GUIDE: The anatomy of a perfect influencer outreach strategy

The anatomy of a perfect influencer outreach strategy
Want the ultimate brand collaboration sample email? Of course you do.
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Influencers are more skeptical than ever of shaky brands and unkept promises – so your initial template needs be clean and professional.

Want the ultimate brand collaboration sample email? Of course. Unfortunately, there isn’t one single silver bullet email that’s going to fetch you an 80 percent response rate. I can, however, aid you in writing the best influencer proposal and offer template you can. I’ll help you hone in on your influencer outreach strategy to consistently reach influencers, pique their interest, and set the tone for professional relationships. 

Brand Collaboration Sample Email

Let’s start with a brand collaboration sample email (feel free to swipe this, but I encourage you to read through the rest to ensure strategy comprehension.)

Subject line: Collaboration Opportunity with [Brand Name]

 

Hi [First Name],

[Your Name] here from [Brand Name] – a [one-liner on your value proposition].

We’re on the hunt for the [your niche] industry’s most talented and influential content creators. I believe you’d be a great fit as one of our exclusive brand ambassadors.

These are paid gigs and require you to share our brand with your followers on social in a voice that is natural and genuine to you.

If you’re interested in hearing more, shoot me a reply and I’ll send over an offer with all the details.

Talk soon,

[Your Name]

Try using this one and send your first hundred emails with an email tracker – this allows us to establish a baseline. Once you’ve established this baseline open rate, begin tweaking your email to try and bring that response rate up. Remember, the job of your outreach email is to pique interest and get a response – not close a deal. Don’t overwhelm your influencer with information – they hate reading novels of emails too.

Your initial email

Include

Do not include

Let’s break down the above email to make sense of why this works so well. First of all, the subject line tells them there is an opportunity to collaborate. Chances are, you won’t be the influencer’s first collaboration offer, so they’re familiar with the terminology and look forward to receiving offers like this.

In the body text, we make a connection with them that shows more interest than a line like “Hey mate, I plucked ya off a list of 15,000 influencers, you’re lucky number 3,903” would. Finding your influencer in a more organic way shows them that you’re invested in your niche, and more importantly, the thought leaders within it. You give a brief description of your brand – just enough to inform them that your brand’s values align with theirs. One of the most common mistakes I see with influencer outreach strategies is that marketers ramble on about their own brand. Too much information about your own brand is to your own detriment.

Next, you get right to the purpose of your email. Make sure to be clear and concise in this line. This one-liner works great for free product in exchange for posts, but also doesn’t take the option of paying off the table either.

Coming to a close, we ask a direct question – are you interested in becoming an influencer for my brand? Don’t muddle this up with other secondary questions or details that can be explained later.

Lastly, we give a simple call to action. Make it as easy as possible for the influencer to respond to you in a way that you both understand. All they need to say in response is “absolutely” or “tell me the next steps!”

**Pro tip: To get the most of your outreach efforts, use a tool like Rebump to increase open rates.

Now that you understand the anatomy of your brand collaboration outreach email template, let’s explore the proposal and offer template – the next email in the series of emails you’ll exchange with an influencer.

[You may be wondering: is it better to DM or email?]

Whenever possible, it’s better to email an influencer. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t slide in the DMs if you can’t find an email. Most of us marketers are doing our influencer lead generation on a computer and not our mobile phone. Many influencers have their email listed on their profile, it’s just not visible from your desktop. Take the extra 30 seconds to bring up the account on your phone to grab the best contact method.

Most marketers are pursuing Instagram influencers, but these strategies will work for any platform you desire.

These are the channels that marketers are tapping into for influencer marketing campaigns. Using a brand collaboration template can help with response rates.

Influencer Proposal Template

Congrats! Your inbox is flooded with intrigued influencers wondering what a collaboration with your brand entails. This is where you’re really able to set the tone for the relationship and close deals.

I don’t have a template for your response because most of it hinges on the details of your offer, so we’ll stick to the pure strategy of this phase of communication. If you’ve been trying to cram all the details of the initial email and the proposal and offer email, you’re going to struggle. Consider splitting them up as it’ll give you better response AND close rates.

Start your email by confirming that they’re interested in working with you. Here is a great opening line: “Great, {{first.name}} glad to hear you’re interested in collaborating with us, you’re going to love {product}.”

Next in the email, you can give them the collaboration details – the more you can break it down the better. Be sure to outline each of the following as simply as possible: deliverables expected, timeframe, and compensation.

Your closing line should again be very clear and straight to the point. Something along of the lines of “If that all sounds good to you, send me your mailing address and I’ll get some {product} sent to you right away. We’re happy to have you as part of our team!”

Or if you’re offering to pay them, a slight variation here:

“If that all sounds good to you, send me your mailing address and PayPal address. Once I have that, I’ll get some {product} sent to you right away and payment made. We’re happy to have you as part of our team!”

Influencer Outreach Strategy

Want 8 Subject Lines + 12 Email Templates?

Reach out to influencers with proven templates.

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    Influencer Outreach Strategy

    Overall, your influencer outreach strategy is two-fold.

    Step 1. Peak their interest and get a response.

    Step 2. Inform them of your program and the offer. Keep the messaging simple and talk like a human. This is not a time to be overly formal! Remember, most influencers are late teens to late twenties – they respond better being spoken to like a close friend than someone on the other end of the executive boardroom table.

    If you prefer not to use a CRM to track your influencer leads, then be sure to use an Excel sheet or Google Sheets to ensure you’re not bombarding the same influencers time and time again. It’ll also help you build your own database, should you ever want to import it into any other tools or platforms.

    Once you’ve engaged your influencers and have welcomed them into your program, move away from templates right away. Make an effort to get to know your influencers because they are often brimming with your customer’s feedback. Be conversational and treat them like an extension of your brand. Much like a customer, if you can over deliver on your agreed collaboration details, they will reciprocate that and over deliver on what they promised you.

    If you’d like to know more about active influencer management, and how to best utilize your time after you’ve filled your influencer pipeline with this influencer outreach strategy, look into a product like the Development Toolkit for influencer marketing professionals. If you’re relatively new to the industry and you’re having trouble managing and reporting on your influencer marketing efforts, I highly suggest the above toolkit.

    Use the above template and strategies that go with it, track everything and implement changes when needed. Influencers are more skeptical than they used to be of shaky brands and unkept promises – so your initial templates should be clean and professional. 

    These are the biggest challenges marketers face managing influencer marketing campaigns. Influencer outreach strategy is among the issues and takes up a significant amount of time. Use the Development toolkit for influencer marketing professionals to tackle these problems head-on.

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