toxic, a campaign gets picked up badly, or a complaint reaches the ASA. Escalation, holding statements, whether to delete, and the due diligence that prevents most of it. Prohibition handles live crisis work, so these are cases we have run.
AI and virtual influencers
What is real, what is hype, disclosure when content is machine generated, and the practical question of whether any of it belongs in your plan yet. Almost no course in this market mentions it.
Do UK influencer campaigns have to follow ASA rules?
Yes. If a brand has paid a creator, gifted them a product, or has any form of control over the content, the post is advertising and must be obviously identifiable as such before anybody engages with it. In practice that means a clear label such as “Ad” at the start of the post rather than buried in hashtags at the end.
Two bodies matter. The Advertising Standards Authority administers the CAP Code and rules on whether an ad is obviously identifiable. The Competition and Markets Authority enforces consumer protection law, which covers hidden advertising more broadly and carries considerably heavier consequences.
The point brands most often get wrong: responsibility does not sit with the creator alone. A brand that briefs, pays or gifts carries responsibility for how the content is labelled, and cannot rely on a clause in a contract to move it. That is why disclosure belongs in the brief and the sign-off, not in the small print. We cover the current position in detail on the day.
What your team leaves with
- A vetting checklist you can apply to any creator longlist.
- A creator brief template, filled in for a real campaign.
- The contract clauses to insist on, including usage rights and whitelisting.
- A disclosure standard your team can sign off against.
- A measurement framework and the reporting view.
- The deck, a workbook and a month of email support.
Why us rather than a training company
- We run influencer campaigns for paying clients every month.
- We are accountable to the ASA for the work we put out.
- Our campaign work has won PRCA and CIPR awards.
- We can show you contracts, briefs and rejections from real programmes.
- You will know who is standing at the front before you book.
Most providers ranking for this course are resellers, professional bodies or universities. None of them commissions creators.
Who runs the day
I am Chris Norton and I run most of these sessions myself. I founded Prohibition, the PR, social and content agency behind this site, I have worked in public relations for more than twenty years, and I have been running training since 2009. I co-authored Share This Too, the social media handbook published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, and I have been a CIPR member since I was a student.
Where a session goes deep into creator sourcing and contracting, the member of our team who does that work day to day comes with me rather than being described in the third person.
Campaign work behind the training
Martin House Children’s Hospice. The Build, an integrated social and PR programme, produced 219 placements and a reach of 161.4 million, and won the Charity and Not for Profit Award at the PRCA DARE Awards 2026.
Black Sheep Brewery. A social led campaign delivered 60 placements and 11 million reach, and took the Grand Prix in the Digital and Social Media category at the PRCA DARE Awards 2023.
Astonish. A content and social programme generated 115 pieces of coverage in six months, 90 per cent of which carried backlinks.
Prohibition has won more than 45 industry awards and is part of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, with 110 offices across 45 countries.
Brands we have trained and worked with
What our clients say
We hold an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 18 verified client reviews on Clutch.
“We were impressed by their depth of knowledge in a rapidly changing environment.”
Kian Scott-Loach, Head of Digital, Terrence Higgins Trust, February 2026
“They’re a bunch of friendly people who feel like a natural extension of the marketing team.”
David Sharples, Communications Manager, Black Sheep Brewery, January 2025
“When Prohibition says they’ll do something by a certain date, they get it done.”
Marketing Manager, Feather Down Farms, May 2025
PRCA DARE Awards 2026 winners. The Charity and Not for Profit Award for The Build, our campaign for Martin House Children’s Hospice. Awards from the industry’s own bodies certify the work rather than the number of delegates put through a room.
Formats and prices
Private team prices, not per person prices, excluding VAT.
| Format | Duration | Price, ex VAT | Per head at six |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full day workshop | 09:30 until 16:15, all nine modules | £1,800 | £300 |
| Half day workshop | Vetting, contracts, the UK rules and measurement | £1,200 | £200 |
| Additional attendee | Either format | £250 per person | — |
The nearest comparable UK course lists at £1,495 per person for a single day, delivered by a training reseller with no named trainer. Six people at that rate is close to £9,000. Ours is £1,800 for six.
We invoice on purchase order and complete supplier onboarding where you need it. Travel outside Yorkshire is charged at cost and agreed before booking.
Questions we get asked
Is this course for brands or for people who want to become influencers?
Brands. It teaches organisations how to commission, contract, brief and measure creators. If you want to build a personal following, this is the wrong course and we will say so before you book.
Do UK influencer posts have to be labelled as ads?
Yes, whenever a brand has paid, gifted or had control over the content. The label must be obvious before somebody engages, which in practice means at the start of the post rather than buried in hashtags.
What is the difference between the ASA and the CMA?
The Advertising Standards Authority administers the CAP Code and rules on whether an ad is obviously identifiable. The Competition and Markets Authority enforces consumer protection law, which covers hidden advertising more broadly and carries heavier consequences.
Who is liable if a creator fails to disclose, us or them?
Not the creator alone, which surprises most brands. A brand that briefs, pays or gifts carries responsibility for how the content is labelled and cannot contract that away. We cover where the line sits and how to build sign-off that protects you.
What should be in an influencer contract?
Deliverables and dates, approval rounds, disclosure obligations, exclusivity, territory, usage rights with a defined licence period, whitelisting permissions, renewal terms and what happens if either side walks away. We go through the clauses that cause disputes.
How long should usage rights last and what do they cost?
It depends on whether you want organic reuse or paid amplification, and for how long. The mistake is not asking at brief stage, then paying a premium to go back for rights after the content has performed. We cover how to price it up front.
How do we spot fake followers and bought engagement?
Engagement rate against tier benchmarks, audience location and language checks, follower growth patterns, comment quality and the timing of engagement spikes. We run the checks on real accounts in the session.
What is whitelisting and do we need it?
Running a creator’s content through your own ad account so it appears from their handle with your targeting and budget. It is where most of the performance in a modern creator programme comes from, and it needs permission written into the contract before the content exists.
How do you measure return from an influencer campaign?
Reach and engagement are the easy part. We teach a model separating what can be attributed from what cannot, and building a report that survives a finance director asking where the money went.
How much should we pay a UK creator?
It varies enormously by tier, platform, exclusivity and usage. We cover realistic bands and, more usefully, what changes the number, so your team can judge a quote rather than accept one.
Can you deliver this in-house at our offices?
Yes, anywhere in the UK, or live online, or from our Leeds studio. Travel outside Yorkshire is charged at cost and agreed in writing before you book.
How many people can attend?
The price covers up to six, with additional attendees at £250 each. Above about sixteen the vetting and briefing exercises stop working and we would suggest two sessions.
What about AI generated influencer content?
Two questions matter here. Whether the content sounds like the creator or like a model, and whether anybody needs telling it was AI assisted. The first is craft and the second is regulation, and we cover them in AI for social media content training and the AI policy workshop.
Get your team commissioning creators properly
Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT. Leeds, UK wide or online.
Last reviewed August 2026. Curriculum updated for 2026 to cover ASA and CMA disclosure, usage rights, whitelisting and AI influencers.
Part of our PR and reputation training, alongside every social media course we run and our training formats. Last reviewed August 2026.
