How To Contact Influencers The Right Way

If you manage a brand, you’ve likely spotted certain influencers that you feel would love to try your product and hopefully introduce it to their audience. But let’s explore how to contact influencers if you have no previous relationship with that influencer.

In some ways, contacting an influencer about a potential partnership can be easy. However, to do it correctly and get the best results, there are several things to consider to start the partnership on the right foot.

Many influencers are contacted daily by brands, managers, other influencers, and just about everybody else. This means they often don’t have much time when another email or DM pops up.

Below, we’ll teach you how to not only cut through all the noise but also build a strong relationship with each influencer right from the start.

The Basics Of Outreach

Contacting influencers is a type of outreach, which is common in the business world. In particular, those who work in sales are well aware of outreach and the various do’s and don’ts that go along with it.

However, many brand founders may not fully understand outreach, so a quick refresher course is sometimes in order.

In general, when contacting influencers, this is known as “cold” outreach. It’s called cold outreach because you have no previous communications or connections with the influencer or person you’re contacting.

Cold outreach is often the most feared when it comes to building new relationships. Partly due to the fact that people sometimes feel uncomfortable contacting someone out of the blue. This often leads to them not knowing what to say or how to present themselves to a total stranger.

Warm outreach on the other hand is when you have some existing connection with the person you are contacting but not an actual partnership or friendship. For example, perhaps you share a common acquaintance or have shared messages about some other topic.

There are all types of situations that can create the opportunity for warm outreach. This is why it’s important to keep track of individuals you meet during the course of your business communications. You never know when one of those people can lead to a beneficial connection.

Since most influencer outreach is cold outreach, we’ll focus on that for now. Cold outreach has certain requirements to get the best response.

The following tips work for contacting influencers but can work well with any type of cold outreach.

Keep The First Message Short

This is the most important aspect of cold outreach and it’s where most newcomers make a mistake. They’ll painstakingly craft a long and elaborate message that perfectly conveys what they’re looking for and why the partnership will be beneficial to both parties.

The problem is, nobody on the other end of that email wants to read such a detailed message. Think of it like going out on a first date and spending an hour talking about your plans for the next 15 years of your life. It’s too much information, even if it’s a great plan.

Cold outreach is the same. Instead of cramming your first contact with tons of information, edit down your message to something short and sweet that still feels personalized and inviting.

A Clear Call To Action

A call to action (CTA) is generally something people relate to marketing ad copy. But it’s just as important in an outreach message. The less someone on the other hand has to think, the easier it is for them to respond.

Clearly state what you want them to do next in a simple and friendly tone. For example, if you’re using a DM to get an email, casually ask them to reply with a business email address you can use.

If you’re looking for a contact at their management company, simply ask for a name and contact info for who to get in touch with.

Those are just two examples, but make it clear what the next step is. This makes it far easier for the person to respond without having to guess what you want or how to reply. When the other person has to guess or think, they generally just put it off and then you don’t get any response.

Add Personal Touch To Create A Connection

We mentioned that you want to keep the initial cold outreach as short as possible. But with that being said, you do want to open with some kind of sentence that shows you understand their position and it’s not a generic message.

This will vary depending on who you’re contacting and for what reason. But try to find some sort of connection that shows you understand where they’re coming from.

Part of this is through research and understanding what the person does. For influencers, this can include being familiar with their content or other brands they’ve promoted.

A quick mention of those things shows you are serious and also lets the influencer know you respect what they do and their time.

Follow Up

One of the reasons cold outreach can be discouraging is if you don’t receive any reply. This can seem like a rejection, but it also could just mean the person was busy and forgot it.

We’ve all forgotten to reply to an email, voicemail, or text at some point. It’s common and that’s why it’s always important to follow up after an initial cold outreach.

If you contact an influencer and don’t hear back within 2-3 days, follow up with a new message. Be polite and be honest that you’re just following up on your initial message. Don’t put any blame on the influencer for not responding. Just give them an easy way to reply without causing them to feel uncomfortable.

Many times you’ll get a reply that they simply forgot about the message or never saw it in the first place.

Don’t be afraid to follow up if you feel the partnership may be a good one. However, you generally want to limit this to one follow-up in the first few days.

Have A Plan In Mind for How to Contact Influencers

When approaching an influencer about promoting your product or another type of partnership, you want to have as many details ready before you contact them.

We already mentioned that you want your first contact to be short and to the point, so your plan shouldn’t be part of your first email or DM.

However, the reason you want to have a plan is that things could move very quickly once you contact an influencer. Many influencers have plenty of experience dealing with brands and some will have a management company, which makes the process even faster in some cases.

You don’t want to contact an influencer and then be unable to act or deliver information when they reply. This can be both unprofessional and it also takes up valuable time from the person on the other end.

That’s why when we discuss in other blog posts about creating an influencer marketing campaign, we put the planning stages first and then contact influencers later.

