Latest / Influencer Confidential / Want To Hire An Influencer Manager For Brand Deals? Listen To This First! #290

Transcript

Want To Hire An Influencer Manager For Brand Deals? Listen To This First! #290 · Influencer Confidential

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the current Well,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: let's jump in. So many influencers in my community at
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  Speaker 1: one point have the thought if they should have a manager,
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  Speaker 1: and this concept of having someone help you in your
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: business and helping you pitch is often something that once
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you get to a certain point, you start thinking, is
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  Speaker 1: this something that I should do. I've been wanting to
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  Speaker 1: do this for a while now because I do think
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  Speaker 1: it is a topic that comes up quite often. So
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  Speaker 1: what I want to dive into in today's episode is
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  Speaker 1: really what managers look for in creators. When is the
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  Speaker 1: right time for you to start looking into management? What
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: are some norms, what's expected? And then questions you should
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  Speaker 1: ask yourself and your potential manager. These are questions you
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  Speaker 1: should be asking them to have clarity before you sign anything. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the first thing I do want to state when I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about influencer manager, we're talking about someone who is
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  Speaker 1: managing a creator's brand partnerships. For that's really what I
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  Speaker 1: want to speak to. We're not thinking, you know, top
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  Speaker 1: level operations in other areas of the business. I want
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  Speaker 1: to just kind of deal with brand deals specifically. And
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  Speaker 1: then the way that they get paid is commission based, right,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and we'll go over like standard commissions. But I just
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  Speaker 1: wanted to start off, like, definitionally, what is a manager.
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of creators kind of see having
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  Speaker 1: a manager as like the shiny coin. It's going to
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  Speaker 1: fix all their problems. Once they have a manager, they're
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  Speaker 1: going to be making so much money. And again, guys,
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  Speaker 1: remember I have a community of one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: thousand creators. I work with so many creators every day.
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  Speaker 1: I have creators who have managers, and I have creators
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  Speaker 1: who don't. There really is no right or wrong path.
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  Speaker 1: Remember your business owner, and you get to make those
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  Speaker 1: decisions for yourself. I'm not here to tell you what's
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  Speaker 1: right or wrong. I want you to just think critically, however,
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  Speaker 1: before before you even ask yourself like, I want a manager.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I want a manager. Does a manager want you? And
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  Speaker 1: I say that with love and respect and kindness, because
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  Speaker 1: think about it, A manager if they're making commissions off
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  Speaker 1: of you, then you need to be generating revenue, right, Like,
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  Speaker 1: there needs to be some sort of income there. I've
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  Speaker 1: had creators who are not making money and they're like,
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  Speaker 1: I want a manager. I'm like, why would the manager
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  Speaker 1: want to work with you if you have no proven income? So,
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  Speaker 1: like just breaking it down really simply, if you are
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  Speaker 1: making one hundred thousand dollars in brand deals, that manager
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  Speaker 1: is probably only getting twenty thousand of it, which is
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  Speaker 1: a standard twenty percent, right, So to you, that's like
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  Speaker 1: twenty thousand is a lot. But think about like if
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  Speaker 1: we were to break it down per month, it's like
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  Speaker 1: less than two thousand dollars a month. It's really not
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  Speaker 1: a lot. So oftentimes managers will have like revenue benchmarks
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  Speaker 1: that they're like, this creator needs to already have established
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  Speaker 1: proof of income and they want to see those receipts.
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  Speaker 1: They want to see that proof before they take you on. Now,
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  Speaker 1: that may be for a more credible management agencies. Let's
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  Speaker 1: just say you find someone who's just getting started and
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  Speaker 1: they want to like you know, a friend or a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: cousin or someone who's getting their feet wet, and they
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: want to support you. They may not have those revenue requirements.
