I’ve been running my agency for about five years now, and for the longest time, I was doing what everyone else does—cold LinkedIn, email outreach, hoping something sticks. The conversion rate was abysmal, and honestly, I was burning through hours just trying to find the right fit for cross-market campaigns.
Last quarter, I decided to flip my approach. Instead of me hunting for a US-based influencer to pair with one of my Russian luxury brands, I posted what we were actually looking for on the hub: specific audience demographics, content style, budget range, the whole picture. Within two weeks, I had three solid matches—people who actually fit the brief, not random replies from everyone with a blue checkmark.
What surprised me most wasn’t just the speed. It was that the influencers who responded through the hub already understood cross-market dynamics. They weren’t asking basic questions about Russian market specifics; some of them had already worked on similar campaigns. The vetting process felt natural because I could see their previous work and read actual comments from other agencies they’d collaborated with.
The first campaign we ran—a co-created UGC series between a Moscow-based beauty brand and a micro-influencer from LA—actually hit our ROI targets. Not by accident. By design, because the match was solid from day one.
My question for everyone here: how many of you are still doing cold outreach when you could be getting matched with people who already fit your criteria? What’s stopping you from trying the hub’s matching system instead?
This is exactly the kind of shift I made too. Cold outreach was eating 40% of my weekly time, and I wasn’t even getting the quality of leads I needed. What changed for me was that when I posted specific briefs on the hub instead, I wasn’t just finding influencers—I was finding people who understood partnership dynamics. They came pre-qualified in a way cold prospects never did.
The vetting part is what really nails it. You can actually see their track record here, not just their follower count. That alone cuts your risk by half.
I’m curious about your first-campaign ROI numbers. When you switched from cold outreach to hub-matched creators, did you see immediate improvement on that first project, or did it take a few iterations to dial in the process?
One thing I’m testing right now—do you think the hub matching works better for specific niches (like beauty, tech, etc.) or does it work equally well across all categories? I’m wondering if the algorithm is more refined in certain spaces.
I’m actually on the other side of this as a creator. When I used to get cold-pitched by agencies, I’d ignore 90% of them. But when I started responding to specific briefs posted on the hub, it felt different—like the agency actually knew what they wanted, not just spray-and-pray messaging.
What I noticed is that creators who come through hub matching tend to be more serious about collaboration. They’re not looking for freebies; they’re ready to produce real work. That filter makes a huge difference.
Quick question—when you post your brief on the hub, how specific do you get? Are you listing exact requirements, or do you leave some room for creators to bring their own ideas?
This is so encouraging to hear! I’ve been talking to a lot of agencies about exactly this transition. What you’re describing—moving from hunting to being found by pre-qualified partners—is how real partnerships actually start.
I’m curious if you’ve connected with any of these influencers for future projects beyond that first campaign. Sometimes the best partnerships grow from the first good experience.
I’d love to see the actual metrics behind this. When you say the campaign hit ROI targets—what was the benchmark you were comparing against? Was it previous cold-outreach campaigns, or an internal baseline?
Also, over what time period did you measure? First 30 days, full campaign cycle, 90 days post-launch? The reason I ask is that hub-matched creators often have higher engagement quality, but the volume metrics might look different initially.
One data point that would be helpful: cost per qualified lead. Did your CAC drop when you switched from cold outreach to hub matching, or was it the quality of conversion that improved?
I’m running into a similar problem trying to find US marketing partners for my tech product. Cold LinkedIn is a mess, everyone’s inbox is full, nobody responds unless there’s an obvious quick win for them.
When you were finding influencers through the hub, were you also looking for agency partners? Or is the matching system better suited for creator-to-brand connections than agency-to-agency partnerships?