You want to have the following details already in place before contacting an influencer.

Campaign Goals

Before contacting an influencer, have your campaign goals clearly defined. This means deciding whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, increase sales, build authority, or some other goal.

There are many goals you can achieve with influencer marketing campaigns and sometimes these can overlap. However, you always want a clearly defined goal before contacting any influencers, otherwise, the negotiations will not go smoothly.

Campaign Type

Deciding on the campaign type will come after you have your campaign goals defined. This part is critical because the influencer will want to know what kind of campaign or sponsorship you’re proposing.

There are a host of different campaign types from simple product mentions to live event coverage. When contacting the influencer, You’ll want to know the campaign type you want to sponsor.

In some cases, you may want a backup campaign type as the influencer may not be comfortable with all requests or may not have the availability depending on the campaign type.

So you may want to be flexible in this regard and have a few contingencies in mind so you can keep the negotiations going smoothly.

Content Brief

Your content brief explains exactly what you want the influencer’s post to contain. It may be a full script for them to read or just suggestions on what the influencer can mention. Some content briefs also have certain items that shouldn’t be discussed, mentioned, or claimed about the product.

You’ll want to have your content brief ready to go when contacting the influencer. They’ll likely ask for it so they can decide on the partnership. They may also just ask questions before moving forward, so knowing your content brief will help speed up this process.

Just remember, you want to be flexible and you may need to alter your content brief before a final deal or contract is made. Because of this, you may want to decide what areas you can be flexible on and which areas you can’t be due to brand guidelines or brand voice issues.

The key is to have all your bases covered before starting talks with the influencer.

Any Additional Details For More Complex Campaigns

This includes any specific details if you’re asking for a complex campaign or have a complex content brief. For example, if you’re partnering with an influencer to cover a trade show for your brand, you want all of the dates and travel details ready to go.

The same goes for any extra budgeting that this type of campaign involves such as any per diem rates or similar expenses. 

Even simpler campaigns may have extra details, such as getting a product shipped to the influencer or getting them set up with everything they need to review or unbox a product.

Try to have a good idea of how you’ll handle all of these issues before you contact the influencer. You may also want a few backup plans in place to accommodate any scheduling or other issues with the influencer.

Just remember that having all of this information ahead of time is so you can proceed smoothly after making contact. Don’t drop all of this on the influencer in the first email or DM.

How To Contact Influencers On Different Social Media Platforms

So far we’ve covered general tips for contacting influencers the right way so you can get the best results. In this section, we want to cover platform-specific tips and tricks when contacting influencers.

Each social media platform can have its own unique idiosyncracies when working with influencers and understanding these can make a huge difference when starting your search.

How To Contact Instagram Influencers

Instagram was one of the first platforms where influencer marketing really took hold and it’s still one of the hottest platforms, especially for specific niche industries.

When most people think of contacting someone on Instagram, they think of using DMs. However, this isn’t always the best for the first business contact when building a relationship.

Even today, email is considered more for business use when making first contact. A DM is generally reserved for when you have an existing relationship or the other party knows who you are. For example, if you’re well-known in the industry, you can generally send a DM to someone who already knows you, even if they don’t know you personally.

Try to find the influencer’s email address and use that as the first contact method. The email can generally be found in their bio or on their website. Most influencers will have this address readily available since they are in the business of forging partnerships.

Once you make contact, ask what the influencer’s preferred method of communication is. In some cases, you may not have to ask. If someone replies with an in-depth email, it usually means they prefer email. If you get a short email with a phone number, then it’s obvious they prefer voice or video calls.

One of the tricks of all business relationships is anticipating what the other side prefers or wants. This applies to communicating with influencers as well and picking up on these cues can help the process go smoothly.

For Instagram, it can also be helpful if you follow the influencer ahead of time or comment on a few posts. Make sure the comments are constructive and engaged. Definitely don’t mention your own brand or desire to work together, save that for private communications.

If you’re having trouble finding contact information for an Instagram influencer you want to work with, you can make a brief comment asking for contact information for business inquiries. Just keep it short and don’t mention any specifics in the comment.

Keep in mind, this commenting on one of an influencer’s posts asking for contact details should be a last resort after you’ve tried all other methods.

How To Contact YouTube Influencers

YouTube is similar to other platforms, but finding a good email address for contacting an influencer can be a little tricky.

Most influencers who are accepting partnership requests will have their email address listed in the About section. You can view this by going directly to their channel and clicking on the About tab.

YouTube has the option for a CAPTCHA quiz to be placed before you can view the influencer’s email. There’s also a limit to how many email addresses you can view per day. So if you have a long list of influencers, you may have to stretch out the process over several days.

Unfortunately, the CAPTCHA system does occasionally glitch out and you’ll be denied viewing the email even though you did everything right. If this happens, just try again 24 hours later and it should work.

