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A Conversation with Lickly Leadership
Most teams know creator marketing works. They’ve seen the upside when they hit the right creator, the right angle, the right moment. The problem is repeatability. The work gets scattered across tabs, tools, inboxes, DMs, and highly experienced gut calls. By the time you know what worked, the moment’s gone and the budget’s moved. That’s why we built Lickly — to give teams real-time, end-to-end creator and content marketing across one platform. To mark the company launch, I sat down with Bradley Silver, President of Lickly, and Jeremy Barnett, CEO of RAD Intel. RAD Intel owns the proprietary AI-driven platform that powers Lickly. Creator marketing has become a core growth channel for the mid-market. It’s where brands build trust faster, move product faster, and stay present in the communities that shape buying decisions. But as budgets tighten and expectations rise, the gap shows up fast.
Q: Why did creator marketing take off so quickly? Jeremy: Because when it works, it works immediately, and it carries across almost every channel. It’s a marketer’s dream.
Q: So what’s broken right now? Jeremy: Repeatability. Well, and affordability. The most familiar names are expensive, often for a limited run, and it’s hard to assume they’ll deliver every time. When performance is inconsistent, that spend gets questioned fast, especially in the mid-market. Maybe it’s value, not affordability.
Q: What did you build Lickly to do differently? Bradley: We built Lickly to change the odds. Lickly helps you spot breakout creators early, before they’re priced like celebrities, and build partnerships while they’re still reachable. It’s the “we were there early” advantage, the kind of relationship-driven momentum that’s hard to buy later once everyone else shows up.
Q: What do you think teams get wrong? Jeremy: Creators aren’t the problem. The decision-making is. If you don’t know where your audience is actually talking, what formats they’re responding to, and which angles are gaining traction right now, you’re starting from behind. Teams end up paying for access and hoping it turns into results.
Q: Where does Lickly step in? Bradley: Before spend. Lickly puts structure upfront. It shows you where the conversation is happening, why it matters, and which creators can carry it, so you’re making a repeatable call instead of a one-off bet. That’s where performance gets made.
Q: Why launch Lickly now? Bradley: Because influencer and content is how brands sell today. It’s one of the fastest ways to move demand when you get it right. But the last few years forced everyone to get tighter with spend, especially in creator. Budgets got scrutinized. CAC got real. Reporting got less forgiving. That pressure created demand for systems that don’t just help you run campaigns, but help you choose. And candidly, we weren’t always in a position to serve the mid-market the way we wanted to. We had to build the platform first. That meant starting at the top of the market, where budgets could support the buildout.
Q: Where did that enterprise foundation come from? Bradley: RAD Amplify, our sister agency and managed service arm, works with a roster of Fortune 1000 brands through agency partners. That’s where we proved the system under real budgets, and that’s what made Lickly possible. We’re bringing enterprise level tech to the mid-market, as an extremely robust self-serve model. Q: Jeremy, where does AI actually fit here in a real way? Jeremy: AI finally has a job it can do well. A lot of tools chased headlines. Teams want tools that live inside real workflows. They want decision support in real time, not a recap after the fact. Lickly is built for how culture actually moves and how real teams operate. Fast cycles, multiple platforms, creative that has to land in specific communities, not generic audiences.
Q: Everyone says they’re different. What’s the cleanest way to explain it? Jeremy: We’re not trying to be a marketplace. A marketplace is a directory and a handshake. Lickly is a system. It helps you see where the conversation is happening, why it matters to your community, and how to enter it with the right creators and the right story angles. Bradley: Marketplaces optimize for volume. We optimize for decision quality. Volume says, here are 10,000 options, good luck. Decision quality says, here are the 10 that fit your objective, your audience, and the moment. Q Why does that matter? Bradley: Because it changes everything. It turns creator marketing from hunting into operating. Q: What do mid-market teams get access to here that they typically don’t have? Bradley: Rigor without the overhead. Enterprise teams build analyst functions, creator ops, paid social ops, reporting stacks, and creative testing engines. Mid-market teams usually get 2 people and a spreadsheet. Lickly gives them an operating layer. Not more work. Better decisions earlier. Jeremy: And it’s built for brands and agencies. Brands need clarity and speed. Agencies need repeatability and proof. Mid-market agencies especially get squeezed because they’re expected to deliver enterprise outcomes while competing on price. Lickly makes agencies stronger because it gives them a system they can run across clients without rebuilding the wheel every time. Q: If someone assumes Lickly is a lighter version of a bigger product, are they wrong? Jeremy: Yes. RAD Intel built the underlying platform for enterprise. The same system that supports high-stakes marketing decisions is what runs Lickly. We removed the complexity mid-market teams don’t need and kept the parts that actually drive outcomes. Bradley: That’s the key. This isn’t “lite” software. It’s the same decision engine, tailored for mid-market workflows. Self-serve, scalable, and built to move quickly from insight to action. Q: What should Lickly users expect in the first 30 days? Bradley: Clarity. Lickly is designed to help teams answer a few hard questions fast. Where is our audience actually spending attention What’s trending inside the communities we care about Which creators can move that conversation Which angles are showing traction right now What should we test next If we can take a team from scattered to structured in 30 days, we’re doing our job. Q: And what about adoption? Jeremy: Teams don’t need another platform that takes 6 months to adopt. They need something they can plug into the work they already do, then improve results quickly. That’s how we built the Lickly experience. Tight workflows, clear outputs, and an operating rhythm you can repeat. Creators at every level, not just the obvious ones Q: Who is Lickly built for in terms of creator tiers? Jeremy: One mistake teams make is thinking creator marketing is an A-list problem. Sometimes you want an A-lister because you need scale. Sometimes you want emerging creators because they’re early and hungry. Sometimes you want the constants that stay relevant year after year because they’re dependable. Lickly supports all of it. The point is matching the creator to the moment and the objective, not picking based on status. Bradley: And it’s not only about who. It’s also about where and how. Platform context matters. Community context matters. Format matters. A creator can be strong in 1 lane and average in another. Most teams don’t have the visibility to see that until they’ve already spent the money. We built Lickly so you can see it before you commit. Q: Why is mid-market the right focus? Jeremy: Mid-market is the most under-served segment in performance marketing infrastructure. They’re big enough to spend real money. They’re small enough to feel every mistake. They can’t afford inefficiency, and they can’t afford enterprise bloat. That’s why this matters. Lickly gives them a serious system without forcing them to build one from scratch. Bradley: And it changes how they compete. With the right AI platform, a 20-person brand can move like a 200-person one. A mid-market agency can deliver enterprise-grade outcomes without carrying enterprise overhead. That’s the unlock. What’s next Q: What’s next for Lickly? Bradley: Beta was step 1. We’re building an operating standard for creator marketing. The goal is simple. Help teams run creator marketing with discipline that scales, rigor that’s accessible, and real-time decision-making that matches how culture moves. Jeremy: We’re just getting started. Ready to see Lickly in action? If you’re a mid-market brand or agency and you’re tired of guessing, Lickly can help. Our AI-driven platform Lickly is built for lean teams that want to move faster, spend smarter, and build community where it already exists. If you’re ready to experience up to 3.5X RO, book a Lickly demo today.
