Influencer Outreach Email Template

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Karen Lin

Instagram 101 | Feb 20, 2024

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Influencers have a special way of setting trends, getting everyone to look at them, and inspiring new lifestyles and habits. That’s why they make the perfect brand ambassadors for businesses coming out with campaigns or new product launches. With their influence and reach, relevant influencers can help drive traction and noise for your brand. But we know that reaching out to content creators can be intimidating. So today, we’re sharing an influencer outreach email template you can tweak and use when hunting for potential influencers.

We get it. Reaching out and introducing yourself to the hottest, most popular online celebs and influencers can be super intimidating. It’s especially challenging if you’re part of a small brand that isn’t as established as theirs. But with an engaging, winning outreach email, you can land brand deals with influencers you never imagined working with.

Contact the influencers you’re eyeing with our email and message templates below. Let’s jump right in!

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Why Is Influencer Marketing Important?

Influencer marketing is all the rage in today’s Instagram marketing world. Through this marketing strategy, brands partner up with relevant influencers to promote their company’s products and services. They typically work with influencers aligned with their brand’s niche, making them a trusted expert.

But why is influencer marketing important for the success of a campaign?

There are many reasons why an influencer campaign can be super impactful in a marketing project. The biggest advantage of working with influencers is increased visibility.

These popular creators usually have a significant following of loyal fans. When they talk about your product on their page, more people will discover it for the first time. This boosts overall reach and brand awareness for you.

Another way influencer marketing helps major campaigns is through good reviews and testimonials about your brand’s offerings. According to data from Matter Communications, 81% of consumers have purchased or considered buying products promoted by influencers or friends.

People tend to see influencers as more genuine and authentic than big corporations. So, they trust influencers more than ads when it comes to products. When influencers talk about a brand in a good light, their followers will listen. When they vouch for a brand, it becomes social proof to their fans that it is a brand worth supporting.

On top of all of these, influencer marketing is very cost-effective for small, upcoming brands. Instead of spending so much on expensive production shoots, they can invest in influencers who create their content. The fact that most influencers are highly skilled at producing trendy, creative, interesting content is just a bonus!

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What Is Influencer Outreach?

Are you eyeing potential influencers you want to work with for your next brand campaign? To score a brand deal with them, you need to master the art of effective influencer outreach.

If your brand is new to Instagram, you might ask, “What is influencer outreach?” It’s pretty self-explanatory. This process refers to a brand’s effort to reach out to an influencer and invite them to a collaboration or partnership. It’s when you contact content creators to see if they’re interested in promoting your brand.

So, how does influencer outreach work? First, you need to do a lot of brainstorming and research on your marketing objectives and audience.

Define the goals of your campaign. Do you want to boost reach, engagement, or sales? Then, pin down your target audience. Are you talking to men or women? An older or younger audience? What are their interests and hobbies?

All of these factors are important for identifying potential influencers you want to contact. After all, the main purpose of working with an established creator is to reach a specific audience. It’s important that your target audience and the influencer’s fanbase align perfectly.

Then, it’s time to pick and choose which influencers you want to work with. Vet top creators by checking out their page. Is the content they put out up to your brand’s standards? Do they have a good reputation and relationship with their audience? Can they engage people and spark conversation through their content? If they tick those boxes, move to the next stage—contacting them to offer a paid partnership.

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What Medium Should You Use To Reach Out to Content Creators?

There are two common ways to reach out to an influencer and invite them to work with your brand. The first is by messaging them directly on Instagram. The second is shooting them an email. Let’s talk about each one, shall we?

First, let’s hone in on outreach via direct message. This method is awesome for initial outreach to see if the influencer is open to working with you. It’s more informal and casual, so it’s great for small brands and micro-influencers. Plus, you will likely get a response right away from them, especially if they’re always active on Instagram.

But DM-ing influencers to see if they want to become your brand ambassador doesn’t come without its cons. Many influencers get hundreds or thousands of messages from fans and other brands daily. There’s a significant chance that their inbox can drown out your message.

Now, let’s get to the second method—emailing them. Email is perfect for more formal correspondence. It’s fantastic for big brands working with celebrity-status influencers, who typically have a professional email address solely for brand partnerships.

Reaching out through email also lets you be more detailed in explaining your project. You can send numerous attachments, decks, and contracts to give the potential influencer more context for the campaign. And since emails come in threads, you’ll easily be able to track your conversations with these content creators.

But just like DMs, emailing creators also have some cons. Influencers love being on Instagram. That means they might not check their email inbox as much as their direct messages. You can expect slower responses when you reach out to influencers this way.

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An Influencer Outreach Email Example for Your Next Campaign

If you’ve decided to email influencers, it’s always smart to have a template ready. Influencer outreach email templates are great because they allow you to contact potential collaborators conveniently. Instead of drafting a new message whenever you seek an influencer out, use a template as your guide.

Do you need help drafting an engaging, effective template for influencer outreach? Don’t stress; we’ve got you. An influencer outreach email example will surely catch any content creator’s attention.

Subject: Exciting collaboration opportunity with [your brand name]! 🌟

Hey, [influencer’s name]!

This is [your name] from the [brand] team, and I’m reaching out with an amazing opportunity for you! We at [brand] love the content you put out on Instagram. We also see how much the fans genuinely love and interact with your posts!

We’re looking for potential brand ambassadors to represent our brand for an upcoming project. You’ve caught our eye because your branding and creative content are of the highest caliber! We think you’d be the perfect person to partner with for our new campaign called [project name].

The purpose of the project is simple. [Insert your brand’s goals and a brief explanation of the campaign]. This project means a lot to us, and an influencer campaign is a great way to make noise about it. We’d love to have you on board!

