Influencer outreach: how to contact influencers and get replies

Influencer outreach is where most campaigns quietly die. You've built a good list, sent twenty messages, and heard back from two. The problem is rarely the creators. It's usually the contact channel, a first message that's about you instead of them, and no follow-up. This guide covers how to contact influencers properly, from finding the right address to agreeing terms, so more of your messages turn into posts.

Find the right contact details

Before you write anything, find where the creator actually reads business messages.

• The bio. Most creators who want brand deals put a business email in their Instagram or TikTok bio, sometimes behind a "Contact" or "Email" button.
• YouTube's About page. Channels list a business email for inquiries there.
• Link-in-bio pages. Many creators keep their contact form, media kit and rates on a link page.
• Managers and agencies. Bigger accounts name their manager in the bio ("Enquiries: @..."). Go to the manager; a DM to the creator will usually be forwarded anyway, just slower.
• Databases. Influencer databases store contact emails so you don't have to hunt. topYappers shows which creators have an email on file and lets you write to them from your own inbox.

Email or DM?

Default to email. It's where creators expect deals, it handles attachments and terms, and it's the only channel you can track properly at scale.

What a good first message includes

Creators get a lot of pitches, and most of them are obviously sent to hundreds of people. Yours should read like it was written for one person, because it was.

1. A specific reason you picked them. Name a video, a series or a product they've talked about. One sentence is enough.
2. Who you are, in one line. What you sell and who buys it.
3. The offer. Product only, a fee, or both. If there's a budget, say so. Vague "collab" offers get ignored.
4. A rough ask. One video? A series? Usage rights for ads? A rough idea lets them answer quickly.
5. One next step. "Can I send you a sample?" or "Could you share your rates for one TikTok?" Not five questions.

Keep it under 150 words. Here's a structure that works:

Subject: Paid partnership: [Brand] x [creator name]

Hi [name], your video on [specific topic] is the clearest explanation of [problem] I've seen, and it's exactly what our customers struggle with.

I run marketing at [Brand]. We make [product] for [audience]. We'd like to pay you for one video about [angle], and we're happy to send the product first so you can try it.

Could you share your rate for one TikTok, or a media kit if you have one?

[Your name], [Brand]

Notice what's missing: no paragraph about your company's mission, no list of everything you could possibly do together, no "we love your content!!" with no specifics. For gifting, affiliate, UGC and follow-up versions, see our influencer outreach email templates.

Follow up: how many and when

Silence usually means "busy", not "no". Most replies to cold outreach come after a follow-up.

• First follow-up: three or four days later, in the same thread. One or two lines: "Bumping this in case it got buried. Happy to send the product first."
• Second follow-up: about a week after that. Add something new: a deadline, a different angle, or a smaller ask.
• Then stop. Two follow-ups is polite. Five is spam. Note the creator for a future campaign and move on.

Negotiate the terms

When a creator says yes, agree on the details in writing before anything is posted. A short list covers most deals:

• Deliverables. Platform, format, number of posts, length, and whether Stories or links are included.
• Timeline. Draft date, posting date and how many revision rounds you get.
• Approval. Whether you see the script or video before it goes live. Ask for a review of claims, not control of the creator's voice.
• Usage rights. Organic posting only, or can you run the content as ads? For how long, and on which channels? Paid usage is usually priced separately.
• Exclusivity. If you need the creator to skip competitors for a period, say so and expect to pay for it.
• Payment. Amount, currency, when it's paid (upfront, on posting or split) and how.
• Disclosure. In the US, the FTC expects creators to disclose brand relationships clearly, in the post itself and in the video, not hidden behind "more" or in a cloud of hashtags. Other countries have similar rules, so put disclosure in the agreement.
• Results. Ask for screenshots of views, reach and clicks a week after posting.

Our free creator rate calculator gives you a starting price before you negotiate, and the UGC contract creator turns these terms into a simple agreement.

Manage outreach at scale

Ten conversations fit in your head. Fifty don't. Once you're past a handful, you need to know who you've contacted, who replied, what you offered and when each post goes live.

A spreadsheet works for a first campaign. Track the creator, contact date, follow-up dates, stage (contacted, replied, negotiating, agreed, posted), agreed terms and post links. After that, a CRM built for creators saves time: topYappers includes a creator relationship manager with a drag-and-drop pipeline from outreach to done.

If writing every email by hand is the bottleneck, the topYappers Outreach Agent does the repetitive part. Paste your website, and it builds a queue of creators who already promote products like yours, writes a personalized email for each one, sends it from your own inbox with follow-ups on a schedule, and syncs every conversation to your pipeline. You still handle the replies, which is where the relationship actually starts.

Mistakes that kill reply rates

• Mass emails with a first-name token. Creators can tell. One specific sentence beats three generic paragraphs.
• No offer. "Would you be interested in collaborating?" forces the creator to do your thinking.
• Asking for rates you can't afford. Check average views first. A creator averaging millions of views won't post for a free sample.
• Pitching creators who just promoted your competitor. They may be under exclusivity. Pitch them later, or pitch a different angle.
• Disappearing after "yes". Send the brief, the product and the agreement within a couple of days, while they're still excited.

Before you send

Run through this list for every campaign:

1. Contact is the business email or manager, not a random DM.
2. The first line mentions something specific the creator made.
3. The offer and the ask are clear.
4. Follow-ups are scheduled, not left to memory.
5. Terms, including usage rights and disclosure, are written down before anything goes live.

Get those five right and you'll spend less time chasing replies and more time running campaigns. If you still need the creators themselves, start with our guide on how to find influencers for your brand.