What should I do when a creator is not hitting the campaign goals?

You deal with it by diagnosing why before reacting, because the right response depends on the cause and brands lose money punishing creators for the wrong thing.

Separate a delivery problem, the creator not doing what was agreed, which is a contract issue you enforce, from a results problem on a creator who delivered, which is frequently not their fault.

A creator controls their content and audience, not your conversion rate, so diagnose first, since treating an honest results shortfall as a creator failure burns a good relationship and fixes nothing.

The first move is to diagnose why the goals are being missed before you react at all, because the appropriate response is completely different depending on the cause and brands routinely damage good relationships by punishing a creator for something that was not their fault. The essential distinction is between a delivery problem and a results problem. A delivery problem is the creator not doing what was actually agreed: missing posts, posting late, using the wrong format, skipping required elements, failing to disclose properly. A results problem is the creator doing everything that was agreed, on time and to spec but the campaign outcomes, the conversions, the reach, the sales, falling short of your target anyway. These look similar on a results dashboard and call for opposite responses, so separating them is the whole task.

A delivery failure is a straightforward contract and accountability issue and you address it directly and firmly: talk to the creator, point to the agreement and require them to deliver what was promised, with the contract terms as your backing if they do not. That is fair, because they did not hold up their end. A results shortfall on a creator who delivered in good faith is a different situation entirely, because a creator controls their content and their audience but not your conversion rate, your offer, your pricing or your targeting, so a miss there is frequently not their failure at all and may well be a problem with your own expectations, your audience match or your campaign setup. Treating that as the creator fault, withholding payment or souring the relationship, is both unfair and counterproductive, because it burns a partner who did their job and teaches you nothing about the real cause. So the right process is to talk to the creator, look at the data together and work out which kind of miss it is, then respond accordingly: enforce the agreement on a delivery failure and on an honest results miss, adjust the campaign, recalibrate expectations and learn rather than blame. So you deal with underperformance by diagnosing the cause first, since treating a good-faith results shortfall as a creator failure costs you a relationship and fixes nothing.

Many results shortfalls trace back to a creator who was never the right fit, which is what influencer discovery helps prevent, vetting audience match and authenticity up front so fewer campaigns miss because the reach was wrong from the start. Good selection means fewer goal misses to untangle later. Diagnose delivery versus results before reacting and vet fit up front, since treating an honest shortfall as a creator failure burns a good relationship and fixes nothing.