Let me know if you’re interested in learning more about the project. We’d love to jump on a call and take you through our campaign vision. That way, you can see if it speaks to you. We can iron out the details of the creative collaboration from there!

We are crossing our fingers that we get to work together soon! 🌟

Sincerely,

[your name]

[your position]

[your brand]

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Instagram Direct Message Template Options for Every Situation

Direct message templates should be more concise and less formal than influencer outreach templates for emails.

Make a good impression by leaving a potential influencer a short but sweet message expressing interest in collaborating. To create a more laid-back vibe, use emojis, too. Here’s an Instagram direct message template for reaching out to influencers:

“Hey, [name of influencer]! 👋 This is [your name] from [brand name]. The team and I love how you make your content! Would you be interested in working together for a campaign? We think you’d make the perfect brand ambassador! Let’s chat more about it soon if you’re up for it. 📩”

When an influencer features your brand’s products in their content, it creates an opening for you to reach out. It’s awesome because you already know that the creator loves your brand. That might mean they’re more open to collaborating. Here’s a template you can use for this:

“Hi, [influencer]! 😊 We love how you showcased [product] in your recent post. Your style is impeccable, and it matches with ours! Would you be interested in collaborating with us on a bigger project? 🌟”

You might find yourself in a situation where an influencer posts a bad review of your product. Instead of seeing it negatively, consider it an opportunity to do better through a care package or freebies. It can be an effective brand reputation management strategy to get them on your good side again. Here’s a DM template for that:

“Hi, [influencer]! Sorry to hear that you weren’t happy with your [product]. We’d love to make it up to you by sending you some products from our new collection. Hopefully, this time, you’ll find something you like! Let us know how we can send it your way! 🌟”

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So, You’ve Reached Out to an Influencer… What’s Next?

Collaborating with a potential brand ambassador doesn’t stop at outreach. After you send your email or DM to the content creator of your choice, what happens next? Here are some of the next steps to remember after inviting an influencer to work with you.

Be Patient While Waiting for Their Response

Remember to give potential influencers ample time to reply to your email or message. Content creators are constantly churning out post after post and engaging in other creative projects. Be patient and give them the time to look through your email and decide if they want to work together. You will appear very professional and thoughtful by giving them the time they need to consider the collab.

That said, sending a follow-up email is appropriate if enough time has passed since the initial outreach. Wait at least a week before sending another email asking if they’ve gotten a chance to think about the opportunity. Make sure your message is respectful and polite, not bossy or rushing them in any way.

Be as Detailed as You Can When Briefing Them on the Project

If an influencer responds that they’re interested in working on your campaign, set up a briefing. You can jump on a video call together to take them through the project details. You’re treating them like a true collaborator by giving them as much information about the campaign as possible. It makes them feel like they truly are part of the project.

Thoroughly discuss the products you want to promote, your brand’s key message, and the general vision for the campaign. Align the campaign’s target audience with them, too. That way, they’ll know how to curate their content to resonate with that demographic.

Align With Them on Deliverables and Compensation

You also need to be on the same page in terms of deliverables. Tell them about the scope of work and what you expect them to do as a brand ambassador. Make it very specific, detailing collaborative posts, the number of content pieces, publishing schedules, event attendance, and more.

Of course, you also need to negotiate what they get in return for promoting your brand. Most influencers have a specific fee in mind for their sponsored content. Aside from monetary payments, you can also include other compensation models. These include free products or a place in your brand’s affiliate programs where influencers can make money through sales commissions.

And when you’re aligned with the deliverables and compensation, make sure to sign an official contract to seal the deal. 

Provide the Assistance They Need When Making Branded Content

As a brand sponsor, you must provide assistance to your influencers when they’re producing branded content for your campaign. Give them everything they might find useful, such as product information, visual guidelines, and examples of content showcasing the brand. If they need any other kind of help during their creative process, have open lines of communication with them.

At the same time, make sure to give them the creative freedom they deserve as influencers. Don’t put them on a tight leash. Allow them to get their creative juices flowing to churn out the trendy, authentic, aesthetic content they’re known to create. Remember, you are collaborators—not an employer and employee. Treat them like the creative partner they are.

Track and Measure Their Content’s Performance

Assess your influencer’s content after the influencer campaign’s duration to see its effectiveness. Ask your brand influencer for the sponsored content’s insights and metrics to properly see your return on investment.

Some key metrics to watch out for include reach and engagement. Reach refers to the number of people who saw the post. High reach indicates that your brand was seen and discovered by a wide audience, which is awesome for brand awareness. Meanwhile, engagement refers to how much people interact with the post. Higher engagement rates mean the influencer successfully connected with the audience with your sponsored content.

Use these metrics and learnings to decide whether you’d like to work with the influencer again on future campaigns. You can also use them to tweak your content and messaging strategy next time around.

 

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Keep This Influencer Outreach Email Template Handy for Your Next Collab!

Keeping outreach email and direct message templates handy ensures you can reach out to potential influencers whenever and wherever. All you have to do is tweak it a little, depending on your project and the creator you’re speaking to. Then, hit send! A winning email template can help you connect with content creators who can promote your brand effectively.

But sometimes, having even the best influencer outreach email template isn’t enough to win over potential brand ambassadors. For many content creators, what matters most is getting to work with brands with a big, established customer base. By growing your brand’s Instagram page with Path Social, look more credible, so influencers are open to working with you!

Our AI-powered targeting algorithm promotes your businesses to ensure your content goes straight to your target audience’s feeds. By getting more eyeballs on your page, you can grow your fanbase fast and get engaged followers and potential customers. Start gaining more followers with our team’s help today!