In a perfect world, influencers would have their email inbox flooded with prospective brand collaborations, just waiting to pay you loads of money to create amazing content. But that isn’t always the case.
Actually, it’s rarely how it goes.
Part of being an influencer is that you have to put in the grunt work and pitch brands and PR agencies yourself for those collaborations. It’s also how you can foster relationships, secure product for projects you may be working on and help keep your name top of mind when paid partnerships do come around.It can feel awkward, we know.
But if you set yourself up for success, you’ll come through with amazing opportunities. If you aren’t sure how to begin a blind pitch email to a brand, we are breaking it down section by section today.
Let’s dive into how to write a pitch email so you can secure more partnerships and generate more revenue for your influencer business.
How To Write A Pitch Email For Your Blog Partnerships
First let’s start out with WHY you should be pitching, before we get into the HOW.
Why Should You Pitch To Brands As A Creator
Pitching to brands and agencies as a content creator is a proactive way to grow your brand and connections in the space. It can help to bring you new opportunities for growth, revenue and long term partnerships.
Plus, it can give you more creative control when you find the brands YOU want to work with, instead of waiting around for any brand to reach out to you and then you decide if you want to work with them. In short, pitching is a way to take charge of your career, create partnerships that are mutually beneficial, and help you grow as a content creator.
Step One – Research The Brand
Find The Right Contact
This can be a tricky one to find the right email address to send your pitch to. Especially if it’s a cold pitch and you haven’t worked with the brand before. A good place to start is on the brand’s website. Even a press@ or contact@ email is likely being reviewed by whoever is in charge of that department, so don’t overlook those email addresses.
You can also search for press releases to see who the public relations (PR) contact might be. Another option is to simply DM a brand on Instagram and ask them who you can contact. Here is a simple pitch to send via DM to ask for a contact.
Hi there! I am hoping to connect with [brand name] for an [insert quick idea]. Who would be the best contact for partnerships? I’d love to send over an email with some ideas. Thanks so much!
Have Some Recent Info To Include
When writing an effective email to a brand, you want to really have a great sales pitch crafted and a call to action. Sending your pitch without any specific details, or knowledge of what the brand may be currently working on, is a red flag that you may not be super interested.
Do a little research on the brand if there’s any upcoming launches they are doing, or recent collaborations they did that caught your eye that may be the reason you’re reaching out. When it looks like you did a little research on the brand and highlight either the pain points they help to solve for their customers, or the selling points of their brand that you love, it shows that you really know what you’re doing.
Step Two – Craft The Perfect Pitch Email
Write A Good Pitch Email Subject Line
It can be easy to overthink your pitch email subject line. But listen, it doesn’t have to be complicated! Here are a few example pitch email subject lines that are short and to the point. Here are also 10 subject lines to get your pitch emails read by brands.
- Collaboration Idea: {Your Influencer Name} x [Brand Name]
- Excited to Pitch This Idea, {Your Influencer Name} Here!
- {Your Influencer Name} + [Brand Name]: A Perfect Fit?
- Love Your Brand! Let’s Chat – {Your Influencer Name}
- TikTok Opportunity with {Your Influencer Name}
- {Your Influencer Name} Has a Fun Idea for [Brand Name]
A Compelling Introduction That’s Short & Sweet
It’s best to share with a brand you’ve never worked with a clear and concise snippet of who you are and what this email is all about. Don’t write a novel. A few sentences will do on your blog, your niche, and why you’re reaching out to them.
- Your Name
- Your IG handle, blog link or TikTok handle (with a link!)
- A General Rundown Of What The Email Is About – You’ll go into more detail in the following paragraph, but a sentence or two on why you’re emailing the brand to work together and what it’s for is key!
Give Stats On Your Business
If you’re a blogger, you’ll want to include stats like your monthly pageviews and number of users each month. And of course, include your social media stats, and any newsletter data that will be helpful.
Don’t have a blog? Don’t worry! If you are only on Instagram, or TikTok, or are a UGC content creator, share your social media stats like total followers, IG Story views and average CTR from past partnerships.
- Average Monthly Pageviews (via Google Analytics)
- Notable Social Media Stats
- Newsletter Subscriber Info and Open Rates
- Any Press Mentions or Accolades
- Highlight Past Work – If you’ve featured this brand in the past, definitely highlight that in this section so they can see your great work!
- Case Studies – If you have a notable case study that may relate to this brand or opportunity, include that information!
While you can include a media kit in your initial email, we recommend not if you’ve never emailed the brand before. This can sometimes cause your email to go to spam when there’s an attachment. Feel free to include a line at the end that if they’re interested in more stats and case studies, that you’d be happy to send over your media kit for them to review.
Try to let the brand ask for the media kit if that’s something that they want. But your goal should be to include a decent amount of general information in your pitch that a media kit probably isn’t necessary.
Detail The Pitch & The Offer
We recommend putting most of this in bullet points to clearly show exactly what the brand is getting and what you’re willing to offer when you create content for them. This also makes it much easier to ask for compensation when things are clearly laid out.
- What I am willing to do
- What I want from them
- Any timeline expectations
Following Up Without Being Annoying
Close out the pitch with a quick recap and an actionable request for a follow-up to move forward and offer to answer any questions they may have. Thank them for their time and then follow up in a week if you haven’t heard from them.
When following up, simply use the same thread to ensure all communication stays organized. Be sure to follow up specifically asking a question too. Our general rule of thumb to send follow up emails is up to three times. One week after, two weeks after, and another week. It’s totally fine to follow up a few months later too when it’s a new season but you should tailor that new seasonal email with a new idea that’s tailored to the current landscape.
Common Mistakes To Avoid When Pitching Brands
- Being too vague or generic. It’s important to spend a little time personalizing these pitches just enough so it doesn’t feel like a copy and paste
- Making it all about you, and not how the brand will benefit
- Writing a super long email with lots of attachments
- Forgetting to include your media kit (you don’t HAVE to do this), or at least any relevant information about your business
- Not including a question at the end as this can help to entice the recipient to actually respond
There you have it!
PS you can download our FREE brand pitch template AND hotel pitch template in our library. Not a member yet? Join today to get access to all the resources!
