12 questions to ask an influencer marketing agency before signing
The questions to ask an influencer marketing agency before you sign: fees, creator vetting, who owns the content, reporting, disclosure and how to get out.
By the InfluencerYaps team4 min read
Agency pitches are built to skip the awkward parts. These 12 questions put them back. Ask all of them on the first call, write down the answers, and compare agencies on the same sheet. If you're still deciding whether you need an agency at all, start with the influencer marketing agency guide.
Money: how does the agency get paid?
1. How do you charge, exactly? Retainer, percentage of creator spend, a flat per-campaign fee, or a markup on what creators charge. Each one rewards different behaviour. A percentage of spend rewards bigger budgets. A markup rewards pricier creators. See influencer marketing agency pricing for how the models compare.
2. Can I see what each creator is actually paid? If the agency marks up creator fees, you should still see the creator's rate. "Our creator rates are confidential" is a no.
3. What's the smallest campaign you'll take, and the shortest contract? A good first test is one campaign, not a 12-month retainer. If they only sell long contracts, they're pricing in the months you'll want to leave.
Creators: how do they pick and vet them?
4. Where do your creators come from? An in-house roster, a database search, or outreach per brief. A roster is fast but may push the creators the agency already knows, whether or not they fit you. Ask how many of the last campaign's creators came from outside their roster.
5. What do you check before you recommend a creator? You want specifics: recent median views, engagement measured against similar accounts, audience country and age from the creator's own analytics, and past sponsored posts. Our TikTok creator vetting checklist is a good bar to hold them to.
6. How do you spot fake followers? Nobody can measure fake followers from outside an account with certainty. An agency that quotes a precise "fake follower %" as fact is overselling its tools. A good answer names patterns: views far below followers, blank follower accounts, copy-paste comments. More in how to check for fake followers on TikTok.
7. Can I approve every creator before you contact them? You should see a shortlist with the numbers for each name, and the right to say no.
Ownership: who keeps what?
8. Whose name is on the creator contracts? If it's the agency's, ask what happens to usage rights when you part ways. Get the rights you need written in your favour: organic reposts, paid ads, how long, and which platforms. Our influencer contract template lists the clauses to check.
9. Do I get the raw files and the creator contacts? Raw video without captions or watermarks is what you need for ads. Creator contacts matter if you ever bring the work in-house.
Results: what do they report and when?
10. What will the report show, per post? Views, likes, comments, shares and saves per post, plus clicks or code uses if tracking is set up. Not a single blended "impressions" or "earned media value" figure. Public engagement can't show sales, so ask how they'll track the sales part. Influencer marketing KPIs covers which numbers to agree on.
11. Show me two campaigns in my niche, with the numbers. Ask what went wrong on one of them. Agencies that have run real campaigns have stories about creators who posted late, flopped or got the disclosure wrong. Agencies without those stories haven't run many.
Compliance: who checks the #ad?
12. How do you make sure every post is disclosed? In June 2023 the FTC updated its Endorsement Guides and made clear that intermediaries like ad agencies can be liable for deceptive endorsements they help create or spread. The brand is still liable too. Ask how the agency briefs disclosure, what it checks before posting, and what it does when a creator forgets. The FTC's Disclosures 101 guide is the standard: a clear #ad or "paid partnership", visible without tapping "more". On TikTok, ask that creators also turn on the platform's commercial content disclosure setting.
The influencer agency checklist
Copy this into a doc and fill it in for each agency you talk to.
| # | Question | Good answer | Walk away if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How do you charge? | One clear model, in writing | "It depends" with no numbers |
| 2 | What is each creator paid? | Creator rates shown | Rates are "confidential" |
| 3 | Shortest contract? | One campaign or monthly | 12 months minimum |
| 4 | Where do creators come from? | Searched per brief | Roster only |
| 5 | What do you check? | Views, engagement, audience, past ads | Follower count |
| 6 | Fake followers? | Patterns, called estimates | An exact % as fact |
| 7 | Can I approve creators? | Yes, with numbers per name | "Trust us" |
| 8 | Whose contracts? | Rights stay with you | Rights end when you leave |
| 9 | Raw files and contacts? | Delivered to you | Held by the agency |
| 10 | What's reported? | Per-post numbers | One blended figure |
| 11 | Past campaigns? | Numbers, including a miss | Logos only |
| 12 | Disclosure? | Briefed and checked | "Creators handle that" |
What to do with the answers
Pick the agency whose answers you could check, not the one with the best deck. Then run one campaign before you sign anything longer. If you want to see how this looks from the other side, send a brief with your product, budget, a competitor and the niche, and ask us the same 12 questions. A person picks the shortlist by hand, and you can hold every answer to this list.
FAQ
How they make money on your campaign. A retainer, a percentage of creator spend and a markup on creator fees each push an agency toward different choices. If they mark up creator fees, ask to see the creator's actual rate. An agency that won't explain its fee clearly won't explain much else.
Ask for two recent campaigns in your niche with per-post numbers: views, engagement, clicks or code uses. Then ask how they picked those creators and what they'd change. Good agencies talk about misses as easily as wins. A deck of famous logos with no numbers tells you nothing about how they'd run yours.
Not for a first campaign. Ask for a single campaign or a short monthly term with a clear notice period. If the agency only works on six or twelve month retainers, ask why. Once a test has worked, a longer deal can make sense, and you'll know what to put in it.
You should have the usage rights you need, written into the creator contracts, and the right to keep them if you leave the agency. Ask whether the creator contracts are in your name or the agency's, and get the raw files delivered to you, not held on the agency's drive.
Partly. The FTC's 2023 update to its endorsement guides says agencies can be liable for deceptive endorsements they help create or spread. But the brand is still on the hook. Ask the agency how it checks every post for a clear #ad and what it does when a creator forgets.
Next step
Rather not do the maths?
Send a brief: your product, your budget, a competitor and the creator niche you want. We shortlist creators for you, by hand.
Or skip the tools: book a call and we run the campaign for you.