Influencer marketing is on the rise, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Nearly two-thirds of marketers will spend more money on influencer marketing in 2019, and 17% of companies will spend half of their marketing budget on influencer marketing campaigns. According to Neil Patel, most marketers will achieve an ROI of $23 for every $1 they spend on influencer marketing, so it’s easy to see why companies are investing more money in influencer marketing strategies.
However, 61% of marketers think it’s difficult to find the right influencer for their marketing campaigns. Thus, when you find the right influencer for your marketing campaign, you need to have an effective outreach email strategy for connecting with your ideal influencer and convincing them to work with your company.
What does an effective influencer outreach email look like?
The primary objective of your first email should be to start a conversation. There’s a good chance that the influencer you’re reaching out to is being contacted by other companies, and they’re getting multiple emails every day. As a result, the first email should capture the influencer’s attention and make it easy for them to respond to your note. To maximize the chance that your email will get a response, it should be concise, relevant, scannable, and include a clear call to action.
Here’s an example from Aaron Agius, director of Louder Online, and it was shared in Entrepreneur:
Hi [name],
My name is [your name] from [company]. I’ve been following your blog since 2013. Your recent post [blog topic] really resonated with me. I thought it was something my audience would appreciate, so I shared it with my social media and email subscribers.
I wanted to get in touch with you to discuss [topic] further and see if we can work on something similar together. If you’re interested, we can set up a phone call this week to discuss starting a collaboration that would bring value to both our audiences.
Best, [your name]
Aaron’s email is short, easy to read, clearly states why Aaron is reaching out to the influencer and includes a clear call to action at the end of the note.
How to write an effective email subject line?
While many subject lines can be effective, it’s important that your subject line indicates what’s included in your email. Misleading subject lines might get high open rates, which will annoy your target audience and negatively impact your conversion rates. You should always avoid spammy subject lines like “Open Now,” “Act Fast,” or “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity.” Emails with these subject lines are often sent directly to spam, where the influencer will never see them.
Try not to spend too much time writing your subject lines. In fact, simple, clear subject lines can get high response rates. For example, NinjaOutreach achieved an 87.5% reply rate by using “I’d love to feature you in my post!” as their subject line, and they achieved an 81.8% reply rate from “Headline [Guest Post].” As you can see, NinjaOutreach’s subject lines are simple, but they yielded great results.
Should I follow up after my first email?
Even if you have a perfect first email, it can be difficult to get a reply. Influencers are busy, and sometimes, they may forget about your email before they have a chance to respond. Plus, it can get buried in their inbox amongst the dozens of other emails they receive daily. While you don’t want to pester anyone with too many emails, one or two follow-up emails can remind them of your initial note without being annoying.
David at Mention achieved a 53% reply rate with this follow-up email:
Hi [name]!
I’m [your name] from [company]. I sent you an email last week about [project] that I think could be beneficial for us to partner up on. I’ve come across your work on various occasions and really enjoyed [a project of theirs you enjoyed].
I thought you’d be interested in working on this project because [reasons]. If you’re interested, I’d love to get your take on the project and figure out how we can make it beneficial for both parties.
Let me know if you’re interested in working something out. It’d be great to get on a call on [day] or [day] this week at noon!
Just for reference here are some projects I’ve worked on – just to let you know I follow through and am serious about making this work: [links to projects]
Best,
[your name]
Every influencer has a different schedule, so it’s important to wait a few days before sending your follow-up email. They may be busy on the day you first reach out, but if you wait a few days before sending them another email, you might catch them on a day when they are less busy.
In addition, some influencers may respond to emails at different times of the day than others. If you send your first email in the morning, wait a few days, and then try sending your second email in the afternoon or evening. This maximizes the chance you will catch the influencer at an ideal time.
You can try sending them a third email after a few weeks, but if they don’t respond after three emails, you can assume they’re not interested in collaborating with your company.
Your third email could look something like this:
Hi [name]!
I wanted to check in one last time and make sure you don’t miss out on [influencer marketing opportunity].
If you’re not interested, no worries, but I would appreciate it if you could let me know!
Thank you,
[your name]
While getting the influencer to partner with you is the main objective, any kind of response is better than silence. If you can get them to respond to your email and tell you why they’re not interested, you’ll be better equipped to reach out to them about other opportunities in the future.
Why should an influencer work with your company?
Before reaching out to an influencer, you should have a good reason for why they should collaborate with you. Your relationship with an influencer should be mutually beneficial, and your outreach emails should reflect this.
Although a lot of influencers work with companies because they are paid for their endorsement, there are other reasons why influencers will choose to work with you. For example, you can send influencers your product and ask them to write a review. They’ll get something for free, and in return, their followers will learn about your product. Also, if your blog gets a lot of traffic, it can be beneficial for an expert to write a guest post on your site. You’ll get content from a respected expert in their field, and they’ll get their work posted on a site with a large audience.
Should I be testing my emails?
You should always be testing your influencer outreach emails. You’ll have assumptions about ideal influencers and the things that will resonate with them, but unless you test your hypotheses, you won’t be able to make data-driven changes to your campaigns.
When you begin analyzing email metrics, you should start by looking at open rates. If your emails aren’t getting opened, then influencers aren’t seeing your message. Consequently, you should make sure that you have good open rates on your emails before looking at other metrics. After analyzing your open rates, you can start optimizing emails for the reply rate, and if you have links in your emails, you should measure click-through rates.
The best way to test the messaging in your campaigns is with A/B tests. You can A/B test subject lines and see which subject line gets a higher open rate. Additionally, you can create two versions of the copy within your emails and see which version results in a higher reply rate.
It’s important to understand that you won’t see huge improvements from your A/B tests immediately, and most of your tests will result in small improvements. However, over time, testing can increase the effectiveness of your campaigns and the ROI of your influencer marketing strategy.
What’s Next?
Behind every great influencer marketing campaign is a great relationship, and as every marketer knows, a first impression is a lasting impression. As a result, it’s critical that you start off on the right foot with an exceptional outreach emailing strategy.
Learn more about influencer marketing: Influencer Marketing 101
