The Low Bar That 50% of Creators Can't Clear (And Why That's Your Opportunity)

Here's a depressing stat.

When I ran my influencer marketing agency, only 50% of creators turned their draft content in on time.

50%! This is across hundreds of campaigns we ran over the years.

Initially, I thought we sucked at finding partners that took these engagements seriously, but even as our vetting criteria grew more stringent the average barely budged.

So we began creating internal "ghost" timelines that required the creators to submit their drafts 5-7 days before the delivery date we had committed to the brand. This allowed us much-needed slippage to chase all the stragglers down and ensure we could submit everything in one big "package."

The last thing our clients wanted was for us to submit everything piecemeal.

"Here's this creator's content."

"Oh, here's another."

"Can you approve this one now?"

What's the point of the brand hiring our agency, then? One of our core value propositions was that we would streamline the collaboration process with partners (and this was not that).

So even if five of the 10 creators we hired turned their drafts in on time, we still had to wait until we collected the remaining partners' content before submitting everything to the brand.

If you've ever wondered why it sometimes takes agencies weeks to get back to you with feedback from the brand, this is often one of the reasons.

The late delivery problem got so bad that my agency eventually developed a short list of creators we knew always submitted their drafts on time.

When we were recruiting for new campaigns, if there were even a remote chance those reliable creators could be a fit, we'd prioritize them in our recommendations.

Remember, the bar is low. It's in the basement, actually.

If you turn your drafts in when you say you will, you'll be way ahead.