As you begin (or scale) your influencer outreach efforts, you might have more questions than answers. How much should you personalize your message to get a higher response rate? What parts of your email can you template to make outreach more efficient? What should you say in your follow-up messages to entice a reply?

If only you could peek behind the curtain and see how other brands practice creator outreach. With this guide, you can! Here’s the behind-the-scenes of how real companies reach out to influencers for all types of successful influencer collaborations.

The outreach examples in this article fall into two camps:

• The short message with a soft ask: in this kind of outreach email, you keep things short and open-ended. It’s great when you’re looking to form long-term creator relationships and are open to what that might look like.

• The detailed message with a specific ask: in this kind of outreach email, you’re hiring for a particular influencer marketing campaign with a defined budget and deliverables. Your message will explain everything the creator needs to know right away.

The first type of outreach: a short message with a soft ask

Best for starting a conversation with influencers

If you’re just starting out, here’s a formula that’d work for most people:

• Start with a personalized and genuine compliment that shows you’ve checked out the creator’s profile
• Enter a quick introduction about you and your brand — you can template this
• Close with a simple yes/no question to make replying easy

This works because it’s personalized to the creator, scalable, and easy to scale. Once you get a “yes,” you can explore what a potential collaboration could look like.

Another outreach template you can use is from Anna-Maria Klappenbach (who leads influencer marketing at Aumio). Instead of personalizing intensely initially, Anna prioritizes conciseness with very light personalization (see “As a mom of 3” in the example below).

Example from: Anna-Maria Klappenbach, Aumio

Hey {{fname}},

I'm Anna from Aumio 👋. We're Europe's leading audio-first sleep & relaxation app for babies & children, developed by psychologists and scientifically proven to work.

As a mom of 3 I'd imagine you're very busy, so I'll keep it brief!

We're launching our app in the US. Since your content & values align so well with ours, I'd love to have you on board to help spread the news.

I've attached a short brand booklet for you to give some context, and there's an access code on the last page so you can give it a try.

Would you be open to collaborate with us next month?

Warm regards, {{your name}}

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Since Aumio’s target creators are busy moms, they’d rather read a short message that gets to the point quickly instead of a lengthy (although highly personalized) email. But rather than skipping all personalization, Anna and her team add a subtle hint (like the “mom of 3” in the template) so the creator knows they crafted the message just for them.

A similar template is from Benjamin Beck, Marketing Director at Tortuga Backpacks. He asks influencers to promote Tortuga’s carry on backpacks and personal items bag.

Example from: Benjamin Beck, Tortuga Backpacks

Hey {{fname}},

I just had to drop you a line after watching your video ##Video Title## – your knack for getting the most out of your travels is seriously impressive and precisely the kind of skill we love to see.

I'm Ben from Tortuga, and I couldn't help but think about how awesome it would be to collaborate with you on a similar video.

I'm really excited about the potential here – I think we could create something informative and fun for your audience.

Let's chat more about this and see where our ideas take us!

{{your name}}

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The only personalization Benjamin and his team do is using the first name of the influencer and adding their video’s title & link.

If you want to strike a balance between personalizing and using a template, Anna and Benjamin’s emails are good examples. Partially template your offer and add a dash of customization when referencing the creator.

All the above templates only work if you want your call-to-action to be an open ended question. But what if you already have a type of partnership in mind?

For example: Dmitri Cherner, former Head of Influencer Marketing at OneSkin, often kicks off by sending creators the brand's product. In those cases, the outreach message includes a specific ask instead of an open-ended question:

Example from: Dmitri Cherner, ex-OneSkin, Ruggable

Hey {{fname}},

We’re OneSkin, and we’re on a mission to completely shift the way we think about aging, starting with your skin. Our founders spent over 7 years in the lab developing our proprietary OS-01 peptide, which is scientifically proven to reverse the biological age of skin cells. Our work has even been published in npj Aging — a prestigious, peer reviewed scientific journal.

We are big fans of your content and especially, as a science expert, appreciate your focus on skincare and research-based products.

We’re looking to build long term partnerships with experts, but first want to make sure you feel totally aligned with our brand and ethos. We’d be happy to send you a product for testing and open up the door to something much bigger!

If you’re interested, please let us know and we will get back to you with further details.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We can’t wait to partner together!

{{your name}}

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When the influencer responds, the OneSkin team can ask them for their address and continue with the collab.

Seeding isn’t the only scenario where your call-to-action is more specific. Sarah Saffari, Founder of influencer marketing agency InfluencerNexus, prefers to get on a call with the creator to understand their working style better before they move ahead with a partnership. Below is the template they used for one of their clients, FieldFans for Breast Cancer:

Example from: Sarah Saffari, InfluencerNexus

Hey {{fname}},

I thought you might be a good fit for a paid collab campaign with our client, FieldFans for Breast Cancer.

Following the double mastectomy of a loved one, the Founder joined forces with Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation wherein each sale of their inspiriational pillowcases donates 20% to breast cancer research.

I took a look at your IG reel on using home decore as a way of staying inspired and loved how you integrated such a beautiful healing journey with home design.

