Avoiding the Smoke & Mirrors: 6 Red Flags You Can’t Ignore From Influencer Marketing Agencies

Before “influencer marketing” became a term, when Facebook was still a college networking site, Instagram was unheard of and long before TikTok creators were building full-fledged businesses, there was The Motherhood—the first influencer marketing agency. Our agency didn’t put just Pittsburgh-based influencers on the map but engaged some of the first influential women online across the country. That was just the beginning.

The root work of our agency started in 2004, and The Motherhood, Inc. was officially founded in 2006, as The Motherhood recognized the power of online voices – bloggers, the original digital influencers –  before the rest of the world caught on. 

But fast forward to today, and the influencer marketing industry looks a lot different.

Finding the Right Partner Amongst the Smoke & Mirrors

Our business development team talks with thousands of companies and brands year over year, who are seeking ways to identify the right partner in an industry that still feels new to many.

As the industry exploded over the past decade, countless agencies and individuals have popped up, offering influencer programming services with limited knowledge or real experience. Many of them sell a shiny package—big numbers, AI-powered dashboards, and a promise of “viral” success—but lack a defined strategy or the necessary breadth of knowledge to secure quality influencers who can deliver top notch content and results for your brand.

Here are a few things 20 years of Influencer Marketing experience rooted in decades of PR and brand marketing work tells us: 

🚨 Speaking about a topic doesn’t necessarily make you an expert—experience does. Anyone can sell you on influencers with graphics of stats on LinkedIn, but really knowing the nuance and complexities of influence, relationship-building, compliance, and brand impact, only comes from years of doing the work. 

🚨 Good Influence matters! It’s not just about claiming to be influential. Real influence isn’t about self-promotion—it’s about putting impactful work out into the world, working with good people, and producing world-class programs that drive real results and add value. The best influencer marketing isn’t built on hype; it’s built on trust, strategy, and execution. 

🚨 They prioritize vanity metrics over real influence. Many agencies focus on follower counts and reach rather than true engagement and credibility. But influence isn’t about how many people see a post—it’s about how many people trust and act on what’s shared. Your influencer program should have a strategy as deeply layered as your larger media plan (and integrated with it!) — a quality agency is rooting everything in real insights, not trends. 

🚨 They rely on cookie-cutter campaigns. The best influencer partnerships are carefully built and thoughtfully matched. But some agencies plug a brand into an influencer database and call it strategy. 

🚨 They don’t understand compliance or regulated industries. Brands in pharma, biotech, finance, and government need influencer campaigns that meet strict legal and ethical standards. Very few agencies have real experience navigating these waters and producing creative influencer campaigns while staying compliant to regulations.

🚨 They’re new to the game. Many influencer marketing agencies weren’t around before Instagram or even TikTok. They may not understand how digital influence evolved over time, or what makes a campaign truly effective.

What Sets The Motherhood Apart?

✅ We built this industry. We’ve been leading influencer marketing since the beginning, constantly evolving and staying ahead of the trends—not chasing them.

✅ We focus on trust and credibility. Our campaigns are designed to drive real, measurable impact—not just impressions.

✅ We work with the best people. The strength of influencer marketing lies in partnering with high-quality influencers who create high-quality content—and we’ve spent nearly two decades curating relationships with the most credible, trusted voices in every space.

✅ We produce world-class programs. From strategic planning to flawless execution, our programs deliver results at the highest level, in the most highly regulated industries.

✅ We believe in long-term relationships, not one-off transactions. True influence is built over time, and that’s how we approach every partnership.

As the influencer marketing industry continues to grow, brands must look beyond the hype and partner with agencies that have the experience, expertise, and authenticity to deliver real results.

🚀 If you want to work with the agency that started it all—and still leads the way today—let’s talk.