How to Ask an Influencer to Promote Your Product

For most brands, the whole purpose of influencer marketing is to boost awareness and sales of a specific product (or products).

But how exactly do you ask influencers to promote your product? And what can you do to increase your chances of a positive response?

Read on for our 9-step guide covering everything from finding and vetting influencers to sending follow-up emails and building stronger influencer relationships.

Let’s see how it works 👇

Step 1: Find brand-fit influencers

First and foremost, know that not every influencer will want to promote your product.

Some partnerships are objectively a bad fit – for instance, if you work for a clothing brand, you shouldn’t ask a vegan fashion influencer to post about your new collection of leather pants.

(Also, leather pants? Who’s your ICP, David Hasselhoff?)

But there could be less obvious reasons why an influencer might not want to work with you right now. Maybe they don’t have enough followers in the locations you serve, or perhaps they have an exclusivity agreement with one of your competitors.

Whatever the case, you’ll close more deals if you take time up front to find and vet influencers – so you’re only reaching out to those who align with your brand and ICP.

There are multiple factors at play in finding creators. When we surveyed pro influencer marketers about what to look for when choosing a creator, we identified 7 main priorities, and brand fit was at the top of their list:

Some of the above factors are easy to figure out manually – it only takes a second to check an influencer’s follower count, for example.

But, for audience demographics, you may have to reach out and ask your influencer for that information.

That is, unless you’re using an influencer search tool (like Modash), which lets you filter influencers based on their audience’s:

Location
Gender
Age
Language(s)

👉Learn more about our influencer discovery platform and the 250M+ influencer profiles we feature!

Step 2: Find an influencer’s contact information

Once you’ve found the perfect influencer, you’ll need to track down their contact details because you probably won’t want to rely 100% on DMs for communication (more on this in the next section).

If you’re dealing with just a handful of influencers, you can find their contact details manually, although the process varies by social platform.

For instance, on Instagram, you can find an influencer’s email address by visiting their profile on the mobile app:

For channel-specific advice, check out the following articles:

Of course, this process becomes a seriously heavy lift at scale. Just imagine manually clicking through 100 different Insta bios – on your phone, mind – then copying and pasting each individual email address… 💀

Realistically, if you want to gather influencer email addresses in bulk, you need a tool to handle the legwork.

For instance, in Modash, you can add all your would-be influencer partners to a list, then instantly view their publicly available emails – plus unlock any addresses that aren’t listed publicly.

👉All Modash plans come with credits to unlock influencer email addresses not publicly shown. Learn more on the Modash pricing page.

Step 3: Figure out the best outreach channel

You’ve hunted down all those influencer email addresses – yep, even those that aren’t publicly listed.

Next, it’s time to decide the best way to reach out. Influencer marketers rank “initial outreach” as the second most time-consuming task related to influencer communication, so it’s important you choose your communication channel wisely.

This process is tougher than you might imagine. For one thing, marketers use a wide array of comms methods to contact influencers:

Different communication channels are going to work best for certain situations. Email is the marketer’s favorite when it comes to building relationships and getting things done. So it’s no surprise that it’s going to be their go-to option.

But, for some situations, it might be better to swap channels.

83% of marketers say they start conversations with influencers using one channel, then switch to another down the line. Most of the time, they might open with a social DM before moving to email. Sometimes, when the contracting and negotiations are wrapped up, marketers might move to a more immediate channel, like WhatsApp, for faster communication over the course of a campaign.

And some influencer marketers, like Michael Todner, vary their approach by influencer.

If I’m struggling to find an influencer’s email, I’ll reach out on their primary social channel. Or if I know they interact with our content on Instagram, for example, I’ll reach out there.

Michael Todner Influencer Marketing, Gear4music

As with most things in the world of influencer marketing, the right approach will depend on your brand, goals, and campaign type. For example:

Doing no-strings influencer gifting? You’ll likely want to stick with emails and DMs.
Planning a dedicated YouTube video to promote a high-ticket product? It might make sense to pick up the phone and call your influencer partner.

