Influencer marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their target audience. Micro-influencers particularly, are known for their highly-engaged following and niche-specific audience.
Once you’re able to find an influencer that aligns with your brand, working with them can be quite beneficial to your marketing and lead generation campaigns.
However, the success of an influencer marketing campaign hinges on one crucial element: the influencer outreach email. Crafting an effective outreach email can be the difference between gaining a valuable influencer partnership and being lost in the sea of unread messages.
Here, we’ve compiled six tips that will help you send an effective outreach email to influencers and subsequently boost your brand reputation.
Table of Contents
1. Research your influencers
Before you start sending an outreach email to influencers, invest time in thorough influencer research. You want to ensure that you’re working with the right influencer— which in this case is relevant to your brand and ideal audience.
Delve into the influencer’s content. Look through their blog posts and social media channels like Instagram, Twitter (X), or TikTok, to ensure that their niche aligns with what you want.
Confirm that the influencer’s messaging and style are a good fit for what you’re trying to communicate with your target audience.
For instance, Blue Canoe is an eco-friendly eCommerce fashion brand, so it made sense that they partnered with Instagram influencer @anettemarweld who is a fashion model.
Observe the influencer’s engagement rate and audience demographics on social media platforms. Consider metrics such as the influencers’ follower size. Go for influencers with an audience that’s similar to your ideal customers.
Also, the influencer you choose to work with should have a significant level of engagement on their platforms. Engagements here refer to likes, comments, shares, and similar metrics.
Additionally, look out for previous campaigns the influencer has been involved with to see if they match what your brand or product is all about.
Looking through Annette’s Instagram profile, you’ll notice that she’s had similar partnerships with other sustainable brands. Here’s one with True Botanicals, a sustainable makeup brand:
Knowing your potential partner inside out will not only enable you to tailor your email but also demonstrate a genuine interest in their work. Your research will serve as the foundation upon which you build a meaningful connection for your marketing campaign.
2. Craft a catchy subject line
Typically, you would expect that an influencer’s inbox is overflowing with dozens of emails. In this case, your subject line is your first impression. Make it count.
Create a subject line that piques curiosity and conveys the value of your email.
Avoid generic phrases and opt for something attention-grabbing. For instance, you can use a question. See this influencer email that was sent by SERPed.net:
Posing a question can pique your influencers’ curiosity and get them to open your email. So, “What do you think about promoting sustainable skin cake?” could potentially do better than “ Help me promote my skincare brand”
Also, when you choose to use a statement, make it something exciting. For instance, instead of “Collaboration opportunity,” try “Let’s create magic together.”
Avoid spammy subject lines with phrases like “click now” or “interesting offer”. These will only irritate the influencer or even cause email service providers to automatically send your email to the spam folder. So be cool, yet subtle.
Here’s another thing to note about crafting a unique subject line— don’t overthink it. It’s okay to keep it short and simple. If funny or quirky works with your brand image, try that.
Overall, your subject line has one goal: to entice the receiver to open the email. That’s what you should focus on.
3. Personalize your email
The days of sending a generic, one-size-fits-all outreach email to influencers are long gone. Personalization is key to capturing an influencer’s attention. Ensure to clean your email list before sending out emails to influencers.
In the SERPed example, you can see that they used the influencer’s first name. First, this makes it easier for the influencer to warm up to you. The email feels less robotic and more personal.
Some popular email marketing services allow you to configure your email so that it automatically delivers with the recipient’s first name. You can easily find it with the “first name” tag as seen in the example below:
Personalized emails go beyond addressing the influencer by their name.
Tailor your message like it was specially created for that particular influencer.
Provide them with some context as to why you reached out to them and why you believe they would be a good fit for your brand. It’s a good idea to mention specific content of theirs that resonated with you.
You could even include a link to your website with copy tailored specifically for them. For this, you just need to create a landing page with personalized variables like the influencer’s name. So, when they click on the link to know more about your company, their name in the copy will immediately catch their attention. You’ll leave a lasting impression on them for your efforts to personalize, increasing the likelihood of them responding to your email.
You should also close the email with your first name. And preferably, use a personalized email address. This seems more human than info@brandname.com. So, buy a domain that allows you to create a personalized email address for your brand’s outreach campaigns. You can even consider looking at influencer outreach examples for some inspiration on personalizing emails.
4. Be clear and concise
Outline your proposal or request succinctly, emphasizing the benefits. Doing this makes it easier for the influencer to scan through and get the main point of your entire message. Let’s look at this concise influencer outreach email template you can tweak for your brand:
You can also use bullet points or numbered lists to make the details of your influencer marketing campaign more digestible.
