Woman reached out to Dollar Tree for a paid partnership after giving them millions of views. Then they turned her down: ‘brands don’t care’

TikToker Mare Wood recently shared that she is quitting her Influencer job after an interaction with Dollar Tree.

Mare stated that her goal was never to be an influencer but to “make money, show women how to live off a lower budget, save their money, manage their money.” She pointed out that as a woman, society told her ‘Influencer’ was the only path. So, for two years, she made content focused on maximizing a budget, which is where Dollar Tree came into the picture. 

Mare explained, “What I learned of being an influencer for the past two years is that a lot of these brands. I have garnered millions and millions and millions and millions of views for Dollar Tree.” According to Mare, Dollar Tree declined her partnership requests, explaining they work with influencers through third-party agencies. She expressed frustration, feeling this highlighted how some brands value views over the creators behind them.

So, in her video on TikTok, Mare changed her goal. “They care about getting their money and running their Numbers up. And I had an idea, and I realised from the very beginning that was my goal. I was like, okay, fine, you don’t wanna work with me. I’m gonna think about your own marketing strategy and figure out how I can build a million-dollar company instead.”

Mare already took the time to create a rudimentary plan that she is sharing

According to Aspire, influencer marketing is a powerful tool because it builds trust and credibility. They note that influencer collaborations can provide brands with “valuable user-generated content” that can be repurposed, and it helps drive “word-of-mouth marketing.” For instance, Influencer SamsPOV managed to drum up interest in an empty restaurant by just engaging with the owners and letting their welcoming nature shine. 

By failing to engage with a creator who claims she was generating millions of views for their products, Dollar Tree might have missed a chance to strengthen customer relationships through authentic, targeted engagement. Then again, Aspire notes that with an influencer, you relinquish a certain amount of control, and erroneous behavior, like scamming a restaurant, can cause trust issues.

It is worth noting that Dollar Tree does have an endorsers policy, although, from our research, it isn’t clear if it is tied to a third-party arrangement. Once a partnership is formed, the policy outlines that endorsers should disclose their free or paid connections to the brand in a “clear” and “conspicuous” manner without being buried behind a link or hashtags. They also have specific guidelines to ensure endorsers remain compliant with Federal Trade Commission standards. 

Mare is not letting the rejection slow her down and seems to be choosing to let it fuel her instead. She mentioned, “I’m gonna spend six months researching everything I know about digital marketing, everything I know about how to make money on the internet, how to create passive income. And I’m gonna do the same strategy that you’re doing.” 

For Mare, it is also about the community. “I’m gonna teach other women how to do it extremely affordably. A high-demand and extremely low [cost] products.” To do this, she made a $1.25 guide, which is part of her business, that teaches everyone how to automate a sales funnel and communication so that her viewers can “ learn how to build income and build wealth while you are asleep.” The goal is to provide value to her community under the brand, Breadwinher.

Mare noted that it wasn’t about luck but about preparation, putting yourself out there, and being consistent. “Women specifically are designed to feel shame for wanting more for their life. You don’t want to immediately get married. If you don’t want to immediately become a mother. Society, then, doesn’t have a place for you.” 

She added, “I truly believe that women are the true creators of life in this world. Therefore, you have the power within you to create your own million-dollar company, own successful passive income, your own successful business. It’s already internally in you. You are the creator, not an influencer. You’re the creator. You just have to start believing in yourself, going up for yourself.” 

Her final note was what she considers a core part of sales. “If you believe in yourself, and you can communicate that to others, how deeply you believe in your idea, your product, what you’re selling, they will believe in it, too. That is how sales work. That’s how marketing work[s]. So I want you to think to yourself, do you actually want to be an influencer, or do you actually want to be a millionaire?”