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  Speaker 1: I'm speaking about like the managers that I know that
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  Speaker 1: deal with you know, bigger creators and bigger influencers. They
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: want to have that established income there. However, if you're
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  Speaker 1: just getting started, but you are closing partnerships, maybe five
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars partnerships, two thousand dollars partnerships, all of that
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  Speaker 1: is still going to be very helpful for you when
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  Speaker 1: you do find someone that you want to represent you
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  Speaker 1: or to work with you. Now, something else managers look
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  Speaker 1: for in a creator outside of money is the overall
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  Speaker 1: creators I would say, like brand safety, is a creator
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  Speaker 1: responsive timely because it's going to be a creator that
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  Speaker 1: the manager is going to have to babysit. Or is
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  Speaker 1: a creator active in their business like they are creating
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  Speaker 1: you know, not only killer content, but responding to emails
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  Speaker 1: on time, getting the deliverables done for a client on time. Like,
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  Speaker 1: all of those intangibles are also things that managers really
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  Speaker 1: care about when it comes to content and having a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: very clear vision. This is also important in that manager
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  Speaker 1: equation because then they're able to see, Okay, well can
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  Speaker 1: I scale this creator? Can I get them to two
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  Speaker 1: x three x four x their income because they know
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  Speaker 1: who they are, they know the type of partnerships they
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  Speaker 1: already are engaging in. Or is a creator still lost,
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  Speaker 1: confused like all over the place in terms of their content,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: their niche, their positioning. So the types of creators that
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  Speaker 1: do really well with management outside of the financial piece
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  Speaker 1: are creators who exactly know where they're going and they
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  Speaker 1: have that piece very very clear, and the manager is
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  Speaker 1: just going to help accelerate that. So let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: the pros having a manager. And many times I've seen
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  Speaker 1: a lot of creators be like, I would have never
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  Speaker 1: negotiated that on my own, and that tends to be
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  Speaker 1: the biggest thing I hear when it comes to money.
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  Speaker 1: They just get better rates, maybe less deliverables, and they
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  Speaker 1: really have someone on their side advocating for them and
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  Speaker 1: giving them the best bang for their buck. I think
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  Speaker 1: that is always like a really big benefit. There's something
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  Speaker 1: more scary for some creators. They're negotiating for theirselves. Obviously,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you're also getting your time back because the idea here
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  Speaker 1: is that manager is pitching for you. There is an
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  Speaker 1: outbound strategy. They are going into the market and hunting
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  Speaker 1: for you, and you don't have to be doing that,
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  Speaker 1: and that should be freeing up your time, and that
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  Speaker 1: time needs to be allocated to other areas of your
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  Speaker 1: business that are either going to be revenue generating or
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: maybe on your content side. But obviously you're getting your
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  Speaker 1: time back. A lot of times, managers may already have
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  Speaker 1: those established relationships, right, so they're like, oh, we have
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  Speaker 1: a deal with Wilmer and one of our other girls
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  Speaker 1: did it. Now we're going to hand it over to you.
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  Speaker 1: They have those friendship, they have that network. You're hoping
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  Speaker 1: that your manager has those established relationships, so it's a
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  Speaker 1: lot easier for you to get opportunities and the goal
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  Speaker 1: with management. I feel like managers are really good at
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  Speaker 1: advocating for long term deals, not one offs, because then
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  Speaker 1: they get guaranteed income. Right they sign you a fifty
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars brand deal, that's in their interest. Even if
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  Speaker 1: it's over a year or six months, that is in
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  Speaker 1: their interest because again it's commission based, So it makes
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  Speaker 1: more sense for them to advocate for longer term partnerships.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the cons because in my professional opinion,
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  Speaker 1: they and this is just coming from experience and seeing
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  Speaker 1: so many creators tell me that they've dropped their manager
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  Speaker 1: and that they you know, can't find the right manager.
