# What Kindling does

> Getting started · The model · The vocabulary · A program cycle · Canonical page: https://kindlinghq.com/docs/what-is-kindling/

Kindling is the system for running a customer advocacy program. You set the terms, invite customers who already like your product, and pay them for the reach their posts earn. The posts are theirs. Kindling never assigns content or requires anyone to publish.

## The model

Advertising rents attention. Advocacy uses credibility you already have. A customer saying something true about your product carries weight your own marketing cannot, because the audience knows who is paying whom.

Kindling makes that motion operational. Recruiting, terms, tracking, tax paperwork, and payment are the reasons most advocacy programs stall at a spreadsheet. Those are the parts this product handles.

The constraint that makes it work: advocates choose what to post and whether to post at all. You can prompt with a milestone or a topic. You cannot assign. A program that reads like an assignment produces content that reads like an ad.

## The words the product uses

| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Program | A set of terms — guidelines, platforms, rates, caps — that advocates join |
| Advocate | A customer enrolled in one of your programs. Some interface paths still say `creators`; same thing |
| Enrollment | One advocate's membership in one program. An advocate can be in several |
| Application | A request to join a program, pending your review |
| Submission | A post an advocate published and reported, pending your review |
| Impressions | Reach the advocate reports for a post, evidenced by a screenshot |
| Engagement | Likes, comments, and shares the advocate reports for a post. They feed earned media value, not the payout |
| CPM rate | What you pay per thousand impressions |
| Post cap | The most any single post can earn |
| Payout | Money owed to an advocate for an approved submission |
| Payout run | The twice-monthly job that moves money |
| EMV | Earned media value — what that reach would have cost you to buy |

## What a program cycle looks like

**You build a program.** Guidelines, which platforms count, how often someone can post, what you pay.

**Customers apply or are invited.** Either they find your program page, or you send an invite code.

**You approve them.** Applications arrive with the advocate's audience information and a note.

**They post, on their own terms.** Their account, their words.

**They report the post.** URL, platform, a screenshot, the impressions it earned, and optionally likes, comments, and shares.

**You review it.** Approve and the payout is calculated and recorded. Reject and you say why.

**Kindling pays them.** The payout run goes out on the 1st and the 15th at 09:00 UTC, to the advocate's own connected account. A payout goes out on the run only if your payout identity is saved, you have a payment method on file, the advocate's W-9 is verified, and the advocate's Stripe account is active. See [Payouts](/docs/payouts/).

**You read the results.** Impressions, spend, effective CPM, earned media value, per program and per advocate.

## What Kindling does not do

- It does not write posts for advocates or require them to post.
- It does not verify impressions independently. Advocates report their own numbers with a screenshot; your review is the check.
- It does not recruit advocates for you. It gives you the program page, the invite codes, and the review flow.
- It does not hold advocate bank details. Each advocate connects their own Stripe account.

## FAQ

### Is this influencer marketing?

No. Influencer platforms rent an audience from someone paid to like you. Kindling works with people who bought your product. The credibility is the difference, and it does not transfer.

### Do advocates have to post?

No, and designing a program that assumes they will is the common mistake. Encourage, support, prompt with milestones. Never require.

### Can I run more than one program?

Yes. Different programs for different customer segments, with different rates and rules, is normal.

### Do advocates have to be customers?

That is the intended use and the source of the credibility. Nothing in the product enforces it.

Questions this page does not answer: support@kindlinghq.com.