Marketers should start by identifying influencers whose audience matches their target customers, then reach out through the creator’s preferred contact method with a simple and focused message. From there, they can share the campaign idea, exchange key details like timelines and deliverables, discuss compensation, and move negotiations to email so everything stays organized. Once both sides agree on scope and rates, the final step is to confirm the collaboration through a clear brief and a written agreement.
Knowing the steps makes the whole process feel a lot more manageable. When you have a plan, you’re not trying to figure things out in the middle of a conversation or wondering what you should do next. It helps you keep track of timelines, understand what information you need, and handle multiple creators without feeling all over the place. A clear flow keeps things calm and organized, which makes outreach and negotiation much easier to handle.
“Good negotiations start long before you talk about the fee. If you’ve done your segmentation, you know the audience match, and you walk in with a realistic scope, the money part becomes a lot less dramatic. Problems appear when marketers try to fix unclear strategy with aggressive negotiation, which never works long term.” — Anna Komok, CMO at HypeAuditor
The complete flow you can follow
1. Get your basics straight first
Before you even touch outreach, decide what you actually want: what product or service you’re pushing, what kind of content you’re looking for (Reels, YouTube, TikTok, Stories, etc.), rough timing, and a budget range per creator.
2. Shortlist influencers using data
Look at audience country, age, interests, and engagement instead of solely paying attention to follower count. Use platform insights or an influencer tool to see if their audience overlaps with your target customers. Make a simple sheet with: handle, platform, niche, audience notes, contact, and link to their media kit if they have one.
3. Check how they usually work with brands
Scroll their recent posts and see what kind of sponsorships they already do. Are they doing deep, story-led integrations or quick shout-outs? Do they tend to work with your category? This helps you approach them with something that makes sense instead of a random idea.
4. Reach out through the contact they actually use
Use the email or manager contact in their bio if it’s there. If not, a short DM is fine. Your first message only needs three things: who you are, what you’d like to explore, and what the next step is. For instance:
“Hi [Name], I work with [Brand]. We’d love to talk about a collaboration around [product / theme] because [specific reason they’re a good match]. Can I send you a short brief and hear your rates?”
5. Move the conversation to email and share a simple brief
Once they respond, keep everything on email so it doesn’t get lost. Send a short brief with: campaign idea, what you’d like them to create, timing, any must-include messages, and how you plan to use the content. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to answer “what do you want from me?” in one read.
6. Ask for their rates or proposal first
Instead of guessing what to offer, ask for their rate card or a quote for that specific scope as a starting point. If their fee is above your budget, you at least know the gap and can adjust the scope instead of lowballing blindly.
7. Negotiate the scope, not just the price
If the number is too high, reduce the number of deliverables, shorten the usage period, or drop extras like whitelisting or heavy edits. It’s much better to say “Our budget works for one Reel and one Story set” than to push hard on price for a big package.
“There is no rule of thumb here. You have to decide what would be a reasonable rate for the promotion. Negotiate too low and you will risk not getting any responses after that. I usually do this- If the influencer asks for $200 then I would ask for $125-$140. If $500 I would go for $350. If they are solid on their price, you might want to increase the deliverables, how about we do 5 stories instead of 3 or you get me a link in bio for 7 days. Use your logic and make the deal.” — from r/ecommerce
8. Confirm everything in writing
Before anyone starts creating, recap the agreement in one document or email that contains content types, deadlines, approval process, what you’re allowed to do with the content (and for how long), payment amount, and payment terms. This is where a lot of misunderstandings are avoided.
9. Keep your side organized
Track who you contacted, who replied, what stage they’re in, and agreed fees in a simple spreadsheet or tool. This sounds basic, but when you handle more than a few creators, it’s the only way to make sure nothing becomes hard to track later.
Pro tip: If you’d rather keep everything in one place, you can use an influencer marketing platform like HypeAuditor to handle outreach. It helps you send personalized emails, manage conversations, and keep track of who’s at which stage without having to build your own sheets from scratch.
What to keep in mind
When you reach out to an influencer, it helps to show that you actually know who you’re talking to by mentioning something that shows you’re familiar with their style. It doesn’t need to be deep, but just enough for them to see you’re not sending the same message to a hundred people.
How you handle the negotiation itself matters just as much. Try to come in with a sense of market rates for their size and platform so you’re not asking for discounts that can come as disrespectful and avoid the feeling that you’re undermining their work.
For deals that involve more content or have a few details to sort out, offering a short call can make everything easier. Some creators prefer to stick to email, but many appreciate being able to talk things through quickly. A five-minute chat often clears up questions that would take ten messages to explain, and it helps both sides understand each other a bit better before getting started.
