How To Conduct Effective Influencer Outreach (2024)

Sometimes influencer marketing happens organically. For instance, shortly after siblings Ali and Marvin Cavaillé launched maternity clothing brand Tajinebanane, a micro-influencer in the maternity education space posted about a product she’d ordered.

Recognizing the potential of this type of coverage, the Tajinebanane team started sending products to maternity and breastfeeding influencers, and Marvin credits their success to the fact that the company didn’t ask for anything in return. “If you send a gift, then it’s a gift,” he says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “It’s this relationship we have with them. They repost because they accept the gesture.” This outreach approach resulted in a deeper connection with Tajinebanane’s target audience.

Here’s how you, too, can find the right influencers for your company and build solid relationships that drive business growth.

What is influencer outreach?

Influencer outreach is the process of identifying potential influencer partners and reaching out to them on behalf of your brand. Your influencer marketing strategy hinges on your ability to find the right influencers and build relationships that set you up for ongoing collaboration.

Find influencers to drive sales with Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs makes it easy to partner with creators, promote your products, reach new customers, grow your sales, and track affiliate performance, all from Shopify admin.

Discover Shopify Collabs

A strategic outreach process is critical for developing relationships with influencers who are popular with your ideal target audiences. Here are best practices to help you run a successful influencer outreach campaign:

1. Plan your campaign

Start by outlining your influencer marketing campaigns.

Define your target audience: Your target audience for influencer marketing could be your business’s general target audience, a subset of that audience that’s particularly active on social platforms, or a group you’re struggling to reach through other methods.

Set campaign goals: Set goals for your campaign, such as raising brand awareness, increasing conversion rates, or boosting traffic to your site.

Identify key performance indicators: Choose KPIs that correspond with your campaign goals. You might target a 20% increase in website traffic or a 10% increase in social conversions, for instance.

Determine your budget: Set a budget for your influencer marketing activities. Budget parameters help you choose influencers to target and how many relationships to build. Influencer rates vary, so if you’re not sure how much to allocate, consider starting small and scaling up over time.

2. Find influencers

Influencer discovery is the process of identifying relevant influencers, and it’s essential to building an effective influencer outreach strategy. Here are just a few ways to ensure you find the right influencers:

Run hashtag searches. Search for relevant hashtags on social media platforms to find influencers in your niche. A skin care brand might search for the hashtag #beautytips on Instagram, for example.

Research competitors. You can also use competitor research to identify popular influencers. Locate a competitor’s Instagram profile and select the “Tagged” tab to find influencer marketing posts for that brand.

Use a search engine. Search engines can help you locate top influencers in your niche. Use search queries like “dressage influencers” or “knitting influencers.” If top influencers aren’t a fit, you can also scan their posts for hashtags and use those to locate emerging influencers creating similar content.

Be open to changing your influencer outreach strategies over time. For example, a meal subscription service might initially target Instagram influencers but then unearth a promising YouTuber or food blogger during the research phase.

3. Narrow down your options

Before you reach out to a potential partner, take note of follower count. Here’s a breakdown of tiers:

Nano influencers: 1,000–10,000 followers

Micro-influencers: 10,000–100,000 followers

Mid-tier influencers: 100,000–500,000 followers

Macro-influencers: 500,000–1 million followers

Mega-influencers or celebrity influencers: More than 1 million followers

You can use follower counts to estimate your price range and focus your outreach campaigns on influencers likely to fit within your budget. The more followers an influencer has, the more that influencer is likely to charge. Celebrity influencers can charge thousands of dollars per post, so it’s worth starting out with micro- or nano influencers who are closely aligned with your target audience.

4. Personalize outreach

Once you’ve identified a potential partner, spend time with their content and take notes on alignment with your brand. When you’re ready to reach out, customize your influencer outreach template to include why you think this influencer is a fit.