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  Speaker 1: There's always like it feels like you're chasing a unicorn
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  Speaker 1: in many ways, and I think it comes down to ultimately,
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  Speaker 1: like will anyone fight for your business the way that
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  Speaker 1: you will? Will anyone put in the effort for you
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  Speaker 1: like you would? Right? And oftentimes that tends to be
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  Speaker 1: the biggest complaint. Well, I thought they were going to
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  Speaker 1: be pitching for me more and I thought they were
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  Speaker 1: going to be reaching out, but they're not really getting
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  Speaker 1: anything for me. It tends to be a lot of
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  Speaker 1: my inbounds that are making the money. And then there's
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  Speaker 1: this resentment, right because creators are like, why am I
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  Speaker 1: giving a piece of my inbound money to this manager
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  Speaker 1: because like those leads came to me and they're not
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  Speaker 1: really bringing anything new, So you know, creators kind of
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  Speaker 1: get a little bit of resentfulness. However, to show both sides,
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  Speaker 1: I just want to say, like there was a situation
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  Speaker 1: with one of the creators I worked with her manager
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  Speaker 1: pivoted an inbound lead and got her way more than
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  Speaker 1: she would have gotten herself, even though it was inbounds.
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  Speaker 1: So something to be said there. But anyways, you know
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  Speaker 1: that creators oftentimes feel like no one is working hard
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  Speaker 1: enough for them. And then there's a transparency piece and
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  Speaker 1: the networking piece and the contacts piece. Right Like a
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  Speaker 1: manager has a contact with Walmart, you don't do you
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  Speaker 1: have that email? Do you have that relationship? Do you
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  Speaker 1: have that network? Something to consider. Again, oftentimes that is
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  Speaker 1: the manager's role. They're the ones in charge, and you
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  Speaker 1: don't really get to have privy. Now, maybe those are
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  Speaker 1: things that you talked about, like a shared inbox or
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: things of that nature. But again, the higher up you go,
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  Speaker 1: like when we're talking big money, big management, like they're
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: not going to succumb to like your request and needs. Again,
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  Speaker 1: it depends what you bring to the table. Everything is negotiable.
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  Speaker 1: I am team everything is negotiable. But I find that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the times it's the managers who keep
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  Speaker 1: those contacts and that's really valuable when it comes to commissions.
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  Speaker 1: We're looking at anywhere between fifteen to twenty percent of
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  Speaker 1: your income. And actually on the brand side, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there are times that I find that having a manager
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  Speaker 1: could hurt you, but it could also help you. So
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  Speaker 1: there's times that you know, brands want to deal with
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  Speaker 1: managers and they have those relationships, and then there's times that,
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  Speaker 1: like when you pitch a creator and they have a manager,
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  Speaker 1: the brand is like, oh my god, I'm gonna have
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to deal with this one now. So just something to
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  Speaker 1: mention now before I go over some questions that you
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  Speaker 1: guys should be asking your manager. I'll put them in
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  Speaker 1: a PDF for you guys and actually link them below.
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  Speaker 1: But before I do that, I just kind of want
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  Speaker 1: to also share a thought. Having a manager also kind
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: of depends on how you want to build your business,
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  Speaker 1: Like do you want to have someone that is in charge,
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  Speaker 1: like in a separate area of your business and they're
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  Speaker 1: just running, or do you want to build a team.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes creators are like I want a team. Right, So
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  Speaker 1: you have like an assistant or a VA or someone
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  Speaker 1: that you have Monday morning meetings with and you're really
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: close to and they're doing lots of things in your business,
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  Speaker 1: and pitching is part of it. Right. You're paying that
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: type of person a flat fee. You're paying them maybe
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: hourly or a retainer. But the idea is I'm gonna
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: make a number up. Let's just say you pay your
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: VA three thousand a month, the idea is there bringing
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: you six to nine thousand dollars of brand deals. Right,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: so you're not giving a commission, but you're paying flat feed.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: That is something that you guys can think about as well.