Step 4: Take notes for personalization

YouTube influencer Erin on Demand reveals that influencers notice the names and accounts of their most engaged followers, even if the influencers don’t respond to comments.

So stop what you’re doing and go follow the influencer accounts on your list from Step 1 (you’d be surprised by how many people forget to do this!). Then, engage with them.

While you’re liking and commenting, jot down unique details about each person like their cat’s name, their favorite movie, or a hot take they just shared – anything you can use to connect with them in your first email.

You’ll also want to take note of other key details such as the types of content they post and the metrics they’re generating.

Now that you’ve laid all the groundwork, you’re ready to write your email!

Step 5: Write a subject line that gets your email opened

While subject lines aren’t the most important element of influencer outreach, successful influencer marketing is all about incremental gains – so if experimenting with subject lines can achieve even a small increase in opens and replies, it’s well worth the effort.

As a general rule, it’s best to frontload the value of your email, i.e., what the influencer stands to gain by opening your message. Are you gifting them a product? Offering a collaboration? Inviting them to join your ambassador program?

Depending on the goal of your email, here are some approaches to consider:

The personalized subject line: [Influencer’s name/handle] + [your brand name] = ❤️
The direct subject line: We’d love to work with you! / Let’s talk about a partnership? / Paid post opportunity ($500)
The gift headline: I’d love to send you a [product] to try 📦
The complimentary headline: We loved your [specific piece of content, e.g., feta pasta recipe, or different lenses video]

🤓Pro tip: After you’ve written a subject line, ask yourself: Would I open this email if I didn’t know/care about our brand? Be honest! If it’s a no, that’s a sign you’re not effectively communicating the value of your offer.

Step 6: Write an email that gets responses

I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news: there’s no single outreach template that’s guaranteed to work for every type of influencer in every niche 👎

The good news: you can follow the below best practices to increase the chances that an influencer will reply to your email 👍

Here they are…

Connect and personalize

Influencers are busy people, so your number one goal here is to build a connection with them as efficiently as possible. That means personalizing your opening sentence.

Former influencer and current video producer Simoné Partner explains the methodology:

Some examples:

‍Your cat’s expression in your latest post is hilarious. He’s the cutest. I’m Kate from the Kat Kingdom, by the way.
I loved your new room reveal. The blue you used on the walls is gorgeous! My name is Walter, and I’m reaching out on behalf of Wisteria Wallpaper.‍
‍I had the same experience with fig plants, and your recommendation looks like it’s working! I’m Jamal from Green Garden, a subscription flower service.

These work because they show the influencer you’re an active follower. And it’s always flattering to know that the person on the other side of the email is interested in you, right?

Of course, personalization takes time, and you might have dozens of other influencers to reach out to. That’s why I recommend personalizing the first sentence and templating the rest.

🤓Pro tip: When using templates, don’t forget to proofread your emails before hitting Send. You’d be surprised by how many stories we hear of brands and companies approaching influencers and using the wrong name, handle, or channel.

Don’t let this be you. Make sure you’re sending the right message to the right person. And check your spelling and grammar – mistakes and typos often signal “Spam!” to the reader.

Be upfront about the intention

Make it crystal clear why you’re getting in touch with the influencer. Something like:

We’re excited about the possibility of working with you on our campaign. If you’re interested in a paid collaboration, please send over your rates.

Optionally, you might decide to share your rates first – but our research suggests that the majority of influencer marketers don’t go this route:

End with a clear CTA

Spell out the exact steps the creator needs to take if they’re interested in moving forward with your brand. Here’s a couple of examples:

If you’re interested, reply to this email and we can set up a quick call to discuss the details.
‍‍Sound good? You can start the process by filling out our intake form here. Then I’ll personally get back to you to set up a call.

People are more likely to take action if they know what’s expected of them. Don’t be vague.

Keep it short and sweet

Keep your email under 300 words – and, ideally, significantly shorter.

