Our latest evaluation, “The Forrester New Wave™: Influencer Marketing Solutions, Q2 2020,” published today. More than a hundred vendors in the market became 47 in our New Tech, which became 12 in the Wave. Here’s what you should know about the space and the analysis:

  • Temperature’s high. Influencer marketing solutions (IMS) vendors are many and not hugely differentiated. They see a shakeout coming, where a few leaders pull away from a large pack. As we saw from the New Tech, some vendors are gaining significant new VC investment despite a tough climate for martech.
  • It’s what you do with the data. Many customers told us that all of the vendors have access to the same social media APIs; the differentiation comes in how this data is manipulated and presented to optimize marketers’ workflows.
  • Strategy’s a valuable lens. In many martech categories, vendors’ insight and vision is superfluous in customers’ eyes — not so with IMS. Here, many customers told us they explicitly want IMSes to guide them in what great strategy and execution should look like. Strategy separated our 12 Wave vendors more than their current offerings.
  • In-house versus managed platforms diverge. The needs of the most experienced influencer marketers and the less experienced will increasingly mean different businesses and solutions. Some vendors straddle that divide, but the distance will grow.

The full Wave analysis can be found here: “The Forrester New Wave™: Influencer Marketing Solutions, Q2 2020”

If you have questions or want to discuss it, I’m open to chat. Email me.