Based on our example, here’s a simple outline you could adapt for a clear and concise influencer outreach email:
- Greetings and brief introduction: Hi [Influencer’s Name], I’m [Your Name].
- Mention any common connection or context, if applicable. For instance, a recent social media post or blog you saw and liked. Give a genuine compliment.
- Clearly state the reason for the email.
- Benefits. Highlight what the influencer stands to gain by collaborating with you.
Then you can add a call to action, telling the influencer to respond to your email if they’re interested. Close the email by expressing your gratitude for their time and consideration. That’s all. No fluff or clutter.
A clutter-free email also leaves a positive impression. Shorter emails are also more persuasive and show that you have respect for the receiver’s time.
5. Showcase your value
Focus your outreach email on what the influencer stands to gain from entering into a business relationship with you. This doesn’t have to be money, and you would have already figured out what you can offer them in the research phase of the outreach process.
Benefits like increased engagement, exposure to a new audience, or access to exclusive products or content are good considerations. But whatever you’re offering, ensure that it’s something meaningful to the influencer.
In all, your email should show that the potential partnership will be a win-win collaboration. If you’re running a referral campaign to help you get more leads, be sure to mention this in your email.
You should also indicate what value your brand or product would generally offer to users. That is, your unique selling point. There’s a good chance that the influencer will be more interested in promoting a brand that offers something highly relevant and valuable to its customer base.
6. Speak their language
Each influencer has a unique tone and style. To resonate with them, adapt your email’s tone and language to match theirs. If they use humor in their content, infuse your email with a touch of humor. If they maintain a professional tone, keep your email formal and make sure to start a sentence properly. This alignment creates a sense of compatibility and increases the likelihood of a positive response and successful collaboration.
You can also take the long road which may have lasting benefits. This involves engaging with your potential influencer on social media before you send an outreach email. It’s all about nurturing a relationship with them, getting to know them, and eventually building trust. Along the line, you’ll also be able to discern the best way to relate with that particular influencer, making your email more likely to appeal to them.
Speaking of trust, you also want to ensure that your email is sent from a secure and credible domain. An email address that’s registered with your brand name would naturally look more credible than a random address.
For instance, if your brand name is Firmshoes. An email address like jess@firmshoes looks good and even more professional-looking. Remember, the goal is to connect with the influencer in a way that reveals you as a trustworthy and remarkable brand that they’d love to work with. So, every detail counts.
Track influencer marketing campaigns on Keyhole
Keyhole is an all-in-one social media analytics tool that provides valuable insights for monitoring your influencer campaign performance.
Track metrics such as reach, engagement, and hashtag usage to fine-tune your strategy and achieve better results with your campaign. Plus, you can also track all your partner influencers without authenticating their profile under Account Watchlist in the Listening & Campaign tab.
Wrapping up
Influencer outreach emails are the gateway to building meaningful partnerships and getting the attention of influencers who can showcase your brand to a wider audience. That’s why you must ensure that you craft emails that they’re more likely to open, read, and respond to.
We’ve looked at six helpful tips for creating and sending powerful outreach emails to influencers. They include researching the influencer, crafting compelling subject lines, personalizing your message, sending concise emails, showcasing your value, and being relatable to the influencer.
With these tips, you’ll be able to ensure better response rates for your outreach emails. Remember, speaking their language and maintaining clarity are equally crucial.
Now, you can go a step beyond and use Keyhole by cross-checking influencers with authentic engagement, tracking them once onboarded, and ongoing campaigns in one place. So go ahead and foster successful influencer collaborations. Good luck!
Author Bio
Meet Michal Leszczynski, Head of Content Marketing and Partnerships at GetResponse. With 10+ years of experience, Michal is a seasoned expert in all things online marketing. He’s a prolific writer, skilled webinar host, and engaging public speaker. Outside of business hours, Michal shares his wealth of knowledge as an Email Marketing lecturer at Kozminski University in Warsaw. You can reach out and connect with Michal on LinkedIn.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do you write an influencer outreach email?
To write an effective influencer outreach email, start by introducing yourself and your brand. Then explain why you are reaching out to the influencer. Clearly state your brand’s value and the benefits the influencer would gain from collaborating with you. This could be a discount, exposure, or a free product from your store. Make sure it’s something the influencer would love. Keep the email concise and personalized.
2. How do you write a good subject line for an influencer outreach email?
To write a good subject line for your influencer outreach email, go so something attention-grabbing and concise. This could be a question to spark curiosity or a powerful statement like “Let’s make magic” to provoke interest. Avoid using clickbait or misleading subject lines that can harm your credibility. Keep it simple and sweet.
3. Why is an influencer outreach email important?
An influencer outreach email is important because it can help you establish a relationship with influencers and leverage their audience to promote your brand or product.