Why brands compare these influencer agencies
When you start looking at influencer marketing partners, two names often come up together: Goldfish and Hypertly. Both work with creators, run campaigns for brands, and promise growth through social media.
You are probably trying to figure out who will actually move the needle for your brand, without wasting budget or time.
That usually means sorting out what they do day to day, how they choose influencers, how closely they work with your team, and which one fits your stage of growth.
Table of Contents
- What each agency is known for
- Goldfish: services and client fit
- Hypertly: services and client fit
- How the two agencies differ in everyday work
- Pricing approach and how engagement works
- Strengths and limitations to keep in mind
- Who each agency is best for
- When a platform like Flinque makes more sense
- FAQs
- Final thoughts to help you choose
- Disclaimer
What each agency is known for
The primary keyword for this page is influencer agency selection. That is really what sits behind most searches that put Goldfish and Hypertly side by side.
Both are service-based influencer agencies, not software tools. They typically handle strategy, influencer sourcing, campaign management, and reporting for consumer brands.
Goldfish is usually seen as a creative-first shop, leaning heavily into storytelling, content ideas, and creator-led concepts that feel native to each platform.
Hypertly is more often associated with data-driven decision making, performance tracking, and tighter links between influencer content and measurable sales or signups.
In practice, both claim to do creative and performance work. The difference tends to be how they talk about success, how they structure campaigns, and which clients feel at home with each team.
Goldfish: services and client fit
Goldfish positions itself as a partner that helps brands show up more human online. Instead of pushing polished ads, they work with creators who can tell honest stories.
Core services Goldfish usually offers
Most full-service influencer agencies cover similar ground, and Goldfish is no exception. Expect offerings like:
- Influencer discovery and vetting across platforms
- Campaign strategy and creative concepts
- Outreach, negotiation, and contract handling
- Content reviews and approvals
- Product seeding or gifting logistics
- Paid amplification of top performing posts
- Reporting on reach, engagement, and basic conversions
What tends to stand out is their focus on ideas and storytelling first, then layering metrics on top.
How Goldfish tends to run campaigns
Campaigns with Goldfish often start with a creative theme or umbrella idea. They then find creators whose style can bring that idea to life in ways that feel natural.
You might see a focus on TikTok trends, Instagram Reels, or YouTube storytelling. Scripts are usually loose, allowing influencers to speak in their own voice.
Goldfish usually handles the day to day with influencers, sending you content drafts, key dates, and summary reports so your team is not in every DM thread.
Creator relationships and network style
Agencies like Goldfish often maintain informal “inner circles” of creators they work with again and again, plus a wider network they tap when needed.
For you, this can mean faster campaign setup and creators who already trust the agency, making negotiations easier and timelines tighter.
The tradeoff is that some campaigns may lean on familiar faces, unless your brief clearly pushes for new voices or specific audience segments.
Typical brands that work well with Goldfish
Goldfish usually attracts brands that want to build buzz, emotional connection, or brand love more than immediate performance metrics.
Common fits include:
- Beauty, skincare, and hair care lines
- Fashion and lifestyle brands
- Food and beverage companies targeting younger consumers
- Apps or startups looking for awareness in social-first audiences
Brands comfortable with softer KPIs, like sentiment and share of voice, often feel aligned with this style of agency.
Hypertly: services and client fit
Hypertly frames influencer marketing as a growth channel that should be judged like other marketing investments. Their pitch leans more into numbers and tracking.
Core services Hypertly usually offers
On paper, Hypertly’s services may look similar to Goldfish, but with a different emphasis:
- Influencer research with strong focus on audience data
- Campaign planning around measurable goals
- Contracting and rate negotiation with performance expectations
- Content guidelines tied to clear calls to action
- Tracking links, discount codes, and landing pages
- Detailed reporting on clicks, leads, and sales
This approach tends to appeal to marketers used to performance channels like paid social, search, or email.
How Hypertly tends to run campaigns
Campaigns often start from the goal backwards. Hypertly will ask about your target cost per acquisition, average order value, and funnel basics.
