Creator & Influencer Marketing
What a creator campaign actually looks like, from brief to final report
A creator campaign runs in six stages: strategy and brief, creator sourcing and vetting, outreach and contracts, content production and approval, publishing and payment, and reporting. When an agency runs it, you get a campaign plan and calendar up front, a vetted list of creators you approve, one team managing every creator, payments coordinated and a final report on what worked. Your job is to set the goal, approve creators and content, and give context about your brand.
Most brands that come to us have run a creator campaign once or twice on their own, and the part that surprised them was the amount of work behind it. Finding the creators is the visible bit. The briefing, the negotiating, the contracts, the chasing of drafts, the payments and the reporting are what fill the weeks. This is what it looks like for us, stage by stage.
Before stage one: onboarding
Every client starts the same way. We set up a shared hub in Notion where the campaign calendar, creator pipeline, performance reports and team updates live, so you can see what is happening without having to ask. The first thing in it is an initial questionnaire with three parts: your brand and audience, your experience and goals with creators, and your competitors and the brands you would like to be compared with. The creator section asks the practical questions that shape the whole campaign, such as what you want creators to promote, what kind of creator would fit, how you plan to reuse the content (which decides usage rights), which platforms and formats you want, whether you are after one-off partnerships or long-term ambassadors, what your budget is, and whether you need help with contracts, whitelisting, UTM tracking or discount codes.
From your answers we write an audit and strategy for your creator partnership program, which sets out the opportunity, what the data tells us and who to look for, along with a keywords and niches document that includes the follower range to target. Your team on our side is a project lead, a creator manager and a sourcing assistant, and the work moves through a welcome, a kickoff and a check-in at the end of the first month.
Stage one: strategy and brief
A campaign starts with a plan tailored to your goal, your niche and your budget, because a campaign built for awareness looks very different from one built for signups. The brief that comes out of it covers who you are trying to reach, what the creators should communicate, what they should avoid, the deliverables, the dates and the budget. A clear brief is also what protects the creator's voice, since it sets the boundaries and leaves room for them to make something their audience will actually watch. We also build a campaign calendar with the key dates, deliverables and approvals so everyone can see what happens when.
Stage two: sourcing and vetting creators
This is where the list gets built. We source creators aligned with the campaign objectives, and for each one we record follower count, engagement rate, average views, content examples and a short note on why they fit, so you can see the reasoning and not only the numbers. You approve the list before anyone is contacted. We go through how we vet in how to find creators for your tech brand, and the short version is that audience fit matters more than reach.
Stage three: outreach, negotiation and contracts
Once the list is approved, each creator gets a personal message that shows we have watched their work, and a generic template does not. From there we handle the communication, the negotiation of fee and deliverables, and the follow-ups, with guidance on the contract so that scope, dates and usage are written down before anything is made. This is the stage that takes the most back-and-forth, and the one brands tend to underestimate.
Stage four: content production and approval
Creators make the content within the brief, and it goes through an approval system so you see everything before it is published. A good process keeps changes small and specific, which keeps the creator happy and the content sounding like them. Asset delivery, meaning getting the finished files and the rights to use them, is managed here too, because content that works can be reused in your own channels and ads, in the same way a content engine reuses long-form material.
Stage five: publishing and payment
Creators publish on the agreed dates and we track that each deliverable goes live as planned. Payments are coordinated with reminders and updates when it is time to pay each creator, so nobody has to chase and nobody gets paid late by accident.
Stage six: reporting
During the campaign you get a weekly digest with progress, and afterwards a campaign report covering what was delivered, what performed, what the audience responded to and what we would change next time. A report is only useful if it is tied to the goal you set in stage one, so it measures that and not just views.
What you do as the brand
Less than most people expect. You fill out the initial questionnaire, set the goal, approve the creator list, review content when it comes through and share context when something changes in your business, such as a launch or a new message. We keep contact to a regular meeting or an async thread in Slack, whichever you prefer.
What this has looked like in practice
For Tango we sourced 10 to 15 creators a week in the HR and career space. For Eraser we sourced up to 30 YouTube creators a month, with about an 80% response rate on outreach. For Remento we ran a creator program over a year and a half and eight campaigns, which came with a 150% increase in sales. The common thread is a process that is the same every time: a clear brief, a vetted list, personal outreach and reporting against the goal.
When to run it yourself
If you have the time and want to manage creators directly, a platform can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Our sister company Conecta+ lets brands find Spanish-speaking UGC creators, run campaigns and pay with protected payments, and you can read how it works in our post on the Conecta+ launch. If you would rather hand the work to a team, that is what we do.
Frequently asked questions
What does a creator marketing agency do? A creator marketing agency plans the campaign, sources and vets creators, handles outreach, negotiation and contracts, manages content approval and delivery, coordinates payments and reports on results. The brand sets the goal and approves creators and content.
What are the stages of a creator campaign? Strategy and brief, creator sourcing and vetting, outreach and contracts, content production and approval, publishing and payment, and reporting.
How many creators should a first campaign use? A vetted list of around 25 creators is a practical starting point, since it is large enough to learn who responds and what works and small enough to keep every message personal. The number who take part will depend on your budget.
What do I need to provide for a creator campaign? A clear goal, a budget, information about your brand and audience, approval of the creator list and timely review of content. Everything else can be handled for you.
Can I run a creator campaign without an agency? Yes. Many brands do, either manually or through a platform. An agency makes most sense when you do not have the time to manage outreach, contracts and payments, or when creators are one part of a wider social and content plan.
How is a creator campaign measured? Against the goal set at the start, whether that is reach among a target audience, signups through tracked links, sales or content you can reuse in ads. Reporting should show what worked and what to change next time.
Planning a creator campaign?
If you want a team to run your creator program from first message to final report, tell us a little about your brand and what you want it to achieve.