Finding the best KOL agency in Malaysia is vital if you are a local brand or an international brand looking to enter the Malaysian market. Finding the best influencer marketing agency in Malaysia takes more than just a quick Google search, or these days a ChatGPT question, to find the right answer. It’s only the first step in the process.
It’s well documented that influencer marketing not only has enormous upside for brands, but it’s where GenZ audiences spend their time, where they trust the creators they follow, and where word of mouth increases. Influencer marketing has compressed the marketing funnel and instead of the normal seven touch points before purchase intent, creator content can bring awareness and go straight to purchase, within a one minute video.
If your brand is looking for the influencers in Malaysia, here is how I would assess whether or not to work with a KOL agency in Malaysia or not.
Ask The Best KOL Agency in Malaysia About Their Largest Client
Many times, the first question out of a prospective client’s mouth is “Who else have you worked with? Can I see your portfolio of clients, especially ones that are in my industry?”
This is a natural first step, as brands are like their own buyers. They want social proof. They want to feel some security that your KOL agency is not a fresh, new shop that has never worked with a brand like theirs. No one wants to pay a KOL agency to learn on the job.
The reason why I don’t think this is a great question is because KOL agencies like to bend the truth. Logo collection is a time honored tradition for any company. Get the logo, no matter what, to signal to other brands that they are in good company. It’s easy to get enamored by a half a dozen BIG brands on a client roster. “If Samsung hired them, then they must know what they’re doing.”
The reason why I am advocating you ask about their TOP client is because you will get much more valuable information that you can use for your decision making process.
Sure, AgencyX might have worked with Samsung, but it could have been for a two KOL deal for 50,000 RMB, one time, two years ago. Is AgencyX lying about working with Samsung on KOLs? No. Is it the best indicator of their experience and value to you, a brand looking for help today? Also no.
Ask about their largest or longest running client. This will tell you where they are spending a lot of their time. KOL marketing in Malaysia can mean many different things. It can be traditional brand sponsorships, it can mean affiliate marketing, it could mean livestreaming. Drill down on what type of campaigns the KOL agency’s top clients are using them for.
Ask The KOL Agency About Their Top Monthly Capacity for KOLs
The low hanging fruit is to ask how many people work at the KOL agency. But what does that really tell you? With AI influencer marketing technology today, smaller agencies can work with more KOLs at one time, with less headcount. Since you’re not an expert in this field, can you really gauge whether or not a KOL agency can handle your workload with 10 or 40 people? Do you really know the difference?
Ask the KOL agency in Malaysia about their monthly capacity for KOL content. Not the number of campaigns or the amount of budget, there are variables that can distort the data (i.e one KOL can cost 1,000,000 RMB). Just ask them how many pieces of KOL content can they coordinate on behalf of clients on a monthly basis. Discovery, vetting, negotiating rate cards, campaign execution, reporting and payments.
After you get this number, ask about their workflow and process. How are they doing this? Push them. Don’t let them just give you a 30,000 foot answer. Get in the weeds a little bit. What channels are they communicating with? AI influencer marketing platforms or email and chat? I’m sure some KOL agencies in Malaysia will be a little reluctant to share too many details. That’s ok. The good ones will and they’ll even visualize what that process is for you.
Ask What Their Average Turnaround Time is Between Brief to Campaign
Speed is the name of the game in KOL marketing. Anyone, not just an agency can spin up a paid media campaign on Facebook ads in an afternoon. Creatives (i.e. the visual design or video production) used to be the most limiting factor, but now with AI, that can be done in seconds.
KOL marketing is different. You are coordinating with real people. Sometimes you’re coordinating with someone who managed the KOL, so you’re two degrees of separation away. Humans are slower than computers and that can impact your campaign start date.
As a brand, you need to be aware of this, but you also have the right to want to be able to start a campaign quickly. But the reason for this question is less about campaign start dates (even though it applies), it’s really a question about adapting a campaign midway through a KOL marketing campaign.
No KOL campaign has started and ended perfectly, without a hitch. There is always at least one KOL who is tardy. There is always one wild revision to the brief. There is always a KOL who doesn’t follow the brief correctly. As a brand, you want to know that the KOL agency that you’ve hired can adapt quickly. Everyone is going to tell you they can adapt quickly. It’s not always the easiest to quantify this. So ask the KOL agency in Malaysia about their average turnaround time and that will let you know how fast their team can operate. You’ll most certainly get an answer like, “We can get a campaign live in as little as 96 hours, but most of our campaigns start within 1-2 weeks from the original brief.”
Bonus Question: Ask for a Discount on the KOL Agency Fee
As someone on the other side of the table, I shouldn’t be writing this, but we are looking for the best KOL agency in Malaysia and price is inevitably a part of that decision making process.
There are two primary methods of paying a KOL agency in Malaysia. First is a pure agency fee, based on the total spend on the influencer budget. For example, if the fee is 10% and your budget is 100,000 RMB, then you are paying 110,000 RMB or 10,000 RMB to the agency for the work. That is the most standard method. Secondly, which is less common, it’s based on performance of the content sales. This is usually with an affiliate campaign. It’s supposed to incentivize agencies to pick the best KOLs and they can enjoy in the upside of the campaign. In reality, it’s very hard for agencies to plan resources around this type of structure and they will fight it (as will the KOLs).
Until the second option becomes the norm, it’s in any brand’s best interest to negotiate on the KOL agency fee. I have seen and heard some firms charging as high as 40-50% of the campaign budget for the fee. Great for the agency, terrible for the brand. As a brand owner, you obviously want to pay the least amount of money possible. But I would advise you NOT to go bargain hunting and awarding the contract to the lowest possible bid.
If you are pushing at 2% agency fee (which is not unheard of) and you calculate the amount of money you’re paying the KOL agency, do you think you’re getting the best talent? Absolutely not. No agency in their right mind will assign senior strategists and account managers to a brand that’s only paying them 2% when other brands are paying them 30%.
You have to ask yourself as a brand owner, what is most important to you? Getting the lowest possible rate card from the agency? Or getting a deal that includes quality talent as well? Ask for a discount. You’ll likely get a reduced fee. But don’t push the KOL agency to give you an extremely low fee. This doesn’t put either party in the best position for long-term success.
Finding the best KOL agency in Malaysia is a not an easy task. You have to take the time to discover, reach out, and vet the right agencies. As part of that process, you need to know the right questions to ask. If you’re just judging an agency by the lowest fee, you will not get the bets KOL agency. You’ll be getting the cheapest KOL agency. Two totally different things.
Influencer marketing is part science and part art. It takes an experienced and adept KOL agency to navigate this narrow difference to deliver the best results for your brand. If you have additional questions about finding the best KOL agency, contact Slice and we’d be more than happy to help you.
.jpg)
.png)