How to actually find brands to work with
A media kit gives brands something great to look at once they find you — but most creators are still sitting back and waiting to be discovered. The creators earning steady sponsorship income are the ones treating this like a system: building a list, reaching out consistently, and getting better each round. This is that system, step by step.
Build your target list — don't start with brands you just admire
The mistake most people make is pitching brands they personally love, with no evidence their audience actually cares. A stronger list comes from two places:
What your audience already reacts to
Scroll back through your comments and DMs. What products come up unprompted? What do people ask where you got something? What do they say they went and bought after seeing your content? Write down every brand or product category that comes up more than once — that's your starting list.
Who's already sponsoring creators your size
Find 5-10 creators in your niche who are roughly your size — not massive names, actual peers. Check their recent posts for #ad or #sponsored tags and note every brand. These brands have already proven they'll pay creators at your scale, which makes them far better targets than a cold guess.
Aim for a list of 20-30 brands before you start reaching out. That sounds like a lot, but expect only a handful to reply at all — volume is part of the system, not a sign you're doing something wrong.
Find the right person to actually email
A pitch sent to a generic "info@" inbox almost never gets read. A few ways to find a real contact:
- •Check the brand's Instagram or TikTok bio — many list a partnerships or marketing email directly
- •Search LinkedIn for "[Brand name] marketing manager" or "influencer marketing" — smaller brands often have one or two people running this entirely
- •Ask peer creators who've already worked with the brand who they dealt with — most creators are happy to share this
- •As a fallback, a general inbox with "Sponsorship inquiry — [your niche] creator" as the subject line still gets read more often than a vague one
Send a pitch that's specific, not generic
Keep it short. A brand marketer reads dozens of these — the ones that get replies are specific, not flattering. Here's a template you can adapt:
Notice what's missing: no follower count in the subject line, no "I'd love to collaborate!" with nothing specific behind it. The specific detail is what signals you actually looked at their brand rather than mass-emailing 200 companies the same message.
Check the built-in marketplaces too
Alongside direct outreach, most platforms run their own creator-brand matching tools. Worth checking regularly, not just once:
- •TikTok — Creator Marketplace, in the Creator Fund menu
- •Instagram — Partnership opportunities under the Partner section of professional accounts
- •YouTube — BrandConnect, for eligible channels
These tend to move slower than direct outreach and have more competition, so treat them as a supplement, not your main strategy.
Make your profile invite inbound too
Some deals will still come to you — but only if it's obvious you're open to them. Add a line like "Brand partnerships" or "Sponsorships: [email]" to your platform bios, and link your media kit directly. A brand scrolling your profile shouldn't have to hunt for how to reach you or what you charge.
Track every outreach, and follow up once
Keep a simple spreadsheet: brand, contact, date sent, status. If you haven't heard back after 7-10 days, one short, polite follow-up is normal and expected — inboxes are busy, not necessarily uninterested. After one follow-up with no response, move on. Chasing further rarely helps.
Mistakes that quietly kill a pitch
- ✕Leading with follower count instead of audience fit — brands increasingly weigh engagement over raw size
- ✕Sending the exact same email to 50 brands with just the name swapped — it reads as mass-blasted, and it usually is
- ✕Linking a media kit that's months out of date — update your stats before a big outreach push, not after
- ✕Inflating numbers — brands increasingly cross-check, and it costs trust the moment it's noticed
- ✕Giving up after one round — most creators' first deal takes multiple weeks and dozens of emails, not one lucky reply
WHAT TO REALISTICALLY EXPECT
If you're pitching for the first time, expect your first paid deal to take somewhere between a few weeks and a couple of months of consistent outreach — not because your content isn't good enough, but because this genuinely takes volume and repetition to work. Most creators say the second deal comes noticeably faster than the first, once you've got a template and a process that works.
Have your media kit ready before you start
Every outreach email should link somewhere brands can see your stats, audience, and rates in one place — not a PDF from six months ago.
Go to your media kit