What Is a Creator Pipeline?
A creator pipeline is to an OFM agency what a sales pipeline is to any other business — it is the structured process of moving potential creators from initial discovery through evaluation, outreach, negotiation, and finally onboarding. Agencies with strong pipelines can grow predictably; those without one rely on sporadic, reactive recruitment.
The pipeline concept borrows from sales methodology: each stage has defined criteria, conversion rates, and timeframes.
What Are the Stages of a Creator Pipeline?
A typical OFM creator pipeline includes:
- Prospecting — Identifying potential creators through social media, forums, referrals, or inbound inquiries.
- Qualification — Evaluating whether the creator fits the agency’s criteria (content quality, audience size, growth potential, professionalism).
- Outreach — Making initial contact and presenting the agency’s value proposition.
- Negotiation — Discussing terms, commission rates, service scope, and expectations.
- Agreement — Signing the management contract.
- Onboarding — Executing the onboarding process to begin active management.
Example in context: “Agency C maintains a pipeline of 50+ creator prospects at any time. Their conversion rates: 40% respond to outreach, 25% of responders take a call, 50% of calls lead to agreement, and 90% of agreements complete onboarding. This means roughly 4-5 new creators per month from the pipeline.”
How Do You Build a Strong Creator Pipeline?
Key pipeline-building strategies:
- Inbound marketing — Creating valuable content (like this site) that attracts creators seeking management.
- Social media outreach — Systematically identifying and contacting promising creators on platforms like Twitter/X and Instagram.
- Referral programs — Incentivizing existing creators to refer their peers.
- Industry networking — Building relationships in OFM communities and events.
- Cold outreach — Direct messaging creators with a compelling pitch (requires skill and personalization).
Learn the complete framework for building your creator pipeline in Module 3 of our OFM Fundamentals course. For pipeline management and creator CRM functionality, explore Xcelerator’s agency management features.