May 2021#Opinion

Influencer marketing manager:agency or freelance?

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This article will be useful to influencers who are thinking about what format of work to choose: freelance or full-time. Here I will discuss the pros and cons of these formats and what to keep in mind.

So let's go.

Market situation

Influencer recommendation is one of the best tools for attracting new users, increasing brand awareness, and ultimately cash flow. Therefore, everyone is looking for blogger managers: advertising agencies, startups, fintech projects, clothing, and food brands.

The market is in dire need of such specialists, and job search sites are full of vacancies.

The salary

This criterion has many variables: the salary level depends on your experience and the field in which you work. For the last 4 years, I have been working in the blockchain industry and I can say that the checks here are the highest.

As for freelancing, here you decide how much your services cost. The main thing is the ratio of price and benefit that you bring to the client.

In agencies that work with gaming or blockchain projects, an influencer manager can receive from $1,000 to $3,000.

Search

Entire departments work in the agency to attract clients. An influence manager does not think about how to find a customer but takes care of his direct duties: communicating with bloggers and publishing content.

The downside for freelancers is that large companies are often reluctant to work with them. It is believed that specialists who work for themselves do not value their reputation as much as companies, and therefore the risks of not completing a task or delaying deadlines will be higher. Therefore, a large client is more likely to give preference to a PR agency with a good reputation than 3-4 freelancers.

Work

The agency works officially with bloggers: it concludes an agreement and pays taxes. The difficulty is that in the blockchain industry, many influencers prefer to cooperate without a contract. The exception is big bloggers – especially those who live in countries where cryptocurrency is regulated.

Turkish blogger is not ready to share personal data for official payment

It turns out that a specialist who works in an agency is limited in choosing a contractor. Freelancer in this regard is easier.

Security

Clients sometimes disappear from the radar without paying for the services rendered to them. Unfortunately, this happens. If this happens in a company, the employee is protected: he will still receive a salary, since the company takes the risks.

Professional growth

Mentoring

The advantage of agencies is the mentoring of employees. There is no need to surf an endless number of sites in search of an answer, you can just ask a more experienced colleague. In addition, all business processes are already registered in the agencies, so the employee actually receives a training manual. This allows you to avoid stupid mistakes, and save time and money - this is especially important if you remember that the influencer often works with large budgets.

In freelancing, you often learn all the nuances from your own experience - it’s good if, in case of a mistake, you can get off slightly scathed, but it happens in every way.

Conferences

Another important point is participation in conferences, exhibitions, and workshops. A serious company is interested in the development of its specialists and most likely you will have the opportunity to attend such events.

For example, the blockchain industry is changing very rapidly. Therefore, conferences in this area are not just a formality - they set the vector of development for the coming years and conclude world deals for seven-figure sums. It's great to be present at such events, personally ask the CEOs of large fintech projects, and communicate with people who are interested in the same thing as you.

A freelancer can also attend such events, but, unfortunately, at his own expense.

Bureaucracy

A bunch of approvals, approvals, tasks in task managers, constant calls with or without cause - all this can push a specialist away from working in a company. The larger the organization, the more detailed the business processes are built there and the more approvals need to be passed. This format allows the company to synchronize and streamline the work of dozens of employees, but sometimes you get tired of all these “rituals”.

There is no bureaucracy in freelancing: you work according to your own rules, and there is no need to sign one document with five higher-ranking employees.

Graphs and consistency

As I already wrote, an agency is a company with well-established business processes and corporate culture. And although there are advantages to this, for some, working on a schedule and standards is a problem.

The most important advantage of freelancing is that you are responsible for your daily schedule, tasks, and organization of work. In general, a freelance artist.

It is worth noting here that in the era of the pandemic, many companies have switched to partial or full remote work, so you don’t have to go to the office anymore, but you still have to adhere to some kind of schedule. Although many companies already have a more flexible approach to this issue.

Conclusion

A freelancer is such a multi-armed Shiva who will draw up a contract, find clients, place ads, analyze its effectiveness, etc. For this, he conditionally manages his own schedule, does not comply with someone else's "Constitution" and does not waste time on endless approvals.

A specialist who works in a company has more room for development and mistakes. He can go to conferences, consult with experienced colleagues, and do work, not looking for clients.

Of course, it happens in different ways, but this is my experience. I will be glad if the material was useful to you. If you decide to try yourself in an agency, I need an assistant. If you have any questions - please ask in the comments, and I will answer them with great pleasure.

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