Creators and agencies essentially exist in a sort of symbiosis. Creators have to work with agencies to attach them with brands for sponsorship, while agencies depend on creators to increase the reach of their brand clients.
These partnerships are rapidly growing more popular, too, as we present in our recent Creator Survey that 40% of creators not only signed more brand deals in the last 12 months but generated increased revenue as well. Additionally, the recent State of Influencer Marketing report found that 82% of selling agencies and departments now have a separate budget for influencer marketing, compared with 77% in 2022 and just 37% in 2016. What’s more, over two-thirds plan to extend their influencer campaign budgets this 12 months, with only 7% saying they’ll decrease it.
Influencer marketing activity is the primary expression of creator-marketer relations, and it’s thriving.
These figures show that many agencies see value in working with creators, but not every creator-agency relationship is successful. I’ve seen some soar and a few fall flat, but still too many just lead to mediocre results.
Agencies that connect brands with effective creators and manage impactful campaigns can cement their reputations as reliable marketing partners that drive growth, so there’s lots riding on getting the creator relationship right. Here are a few of the best approaches that I’ve observed in my work facilitating brand collabs.
Look for relationships, not one-night stands
True, respectful partnerships are built on a long-term approach to relationships – identical to in our personal lives. It’s hard to develop those for those who only discuss a single campaign after which move on to another person, so it’s best for agencies to take into consideration working with creators for the long run.
Continuously engage with them, provide feedback, and explore recent opportunities together.
Long-term collaborations offer several benefits relating to agencies’ ability to deliver quality work for clients, resembling increased brand messaging familiarity, stronger connections with the creator’s audience, and the potential for ongoing content creation.
Clients depend on agencies to suggest the right match for his or her messaging and audience, and also you’re higher capable of do this if you have already got good relationships with many creators. When you’re employed with the same creators across many campaigns, you set a foundation of mutual respect and understand one another’s working styles. This allows you to deliver higher results and to establish productive campaigns more quickly and simply in the future.
Treat creators as partners
It ought to be obvious, but agencies should approach creators with real interest and respect. Recognize their creativity, unique voice, and expertise, and treat them as valued partners. Establish open lines of communication, hearken to their input, and provides them the creative freedom to take care of their authentic voice.
This approach is proven to drive the biggest impact with engagement between brands and creators.
That’s what happened when the Intersport agency used the Popular Pays platform to attach with several creators for a United Healthcare campaign. Thanks to the platform’s solutions for sharing campaign briefs, consolidated communication, and asset approvals, Intersport’s Allie Incaudo said she was capable of collaborate effectively with creators at scale, giving them the leeway they needed to generate their best work.
Take a strategic approach to asset creation
Creators and influencers operate in similar spaces, but not every influencer is a creator, despite the fact that one person might be each. It’s vital to grasp the difference between creator relationships and influencer relationships because agencies need each at different times.
Instead of (only) working with influencers to expand your reach through sponsoring their posts, take into consideration working with creators to supply assets that you just then own and might use in paid ads on your brand client.
These assets might be extremely worthwhile. You can continuously reuse them and, most often, even edit them for future projects with the same client. Some will probably be evergreen content, so it’s vital to barter ownership from the outset to avoid friction later.
Bigger creators are less prone to comply with allow brands and agencies to own the content outright, which is why working with micro influencers is usually more attractive.
Track creator analytics
You don’t need me to let you know to set and track KPIs for each creator campaign and to agree on the metrics you’ll use to observe success. Beyond crunching analytics for various kinds of assets, posts, and content forms, agencies must also explore analytics that compares different creators against one another.
It’s a great idea to work with a number of different creators on a single campaign, especially for those who’re still constructing your creator networks. This way you may compare how well their assets perform to see which creators generate the most engagement for various kinds of content or campaigns.
Then you may double down on the ones which are the best on your brand clients.
Make more use of creator skills
Last but not least, think outside the box a bit relating to how you’re employed with creators.
It doesn’t need to be all about influencer campaigns or producing polished assets; you may as well hire creators in the same approach to working with other sorts of contractors. Ask them to finish smaller tasks that help your production pipeline, like preparing still images and short clips, editing longer videos right down to supercuts, etc.
Because they’ve already demonstrated their creative capabilities, you may depend on creators to perform these tasks that you just won’t otherwise outsource. This way, you may free yourself to grow your small business, and your agency staff to dedicate more time to nurturing client relationships.
Maximizing creator relationships for agency success
Marketing agencies can carve out a distinct segment for themselves once they prove their ability to realize maximum return for the brand’s budget or goal spend. It’s not at all times easy to walk the line between constructing trusted long-term relationships with creative partners and making strategic decisions about the best ways to deploy your creator forces. The agencies that crack the code can enjoy significant growth.
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