Given the alignment across the board, I think this could be a good partnership opportunity both ways.

Shoot me a response and we can setup a 15 minute call to discuss details on the project.

Warm regards, {{your name}}

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Since you’re asking the creator for a time on their calendar directly, it’s best to personalize the email rather than sending a canned compliment. Sarah highlights what she specifically liked about a creator’s Instagram Reel, for example. This shows the influencer why the agency and client are a good fit for their business.

The second type of outreach: a long message with specific details

(Best for recruiting fast and minimizing back-and-forth conversations)

If you're looking to build long-term relationships with creators and are open to how exactly that might look, the soft ask is excellent to open the conversation. But if you're recruiting for a specific campaign with defined budgets & deliverables, the “are you open for a partnership” approach can slow things down.

Take Ben Williams, Influencer Team Manager at Blast. His outreach template for potential influencers is long and templated, with no personalization.

But it works for Ben and his team. Why?

• Blast has a specific offer for its influencer partners (free ticket & experience in exchange for influencer content). There’s zero chance of negotiating with influencers.
• Blast’s goal is to recruit a large number of creators with a lean team size. If the call-to-action is left open-ended, there’s back-and-forth conversation — which would make Ben & his team less efficient. Setting expectations early means the creators can say yes or no and move to the next stage, fast.
• Blast uses Modash to find potential influencers — so the team already knows the creators they’re emailing match their audience, location, and size requirements.

Piia Õunpuu, Influencer Marketing Manager at Bolt, uses the same approach of giving complete clarity on the campaign and creator expectations right away. But she also adds a sparkle of personalization to her outreach messages:

Example from: Piia Õunpuu, Bolt

Hey {{fname}},

Getting in touch with you from Bolt — the mobility superapp in Europe and Africa with a mission to make cities for people, not cars. We want to invite you to join our newest campaign as an ambassador!

We recently launched the [campaign name]. The aim of the campaign is to [explain the goals with the campaign]. You can learn more about the campaign [here].

This is quite a broad concept, so we’re preparing to highlight the message in a fun way and we’d love to work with you on some social content similar to your [influencer’s content aligned to your expectations].

What would the collaboration deliverables look like?

- [Type of content expected]
- [Info/request for usage rights]
- [Any other details]

Let me know your thoughts and fees if you’re interested in working with us!

{{your name}}

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‍‍Bolt’s templates are flexible, but the recipe is more or less the same:

• Introduce Bolt.
• Explain the campaign with relevant examples of the influencer’s content.
• Give a concrete, short overview of expectations from the creator.

Leena Chitnis, Founder & CEO of Timberdog, has a similar outreach template with a touch of personalization for her product seeding campaigns.

Example from: Leena Chitnis, Timberdog

Hey {{fname}},

We're a small, woman-owned business and found your Instagram content inspiring and beautiful, especially resonating with your post about [personalize using a post on their profile].

In fact, we were wondering if you would be able to create similar content around our product, The RuffRest Ultimate Pet Bed. RuffRest is a patent-pending, 14-feature travel dog bed winning major awards and was just featured in the New York Times!

We'd love to send a RuffRest your way ($300 value) in exchange for 1-2 feed post photos and a 15-20 second reel. In addition to receiving our pet bed, we'd feature you in our social media, as well. And, if the partnership proves fruitful, it may turn into more lucrative opportunities going forward.

Would you be open to discussing a collaboration?

{{your name}}

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Since Leena has already defined what her company can offer to influencers in exchange for the partnership (a free product), she says that upfront and avoids any back-and-forth with creators who might expect more.

If you’re practicing performance-based influencer marketing, you may also be able to offer an added commission cut along with the free product. Kate Ross, Marketing Specialist at Irresistible Me adds that in her outreach email.

Example from: Kate Ross, Irresistible Me

Hey {{fname}},

I hope you're having a great day!

We have just found your amazing channel and we would like to start a partnership with you!

We'd love to send you a set of hair extensions or a wig of your choice (made with ethically sourced 100% natural hair) in exchange for: 2 Instagram Reels and 1 Instagram Picture. Other than that, we can offer you 15% commission from your followers' sales, discount codes, a chance for mutually beneficial long partnerships + many more!

You're welcome to check our website and Instagram Page for more insight. Please reply to this email if you would like me to share more details with you.

{{your name}}

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Kate and her team edit the content in bold if the offer and deliverable expectations differ. Hers is a useful example for recruiting influencers as affiliates.

Reaching out to a talent manager

A talent agency manages most big influencers. And some marketers might advise you to keep things strictly business when contacting an influencer’s managers. That approach certainly has its place.

But Lee Drysdale, Influencer Marketing Lead, at Killstar, suggests maintaining the same approach:

Lee Drysdale

Influencer Marketing Lead, KILLSTAR

I put in just as much effort to personalize and build relationships when I’m writing to a talent manager. Over the years, I’ve built some really good relationships with talent managers. It always pays dividends in the long run.

This also makes sense — especially when you want to build long-term relationships with creators & their managers. A slight personalization displaying a warm tone and humanity can go a long way. Lee shared this real example for inspiration, too.

