It’s often a misconception that brands outsource their influencer marketing campaigns to agencies.
Because every other brand does.
The truth is that most brands simply don’t have time to sift through thousands of influencers and build relationships with them one by one.
Or just because your fellow brands said agencies have expertise in this area and it’s better to hand it over to them.
This thought of easiness underlies the unattended or unaddressed issues brands face. Let’s dive right into it.
Reasons Why Agency Isn’t the Right Choice
Lack of Control Over the Campaign
Lack of bandwidth or expertise, there might have been multiple reasons for brands to outsource campaigns.
When allowing agencies to completely handle your campaigns, you fall into the following categories:
- Not knowing the actual process behind the operation
- Not able to access or change campaign details immediately
For instance: A sudden idea that sparks your mind, or you might have slight changes in the type of message you want to convey.
Here’s the campaign brief changes flow would like:
In this flow, the following are a few hiccups you might face:
- The agency might not respond immediately (your brand is not the only client they handle).
- The details you share might be miscommunicated to the influencer leading to many to-and-fros.
- The influencer might have completed creating content before they received the communication. Creating content all-over again might not be their cup of tea.
Since the agency has been working with the influencer for a long time, they might understand the style or type of content the influencer usually does. They fail to understand what suits your brand best.
Now your campaigns are more Agency-Influencer driven and not Brand driven.
High Chances of Miscommunications
When working with an agency, you rely on them to translate your message to the influencer.
However, this can lead to miscommunication between all parties involved.
Considering the above example, the agency takes time to convey a message to the influencer. In the same way, the details about your campaign might get lost when they explain to the influencer.
The influencer may not know what makes your brand campaign unique or special by looking at your website or social media pages, which means they won’t know how best to represent your brand.
Directly contacting will help influencers understand your brand’s needs better.
No Transparency on What’s Happening After the Brief
Working with an agency for your influencer campaign can be challenging to know what is happening behind the scenes.
Notable issue you may face is a lack of visibility into the selection process for influencers.
While an agency may provide a general overview of the types of influencers they plan to work with, they may not share specific details about who has been selected or why.
This can make it difficult to assess the fit between the influencer and their target audience.
Though the agency might not specifically want to select influencers who love junk, these specifics might get lost due to their workload or limited influencer database of food influencers.
Another issue is the lack of control over the content creation process. (If your brand agreed brand to take over the complete content creation process)
An agency may provide a general direction for the content, but they may not share specific details about what will be created or how it will be created.
This can make it difficult for you to ensure that the content aligns with the overall marketing strategy and can also make it difficult to track the campaign results.
Affects Brand-Influencer Relationship
The relationship between the brand and the influencer is often strained or non-existent.
Brands are often left in the dark about what happens after they’ve sent the campaign brief.
The influencer may not follow the guidelines or decide to change direction halfway through a campaign without telling the agency as promised.
This means that your campaign could fail without anyone being able to warn you about it until it’s too late!
The middlemen (agency) may pay less attention to ensure that communication is not affected. This causes friction between your brand and the influencer.
This could’ve been avoided if there had been direct contact with the influencer.
Influencer Database Is Limited
One potential issue to look out for is the agency’s database of influencers may be limited.
First, a limited influencer database can lead to a lack of representation for specific demographics or groups.
For example, if the agency primarily works with young, white, and female influencers, it may be difficult for a brand to connect with other audiences, such as older consumers, people of color, or men. This can make it difficult for a brand to reach its target audience and ultimately impact the campaign’s effectiveness.
A limited influencer database can lead to a lack of authenticity in the campaign. If the agency primarily works with influencers with a specific aesthetic or style, it’s challenging for your brand to find influencers who align with your brand identity.
A limited database of influencers means working with the same influencers for the nth time or having no opportunity to diversify the influencer choice.
If Not Agencies how to Carryout Influencer Campaign
Speaking of all the underlying challenges in an outsourced influencer campaign, how do you proceed further, then?
What options are there left to carry out effective influencer campaigns?
Influencer Marketing Platform
An influencer marketing platform provides a centralized location for all campaign-related communication, a vast database of influencers, analytics and data to track the campaign performance, and real-time monitoring to make adjustments as needed.
Control Over the Campaign
With a platform, your brand controls the entire campaign process. This helps build trust and ensures that you and the influencer are on the same page.
Miscommunication
Brands and agencies can collaborate and communicate efficiently in one place, reducing the chances of misunderstandings or missed deadlines.
Transparency
Brands can see the metrics and data for each influencer, including their engagement rates, follower demographics, and more. This allows brands to make informed decisions about which influencers to work with and how to optimize their campaigns.
Brand-Influencer Relationship Enhancement
The platform lets brands contact the influencer directly, eliminating the intermediaries. Direct communication can lead to a better understanding of the brand’s goals and the influencer’s strengths.
Limited Database
Influencer marketing platforms allow for more control over the selection process and better alignment with the brand’s overall marketing strategy.
You can find a more diverse group of influencers who can bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the campaign, resulting in a more authentic and engaging campaign for their target audience.
Conclusion
Proceeding influencer campaigns with agencies always holds your brand in the dark. Influencer marketing platforms, on the other hand, can take the reins of your campaign and make data-driven decisions, improve collaboration and communication, and ultimately run more successful campaigns.
Don’t leave your influencer campaign to chance; use a platform to take it to the next level!
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