If the influencer provides an email address, send an inquiry there first. If they don’t, try sending an outreach message via direct message on the influencer’s social media platform of choice. They may get a lot of messages, so aim to catch the influencer’s interest with upfront language like “brand ambassadorship inquiry.” Send a follow-up message if you haven’t heard back within a week.

5. Use an influencer marketing platform

Influencer marketing platforms can also help you connect with partners. Many publish influencers’ preferred contact address and include influencer outreach tools, like in-platform messaging or influencer outreach email templates. Some platforms even provide influencer outreach services: You’ll write a campaign brief or discuss your needs with an account manager, and the platform will connect you with partners who meet your needs.

6. Discuss usage and exclusivity

Decide if you want the right to repurpose influencer content on your own channels and whether you’ll ask partners to refrain from representing your competitors for the duration of your contract. Then discuss both with potential partners and specify terms in your influencer marketing agreement.

7. Build influencer relationships

Effective influencer partnerships require a strong connection, so focus on building relationships with influencers. Here are three relationship-building strategies to try:

1. Engage with social content. You can get on an influencer’s radar—and build goodwill—by using your brand account to engage with their social media content.

2. Give authentic compliments. Include what you admire about an influencer’s content or brand presence in your outreach, and be specific. “I love how you focus on the joy of sport by highlighting athletes of all skill levels” is better than “I love how positive your content is.”

3. Let influencers drive strategy. Get influencers involved by acknowledging their expertise and taking what they say to heart about running successful campaigns. Share your goals, and let them set creative direction.

How to write an influencer outreach email

Include key information
Create customizable templates
Follow up

You can save time and improve results by standardizing your outreach email process and following a few essential steps:

1. Include key information

Effective influencer outreach emails aren’t generic, but they do follow a consistent format. You should include:

Identifying information. Include your name and the name of your company.

Brand alignment. Specify why you think the influencer is a good fit for your brand.

Your ask. Clarify what you’d like the influencer to do, such as review a product or form a long-term partnership with your brand.

Relevant details. Include details relevant to your request and specific needs. You might include compensation details, response deadlines, or an address request for sample delivery.

Contact information. Include your contact phone number and a link to your company website. If you’re reaching out via DM, include your email address too.

2. Create customizable templates

Streamline outreach by creating a range of influencer outreach templates for different request types. Just make sure to personalize them for whichever influencer you reach out to. Here’s a brand ambassadorship outreach email template, for example:

Email subject line: Paid Collaboration Inquiry from Barbecue Babes

Hi [Influencer name],

I’m Anna Sui, the founder and co-owner of Barbecue Babes. I follow you on [channel], and I’m a huge fan of [specific content type].

[Paragraph highlighting brand alignment]

I’m reaching out to gauge your interest in a long-term collaboration with our brand. If you’re interested, I’d love to send you some of our handmade pit tools and small-batch sauces to try out.

Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? Excited to hear your thoughts!

Anna

3. Follow up

Send a brief follow-up email a week after your original outreach to bump your inquiry to the top of the influencer’s inbox and give them a second chance to respond. Try something like this:

Hi [Influencer],

Just following up on my note about a paid partnership with [your brand].

I’d love to hear your thoughts on working together—and please feel free to reach out with questions!

Looking forward to connecting,

[Your name]

Influencer outreach FAQ

Is emailing or direct messaging more effective for influencer outreach?

The best form of outreach depends on the influencer. Companies typically try email first and move to DM if they don’t receive an email response.

How much does influencer outreach cost?

DIY influencer outreach takes time, but you don’t have to spend a cent to find an influencer on a social platform and reach out to them with a partnership proposal. Influencer marketing platform costs vary but typically start at several hundred dollars a month.

How do you write an influencer outreach email?

Here’s what to include in an influencer outreach email:

Your name and the name of your company
Why the influencer is a good fit for your brand
What you’d like the influencer to do
Budget and response details
Your contact phone number, email, and a link to your company website