How to Choose the Best Influencer Marketing Agency in Chicago?

More than 80% of consumers consider recommendations from their peers. This is why more brands are partnering with social influencers to endorse their products and services. Many brands who decide to do it on their own find it extremely difficult to find the proper influencers, platforms, and strategy.

This is why social influencer marketing agencies are used. They have expertise in the influencer marketing industry and are aware of the small details and processes that add up to make an influencer marketing campaign successful.

Chicago has a presence of businesses and brands of all kinds. This makes it rich in business resources and thus a great place to hire an influencer marketing agency from. An influencer marketing agency in Chicago has the required expertise from a variety of industries and campaigns making it an obvious choice for big, medium, and small businesses alike.

Influencer marketing has grown leaps and bounds in the last few years though being in existence for just a decade and a half. Its effectiveness has been proven in many situations, industries, and lines of business. It is predicted that it will continue to grow and become one of the main marketing methods outclassing all the others by miles.

It is already popular now but it has stood the test of time and proved that it is not a trend or a fluke that may fade away. As the data suggests it is still in its growing years and will rapidly become larger in the coming years. Hence, now is the best time to know more about it and be ready for it to be able to incorporate it into your business in the coming years.

These are the reasons why we say influencer marketing will keep growing

• The number of influencers is still growing

You may feel there are so many influencers already, but that is not the case. With the growth of social media platforms, more and more people are becoming influencers. Some do this intending to so do so, while some share positive experiences from their life while using products and services and land up with a deal from their favourite brand.

• Influencer marketing agencies are becoming more and more popular

Just like any other business tactic or marketing strategy influencer marketing is becoming a standard. Some agencies now represent influencers and serve the brands to find out suitable influencers and handle their campaigns as well. As the market continues to grow so will influencer marketing.

• Increased content options

Influencers started by writing and expanded their reach onto other platforms with the popularity of social media. On this day videos are the most popular media when it comes to the promotion of products or services by influencers. These options are continuously evolving and e-commerce brands are preparing to take advantage of the newer, innovative platforms.

• Influencers are being more real

The recent trends say that influencers are going back to their roots and avoiding perfectly shot videos or overly edited photographs. They do not want to take advice from people whose life seems unattainable. The reality on the other hand is becoming more and more popular as they are seeing influencers have a bad day and pick themselves up.

How to hire an influencer marketing agency in Chicago

So, what should you consider as you hire an influencer marketing agency from Chicago? Frankly speaking, there are a lot of reasons why you should. Here are some of the most important ones.

1. Who do influencer marketing agencies in Chicago work with?

Enquire in detail about the track record of the agencies you want to work with. You will want to work with agencies that have prior experience in your industry and have several successful campaigns under their belt. Find out the industries and clients they have worked with. Check out the influencers they collaborate with.

This will reveal if the agency is a good fit for your business or not. This will also let you hire agencies that work within your budget and with clients of your business size among others. An agency that normally works with fashion brands may not be a good fit for a hi-tech gadget brand.

You could also find agencies that work well with almost everything irrespective of business size, budget, and industry type. You should choose something that fits the long-term approach as a campaign works best over a time period than a one-time venture.

2. What are their influencer marketing processes?

By learning of their work processes you will get a complete picture of what it would be to work with them. Enquire about their process to launch a new campaign, influencer selection criteria, campaign strategies they can come up with for you, and platforms they use to measure and assess the campaigns.

Enquire about your SPOC for the campaign. You need to know who they are when they are available, and what are their weekly off days. An agency that is open about the processes, has clear and honest communication and maintains clarity is the one you should select.

3. What influencer marketing strategies do they use?

Businesses need to avail a variety of strategies aimed at the goals of the campaign to increase, engagement, reach or awareness, and sales, etc. Before you hire an agency discuss what type of experience they have with running a variety of campaigns. Check if they had success running a variety of strategies for their clients and how they strategized and implemented them.

You should find out if they have the required expertise, resources, and the skill or knowledge to execute these types of strategies for your brand.

4. What do their clients say?

Find out what their previous or current clients say about working with them. It is not a good idea to depend on their websites for this feedbacks as you would only find positive comments. Search deep and search well. Look at third-party websites like Quora or other similar community forums.

Some agencies might even go to the lengths of circulating false reviews to build a positive light for them. You should reach out to their current or former clients for honest feedback and get to know about their service quality, customer satisfaction, and credibility.

5. Can they understand and meet your expectations?

Make sure you are on the same page by setting up clear expectations and discussing the goals. Once you discuss your goals and talk about your expectations you can understand whether the agency will be able to provide results. Through detailed research of the agency, you can understand whether they can meet your expectations or not irrespective of their claims.

You should have a detailed discussion on your expectations and needs as this can save both the involved businesses from a bad deal which will not be fruitful.

Conclusion

As influencer marketing continues growing, brands will need a higher level of skill set to leverage the benefits. This is why influencer marketing agencies will always be needed. An influencer marketing agency in Chicago is your best bet, however, which agency it is will depend on the factors discussed above. You should always remember there is nothing called the best influencer marketing agency, a more appropriate term will be the best-suited influencer agency for your business.