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  Speaker 1: Do you not want to give away that support you
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: want to build like your own company and your own
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: contacts and all of that, or are you just like,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you know what, I don't want to deal with it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I just want someone else to kind of like get
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: in and do that. If that's something that you guys
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: are interested in more of, like the support and the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: pitching and not giving away a piece of your business,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and leave a link below
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: so that you guys can reach out to us. We
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: do have different services that we do for creators, all
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: a carte depending on the creator if we think they're
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: a good fit. We don't manage, but we do support
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: creators in the pitching process. So if you guys want
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to go ahead and set up a call with our
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: success manager at Sidewalker Daily, they can share with you
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: how we can support you in this piece of your business,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Helping you with the pitching piece, getting you you know,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: knocking on doors, but more from that you know, support
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: side versus manager side. So that's something you're interested in,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: you can go head and getting a call with our
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: team and see how we can support you. Okay, so
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: let's talk about questions you should be asking your manager
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: if that's the route that you want to go. One
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of the things that I always kind of think about
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: when we think of contracts is kind of like the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: termination clauses, like how long you know am I in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: this relationship or manager? You know a relationship with you for?
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  Speaker 1: Is it a year? Is it six months? Is it
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: thirty months? Do I need to just let you know
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: thirty months in advance if I want to leave and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: vice versa if they want to drop you. I think
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: having a lot of clarity around that piece, the termination piece,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: is very important. Also understanding like can you work with
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: other people in your business? I also would want to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: know questions around like fees, like hidden fees, Like let's
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: just say there's a legal fee and you know, we
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: get a really big partnership with a big company, it's
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars deal. What about the lawyers that
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: need to come in, Like what are the fees that
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: we don't really know about? Until they happen. I'm sure
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: a manager can help answer that. Are you allowed to
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: also pitch while they're pitching? What do the transparency look like?
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  Speaker 1: Like are you able to see who they pitch? Do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: you get some sort of report being like we pitched
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  Speaker 1: this amount of brands this week? I don't know. I'm
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: just all about like transparency. That's how we run here
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: at Sidewalker, Like we want our clients to see, okay,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the number of pitches who we reached out to, So
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: what type of transparency or systems are there for you
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to see? Like I don't know if that's even something
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you could ask, but I would want to note, like
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: how many brands do you plan on pitching for me
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  Speaker 1: a month? So asking like clarity around volume and again
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: understanding can you also pitch even if you have to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: give them a commission? Like can you also be active
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: in your business if you want it to be, doesn't
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: mean you necessarily have to be. Another thing you want
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to understand about your manager is who else are they
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: working with? Like what's their client load? And this is
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: going to help you know you understand how much time
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: they're able to allocate towards you. Are there people that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: are similar to you, different to you. Who's handling the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: day to day? Does this manager have an assistant, who's
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the point of contact if you wanted to ask questions,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: you know, having clarity about like the team and the structure.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: And then last but not least, understanding what does success
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: look like? How are you guys going to measure success?
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Is it a number? Is it a monetary value? Oh,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: we're looking to hit this number a month. Are their
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: goals being set? Because again, us at Sidewalker, when we
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: work with select clients in that piece of their business, like,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: we want to be very clear with metrics and goals
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: so that everyone knows like are we hitting them or
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: are we not? Right? So being able to measure success
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: or at least deciding what would a win look like,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: you know, is it just increasing our open rates right
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: or making sure that we're getting on more calls with
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: brands and networking more That could be a win too.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: So having those clear conversations with your potential manager, I think, again,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: this is your business. You got to advocate for it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: You need to go in hard because once you sign
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: someone on you, you're in contract with them. So I
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: would ask all of these questions to make sure that
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: you feel really good about who you're going to work with.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And like I said, y'all, if you do need support
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: on the pitching side of your biz, we don't do
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: management as of yet anyways, so we're not managers. But
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: if you end end up wanting to port on pitching,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: brand deals, media kit support in this side of the biz,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: this is our strength here at Sidewalker Daily, So go
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: ahead and set up a call with someone on our team.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: We will share with you how we can support you
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: in this piece of your business monetization, brand deal sponsorships.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: That is our special team. I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: If you did, make sure to rate, review, and subscribe
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to our show and visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: resources on all things influencer marketing and social media. Until
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: next time,