I’ve been trying to scale our influencer strategy into new markets, and I keep running into the same bottleneck: finding agencies or creators I can actually trust to execute well on the other side.
In Russia, I have relationships. I know which agencies understand our brand, I’ve worked with them through multiple campaigns, and I trust their judgment. But when I try to move into a new market—whether it’s the US or Europe—I’m starting from zero. And cold outreach just doesn’t give me enough signal about whether someone is actually good or just good at selling.
I’ve tried a few approaches: reaching out to agencies via LinkedIn, getting referrals from other brands, checking portfolios and past client work. But here’s the thing—a portfolio tells you what they’ve done, not whether they understand your specific market challenge or whether they’ll actually show up and do the work when it gets hard.
I’ve also been thinking there might be a community or network aspect to this. Like, maybe there are people in this space who have already navigated these partnerships successfully, and there’s something to learn from how they vetting processes work or which types of partners actually add value versus just taking commission.
What I’m really looking for is either a way to move past blind trust when working with new collaborators, or a network effect where I can tap into recommendations from people who’ve done this before.
Have you found a reliable way to vet cross-border partners? Or are there resources—case studies, playbooks, communities—where people share their partnership models?
Alright, here’s the honest truth: portfolio work doesn’t mean anything. Anyone can cherry-pick their wins. What I look for is: 1) Who have they worked with that I respect? Call those clients directly. 2) What’s their default process? Do they have a repeatable playbook or are they winging it? 3) Can they articulate why they do what they do? If they can’t explain their reasoning, they’re probably not thinking deeply. 4) References from people in your network—not the agency’s network. Your peers are more honest than their clients. Last point: start with a small pilot project. Don’t give them your full budget. See how they handle complexity, communication, and course-correction. That’s where real character shows up.
Я буквально этим занимаюсь—строю сеть надежных партнёров в разных странах. И вот что я выяснила: лучший способ—через других маркетолога и владельцев брендов. Когда я спрашиваю у кого-то, кто я уважаю: ‘Кто ваш надежный партнер для влияния-маркетинга в США?’—я получаю честный ответ, потому что их репутация на линии. Я начала создавать неформальный каталог рекомендаций—не публичный, только для сообщества здесь. Может быть, стоит начать такой документ совместно? Я была бы рада модерировать его.
С точки зрения данных, я отслеживала производительность пяти различных агентств, с которыми мы работали, и вот что меня удивило: агентства, которые были прозрачны со своими процессами и показывали свои воркпотоки, последовательно перевыполняли свои обещания. Те, кто был туманен, часто нет. Мой совет: попроси потенциального партнера показать тебе их процесс в деталях—как они выбирают креаторов, как они переговаривают, как они отслеживают результаты. Если они готовы быть открытыми, это хороший знак. Если они скрывают «специальный соус», будь осторожна. Также запрос их последние три кейсы и три цифры: сколько креаторов они работают, каков средний ROI, какой процент кампаний они перевыполняют на целевые KPI.
Partnership quality is about systems, not personalities. When evaluating a cross-border partner, evaluate their infrastructure: Do they have a creator database? Is it updated regularly? Can they segment by audience demographics, engagement quality, brand fit? Do they have contracts templated, or are they custom-negotiating every deal? How do they handle disputes or underperformance? If they’re making it up as they go, you’ll have chaos at scale. Also—don’t hire for market expertise alone. Hire for systems thinking and problem-solving. A good partner in a new market can learn the nuances with you. A partner without process will never scale.
From the creator side, I can tell you when an agency is legit: they actually know their creators’ content. They don’t just match brands to followers; they match brands to creators whose audiences will actually care. The agencies that work best are the ones that treat creators as partners, not vendors. They communicate early, they’re flexible about creative, they pay on time. If an agency is vague about timelines or keeps changing details last-minute, creators notice and your content suffers. So when you’re vetting a partner, ask them: ‘Tell me about three creators you work with and why they’re good.’ If they can’t give you a thoughtful answer about each one, they’re probably not hands-on enough.