I’m at the point where I’ve got a few promising conversations with potential US partners, and they’re showing me their portfolios and case studies. But here’s what I’m realizing: I don’t actually know what questions to ask to figure out whether their past success is repeatable or if it was just luck.
I can see the metrics—reach, engagement, conversions—but I can’t tell if they actually know how to operate when things get messy, when clients change their mind mid-campaign, or when a creator suddenly drops out. Those are the moments when I need to know my partner isn’t going to panic.
When you’re evaluating a partner’s portfolio, what are you actually digging into? Are there any case studies or examples they show you that should be an immediate pass? And how do you distinguish between ‘they got great results on established brands with huge budgets’ versus ‘they can actually problem-solve on scrappy, fast-paced campaigns’?
This feels like a stupid question, but I genuinely don’t know what I don’t know here.
Not a stupid question at all. Here’s what I look for: ask them for a campaign that didn’t go perfectly and how they handled it. A good partner will have an answer. A great partner will explain what they learned and how they’d do it differently.
Also, check if they’ve worked with brands at different scales. If all their case studies are with big names with massive budgets, ask specifically about smaller accounts or tighter timelines. That tells you a lot about adaptability.
I ask one specific question: ‘Walk me through a campaign where the initial strategy didn’t work out. What changed?’ How they answer reveals whether they’re rigid or responsive. The ones who say ‘we stuck to the plan and it worked anyway’ are different from the ones who say ‘we noticed X underperforming by week two, so we pivoted Y’.
Also, red flag: if all their case studies show identical process. Real agencies adapt. If they’re showing you the same workflow for every project regardless of channel or audience, that’s a sign they’re running a template, not doing actual strategy.
One more thing—ask them about their relationship with creators. Do they have long-term relationships with influencers, or are they always sourcing new ones? Long-term relationships usually mean they’ve figured out how to work with people who are realistic and professional. If they’re constantly cycling creators, that’s either a sign they’re scaling aggressively (sometimes good) or they’re hard to work with (usually not).
From the creator side, I can tell you: good agencies have systems for keeping creators happy and setting realistic expectations. Bad ones just chase new talent constantly.
When you’re reviewing their work, ask specifically about their creator retention rate. How many creators do they work with repeatedly? If they’re doing 50 different creators across 12 months instead of 15 solid relationships, that tells you something about their operations.
Also, if their case studies only highlight the ‘viral’ moments and don’t mention the foundational work (audience building, consistency, testing), they might be cherry-picking their wins.
I think you’re asking the right questions. Here’s something else: ask them about their worst client experience. How they talk about a difficult relationship tells you everything about their professionalism and maturity.
I’ve found that confident, good partners can talk openly about hard situations because they know what they learned. The ones who get defensive or vague? That’s when I start looking elsewhere.
Also, don’t just look at the results—look at WHO they worked with. Are they working with similar brands to yours? Do they understand your vertical? That context matters way more than raw numbers.
Real talk: I’ve made mistakes here. I once picked a partner based on their portfolio, and everything looked solid until we actually started working together and realized their ‘success’ was heavily dependent on one key person who then left the company mid-project.
Now I specifically ask: ‘Which team members would actually be involved in our project, and are they available for the full duration?’ If they can’t answer that clearly, that’s a problem. Also, ask if they have documented processes or if everything depends on individual contributors. That’s a massive difference in reliability.