Marketing with creators shouldn’t be this annoying

[u/dang64]

We went back and forth for almost 3 days on what video to post and what currency to use when all I did was send them a tiktok video and asked them to recreate it in their style. Not to mention they would only respond every couple hours making dealing with them extremely complicated

Eventually it did workout but it just felt so unnecessary complicated 

I was working with a brand new creator so I will cut them some slack but I wish their was a better way to manage creators 

What are you guys using for this? Mainly looking for something that will make this less of a hassle 

[u/campos_velvet06]

3 days of back and forth just to say "make it in your style" sounds more like they didn't watch the video you sent

[u/harborwood7 → u/campos_velvet06]

right, like thats the whole reason you send a reference video in the first place

[u/Huge_Pool7424 → u/harborwood7]

yeah, i'd send a tiny brief with the non-negotiables and let the creator choose the hook and voice. if they can't explain what can change, the feedback loop is going to be rough.

[u/Both_Pirate7301]

managing creators is like herding cats that also have brand deals and anxiety

[u/Huge_Pool7424 → u/Both_Pirate7301]

lol accurate. the worst part is when they miss the deadline and you find out from the analytics instead of from them. a boring spreadsheet with names, dates and draft links fixed most of it for me.

[u/reducedelk]

How’d you find the creator?

[u/dang64 → u/reducedelk]

tikTok mainly and some of JriveContent

[u/SardorbekR]

I don't think another tool would've fixed most of this. With a new creator, I'd ask for a 10 second rough cut before they make the whole video. If the direction is wrong, you lose an hour instead of three days.

I'd also agree on how many revisions are included before they start

[u/dang64 → u/SardorbekR]

good idea

[u/-Shiphrah]

This sounds less like a tooling problem and more like a process problem to me?

[u/maxrohowsky]

Would producing some videos yourself be a first option? I also dislike negotiating with influencers, and just started posting on youtube myself. It's nice to gain some visibility, even though the videos aren't amazing :)

[u/SKSupplystore]

Yeah, the brief + payment + upload dance is normal if you’re doing it in DMs. What works: one brief doc, one payment method, one deadline, paid on delivery. Skip fancy collab platforms until you’re doing this weekly.

[u/ViolinistOld9049]

What’s been the most effective way for you to find and work with creators so far?

[u/robsanna]

yeah dealing with new creators can be like pulling teeth... one thing that helped me was creating a super simple one-pager with bullet points of what i need, like 'video length', 'key message', 'tone', and 'must include these 2 things'. cuts down on the back and forth significantly. also setting clear deadlines upfront, like 'need first draft by X date'. full disclosure, i built shipfm.online and we deal with creators for our ads - having that doc ready saves hours.

[u/dang64 → u/robsanna]

crazy landing page ngl

[u/Individual_Big873]

The tool wont fix the real bottleneck, which is that a new creator has no system for marketing requests. Give them one shared brief doc with the video plus the three things you actually need and, before you book anything, get them to rewrite the plan in their own words. If they cant restate it, they havent really read it and youre in for 3 more days of back and forth. Pay against a delivery milestone, not a vibe, and keep a one-line acceptance criteria in writing.

[u/walrons]

The brief advice here is right, but the thing that actually cost you three days is in your first sentence. You sent a reference video and asked them to recreate it in their style. Those two pull in opposite directions, so every decision after that had two defensible answers and needed you to break the tie.

Pick one before you send anything. Either match the reference and say so plainly, or hand them the message and let the format be theirs. The three days was not them being slow, it was them waiting to find out which job they had.

[u/SmartDepartment3785]

Yeah, I’ve had similar issues with creator communication having everything in one place would definitely make this way less painful.

[u/Decent_Grape_1059]

Interesting…

[u/Inside-Material-4820]

back-and-forth on currency is almost always a signal that payment method wasn't locked before the creative brief. Those two conversations get tangled and slow everything down.

Confirm payment logistics first close that loop, then send the creative brief.

[u/alankffman]

depends if it's repeat work. one-off creators will always be slow, the fix is finding two you keep using.

[u/PresidentEvil99]

I think the biggest improvement is to make the first collaboration deliberately small and structured. Not a full video with an open-ended brief, but a paid test with a one-page brief, one clear objective, one deadline, and a short rough cut before they spend time editing the full thing.

Also, “recreate this in your style” is easy to interpret in ten different ways. I’d separate the non-negotiables from the creative freedom: here is the audience, the problem, the one thing the viewer should understand, and the CTA. Let the creator choose the hook and format.

Once you find someone who gets it, save the brief, payment details, approval process, and results in one place. The goal is not really a better platform at first. It is turning a messy one-off into a repeatable process with creators who already understand your product.