Influencer marketing is one of the most important marketing mediums for D2C brands as it drives results with superior ROI, both of which D2C brands need for their growth.
But figuring out the influencer marketing process for your D2C brand can be confusing and time-consuming. Organizing an influencer campaign needs time and bandwidth, which most D2C brands lack.
Let’s break down the problem and the solution so you choose the right path of influencer marketing for your D2C brand.
What are the options?
There are three solutions to this problem:
- Influencer marketing manager
- Influencer marketing platform
- Hiring an agency
These three are the broad solutions for influencer marketing for a D2C brand, let’s break each one down according to pros and cons.
Influencer marketing manager
The pros
Hiring an influencer marketing manager can be beneficial to the company in several ways:
Expertise
An influencer marketing manager typically has extensive knowledge and experience in influencer marketing, and he/she can take care of any unforeseen circumstances.
Network
Influencer marketing managers have already established relationships with influencers, which can help to streamline the process of finding and working with the influencers as it eliminates the influencer outreach altogether.
Strategy
An influencer marketing manager can help develop and implement a strategic plan for the company’s influencer marketing efforts, considering the brand’s goals and target audience.
Measurement and analysis
An influencer marketing manager can help measure and analyze influencer marketing campaigns’ results, providing valuable insights that can inform future campaigns and help optimize performance.
The Cons
These are the cons of hiring an influencer marketing manager for your D2C brand.
Lack of control
An influencer marketing manager may have different ideas or approaches to influencer marketing than the company’s marketing team, which can lead to disagreements and a lack of control.
Limited perspective
An influencer marketing manager may have a limited perspective or understanding of influencer choice, target audience, and goals, which can impact the success of influencer marketing campaigns.
Misalignment with company culture
An influencer marketing manager may have different values or work styles than the rest of the marketing team, which can lead to conflict and difficulty integrating into the company culture.
Less cost-effective
The influencer marketing manager will need to hire more people to work under him to run campaigns. The whole process is labor intensive if done manually, ultimately increasing the overall cost of running a campaign.
Influencer marketing platform
The alternative to hiring an influencer marketing manager is introducing an influencer marketing platform to the existing team.
Pros
Using an influencer marketing platform can bring several benefits to a company or brand. Some of these benefits include
Access to a large influencer database
Influencer marketing platforms typically have a large database of influencers, making it easier for companies to find and work with the right influencers for their campaigns.
Streamlined process
Influencer marketing platforms streamline the whole process of running a campaign in a single place from start to finish.
Data and analytics
Influencer marketing platforms provide data and analytics tools to help companies measure the success of their campaigns and make informed decisions about future campaigns.
Time savings
Using an influencer marketing platform can save time for the company’s marketing team, as the platform can automate many tasks and processes related to influencer marketing.
Cost efficiency
Influencer marketing platforms offer cost-effective solutions for companies, as they can reduce the need for manual labor and make it easier to manage multiple campaigns simultaneously.
Scalability
Influencer marketing platforms can be scaled up or down as needed, making them an ideal solution for D2C brands that want to grow their influencer marketing efforts over time.
Cons
There are no cons to using an influencer marketing platform for your D2C brand, as it offers many benefits in every step involved in the whole process.
Hiring an agency
| Influencer marketing platform | Influencer marketing manager | |
| Cost effectiveness | More cost-effective because it can be introduced to the existing team | Less cost-effective as hiring more people will be required to run the campaign |
| ROI | Fixed ROI as the results are based on data in every step | The ROI is not fixed as the whole process is prone to human error |
| Time-saving | Time saving as the platform takes care of the tedious task like report making and influencer outreach | Time consuming as all the time-consuming steps are done manually |
| Control | Direct control in every step the campaign the brand wants to run | Little control as the campaign is dependent on one person |
| Ease | Qoruz is easy to use by any team member of the brand | Finding the right person can be difficult |
| Scalability | Influencer marketing can be scaled up or down according to the brand needs | Not scalable according to the brand’s need |
Bottomline
Using an influencer marketing platform is beneficial for D2C brands in every growth stage.
You should consider including an influencer marketing platform, even if your brand has a dedicated influencer marketing manager. As the platform improves the quality and effectiveness of the campaign exponentially.
