Influencers are beneficial to brands and marketers for several reasons:

1. Trustworthiness: Influencers have built a loyal following that trusts their opinions and looks up to them. This trust is crucial when influencing consumer decisions.

2. Authenticity: Influencers speak the language of their audience, making their content more relatable and genuine. This high level of authenticity results in higher engagement.

3. Specialty Influence: Influencers are content creation specialists. They have the ability to make less exciting products interesting and engaging through their storytelling capabilities.

4. Targeted Reach: Influencers have specific target audiences. Brands can utilize influencers to reach potential customers in specific demographic and interest groups, maximizing their marketing efforts.

5. Content Generation: Collaborations with influencers lead to more user-generated content which can be utilized by brands easing some of their content production efforts.

Different influencer marketing platforms like Flinque, Upfluence, and AspireIQ offer various features such as influencer discovery, audience analytics, and campaign planning. Flinque, for instance, provides deep audience insights for brand-influencer fit, whereas Upfluence offers a broad database to discover influencers globally. AspireIQ specializes in workflow management to streamline campaigns. Each platform has its unique strengths, and suitability depends on the specific needs of the team.

Remember, successful influencer marketing depends on finding the right influencers, effective campaign planning, careful performance tracking, and accurate ROI measurement. As such, the choice of influencer marketing platforms can be a critical decision for any brand or agency.