Influencer marketing agency – interface between brands and influencers

What does an influencer marketing agency do?

Traditional marketing only works to a limited extent with young people today, especially on social media. This is also due to ad blockers, which prevent the majority of adverts from being displayed when browsing. In recent years, influencers have become established, i.e. public figures who enjoy role model status among young internet users. Successful influencers have built up a loyal community around them that trusts them – which can be used as a foundation for brand advertising. The prerequisite for this is that the influencers themselves are convinced of the brand.

But how do brands find influencers? This is where the influencer marketing agency comes into play. Agencies have a portfolio of influencers with whom they work and initiate collaborations with brands. An agency therefore acts as an intermediary between influencers and brands and also helps companies to optimise their influencer marketing campaigns.

What characterises a good influencer marketing agency?

If you are looking for a suitable agency to advertise your brand via influencers, you should pay attention to the following criteria:

• Expertise and experience: Thanks to its extensive experience, an influencer marketing agency knows which influencers are suitable for your planned campaign, which channels are ideal (Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, etc.) and how the campaign will reach your target group.
• Influencer network: A good agency has an extensive network of influencers with different reach, niches and industries. With the help of this network, you can find suitable influencers for you.
• Flexibility and customer focus: The agency should have enough offers to be able to respond flexibly to customer requests. This includes, for example, the selection of different service packages or collaboration with the client’s internal teams.
• Campaign management: In addition to planning and implementation, a good agency also focuses on comprehensive management and monitoring. This is characterised by the creation of meaningful reports and analyses in order to measure the success of the campaigns and identify optimisation potential.
• Transparency and trustworthiness: The agency maintains clear communication with corporate clients and creates fair conditions.

What can I expect as a customer?

An influencer marketing agency caters to your needs as a company. Essentially, it finds the right influencer for your brand or campaign. The services can be as follows: 

• The agency accesses its pool of influencers and provides you with the right one. This allows you to reach your target group. As a company or brand, you take responsibility for managing and implementing the campaign yourself.
• In addition to finding an influencer, the agency can also plan and manage the entire campaign. For example, it defines messages and goals, coordinates content, creates a schedule and optimises the performance of the campaign.
• The agency can also oversee the creative development of the campaign and take care of all reporting. The final reporting provides insights into the success of the campaign and evaluates the effectiveness of a company’s marketing activities.
• The agency also offers training and workshops to give its clients a deeper understanding of influencer marketing.

Do I need an agency?

Whether you need an agency for influencer marketing depends entirely on where you stand as a company. For most brands, working with an agency makes sense, as this marketing field is young and therefore parameters must be precisely known, goals precisely defined and technologies mastered. An agency can do this.

Ask yourself the following questions – if you answer “no” to one or more of them, it is advisable to work with an influencer marketing agency:

• Do you have access to a network of influencers (suitable for your brand)?
• Are you familiar with current trends and developments in social media?
• Do you have experience in creating and implementing an influencer marketing strategy?
• Do you know how to achieve reach and engagement through influencer marketing?
• Are you able to identify relevant KPIs and metrics for an influencer marketing campaign and measure and optimise them?
• Do you have sufficient time resources to implement an influencer marketing campaign?

Advantages of an agency

If you decide to work with an influencer marketing agency, you will enjoy the following benefits:

• Existing portfolio: Agencies have a network of influencers on various channels. You will be provided with an influencer with the right focus, industry and reach for your specific needs. This means you don’t have to start a search yourself or take the risk that no cooperation will materialise after discussions or that the influencer turns out to be the wrong one for your needs.
• The right approach: Agencies know how to reach target groups with relevant and appealing content and messages so that they engage with the brand.
• Relief for the company or outsourcing: An agency offers the company savings in time and effort thanks to expertise and specialist knowledge. While the agency manages the campaign, companies can continue to focus on their core business.
• Consultancy: An agency provides valuable insights into trends and best practices in influencer marketing, advises on the selection of suitable influencers and supports the development of creative content. The agency acts as a strategic partner that helps you achieve your goals and also offers long-term added value.

How much does influencer marketing cost?

How much influencer marketing costs is determined on a case-by-case basis. The prices are made up of the following factors:

• How large the influencer’s following or reach is
• How complex the content to be created is
• Which and how many channels are to be used with the content

Brands usually pay one influencer per post. Package prices can also be agreed, and there are sometimes discounts for long-term collaborations.

Figures from the internet should be treated with caution. The study by influencer marketing platform Klear, which calculated the following average prices (in dollars), can be used as a guide:

Note: The definition of influencer size is based on the US and international market. Other sizes apply to the German market.

Process of an influencer marketing campaign:

 
How a collaboration with an influencer marketing agency is actually organised depends on the company’s interests and starting point. Roughly speaking, the creation of a campaign consists of the following steps:
 

1. Identify the customer’s needs and goals: : The company’s point of view, needs, goals and target groups are determined in an initial discussion. During this process, aspects of brand identity, budget, preferred platforms and desired reach are discussed. The agency also conducts analyses of existing marketing strategies and identifies potential opportunities for collaborations with influencers.

 

2. Design a concept: Based on the client’s requirements, the agency develops the concept and strategy for the influencer campaign. This involves selecting suitable platforms, defining the campaign objectives and developing creative ideas for working with the influencers.

 

3. Find suitable influencers: The agency uses its network to identify influencers that fit the client’s brand and objectives. This includes evaluating influencers based on their reach, engagement, credibility and relevance to the client’s target audience.

 

4. Finalisation and implementation of the concept: Once the influencer for the campaign has been determined and the details of the collaboration have been clarified, the concept is adapted to these parameters. Content, schedules, hashtags, links and other campaign elements are coordinated with the influencer and the company.

 

5. Reporting and optimisation of the campaign: During the ongoing campaign, the agency continuously monitors the performance and engagement of the influencers. Regular reports and analyses are used to track the progress of the campaign and evaluate its success based on predefined KPIs. It makes optimisations based on these results. The final reporting also serves to determine the effectiveness of the campaign’s success and provides a comprehensive basis for further influencer marketing campaigns by the company.

What do we, as an agency, look for in influencers?

We have an appealing portfolio of reliable influencers. When selecting influencers for our network, the following values are particularly important to us:

Updated profiles

Our influencers provide complete and relevant information, such as a meaningful profile description and orientation, contact options, links to other relevant platforms or websites and all other relevant details that give followers a comprehensive insight into the influencer’s personality and activities. They also pursue a diverse publishing strategy, including various formats such as photos, videos, stories or blogs.

Background Check

We carefully check which social media channels influencers have been active on and what previous collaborations they have had before we enter into a collaboration with them. Consistency of previous activities and a positive reputation in the niche or community are relevant here. Scandals and shitstorms are knock-out criteria. The target group and its values are also taken into account.

FAQ – Frequently asked questions