No items found.
.webp)
.webp&url=https://fohr.webflow.io/blog/the-top-3-habits-of-our-favorite-easy-to-work-with-influencer-partners&description=The Top 3 Habits of our Favorite, Easy-to-Work-With Influencer Partners - Ep. 63){kind=small}
In this episode of Negronis with Nord, we cover Fohr’s recent Dad influencer article in the New York Times; our top habits of easy-to-work-with creators; the power of a quick email response; if brands prefer IG Reels vs. static photos and more.
This question deserves a whole separate show. In my opinion, the quality of your content and the data around your account - such as your reach and engagement metrics - make up about 90% of what gets you selected for your first job with a brand, whether you're working with Fohr on behalf of one of our clients or directly with another agency or brand.
After that, it's more of a 50/50 split, and may even lean more towards how easy you are to work with and what kind of partner you are. Retention plays a huge role in growing your business, as retaining clients and continuing to work with them is crucial.
At Fohr we run hundreds, even thousands of campaigns a year, providing opportunities to work across our large portfolio of clients. Being easy to work with and an effective partner are key factors in that. Of course, great content and a good brand fit are table stakes. Once you meet that bar, it's all about how easy you are to work with.
I think that's the easiest and number one highest-impact way that you can be the best partner for the brands and agencies that you work with. It's just responding in a timely manner. That's it.
I have lived a creative life and a life behind a desk. I've done both of them. I happen to actually like being behind the desk, but a lot of people choose to live a more free, creative life. Freelancing, being an influencer, doing their thing, right? So you may think at 10:00 AM, you wake up and see an email from a brand. You think, "Okay, I've got a bunch of stuff that I'm doing today. I've got a shoot that I'm doing, I'm running around, I don't have time to answer this, but I will answer it later." Then, you have a shoot all day, and you're busy. Maybe you go out that night to celebrate a job well done. Let's say it ends up being two days until you answer that email. You think that's not a big deal, but you have to understand that for us, it might mean that we have a client who has followed up four times asking a question, and we could have avoided that just by answering emails quickly.
It is incredible how much you can differentiate yourself as a creator by being timely in your communication. It's something I try to improve upon. We all know the tendency to ignore an email, and then it becomes awkwardly long. It's amazing what just responding quickly can do for your professional relationships, even if you don't have an answer.
There's also this human tendency to not want to answer an email if you don't have an answer yet, right? So, I will just ignore them until I shoot the content, and then I'll send them an email the following night. I apologize for the delay and send the content. In your brain, you don't want to have a confrontation or let people down. I think that makes a lot of sense because then I'll email them with good news. Nobody has to be mad at me. All good, right?
It's so much better to just say, "Hey, I'm not going to be able to shoot that today. I'll get it to you tomorrow by the end of the day. I'll let you know if anything changes." Even if the brand is initially upset, they will be a lot less upset than if you ignore them. So, I think it's important to respond quickly to emails and communicate effectively in a timely manner.
Try to get back to people on the same business day. If it's an urgent question, take 30 seconds to answer it. If it's going to require a longer response, say "I can't respond to this now. I will later tonight." It just sets your partners at ease. It's such a big thing. Other than that, be on time and try to hit your deadlines. It's understandable that you may miss them sometimes, but really try to hit those deadlines.
Read the brief fully. I don't mean that in a condescending way, but at Fohr, we put these briefs together, and brands put the briefs together for a reason. It is important that as those documents and briefs get pulled together, you read them because they should answer most of your questions and make it so that you don't have to communicate or reshoot. It is meant to save time.
Read it as if it were a contract and try your best to create content that is on brief. If you don't like the brief or you don't agree with it or you have a better idea, reach out to people.
We would love to hear that. We want to hear your ideas. Brands want to hear your ideas. Even if they can't support them, it's worth saying it. And if you feel that the brief and the content are not going to perform and won't work for you, absolutely say that because nobody wants the content to fail and your audience not to like it.
Last kind of quick top-level one is just to be pleasant to work with. Be excited about it. You would be amazed at how far just sending a thank you, or being legitimately excited about it, can go.
If you are working directly with the brand, tell them that you have been a big fan of the brand and that this is such an exciting partnership. You would not believe how far that goes. These are individuals, and it is a person who is making this decision. You being nice to that person and getting them to like you makes it a lot more likely that when they have to make that decision again, they will work with you again. Be nice; people will want to work with you, and I promise it will benefit your career.
.jpg)
