I’m at a point where I need to expand what we offer, and I’ve realized our biggest gap is access to reliable US-based partners. We work with a lot of Russian-founded brands that want to break into American influencer marketing, but honestly, I don’t have the network or the cultural chops to do it alone.
The challenge isn’t just finding agencies—it’s finding ones that actually understand our clients’ context. A US agency might be great at running campaigns for native American brands, but do they get how a Russian founder thinks about ROI? Do they understand the timeline expectations? That’s where I keep getting stuck.
I’ve been thinking about using a structured partnership approach instead of just cold outreach. Like, what if I started vetting partners through case studies and direct experience sharing instead of just looking at their portfolio? I want to understand how they’ve handled cultural alignment before I ever pitch them on a real project.
Has anyone here actually gone through this process? When you’re evaluating a cross-market partner, what signals tell you they’re worth working with versus just another agency that’ll disappoint your client? I’m curious about your actual due diligence framework—not the polished version, but what actually matters when you’re signing someone up to work with your clients.
Oh, this is exactly what I’ve been helping people figure out! I think the key is moving beyond resumes. What I do is set up small collaborative experiences first—like, invite a potential partner to co-host a webinar or co-create one campaign before you commit to a full relationship. That way you see how they actually work, how they communicate, and whether they’re willing to learn about your market.
I’ve also found that asking about their past cross-border work is crucial, but asking specific questions matters. Don’t just ask if they’ve done international work—ask what went wrong, how they handled it, what they’d do differently. The honest struggles tell you way more than the wins.
One more thing—don’t underestimate the power of introductions through people who know both worlds. If you can find someone who’s already worked with both Russian-founded brands and US agencies, they can vouch for compatibility in ways no portfolio can. I’ve seen some of my best partnership matches happen through these kinds of trusted introductions.
From an ROI perspective, I’d track their campaign performance metrics against similar campaigns we’ve run ourselves. But here’s the thing—don’t just look at their top-line numbers. Ask for their cost per influencer engagement in US markets, their average time to campaign launch, their approach to TikTok vs. Instagram. Russian brands often have different priorities than American ones, and you need to see if the partner’s metrics align with what drives value for your clients.
I’d also request a retrospective analysis of one of their campaigns—how they’d do it differently if starting over. That shows they actually learn from data, not just repeat playbooks.
We went through this exact thing preparing to enter the US market, and honestly, the vetting process took longer than expected but saved us so much headache. What worked for us: we did a paid pilot with one US agency on a small campaign—maybe $5-10K—before signing any bigger deals. It was worth the investment to see how they handled our feedback, timeline expectations, and how they communicated about problems.
The biggest surprise was that the agencies who seemed most impressive on paper were sometimes the least flexible. Look for partners who ask you questions about your market, your clients, and your goals—not just partners who tell you what they’ll do.
I’ve built a simple scorecard for this. I grade partners on: past cross-border work (yes/no), willingness to take a pilot, communication speed (how fast do they respond?), and cultural curiosity. That last one’s underrated—if someone’s never worked with Russian brands or founders before but genuinely wants to learn, they’re often more valuable than someone who’s ‘done it before’ but is stuck in their ways.
One tactical thing: structure your initial partnership conversation as a 3-month pilot with clear success metrics. That way you’re not betting the farm, and both sides know the expectations upfront.
Also, don’t overlook their operations. I’ve worked with talented US agencies that fumbled on timezone management or invoicing complexity. Ask explicitly about how they handle these logistics—it’s boring, but it’s where partnerships actually break down.
From the creator side, I’d ask the potential partner about their relationships with creators. How do they brief influencers? Do they understand that American creators and Russian-root brand aesthetics are different? I’ve been in briefings where the agency clearly didn’t explain the brand’s perspective to me, and the content suffered.
So when you’re vetting, maybe ask them to run through how they’d brief a creator on a hypothetical campaign for one of your client’s products. You’ll see pretty quickly if they get it.
This is fundamentally a risk mitigation problem. You’re trying to outsource execution into a market you don’t fully control, with partners you don’t fully know. Structure the vetting around that.
Here’s what I’d do: establish whether they have a repeatable process. Do they have a documented framework for cross-cultural campaigns, influencer selection, content guidelines? Or does each campaign feel bespoke? Repeatable processes are more trustworthy because they’re testable and improvable.
Second, understand their failure mode. If something goes wrong with an influencer or the content doesn’t perform, what’s their protocol? Do they communicate proactively, or do you find out after the fact? This matters more than their success rate—everyone has failures.