Coffee Chat Vol 5: Is a Career in Influencer Marketing Legit?

I've always viewed influencer/creative marketing as this "golden goose" career that only a handful of people can break into. But over the years, influencer/creative marketing has grown exponentially from something that was once seen as a joke, into the new age of marketing. Growing up on YouTube, working in the influencer/social media space has always been the dream career for me. This is why I was so incredibly excited to sit down and chat with Jonah Siegel, Senior Manager of Creative/Influencer Marketing at DEPT®, working out of the Big Apple. Today, I want to share the insights of what working in influencer marketing actually looks like, and how real of a career this industry is.

Lesson 1: Brand side vs. agency side. If you don't have a clue about influencer marketing, to sum it up, there are three sides. There's the creator side, which is the influencer/creator themself who creates the content and is seen in the ads. And there's the brand side and agency side, which are the people sponsoring and connecting with creators on behalf of the company. On the brand side, you're working directly on the company's marketing team. On the agency side, you're working for an external company, acting as a middleman connecting companies to creators. Jonah works on the agency side, and he compares it to "mile deep vs. mile wide." The "mile deep" is the brand side. You know one company inside and out, typically more stable, this is your in-house marketing. The "mile wide" is the agency side. You work with a variety of different brands, fast paced execution, but less depth on an individual scale. Both sides have their ups and downs. One is more predictable but can become monotonous, the other is more dynamic but uncertain at times. You can't go wrong with either, but both are absolutely the gateway to realistically working in influencer marketing.

Lesson 2: How to actually break in. Jonah noted that the influencer marketing industry is fairly small, especially compared to other areas of marketing and business as a whole. Relationships are crucial, especially starting off. Jonah's first job was at an agency his friend founded. Afterwards the relationships he built at every agency he worked at, led to all the jobs he got down the line. The first one is always the hardest, but as you build up your portfolio, your work experience, and most importantly your network, it becomes significantly easier to find more opportunities in the industry. "Being willing to talk with people like you're doing is going to make it so much easier" is something Jonah told me that really gave me confidence in my coffee chat series. Another key tip to breaking in, which can apply to almost any industry, is niching down. Jonah told me to "find your niche of what you're good at and use that as a transferable skill to apply to marketing." Outside of relationships, Jonah credits his extensive background in photography as a large contributor to breaking into the influencer marketing space. Understanding how content should look and operate, and how to capture attention visually, really helped him get his foot in the door initially. It's easy to get overwhelmed trying to break in, and you might be tempted to burn yourself out mastering technicals and building up all the social proof in the world before you even try. But remember that soft skills like being coachable and being charismatic can get you 75% of the way there, especially in marketing. The technical tools vary agency to agency and are teachable, so "Just be a sponge wherever you go.” 

Lesson 3: What the job actually looks like. Since Jonah is a manager at a marketing agency, he's essentially the middleman between brands and creators. A lot of his day to day consists of vetting talent, reviewing and editing content, building strategy and campaigns, and managing expectations in every direction. There are numerous pros that make influencer marketing so alluring: lots of creative work, a comfortable six figure plus salary at the director/manager level, remote/hybrid work, and a constantly evolving industry. But like with every job, there are downsides as well. The "always on" nature of social media marketing, uncertain job security especially on the agency side, and mediocre pay with long hours early in your career. Most importantly, Jonah stressed to me that in this industry it's apparent that you have to "know your worth." There are agencies that have wildly underpaid him, and I've experienced that first hand myself on the UGC creator side. Know what value you bring to the table, and don't sell yourself short.

Coming from a kid who grew up on YouTube, seeing social media blossom into a legit career, where you don't have to have one million subscribers to make a living, gets me so excited (though I'm still gonna try becoming a famous influencer haha). Jonah opened my eyes to a whole new world of marketing that I always thought was unrealistic. I hope one day I'll be able to have just as successful an influencer marketing career as he does!