How to Reach Out to Influencers: A 5-Step Guide [Plus 3 Templates]

Table of Contents

• What is An Influencer Outreach Program?
• Why is Influencer Outreach Important?
• 5 Steps to Build an Influencer Outreach Strategy
• 3 Influencer Reach Out Templates

Social media has significantly evolved in the last few years, allowing influencer marketing to fluctuate upward. And so, from multi-million dollar MNCs such as Google and Adidas to homegrown local brands, the digital marketing trend is now heavily reliant on influencer marketing. 

So, if you are a marketer who has decided to explore influencer outreach, kudos to you. This blog tells you everything that will get you started with crafting your first influencer outreach program.

What is an Influencer Outreach Program?

Influencers are personalities with a large fanbase on social media. And they have the power of affecting purchase decisions among their audience by recommending or endorsing products. This, in turn, brings brand visibility and allows it to tap into a new market of interested users.

For example, Prajakta Koli is an Indian Youtuber with an Instagram follower base of over 5 million. This image shows a collaboration between Prajakta and Oven Story, a pizza chain with outlets across India. The reel, in which she promoted their pizzas under a paid partnership, has crossed 1.5m views, thus bringing heavy visibility to Oven Story.

Source

So, influencer marketing is when you rope in an influencer to promote your brand, campaign, or anything in between. And the process of developing a reliable influencer database, maintaining relationships with them, and initiating brand collaborations is called influencer outreach strategy.

How Important is Influencer Outreach?

According to a survey performed by BigCommerce, influencer marketing has been seeing a multifold rise over the last five years. In 2020, it increased by 65%, with companies starting to invest millions of dollars in their influencer outreach strategy.

This finds roots in the changing consumer trends. A survey by Oberlo states that 80% of consumers purchase after seeing the product recommended by an influencer. 

Source

Furthermore, conventional ads can now be easily blocked or skipped, making them non-reliable marketing spend. Whereas influencers help build trust for your brand by endorsing them. 

As we can see, the benefits of influencer outreach are many, and the world of marketing is only expecting a rise in the field. This influencer outreach guide prepares you for excelling in your brand’s influencer marketing tactics. Let’s begin with a step-by-step guide on building an influencer outreach program, which will help you with how to reach out to influencers. 

5 Steps to Build an Influencer Outreach Strategy

• Step 1: Create an influencer marketing strategy

Before wondering who could endorse your brand, address the most critical part of your influencer outreach campaign. The first step is to create an influencer marketing strategy that resonates with your brand’s marketing campaigns. While creating a system, ask questions such as: 

• What kind of an audience do I wish to target?
• What do I want to achieve through this influencer outreach campaign?
• How many conversions/followers do I need for this campaign to succeed?

Source

Once you have an idea of these questions, finding and reaching out to influencers will become easier. In addition, you can hire a content marketer to plan an effective influencer marketing strategy for your brand campaigns if needed.

• Step 2: Find the right influencers for your brand.

Select individuals whose audience matches your target audience. Say you are a fitness brand. Then you must go for influencers who are athletes or celebrities in fitness. Cult.fit, a rising club for workouts, is endorsed by Hrithik Roshan, who recently launched his line of fitness wear and workout regimes.

Source

When you shortlist creators for your influencer outreach, start by checking their engagement rates. Use an online tool to analyze how loyal their fanbase is or get a rough estimate by the number of likes, comments, and views compared to the number of followers on their profile. 

• Step 3: Ideate a pitch for influencer outreach

Once you have a list of influencers, work on pitch-writing ideas. This will determine how you can reach out to influencers. Your pitch to the influencer should be friendly and professional. It should address the idea and be broad enough to involve their ideas in the collaboration. 

Begin by deciding the capacity you wish to onboard them in—are they going to be a brand ambassador, or is this a one-off influencer marketing gig? Once you have decided how to reach out to the influencers, send them a pitch and mention a deadline to create urgency for your influencer outreach program.

• Step 4: Connect with the influencers socially. 

When an influencer receives your pitch, they are likely to do their research by visiting your social profiles. You can make their experience more inviting by following them in advance and engaging with their content.

• Step 5: Build a relationship for better influencer outreach

Once you have connected with an influencer, pitched them, and worked on a successful influencer outreach program, the wholesome part comes next. Building a relationship with the influencer is vital to being open to future partnerships. It may also reap other benefits like increasing your influencer outreach or creating a more loyal consumer base for your brand simply because of the long-time association.

Source

3 Influencer Reach Out Templates

Template 1

A sample for sending an Instagram DM to Instagram influencers.

Hey {first name},

I hope you’re doing well. I am {your first name}, {your designation} at {your brand’s name}. I admire your work in the field of {your industry} and have been following your journey for over {a period} now.

I am reaching out to explore a collaboration opportunity between you and {your brand’s name}. I believe that you are the perfect fit for our {mention product/collection/anything else they shall be endorsing}, and we at {your brand’s name} would love for you to endorse it to your audience.

I am happy to discuss charges and deliverables for this potential partnership further on call or by email. So you can reach out to me on {your number} or write to me at {your email ID}. Alternatively, please suggest the best way to take this forward.

Thank you,

{your name}, team {your brand’s name}

Template 2

A sample email for a barter collaboration with a micro-influencer for your influencer outreach program.

Subject: {Name}, free {product} samples for you from {your brand name}

Dear {first name},

Hello from {your brand’s name}. We are a {description of your brand, for example, “homegrown clothing brand that believes in slow fashion}.

We love what you do on {the name of the social media platform, for example, Linkedin, Youtube, Instagram, and so on}. So, we would like to treat you to one of our {products, in this case, garments} in return for a shoutout on your {Instagram profile/Youtube channel/Tiktok/etc.}.

For your reference, here is a link to our {online store/website/services} for you to take a look at and pick something you like- {link}

We’re happy to discuss this further via email or call.

Sending thanks and love,

Team {brand name}

Template 3

A sample email pitch for onboarding an influencer as your brand ambassador through influencer outreach.

Subject: {Name}, become a brand ambassador for {your brand’s name}

Hey {first name},

I am {your name, brand name, and designation}.

It has indeed been a delight to watch you grow and succeed over the last few {months/years}. It is a fact that at {brand’s name}, we are always looking for individuals who show the same spirit, passion, and love towards {industry name} as we do.

We would hence like to consider a more profound association between you and {your brand’s name}. We believe that your ambassadorship could not only bring glory to the brand but would also inspire {hundreds/thousands/millions} of our followers to {your brand’s motto}.

If you are interested in becoming a {your brand’s name} ambassador, I am happy to schedule a call some time this week to discuss the collaboration further with you. 

Looking forward to an exciting partnership,

{your name}

{your designation} at {your brand’s name}

Tip: If you are carrying out your influencer outreach via email, you can use a tool like OutreachPlus to track the response. It indicates your influencer outreach efforts’ rate of opens, clickthroughs, and replies.

Source

In Summary

With the tips and tricks we shared in this influencer outreach guide, you will have learned how to reach out to an influencer, build a rapport with them, and eventually get the required results from interacting with them. Refer to our frequently asked questions for more insight into influencer collaborations and influencer outreach strategies. 

Key Takeaways 

• Start your influencer outreach strategy by building a database of influencers you would like to collaborate with today and in the future. Keep building this database over time, and you will have a strong community of consumers and potential consumers with you.
• The core of your influencer outreach is the pitch you write to them. Ensure you use the correct tone and the bonus template we have provided if required.
• Once your influencer outreach program is executed, focus on analyzing the results. Measure the number of conversions, growth of your social profile, and any other metric in your target list while making the program. 

Source

FAQs