Influencer marketing is no longer the preserve of big brands with giant budgets. Today, startups with minute budgets can use it as well to grow at warp speed. The genius of influencer marketing is simple: instead of wasting thousands on adverts, you can work with individuals who already have attention and trust. A good influencer referral is more potent than any paid ad because it comes from an actual person you know and trust.

That's a game-changer for startups. One post from the right creator can put you in front of thousands of potential customers. But here's the problem — how do you actually execute influencer marketing when you're small, have almost no time, and need to make every euro or dollar count?

This is where most startup founders fail: they try to do it all manually. It seems like the smart, lean solution at first. You don't need to spend money on a tool, you just need patience and a few Google Sheets. But sooner or later, the harsh reality hits you: manual influencer marketing is time-consuming, stressful, and with hidden expenses.

The manual method: why startups get stuck

Imagine this: you head to Instagram and look for a hashtag like #fitness or #skincare. You browse posts upon posts, tapping through profiles, writing down usernames, follower counts, and maybe engagement rates. You copy it all into an Excel sheet. Then you try to find email addresses or send solo DMs.

If you're fortunate, a few couples reply. But now you need to keep tabs: Who replied? Who got the product? Who already posted already? Where is the post link? Did anyone even open it? Now your "simple spreadsheet" has five sheets, dozens of half-filled rows, and still no clear answers.

On top of all of that, you can never be sure that the influencers you found are even the right fit. Are those followers real? Do they ever really reach your target market? Without proper filters, you're basically making educated guesses.

Executing influencer marketing manually might save you money in the short term, but it takes you something much more valuable than money: time. Every hour you spend scrolling through Instagram is an hour you're not working on your product, communicating with customers, or driving sales. Time is most limited to a startup founder.

Why this approach doesn't scale

You can think to yourself: "It's alright, I'll just do it for a little while until we scale." But manual influencer marketing does not scale. If you've got one or two influencers, maybe you can muddle through. But as soon as you try to run an actual campaign with 10 or 20 influencers, it all comes crashing down.

You can't monitor posts anymore. Following up with influencers becomes a full-time job. Your spreadsheet becomes a monster nobody ever touches anymore. And because you spend so much time coordinating, you don't have any time left to actually evaluate whether the campaign was effective.

This is the very moment when the majority of startups quit on influencer marketing or spend lavishly by going through agencies. There is, however, a smarter middle ground: influencer marketing platforms.

The smarter method: leveraging a platform

An influencer marketing platform is equivalent to having an entire assistant who is solely focused on influencer discovery, outreach, and campaign monitoring. Instead of spending days scrolling and guessing, you are able to sift through thousands of influencers in seconds. Instead of having to actively pursue posts manually, the tool shows them to you in real time.

For startups, the biggest benefits are self-evident:

• Save time through automation: No more tireless searching and spreadsheet juggling. The tool does the heavy lifting.
• Identify influencers anywhere in the world: You're not limited to your country or your Instagram audience. You can identify influencers anywhere.
• Employ power filters: Instead of guessing, you can filter by audience size, engagement, location, niche, age range, etc.
• Do everything in one place: From first contact to campaign reporting, everything stays in one dashboard.
• Automate content monitoring: You know exactly when and where someone posts and reaps the rewards from their content.

This means you can run influencer campaigns as well as big brands, even with a small budget.

What startups should look for in a platform

All influencer marketing software is not created equal for startups. Some are agency-optimized and come with complex dashboards, long contracts, and thousands of dollars monthly. You don't need that as a small startup. You need something lean, affordable, and easy to use.

When choosing a platform, keep in mind:

• Affordable pricing: A startup cannot afford to commit to huge monthly fees. The software must be within your budget.
• Wide database: Access to influencers on multiple platforms (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) and countries.
• Solid filters: Over 9 search filters — e.g., engagement rate, location, audience demographics, niche.
• Campaign management: You can track conversations, posts, deadlines, and results without extra spreadsheets.
• Simple analytics: Easy-to-read reporting that shows ROI to you.

If the platform has those boxes checked, it's worth a try.

Why Avalan.io is built for startups

This is exactly why we built Avalan.io. We saw how long startups waste trying to do influencer marketing manually. They know the ideas, they have the drive, but they lack resources. So we created Avalan.io as the low-cost and simple answer.

With Avalan.io you can:

• Search influencers worldwide with more than 9 filters: Get the right one fast instead of scrolling for hours.
• Run your campaigns in one dashboard: No more disorganized Google Sheets and lost emails.
• Automatically track influencer content: Posts are saved in the system without your need to refresh social media.
• Save time and money: You get pro-level tools without agency-level prices.

It's startup-friendly influencer marketing designed by people who understand startup pains.

How to start influencer marketing as a startup

Even with the best tool, you still need a clear process. Here is a simple step-by-step guide to begin with:

• Set your budget
  Determine how much you can afford to spend each month. Even 500€ or less will work if you use micro-influencers with very engaged audience.
• Define your target audience
  Who are you trying to reach? Be as specific as possible in terms of age, location, and interests. The more clear you are, the easier it is to find the perfect influencers.
• Find influencers with filters
  Use Avalan.io to find influencers who fit your audience. Don't base it on the number of followers only — engagement rate and niche value are more important.
• Build relationships, not transactions
  Influencer marketing only succeeds if creators actually believe in your product. Don't treat them like ad space.
• Measure and track everything
  Use the platform to track posts and measure performance. See which influencers are actually delivering results and invest further in them.

By doing these things, you're sidestepping the hassle of manual campaigns and actually seeing measurable growth.

Final thoughts

Influencer marketing for startups needn't be tedious or expensive. Yes, you can do it the traditional way with Google Sheets and lots of scrolling, but you'll drain your time and energy on it. If you wish to grow faster, you need a more intelligent system.

Tools like Avalan.io give startups everything they need: robust filters to find the perfect influencers, one dashboard to manage from, and automated monitoring to save hours of work. And most importantly, it is cheaper — designed with budgets in mind.

So if you are wondering how to do influencer marketing for your startup without losing weeks of work, the solution is simple: don't attempt to do it yourself. Scale without wasting money on a tool. For most startups, that tool is Avalan.io.