How can you manage unexpected delays when working on influencer marketing projects with tight deadlines?

When we use the word "unexpected delays" we have to assume that the preventive measures were already taken, like - 1. Clearly communicating brand guidelines, deliverables and deadlines 2. Walking influencers and brand through the contract; getting both the parties on the same page 3. Outline the moving parts of the campaign execution like delivering the products (if its a multi-city campaign), or organizing the event and sending out the invites and RSVPs (if its a physical launch event or a panel discussion, etc.) Whatever delays occur after these measures, need you, as an influencer marketing manager/agency to get down in the trenches and take ownership. Pitch in where ever the boat is stuck & remove the obstacle to let it sail again.

Always know what is the need of the hour and who can do it the best. You don't have to do everything by yourself. Take help so that your tasks get done quickly and you can focus on other things as well.

Even after covering all the possible loop holes, if you still face unexpected delays, its crucial to stay calm and get creative. Here's are some examples of problems and their solutions that you can consider for creativity: 1. Have a good rapport with all the influencers on your roaster. If any of the onboarded influencers back out last minute, you can reach out to the others who fall in the niche 2. Always keep a considerable buffer between the date of approvals, deadlines and the D Day. If the content from influencer does not come on time, get the writer from your team to help the influencer. 3. For delayed product delivery, ask influencer to create teaser videos/stories using brand website screen recordings.

It’s a two way street in this industry. There should be solid respect from influencer to the brands that hire them and vice versa from brands/reps towards the influencers producing the work. The best relationships typically turn into long term partnerships which means quality content for the brand and ongoing paid gigs for the influencer.

A great way to build trust and rapport with influencers and their managers is to keep communication lines open and honest. We're all humans and fully understand that stuff comes up. Please keep us in the loop on the things that impact us (creators and managers) to keep us all on the same page. Agreement is taking longer with brand's legal? Let us know. Brand is taking longer to approve b/c they've run into issues with an earlier round of content approval that they're trying to get ahead of? Let us know. I always do what I can to build in buffers of time and hope that the brand/agencies do as well. As a manager, I try and stay cognizant of what's important to tell and communicate to the agency vs what can we manage internally.

Respect and Appreciation: Show appreciation for their work and contributions. Long-term Relationships: Focus on building long-term relationships rather than one-off collaborations. Invest in nurturing these connections over time. Professionalism: Maintain professionalism in all interactions and promptly resolve issues or conflicts. Engagement Beyond Projects: Engage with influencers on social media and beyond project-related communication. Show genuine interest in their content and personal brand.

We always see drop outs on our influencer campaigns. Unfortunately, avoiding them is hard unless you are only paying top dollar to influencers who do deals regularly and are "professionals". To compensate, we often have an over-allotment that allows us to be prepared when a few people drop out. Brands can adjust the size of the extra allocation depending on what kind of risks the brand prefers to take (going over budget vs not driving enough impact). This way, advertisers can be prepared for issues that are likely to happen and can easily move on despite the minor road bumps.

?? Always add in some cushion days or weeks (if possible, in a perfect world ??) to your timeline in order to best avoid delays from either party. When it’s something out of either the agency/brand or influencer’s control, like delays on product shipment for example, be thorough and communicative with both parties. Provide updates as often as possible to uphold your relationship with the influencer and continue the project as smoothly as possible!

From my experience, here are few examples of delays that can happen while executing an influencer marketing campaign: 1. Content approvals from management / legal 2. Influencer outreach - delay in getting response from influencers 3. Delay in delivering the product to the influencers 4. Non-agreement on terms of the contract 5. Difference of opinion on content deliverables 6. Brand guidelines clashing with the creativity of influencers 7. Influencers not creating content on time 8. Influencers not sending performance metrics on time 9. Team members taking unplanned leaves (like sick leaves) 10. Delay from analytics team to provide insights on on-going campaign Save these to learn from my experience and be better prepared.