Example from: Lee Drysdale, KILLSTAR

Hey {{fname}},

I hope you're doing well!

Lovely to meet you. I'm Lee, Influencer Team Lead here at Killstar and I'm getting in touch in regards to working with Bone.

Personally I am a HUGE fan, from the Farmfoods hauls to making breakfast for London I live for it all! Bone lives rent free on my FYP and I AM HERE FOR IT!

We'd love to gift some pieces over to Bone. We'd love to see her take a trip to ALDI BRUV in her fave KILLSTAR pieces.

I would also love to get her rates for all things TikTok. Lemme know if you'd rather catch up over a meeting - happy to discuss any ideas and hear your feedback and suggestions for the next steps.

Excited to hear back from you, {{your name}}

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The email shows Lee knows the creator and has checked out her TikTok. It takes some mental load off the talent manager because they’d understand that you already know the creator and their content style.

Follow-up examples

Any marketer will tell you that following up regularly is critical to successful influencer outreach. Creators are busy people, and emails often get lost in their inboxes. Sometimes, you don’t reach them at the right time. Following up increases the chances of you getting a response.

But what should you say in your follow-up message? You want it to be short and not pushy. Anna from Aumio encourages personalizing follow-up messages to show the creator that you’ve been keeping up with their content. This shows the influencer they weren’t receiving mass emails from your company and adds that extra personal touch that could entice a reply.

Example from: Anna-Maria Klappenbach, Aumio

Hey {{fname}},

It’s Anna again! I hope you’ve been well, [refer to a personalized compliment from their profile] looked great.

I’m still in the middle of planning our [month] campaign and would really love to get you on board.

Have you had the chance to take a look at the Aumio app or the brand booklet? I’ve attached it again for your reference. Just use code [code] to unlock all content. I’m excited to hear what you think!

{{your name}}

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If your first outreach message was already highly customized though, your follow-up email can be templated, like the one Sarah (of Influencer Nexus) uses.

Example from: Sarah Saffari, InfluencerNexus

Hey {{fname}},

Just a heads up, we're cutting off applications for the campaign in 5 days and wanted to loop back before we approach the deadline.

Totally cool either way, just let me know 😊

{{your name}}

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You can automate such outreach follow-up messages using influencer outreach tools. Sarah’s agency uses Apollo.

But follow-up messages don’t end right after the first follow-up. You must keep reaching out to creators (or their talent managers) at least three to four times at various intervals. Anna (Brand Marketing Lead at Aumio) recommends simplifying the message and making your offer more skimmable as you reach out for the third or fourth time.

Example from: Anna-Maria Klappenbach, Aumio

Hey {{fname}},

It seems to be a pretty busy time for you at the moment, so no worries at all if you haven’t had the chance to read my previous emails.

The last thing I want to do is add to the stress, so instead of a lot of text to read, here’s a link to the Aumio app & your access code to unlock all content:

- Download Aumio for free: [link]
- Use Coupon Code: [code]

I’m really interested to know what your thoughts are on the App and how your kids like it. So even if you’re not able to collaborate with us in [month], maybe you’d like to start using Aumio here and there!

Excited to hear your thoughts.

{{your name}}

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Aumio encourages potential creators to use the product and get a feel for it (even if they aren’t collaborating yet). It’s a great move. Why? Having first-hand knowledge of the product always aids in improving the quality and authenticity of influencer content.

Similarly, the “instead of a lot of text to read” phrase hits the right spot for Aumio’s target creators (busy moms) and makes them feel understood instead of pressured. The same tone follows in Aumio’s final follow-up email:

Example from: Anna-Maria Klappenbach, Aumio

Hey {{fname}},

My little ray of hope and I wanted to reach out again to see if we can reach you this time around.

Have you had a chance to take a look at Aumio yet? Maybe you just haven't had the time yet or perhaps you're not interested? That's completely fine too, of course.

I’d appreciate it if you could let me know what direction you’re leaning towards and I will put a pause on flooding your inbox with my emails. If you’d just like a little more time I’m happy to touch base with you again later.

I’m really interested to know what your thoughts are on the App and how your kids like it. So even if you’re not able to collaborate with us in [month], maybe you’d like to start using Aumio here and there!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

{{your name}}

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By giving the influencer an “out” of the collaboration, Aumio leaves the floor open for conversation. Creators can address any concerns, ask questions, or simply tell Aumio’s team the right time to follow-up. Keep your follow-up emails free of any pressure or demands and full of understanding and approachability.

Whip up your own influencer outreach templates

These examples give you a headstart in crafting your own influencer outreach emails. Most marketers will find it easy to personalize, scale, and succeed using a partially-templated and partially-customized outreach email sequence. But as is evident from above, different influencer marketing campaigns might have different needs.

If you still need to find influencers ready for outreach, try Modash for free. It’s a tool for finding influencers, analyzing their profiles, and tracking their content. For influencer discovery, it:

• Actually has enough influencers in your niche & market (literally, every creator with 1k+ followers)
• Has accessible pricing plans and self-serve options
• Gives you the audience data you need to do vetting before you spend time on outreach

Give it a spin, no credit card needed!

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