Aside from the influencer strategy and tactical planning that goes into the campaign process, the biggest opportunity that brands have in influencer marketing is extending the lead time for campaign execution.
If I had a dollar for every brand who wanted to launch a campaign in under 3-4 weeks…
Here’s the tea: when a brand launches a campaign and rushes the process with influencers, it can negatively impact their brand reputation and actually manage relationships with key stakeholders like content creators.
It takes time to test a product to first determine if it’s a good fit.
It then takes time to see the results from a product in order to endorse it.
My rule of thumb is an optimal campaign takes 10-12 weeks from planning to execution. It's important to understand the process if you want your influencer marketing to be effective within a 3-month timeline.
Below are best practices to consider for your next campaign:
Planning:
Allocate 2 weeks for the influencer brief development and any necessary legal reviews to substantiate claims.
Campaign timelines should be shared upfront with talent. Reiterate the timeline during the outreach stage and with the creative brief to ensure all parties are on the same page.
Should a campaign timeline be under 4-6 weeks, it comes with trade-offs like rushed prices, creators may not be available, and ultimately the brand team is going to feel the pinch with approval processes internally.
Content Creation:
The influencers should have 2 weeks to create and submit content after they receive the product.
Remember to allow time for shipping and product testing into your timeline.
Content edits should have 3-5 days for influencers to turn around, depending on the extent of the revisions.
Content post dates should have a range to ensure it can fit into an influencers’ content calendar. Consider providing a 10-15 day content window for them to post, depending on the urgency of the campaign.
Post-Campaign:
Once your influencer marketing campaign is live, expect about 1-4 months before you begin to see tangible results.
Collect metrics 5-7 days after the campaign so you can draft and generate a campaign report.
Collect invoices 5-7 days after the campaign so you can wrap the campaign.
The lead time greatly depends on the size of the campaign, product availability, and the approval process to go through as well.
Hope this cheat sheet on influencer marketing timelines was helpful to you! Interested in working together? Fill out the in-take form to determine if we are a good fit and let’s connect.
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