They then find influencers whose audience data, past results, and content style align with those targets, not just with your brand aesthetic.
Content briefs may be more structured, with specific talking points and tracking setups to tie results back to individual creators.
Creator relationships and performance focus
Hypertly is likely to develop “go to” creators who consistently deliver results, rotating them into multiple campaigns for different clients.
They may also test many smaller creators, cutting underperformers and doubling down on those who drive real conversions.
This performance mindset can work well if your brand welcomes experimentation and accepts that not every influencer will hit it out of the park.
Typical brands that work well with Hypertly
Hypertly is often a better fit for brands that already track marketing numbers closely and want influencer work to plug into that same dashboard.
- DTC ecommerce brands with clear margins and repeat purchase data
- Subscription products, from meal kits to SaaS
- Apps focused on installs, signups, or trials
- More mature brands shifting from pure awareness to profitable growth
If leadership asks for hard ROI from every channel, this style usually feels safer.
How the two agencies differ in everyday work
While both are influencer agencies, they often feel quite different to work with day to day. Think of them as two ends of a spectrum.
Creative style versus performance focus
Goldfish is likely to push for fun, native content that audiences want to watch and share. Success may be framed around reach, engagement, and conversation.
Hypertly is more likely to push for content that clearly drives clicks or purchases, even if it feels slightly more like an “ad” in places.
Neither approach is inherently better. It depends on your brand voice, goals, and how you define success inside your company.
Communication and collaboration style
Brands sometimes describe Goldfish-like agencies as “creative partners” and Hypertly-style teams as “growth partners.”
With a creative partner, you may spend more time in brainstorms, moodboards, and content ideas. With a growth partner, you may spend more time in spreadsheets and performance reviews.
Consider which style will keep your internal team energized rather than drained.
Scale and channel mix
Performance-focused agencies often run larger numbers of smaller collaborations, especially with micro and mid-tier influencers.
Creative-first shops might favor a tighter group of creators, spending more per post to get standout content that can be reused across channels.
Ask each agency how many influencers they typically activate per campaign and on which platforms they see the best fit for your audience.
Pricing approach and how engagement works
Neither agency usually publishes simple pricing tables, because costs depend heavily on creator rates, scope, and your goals.
Common pricing structures with influencer agencies
Most influencer agencies, including Goldfish and Hypertly, use a mix of:
- Campaign-based project fees
- Ongoing monthly retainers for continuous support
- Influencer fees paid through the agency or directly
- Management or service fees added on top of creator costs
They may wrap all of this into one combined budget for simplicity, or separate line items so you can see where money goes.
What usually drives total cost
Several factors shape your final quote:
- Number of influencers and content pieces
- Size and fame of chosen creators
- Platforms involved and content formats
- Regions or countries you want to target
- How deeply the agency is involved in strategy and reporting
Performance-focused agencies may also propose bonuses or higher fees tied to revenue or lead targets.
Engagement style and length
You might start with a single test campaign to see if the agency and your team work well together.
If that goes smoothly, agencies often suggest three to six month retainers to maintain momentum, optimize creator mixes, and build recurring partnerships.
Longer relationships allow them to negotiate better with creators and improve results over time, but they also lock in more of your marketing budget.
Strengths and limitations to keep in mind
Every agency model has tradeoffs. Knowing them upfront helps you set the right expectations internally.
Where Goldfish-style agencies shine
- Strong storytelling that fits naturally into social feeds
- Campaigns that boost brand love and recognition
- Closer creative collaboration with your internal team
- Content you can reuse in ads, email, and on-site
A common concern is whether this level of creativity will clearly show up in sales numbers that finance teams care about.
Where Goldfish may feel limited
- Less focus on detailed performance experiments
- Harder to forecast cost per acquisition or per lead
- May not be ideal if you must prove short term ROI
For some brands, this is fine; for others, it can cause friction with leadership.
