How to pitch brands as a micro-influencer

Before you pitch: three things to have ready

1. A media kit at a link. Your audience, your best content, and your rates in one place, so the brand can check you out without asking. Here's what to put in a micro-influencer media kit.
2. Your numbers, honestly. Followers, average views, and your engagement rate. Brands check, so round down, not up.
3. A rate for one deliverable. Know what you charge for a single Reel or TikTok before anyone asks. If you don't have a number yet, start with how much micro-influencers charge or the rate calculator.

Which brands to pitch

The best first pitches go to brands that already make sense on your page. Make a list of 15–20 and work through it, a few a week. Good signs a brand is worth pitching:

• You already use it. You can talk about it on camera without a script, and you have something specific to say in the pitch.
• It's your size. Independent and growing brands usually have a founder or a small team reading their own inbox. Big brands mostly book creators through agencies.
• They already work with creators. Check their tagged posts. If creators your size have posted for them, they have a reason to say yes.
• Your audience can buy it. A brand that only ships in one country needs creators whose followers live there.
• Timing. A new product, a seasonal moment or a fresh store opening gives your pitch a reason to exist right now.

Where to send it

Look for a partnerships, PR or marketing email on the brand's website (footer, contact page, or a "creators" or "ambassadors" page) and in their Instagram or TikTok bio. Some brands have an application form for creators — use it if they do, then follow up by email. For small brands, a DM to the brand account often reaches the founder directly. Avoid the customer-service address; it rarely reaches anyone who books content.

What a good pitch includes

The part most pitches skip is the idea. "I'd love to collaborate" makes the brand do the thinking. "A 30-second TikTok of my real Sunday meal prep using your sauces" gives them something to say yes to, and shows you know their product.

Pitch templates you can copy

Fill in every bracket — a template with a brand's name swapped in reads like one. The specific line about why you like their product is the one that gets read.

Mistakes that get pitches ignored

• Copy-paste to fifty brands. Ten personal pitches beat fifty generic ones.
• Asking "what's your budget?" first. Propose something, and let your media kit show the price.
• Leading with followers. Lead with who your audience is and why they'd care.
• Attachments only. A link opens on a phone; a large PDF often doesn't get opened at all.
• Inflated numbers. Brands can see your public posts. One mismatch ends the conversation.
• Following up every two days. One follow-up, then move on.

When they reply

If they offer free product instead of a fee, decide whether it's worth it for you — our guide to gifted vs paid collaborations has replies for both cases. If they say yes to a paid deal, confirm in writing: the deliverables, deadline, number of revisions, the fee and when it's paid, and what the brand may do with your content afterwards. Have a professional look at any contract terms you don't understand.

Whatever you agree, disclose it. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers tells US creators to disclose any financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand — free products included — and says that making the disclosure is the influencer's responsibility. Creators outside the US should check their own regulator.

Keep a simple pitch log

A note or spreadsheet is enough: brand, contact, date sent, idea, follow-up date, reply. After a month you'll see which kinds of brands answer and which ideas land, and you won't pitch the same person twice by accident. When a brand says "not right now", write down when to try again.

Frequently asked