What if I told you that your campaign’s success depends entirely on how well you do influencer outreach?
In fact, 59% of marketers agree influencer outreach is the most difficult part of their job. 🥲
I’ve learned that it’s typical to get 10% to 30% positive replies from influencers.
Don’t believe me? Check this out. 👇
Join me at Click Analytic as I show you how to do influencer outreach.
From crafting your first message to setting up a system that works, I’m here to ensure you do more than reach out to influencers: you engage them.
I’ll cover the following:
👉 What is influencer outreach?
👉 6 Pro influencer outreach tactics.
👉 How to find an influencer’s email.
👉 4 Free influencer outreach email templates.
👉 How to follow up on influencer outreach.
👉 3 Tips to improve your influencer outreach.
Ready?
Let’s roll. 👇
What is influencer outreach?
Influencer outreach is all about contacting creators to start influencer collaborations with your brand. It’s the crucial first move in forging new connections.
The real question is, “How to do influencer outreach like a pro?”
6 influencer outreach tactics for better results
Here are my 6 easy influencer outreach tactics for guaranteed results. 👇
1. Always use emails instead of DMs
When setting up influencer partnerships, think of it as a business-to-business (B2B) collaboration.
👉 After all, creators are entrepreneurs in their own right.
This is why I lean towards emails rather than sliding into DMs.
Why?
Because emails are the best form of communication with influencers.
Emails also add a layer of professionalism and ensure everything is documented and easy to track.
That said, I’m not entirely against using DMs.
DMs can be a great starting point, especially when email addresses are hard to come by.
DMs have a more relaxed vibe, perfect for initiating conversations, especially if we have mutual connections with the creator.
💡 My pro tip: I always use DMs when an influencer doesn’t reply to my email. It’s a gentle, easy way to follow up.
However, I always aim to transition these conversations to email. This way, we make sure no detail of the collaboration falls through the cracks.
2. Turn it into a sale
Honestly, I didn’t wear my sales hat early on during influencer outreach. 😣
👉 And that was a big oversight.
Here’s the thing: without a sales mindset, you’ll likely reach out less, get discouraged more quickly, and ultimately slow down your progress.
The thought of following up multiple times might make many marketers uncomfortable.
Silence after sending out personalised emails can feel like a personal rejection.
However, when I started thinking like a salesperson, those silent inboxes became less of a personal affront and more of a challenge to overcome.
Following up didn’t seem desperate; it became a necessary step. 😎
Low response rates?
They weren’t failures but opportunities to refine my messaging, offer, or strategy.
Here’s the kicker: embracing a sales mentality taught me the importance of volume.
💡 My pro tip: Always add one zero to the amount of influencers you contact vs what you need. For instance, if I need 10 influencers for a campaign, I’ll contact 100. This improves my response rate and gives me negotiating room.
More outreach also doesn’t just mean more potential connections; it accelerates the feedback loop, allowing for quicker refinement of tactics and, consequently, faster success.
The formula is simple: more emails sent equals faster feedback, which leads to better outreach strategies and, ultimately, quicker victories. 🤑
Also, don’t be afraid to use a CRM. They let you test every email (read: A/B testing) and automate the most tedious parts of your influencer outreach strategy.
CRMs provide us with tons of valuable data. We can use this data to fine-tune our outreach strategies. So, in short, let the software show you what works and what doesn’t.
3. Add a great CTA
I’ve found that ending my outreach emails with a soft call-to-action (CTA) can really up my response game.
What’s a soft CTA?
👉 It’s like asking a simple yes-or-no question that doesn’t require the recipient to think too hard.
Questions like “Are you open to collaborations?” or “Interested?” have become my go-to.
This approach makes it super easy for creators to hit reply.
They don’t need to process a ton of information or make big decisions on the spot.
And once they’re interested, that’s my cue to dive into the nitty-gritty details.
I use this strategy especially when I’m genuinely excited about the possibility of working with a creator and am flexible about our collaboration.