No need to go into detail on your brand story and product features. Save that stuff for after the influencer has confirmed their interest.

👉For a deep dive on writing more impactful outreach messages, check out How To Do Influencer Outreach: A Guide For Brands.

Step 7: Follow up (and follow up again)

As I’ve already noted, influencers are busy. Emails get lost in inboxes, DMs are filtered into the IG void, people forget, life happens.

That’s why your initial outreach message is just the beginning. Next, you’ll want to follow up – and follow up some more.

Our research shows that 72% of marketers send one to two follow-up emails to every influencer who hasn’t replied, while 21% send three to five. Meanwhile, just 7% send zero follow-ups 🙅‍♀️

At this point, you might be thinking: How can I send five follow-up emails to the same influencer without seeming like a total creep?

Unless an influencer is an exceptional fit, reaching out with more than two follow-ups is just going to be a waste of time.

Marit Tiesema mentioned this in a recent webinar, saying that if an influencer doesn’t respond after two emails (and maybe a quick DM) – it’s better to focus your energy elsewhere.

As with so much in life, it’s all about timing. Send your first follow-up five to seven days after your initial outreach message. If you really feel pressed, try a DM on their social account. You never know how often someone checks their inbox (or not).

Trouble is, keeping on top of those follow-ups can be pretty time-consuming at scale, and it’s easy to drop the ball.

If you’re reaching out to lots of influencers, keep track of whom to follow up with by using the Relationship status feature in Modash’s Influencer Inbox:

Also, consider setting reminders to send follow-up messages in your Google or Outlook calendar 🗓️

Step 8: Track your progress, tweak, rinse, and repeat

The best way to know which emails are working is to use email tracking software. But it’s perfectly okay to start out doing this manually using a spreadsheet.

Don’t have a spreadsheet for that yet? We got you – copy this free Google Sheet to help you keep track of the number of influencers you’ve contacted as well as which email variation you’ve sent them.

Once you plug in your data, it’ll calculate response and success rates by email variant as well as overall, helping you understand what works best so you can do more of it!

👉Get our free influencer outreach scorecard here.

Step 9: Keep the relationship alive

Getting an influencer to agree to a one-off product post is one thing… but building a mutually beneficial relationship that stands the test of time is a whole other challenge.

There are lots of tactics you can use to build stronger influencer relationships. But for any of them to work, you need to be organized.

For instance, Michael Todner has built a spreadsheet featuring:

Last contact date
Other key dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
Context on past conversations
Projects they’re working on
Content ideas they’ve shared
Other juicy conversational tidbits

In essence, it works like any other relationship in life – you have to do all the small bits to make sure the big bits work.

Michael Todner Influencer Marketing, Gear4music

Of course, simply creating your own tracker isn’t going to work miracles; you have to maintain it consistently to improve your relationships. Also, bear in mind that this level of detail might not be manageable – or desirable – for every influencer you work with.

The Pareto principle, aka the 80/20 rule, applies here. In the context of influencer marketing, it states that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your influencers.

You really want to build strong relationships with the top-performing 20%, so invest your time with those influencers.

Outreach smarter, not harder with Modash

Lots of articles tell you that influencer outreach is a numbers game: that if you want to get more influencers to promote your product, you just need to send more DMs and emails.

Well, I’m here to tell you the exact opposite – send fewer, better outreach messages. Sure, not every influencer is going to reply. But for those who do, your relationship will be starting on exactly the right footing.

When it comes to doing high-quality, personalized outreach, it makes sense to centralize all your messaging and data in a single platform (*cough* Modash *cough*).

Modash’s dedicated influencer marketing inbox lets you save templates, use variables, and find all the context you need to send laser-targeted outreach – all within a single tab. Create notes about individual influencers and view them in your inbox when you’re crafting your initial outreach message.

‍Plus, these notes are accessible to everyone on your team.

But don’t take our word for it – see for yourself by starting your free 14-day Modash trial!

 
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