Comparison
Your own team means salaries, tools and three to six months to get up to speed. With us, testing starts in week five, backed by over 20,000 campaigns. Here's an honest look at when each approach works best.
Three ways to build influencer marketing. None is always right, and each has a cost.
Your own team is a good choice if creators will be a core channel for you for years.
What you learn about creators, prices and formats stays with you.
You decide who you work with and when you switch.
A team that works only for your brand and that you build yourself.
On paper, an in-house team is a salary line. Add the tools and the months it takes until the team is up to speed.
Your own people, your own tools
Not on any invoice
Time until the team is up to speed
Execution including IDA
Included
Indicative figures based on typical tool and salary costs, for orientation rather than an exact calculation. Whether it pays off for you is something we clarify upfront in the potential analysis.
An in-house team doesn't start with the first campaign, it starts with the job ad. It takes three to six months until it's up to speed. With us, testing starts in week 5.
Recruiting for a channel that few people have built profitably before.
Scouting, tracking and analytics tools, around €750 a month.
Your team builds the network itself, one contact at a time.
A discount code and UTM link per creator, connected to your shop and analytics.
Without benchmarks, early decisions on a realistic CAC rely on intuition.
You don't have to choose one extreme. With in-house enablement, we build the channel alongside your team. They work through our same three phases and gradually take ownership.
Phase 1
Execute together
Your team runs the first testing rounds with us, from briefing and negotiation to approvals and tracking.
Phase 2
Decide on numbers
We break every booking down into CAC, ROI and CLV in IDA, so the team decides on numbers rather than reach.
Phase 3
Your team leads
We then remain a sounding board, as we do at WetterOnline, where we train the team for international markets.
300+ stores successfully scaled
by turning creators into a reliable acquisition channel
„We have worked with Ad Specialist for 1.5 years. They train our teams in international markets with a highly data-driven approach and a focus on our target KPIs. Their ability to rethink strategy keeps impressing me.“
Mariusz PeterHead of User Acquisition, WetterOnlineEven major advertisers bring in specialists: 82% of ANA members have an in-house agency, yet 92% still work with external agencies.
And you can plan the budget for it over years.
Building, onboarding and keeping a team is part of the plan.
Three to six months until the team is up to speed, and lessons paid for in the first campaigns.
People who have built the channel profitably before, not just coordinated posts.
New customers, CAC and revenue from real client campaigns. From a single placement to a channel delivering a fifth of all new customers.
„Working with Ad Specialist has been a great decision for us. Few agencies combine such deep expertise with an ego-free approach to adapting strategies to the client. They are flexible, and their goal is always the greatest possible growth.“
Fabienne FreundMarketing Manager DACH, Upway
Upway liegt vorn.
Yes. That's exactly what in-house enablement is for: we build the channel with your team until they can plan and assess it independently. If no one internally will own the channel, full service is usually the better fit.
There is no universal figure; we assess every case individually. A typical starting point is €5,000–€10,000 in monthly creator spend plus our retainer. We assess the potential before any budget goes to creators.
After four weeks, you receive the potential analysis: response rates, suitable verticals and a budget recommendation. The testing roadmap typically identifies the first top performers within three months. From month four, we scale what works.
We need your target KPIs, store and tracking access, products for creators and a dedicated approval contact. We handle scouting, negotiation, briefing, booking and reporting.
We stop there. You receive the findings — response rates, verticals and audiences — and an honest recommendation, even if it is not to build the channel yet. No retainer, no commitment.
Tell us what you sell, where you are today and what you want to achieve with creators. We will review your store and email you an initial assessment.
