Influencer Marketing Agencies
Influencer marketing has carved out a new path to connect with your audience, expand your reach and build brand awareness like never before. As a small business owner, you may be wondering why you should hire an agency when you could try to do it yourself. The truth is, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular and competitive with businesses of all shapes and sizes jumping on board. This creates a number of challenges:
- The pool of influencers is becoming bigger, making it difficult to narrow down your options and find influencers who best represent your brand
- The bar is always being set higher and it’s becoming harder to create authentic and unique content. There is growing competition among brands to compete in the same space.
- Unless you have the time, tools and people devoted solely to influencer marketing you may not get the results you want
That’s where an influencer marketing agency comes in. Our goal is to help you understand what an influencer marketing agency does, whether you could benefit from working with one and what to look for in a good agency.
What is an influencer marketing agency?
An influencer marketing agency works with brands and social media influencers to facilitate partnerships and create and coordinate influencer marketing campaigns. Influencer marketing agencies are similar to agents in the sense that they help you find and build partnership opportunities and deal with contracts and negotiating fees, but they are also experts in planning, crafting and executing bespoke influencer marketing campaigns that have a real impact.
Influencer marketing agencies have extensive contacts with influencers and have already established good working relationships with them. They have the skills, experience and tools to manage and optimise your campaigns from start to finish.
What are the benefits of hiring an influencer marketing agency?
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes in influencer marketing and it’s not as simple as reaching out to an influencer with a collaboration idea and hoping for the best. Influencer marketing agencies have worked hard to establish strong relationships and understand the types of messaging and content that works for different brands. Below are some of the reasons why businesses engage with influencer marketing agencies:
- Access to influencers that truly represent your brand: Influencer marketing is becoming more crowded and it can be difficult to find influencers that truly represent your brand. Agencies simplify the process of finding influencers and save you a considerable amount of time researching for influencers that fit the bill.
- Experts in building engaging campaigns: They know how to build engaging campaigns for business in different industries and with different target audiences.
- Organise contracts and paperwork: If you’re new to influencer marketing no doubt you’ll have a load of questions about how it works, how much you should pay influencers, what needs to be included on a contract, etc. Agencies can answer all of these queries and organise the paperwork for you.
- Higher ROI: Agencies have a thorough understanding of influencers, different audiences, which content is effective and how to optimise campaigns. They’re a few steps ahead of a new business doing influencer marketing for the first time and can offer a bigger return in campaign performance and results.
What does an influencer marketing agency do?
Aside from strategizing, creating, executing, optimising and analysing your campaigns, it’s helpful to know some of the specific services influencer marketing agencies offer. Below are some of the core functions of an influencer marketing agency:
- Influencer research and discovery: Agencies have established connections with a large pool of influencers and content creators. They can identify and introduce you to influencers that best align and represent your brand.
- Strategy and campaign planning: Agencies can help you with the entire strategy and planning stages from determining your audience and selecting the right social media platforms, to structuring the campaign and creating a content schedule.
- Campaign briefs: Agencies can brief influencers so that they are fully across your brand and its goals. They also provide creative guidance to ensure the collaboration and content they share is authentic.
- Contract management and influencer rates: Agencies are clued up on regulatory compliance and can negotiate contract terms and rates. They can advise you on fair collaboration rates and process payments to influencers.
- Manage all communications on your behalf: Agencies manage communications with influencers on your behalf and can deal with any issues that arise throughout the campaign.
- Campaign management: Agencies review all content and posts before approving it to ensure it’s on-brand, authentic and ticks all the boxes of your brief.
- Campaign analytics and reporting: Agencies will suggest ways to optimise a campaign while it’s running, but they will also provide you with a full post-campaign report to assess what worked, didn’t work and easy to improve next time.
How do I hire an influencer marketing agency?
So what should you look for in a good influencer marketing agency? Here are a few things to look out for when you begin your search:
- Budget: How much can you realistically afford to spend on an influencer marketing campaign? If a full-service agency is out of the question, you could still benefit from the services of a smaller agency or opt for a few select services instead.
- Range of influencers: How many influencers are they connected to? Do they have established relationships with both nano, micro and macro-influencers? You should also ask them to confirm the extent of their relationships as some agencies claim they have solid connections when they don’t.
- Track record: How long have they been around? Have they worked with a decent number of businesses? Although influencer marketing is still relatively new, it’s important to check they have a solid portfolio of work.
- Services offered: Do they offer the services you need? Some agencies may simply find and connect you with agencies instead of full campaign management.
How much does it cost to hire an influencer marketing agency?
Influencer marketing agencies have different pricing structures for different services and packages. If you are simply looking to find influencers for a campaign, most agencies will charge a commission to connect you with the right people. Things can get a little more expensive if you want strategy and campaign management services. Agencies usually charge a monthly retainer fee for these services. However, they may also charge you on an hourly basis.
We hope this guide has helped you understand how an influencer marketing agency works and the value it can offer small businesses. If you’ve decided that hiring an agency is the right option for you, you can connect with agencies here on SavvySME. Simply answer a few questions about your business and we’ll help you get started.
You can also connect with other business owners for tips, advice and insights on influencer marketing - or any other aspects of running a small business.