Some influencers also place contact information or directions on how to contact them in their video descriptions, so always check their most recent videos to see if they’ve added these details.

If they have specific instructions for contacting them and you don’t follow them, it sort of gets the relationship off on the wrong foot. For example, they may want you to contact their management company first instead of a direct email or other method.

Since YouTube influencers have longer content, you should make a brief mention of their content in your introduction email. Maybe mention a recent video series they’ve put out or a specific video you liked.

If an influencer on YouTube has no contact information, you can try to make a request in the comments. For the best chance of a reply, try to be an early commenter. For this, you may want to subscribe first so you see new videos as soon as they go up.

Just don’t mention your product or “spam” the comment by adding details about your own product or company.

Another option is to use the community tab. Some YouTube influencers post in the community tab, which is similar to a Twitter/X feed. These generally get fewer comments and are a little more personal, so you may get a better response here if all else fails.

How To Contact TikTok Influencers

TikTok is unique in that it has a built-in system for contacting influencers who are open to partnerships.

The TikTok Creator Marketplace allows brands and influencers to come together directly on the platform. It’s a great system and it’s free to use.

To Use the TikTok Creator Marketplace, sign up for an account as a brand. If you are already running paid ads through TikTok, you can just log in using those credentials to get started.

The TikTok Creator Marketplace is very robust and allows you to search nearly 1 million creators who are part of the program. Even if they’re not in the program, you can send invites to creators you want to partner with who may not be currently accepting offers.

Beyond just communications, you can also view historical data for each creator you’re interested in. This includes traffic stats, engagement, and other key metrics to help you make your determination.

It would be great if other platforms created something similar, but for now, only TikTok offers this extremely useful utility for contacting influencers.

Outside of the Creator Marketplace, you can also contact influencers using the same methods as Instagram. Look for an email in the bio or other contact information. Just make sure to check the Creator Marketplace first.

Using Platforms To Contact Influencers

Several dedicated influencer platforms have sprung up in recent years that allow you to search for influencers who are part of the platform’s network. These platforms generally charge a monthly fee to join and then will sometimes take a cut of any contract between you and the influencer you choose.

With these platforms, all of the communication and contracts can be handled directly on the platform, which can streamline the process. The downside is that you are limited to the creators on the platform. It can also make it difficult to customize the partnership.

However, these are great options for some brands who want to spend minimal time searching and vetting influencers.

Some platforms also offer campaign management tools. This includes help with creating campaigns, storing files, and sending content briefs back and forth.

Once the campaign is running, there are also tools for tracking performance to decide if you want to continue the partnership or move on.

While these platforms do provide a fast solution to influencer marketing, you still want to invest plenty of time planning your influencer marketing campaign strategy. An influencer platform can make it easy to click on a few buttons and get a campaign up and running, but that doesn’t mean it will be a success if it is poorly planned.

Make sure you use these platforms as a tool and not as a complete solution. You still need to do your research and plan your campaign goals carefully to get a great ROI.

Using An Influencer Marketing Agency

An influencer marketing agency like HireInfluence can help you find influencers and they will handle all of the details from campaign strategy to negotiating the contracts with specific influencers.

For brands who want to focus on their core business, hiring an influencer marketing agency is often the best choice to ensure their influencer marketing campaign is highly successful and has the most impact possible.

Product Seeding With Influencers

Another popular method for contacting influencers is through product seeding. This is also sometimes called product gifting, but it means the same thing.

With product seeding, you send your product to influencers without any contract in place or agreement for sponsorship. The goal is to let the influencer try the product to see if they like it.

Sometimes, an influencer will mention it to their audience or put the product in a video without any payment. Other times they may enjoy the product and now you’ve opened the door to make a lasting partnership with an influencer who truly enjoys your product and can create a glowing endorsement.

With seeding, you still need to make contact with the influencer or their management so you know where to send the product or other information. For this, you can use the same techniques we outlined earlier.

The only difference is that you can be upfront in the first email about sending out a free product. Since the free product acts as the introduction, there’s no need to start off with a short email.

But still, you want to be as brief as possible and also try to make it personalized so the influencer knows you understand their content and their audience. That goes a long way toward them actually trying your product and mentioning it in a video or post.

Getting Started Contacting Influencers For Your Brand

Using the tips in this guide you should be able to get in touch with influencers that are relevant to your brand and can help you grow your sales and market share.

The key is to be professional and respect the creator’s content, style, and audience. Remember that influencers have likely spent years building up their audience and building trust with them, so they take their partnerships seriously.

If you can show you understand where they’re coming from, it positions your brand as a great partner and boosts the chances of having a successful influencer marketing campaign.

Successful influencer marketing is all about authenticity and building trust. When you contact influencers, you want to follow the same goals to ensure the best possible results for any marketing resources you plan on spending.