Where Hypertly-style agencies shine
- Clear, measurable goals for each campaign
- Frequent testing of creators, offers, and messages
- Better visibility into which influencers drive revenue
- Stronger alignment with performance and growth teams
This structure often makes it easier to secure budget from leadership who expect precise reporting.
Where Hypertly may feel limited
- Content can drift toward feeling more like ads
- Influencers may have less creative freedom
- Brand storytelling and long term equity may get less focus
If your value lies in emotion, story, or visual identity, you may need to push for a better balance.
Who each agency is best for
It helps to map your situation to the type of client each agency tends to serve best.
When Goldfish is usually a better fit
- Emerging brands trying to stand out in crowded markets
- Products where demonstration, storytelling, or lifestyle is key
- Teams that value creative ideas and visual identity
- Budgets aimed at awareness, engagement, and market buzz
If your leadership understands that awareness can lift all channels, this direction can work very well.
When Hypertly is usually a better fit
- Brands with clear unit economics and performance targets
- Companies already used to channels like Meta or Google ads
- Teams comfortable with experimentation and rapid testing
- Budgets tied to revenue, leads, or specific conversion goals
This can be especially powerful for DTC brands aiming to scale influencer spend like any other performance channel.
When a platform like Flinque makes more sense
Not every brand needs a full-service agency. Some want more control, lower management fees, or closer relationships with influencers.
How a platform-based approach works
Flinque is an example of a platform where you can discover creators, manage outreach, track campaigns, and see performance inside one system.
Instead of paying agency retainers, you pay for software access and keep more of the budget for creator fees directly.
Your team handles strategy and communication, while the platform handles search, workflows, and reporting.
Who usually benefits from a platform
- Brands with in-house marketing teams willing to learn influencer work
- Companies wanting to build direct creator relationships
- Marketers frustrated by agency markups or slow communication
- Smaller budgets where management fees eat too much of spend
If you want to keep influencer knowledge inside your company, a platform can be more sustainable long term.
FAQs
How do I choose between a creative and performance-focused influencer agency?
Start with your main goal. If you need brand love and awareness, lean toward creative partners. If leadership demands measurable sales and ROI, a performance-focused team is usually safer. Many brands eventually blend both, but one side should lead.
Can I work with both styles of agency at the same time?
Yes, some brands hire one partner for big creative moments and another for always-on performance campaigns. Just be clear about roles, budgets, and who owns which channels, so agencies are not competing or duplicating work.
How long before I see results from influencer marketing?
Awareness campaigns can show lift in weeks, but brand impact usually compounds over months. Performance-driven campaigns may show purchases quickly, yet need time to find the right creators and offers. Plan for at least one to three months of testing.
What should I ask an influencer agency before signing?
Ask about recent client examples, how they pick influencers, how they handle contracts, what reporting looks like, and who manages your account. Request a clear breakdown of fees versus creator payments and understand what success will be measured against.
Is a platform like Flinque harder to use than an agency?
It requires more involvement from your team, but many marketers adapt quickly. If you are comfortable with other marketing platforms, you can usually learn influencer tools. The tradeoff is more time spent, but greater control and often lower costs.
Final thoughts to help you choose
To decide between these influencer agencies, start by writing down your top three goals, your realistic budget, and how involved you want your team to be.
If you want standout storytelling and culture-fit content, a creative-leaning partner like Goldfish may fit best, especially for awareness and brand building.
If your world revolves around numbers and you need clear proof of revenue impact, a performance-leaning team like Hypertly will likely feel more natural.
For hands-on teams ready to manage relationships directly, a platform such as Flinque can give you flexibility and control without ongoing agency retainers.
Whichever path you choose, insist on clarity around goals, timelines, reporting, and fees before any contracts are signed. That alignment matters more than any single agency name.
Disclaimer
All information on this page is collected from publicly available sources, third party search engines, AI powered tools and general online research. We do not claim ownership of any external data and accuracy may vary. This content is for informational purposes only.
Jan 08,2026