Here are a few soft CTAs I often rotate between:
💡 “Does this sound like a project you’d be interested in?”
💡 “Can we send you our product to try out?”
💡 “Are you currently open to collaborations?”
💡 “May I send over more details?”
💡 “Interested?”
⚠️ However, I steer clear of soft CTAs when my project has a fixed budget and specific requirements.
In those cases, I lay all the cards on the table in my initial email and close with a more direct CTA, like “Let me know if you’re interested” or “What are your rates for these specific deliverables?”
Here’s another tip. 👇
Lately, I found that link CTAs work really well! Especially if you want the influencer to join an affiliate program or book for an event.
4. Learn as much as possible
Let me share a story. 🤓
In the early stages of my influencer outreach journey, I decided to do things that seemed downright unscalable.
Yes, I’m talking about making phone or video calls with every single creator I want to collaborate with.
And spending hours personalising each outreach email to see which approach resonated best.
And yes, I even sought out feedback on my messaging from peers and influencers alike.
These tasks?
👉 They can’t be automated.
They’re the kind of hands-on, energy-intensive efforts that many would shy away from.
Yet, these are exactly what propelled me miles ahead in my influencer marketing game.
Let me explain:
✅ Phone/Video calls: These conversations sped up the communication process and allowed me to dive deep into understanding what each influencer genuinely sought in a collaboration.
✅ Personalised emails: Tailoring each message helped me quickly identify which calls to action, offers, and personal touches led to the most enthusiastic responses.
✅ Seeking feedback: This gave me invaluable insights into my outreach strategy, offering a fresh perspective on what was working and what needed tweaking.
As someone just starting in influencer outreach, my advice is to lean into these unscalable practices.
Why? 😯
👉 The immediate feedback and rapid learning curve they provide are priceless.
And here’s another valuable lesson I learned: The power of A/B testing.
If you’ve got a list of 100 influencers, split them into groups and test different outreach strategies to learn what works best.
In my experience, combining multiple channels, like email, Instagram DMs and TikTok DMs, often works the best.
5. Save time with partial influencer outreach templates
In my quest to streamline influencer outreach, I’ve discovered the power of partially templated emails.
👉 They’re my secret weapon for being both efficient and personal.
Chatting with over 50 influencer marketing pros taught me I’m not alone. We all use partially templated emails to keep things speedy without sacrificing that personal touch.
Here’s the deal: I have a go-to section about me, my brand, and what we’re all about that fits into any email.
The rest?
I tailor it to fit the influencer I’m contacting, ensuring it resonates with them and their audience.
This is my icer-breaker, and it adds an unrivaled personal touch.
Here’s a quick peek at how I do it:
Fully templated emails come into play under a few conditions.
When?
Only if:
✅ Your brand is a big name that influencers are jumping to collaborate with,
✅ if your offer is super specific and non-negotiable,
✅ or if you’re already seeing great responses without customisation.
Then, by all means, go for the whole template.
But in my experience, a little personalisation goes a long way.
6. Start with a great subject line
And finally, an epic influencer outreach email starts with an eye-catching subject line.
Here’s what I do.
⚙️ Add personal touches:
I always personalise my subject lines with details like the recipient’s name. This technique has been proven to boost open rates.
⚙️ Opt for clarity:
Being straightforward and clear can often be more effective than attempting to be catchy. Aim to highlight the value of your offer as soon as possible.
⚙️ Keep it short:
I found that shorter subject lines resonate more, especially with users reading emails on mobile devices. Aim for a maximum of 9 words and 60 characters to keep your message concise.
⚙️ Use punctuation but sparingly:
Limit yourself to no more than 3 punctuation marks in a subject line. Excessive punctuation, particularly special characters, can give your email a spam-like appearance.
⚙️ Avoid caps
Caps only make it sound like you’re shouting. Don’t be that person. You don’t want to come across as desperate or rude.
⚙️ Use questions
Open-ended questions are more direct and piques their curiosity. I’ve found they often work best to increase my open rates.
Here are some of my best subject lines:
💡 Paid collab
