How Sri Lankan influencer marketing agencies went from fluencr competitor to customer

In the inception stages, fluencr was conceived with the goal of streamlining influencer marketing practices, both in-house and agency-led. Initially, our mindset positioned us against in-house practices and traditional influencer marketing agencies. Convincing businesses that we could outshine big agencies appeared to be a mountain of a challenge. We brainstormed for months, seeking ways to compete head-to-head with agencies.

Then came a pivotal conversation with a prospective early adopter from APIDM that reshaped our perspective. He advised against sidelining agencies but instead encouraged us to cater to them. He argued that eliminating agencies would be counterproductive, given their substantial influence within the industry. Many of these agencies were led by influential individuals capable of wielding significant industry clout. Our engagement with potential early adopters from Roar and Gamer.lk further validated this insight. He explained that most agencies held a significant share of the market and, by integrating our platform, they could address their own operational inefficiencies.

The revelation was striking: agencies were not our competitors; they were, in fact, our potential customers.

This shift in perspective led us to embrace agencies as valuable clients. After much analysis, without paralysis, it became evident that collaborating with agencies was a vital driver of fluencr's revenue, something we hadn't initially considered.

The key takeaway? Remain receptive to feedback from early adopters and make data-informed decisions. Had we not looked at the insights from early adopters at APIDM, Gamer.lk, and Roar, or examined the 20% of early access sign-ups originating from agencies, we might have persisted with the notion of eliminating agencies. Looking back, our initial perception of agencies as competitors now seems rather naive.