How to nail your influencer pitch

We’ve already covered how to find the right influencer to promote you. At one point or another, you’ve probably thought “how on earth do I convince this influencer to work with me?” The key is in your influencer pitch. This article aims to uncover exactly how you can do that with actionable steps.

Getting an influencer to agree to work with you can be complicated. It’s not as simple as sending an email saying “hey, we’d love to work with you.” It’s much more nuanced than that. Influencers get hundreds of messages per day, so as a brand you need to try and ensure that you stand out.

Tip: Influencers who have a brand affinity – i.e they already know your brand, are using your product or service, and are fans) are generally your first port of call. It is easier to convince someone who already loves your brand to work with you.

How to stand out to an influencer

Some influencers receive hundreds, if not thousands of messages a day (depending on their size) so it is critical that you can stand out as a brand to catch their attention. There are several ways to do this.

Interact with them on social media

If you are interested in an influencer, be sure to interact with them on their social media channels. But be authentic with it. Don’t just go there, like 7 of their posts and comment on a couple and then send your pitch. Spend a longer period of time interacting with them and getting to know who they are.

Get to know their work

Just seeing how many followers an influencer has and if people comment isn’t enough to make you stand out. Look at what they are posting about, see if they have a website or other social media channels and if they have written elsewhere. Familiarise yourself with them on a deeper level. It will help you to be familiar with their work.

Choose the right channel to pitch

When you want to work with an influencer, it’s essential to pitch in the right channel. It’s no use sending a message on LinkedIn if your influencer isn’t super active there.

It’s important to examine their profile and see if there’s a good way to get in touch. If they ask you to contact them via email, ensure that that is the medium you use.

If you can’t find an email address or contact form on their blogs, then DM them to ask what is the best way to contact them about a collaboration. They will be able to tell you what works best for them.

Create a long-term relationship

When you’re working with influencers, the best way to get good results is to create a long-term relationship with them, instead of a one-hit-wonder moment. If you can create a good relationship, it will work in your favor. Communicate with them regularly, showcase their work, and be responsive.

Discover more about creating good relationships with influencers.

How to write the perfect pitch & influencer pitch template

Once you know which channel to pitch them on, it’s essential that you send the right message. You want to convince someone to work with you, so taking these steps will help you.

Write a strong subject line

Writing a strong subject line can make or break your pitch. Why? Because it’s the first thing an influencer sees in a sea of emails. If your subject line is no good, then they might not even open it, even if it’s the best pitch in the world.

1. Use an emoji
2. Personalize
3. Get straight to the point
   

These will help you to stand out.

Tailor your pitch

When writing a pitch, personalize it and tailor it to your influencer. A one-size fits all approach won’t cut it. Starting your pitch with “Dear influencer” is a surefire way to irk an influencer, especially since their name is usually somewhere on their channels.

You can use our templates to get some great ideas for pitches.

Depending on how you decide to pitch your influencer (via email or DM), you’ll need to make sure that your pitch includes

• A great subject line (if it’s an email)
• Why you love their social media posts – be specific. You could even compliment them on a particular post. If you have already been on their page and interacting with them, this will help.
• An introduction to yourself.
• Why you want to work with them – be clear that you chose them specifically
• An introduction to your company (if they are not already familiar with your brand)
• How you’d like to work with them – be specific here
• How their audience will benefit from it too
• Incentives (this excludes their rates)
• What they can do if they are interested in working with you.
  

Tip: Think about the different content types and what you want, plus which payment model you would like to work with before you get in touch. One option is to work on an influencer affiliate-basis

Use a theme

Instead of just asking them “hey, can you do a social media post about us?” make it part of an overall campaign with a theme. Influencers are more likely to respond to it. For example, 5 of the best eco-friendly makeup looks – this is more interesting and appealing than a generic request.

Plan ahead

When you send your pitch, ensure that you have planned ahead. Influencers often plan their content out months in advance and they can’t drop everything to run your campaigns. Contact them at least a month before you want them to post, and try to make it as easy as possible for them. Find out exactly what they need from you and make it happen.

Avoid sending tons of follow-up messages

As someone who receives hundreds of follow-up emails, I can tell you that it clogs up their mailbox and can end up putting you at the back of the queue. If you are writing a follow-up email these are some best practices.

1. Leave it for a week or two before you follow up.
2. Always find your original email so there is a thread that they can follow so they don’t have to spend time searching for what your original email was about
3. If you need to create a new email thread, include what your original email was about
   

Influencer pitch examples if you have budget:

Here are some examples of how to write a good email pitch to an influencer. Each complements a recent post introduces themselves, and why they want to work with the influencer, makes it clear that this will be a paid opportunity, and how they can move things forward.

Here’s another example for an interior design influencer.

Influencer pitch examples for if you are on a budget:

Start pitching influencers today

By making sure that you stand out from the crowd by interacting with influencers on their social media, getting to know their work, choosing the right channel to pitch, and creating a long-term relationship, you will get influencers interested in working with you more easily. The next step is to ensure your pitch is unique, themed, and well-planned so that the influencer’s interest is piqued. This will help you to convince the influencers to work with you.

Ashley Howe

I’m the content strategist here at Tapfiliate. Living in Amsterdam, I like reading books, travel and ramen. You can find me on LinkedIn or Twitter.