How to Pitch Brands as a Small Creator
To pitch brands as a small creator, pick brands your audience already uses, find the one person who runs creator partnerships, and send a short email that leads with what your audience gets out of it, not your follower count. Include one specific content idea, two or three numbers that prove people watch you, and a link to your media kit. Then follow up once or twice and move on.
Small creators get deals by being specific and easy to say yes to. You don't need a big audience. You need a clear fit and a pitch the brand can act on in under a minute.
Here's the full process.
Step 1: Decide what you're actually offering
Before you write anything, know what you'd deliver. "Let's work together" isn't an offer. Brands want to picture the finished content.
Write down:
- The format. A 60-second YouTube integration, a dedicated video, a Reel, a TikTok, a set of Stories.
- Where it lives. Your channel only, or also licensed to the brand for its own use (that's usage rights, and it's priced separately).
- Your typical results. Median views on that format over your last 10 to 20 posts, not your best one.
- A ballpark price. You don't have to put it in the first email, but you need to know it before they ask. See how much to charge for a brand deal, or run the deal through STAKD's PricePoint calculator to get a suggested range from your platform stats.
If you've never done a paid deal, it's fine to start with a smaller package. It's not fine to have no idea what you'd charge.
Step 2: Pick brands that already fit
The best first pitches go to brands that make sense on your channel without explanation. Good sources:
- Products you already use and show on camera. You have proof you like them, and often old footage of you using them.
- Brands your audience asks about. Check your comments. "What saw is that?" is a pitch lead.
- Brands sponsoring creators near your size in your niche. If a brand is already paying creators like you, it has a budget and a process.
- Smaller and mid-size companies. A company with a two-person marketing team is often more open to small creators than a household name with an agency gatekeeping every deal.
Make a list of 20 to 30. Pitching three brands and waiting a month is the slowest way to do this.
Example from a garage and salvage channel: tool brands, shop supply companies, parts suppliers, workwear, safety gear, and the software you use to run your shop. All things the audience buys.
Step 3: Find the right person
Don't send your pitch to info@ or a support form if you can help it. You want whoever owns creator, influencer or partnership marketing. At a small company that might be the marketing manager or even the founder. At a bigger one it could be an influencer marketing manager or a partnerships lead, or an outside agency.
We go through job titles, where to look and how to verify an address in how to find brand contacts. If you'd rather skip the digging, STAKD's Partner Finder looks up the marketing decision-maker at a brand and their verified email.
Step 4: Write a short, specific pitch
A good pitch is short enough to read on a phone without scrolling much. Aim for roughly 100 to 200 words. Structure:
Subject line
Make it specific and honest. Name the brand and the idea.
- "Video idea: [Product] in a real shop rebuild"
- "[Your channel] x [Brand]: tool test for DIY restorers"
Avoid clickbait or fake "Re:" subject lines. They burn trust, and a deceptive subject line on a commercial email can also be a legal problem (more in the contacts guide).
Opening line: why them
One sentence that proves you're not mass-mailing. "I've used your [product] on every build since 2023, and it's in about a dozen of my videos." Real and specific beats flattering.
Who watches you
One or two sentences on your audience, framed around the brand. "My viewers are mostly hobbyist mechanics who buy their own tools and ask me what I use."
The idea
One concrete content idea. This is the part most small creators skip, and it's the part that gets replies. "I'm rebuilding a 1970s air compressor next month. I'd use your [product] through the whole process and do a 60-second segment on why I chose it."
Proof
Two or three numbers, no more. Pick the ones that matter for the format you're pitching:
- Median views per video (or per Reel/TikTok)
- Engagement on similar content
- Audience location if it matches the brand's market (for example, mostly US)
Your media kit can hold everything else. If you don't have one yet, see how to make a media kit.
The ask
Make it easy to answer. "Would you be open to a quick call, or should I send rates for this?" One question, not three.
Sign-off
Name, channel link, media kit link. That's it.
You'll find ready-to-use versions of all of this, for different situations, in our brand pitch email templates. STAKD's Perfect Pitch can also draft a personalized first version for a specific brand, which you then edit so the opening line and idea sound like you.
Step 5: Send at a sane pace and track it
Send your pitches individually, not as a blast. Each one should have at least one line written for that brand.
Keep a record for every pitch: brand, contact, date sent, follow-up dates, response, and outcome. Without tracking, you'll forget to follow up or you'll accidentally pitch the same person twice in a week. In STAKD, each brand contact carries an outreach status and a follow-up date, so that record builds itself as you pitch.
Step 6: Follow up, then let it go
Most pitches don't get a reply the first time. That's normal. Marketers are busy and your email may have landed during a launch week.
A reasonable pattern: one follow-up about a week later, a second about two weeks after that, then stop. Each follow-up should add something, like a new video or a sharper idea, not just "bumping this." Full timing and templates are in how to follow up with brands.
Step 7: When they say yes
A reply that says "send rates" or "let's talk" is where the real work starts.
- Ask for the brief before you quote. Deliverables, platforms, timeline, usage rights, exclusivity, and budget.
- Quote in line items. Base content, then each add-on. It gives you room to negotiate without dropping your base rate. See how to negotiate a brand deal.
- Price usage separately. If they want to run your video as an ad or post it on their channels, that's licensing. See usage rights and exclusivity fees.
- Get it in writing. Even a short email confirmation of terms beats a verbal agreement. Our brand deal contract checklist covers what to look for.
- Disclose the partnership. The FTC says to disclose any financial relationship with a brand, including free products, clearly and with the endorsement itself, not buried in a profile (FTC).
What small creators get wrong
Leading with apologies
"I know I'm small, but..." puts the focus on what you lack. Lead with your audience and your idea instead. If the numbers are modest, the fit and the idea have to carry the pitch, so make them sharp.
Pitching the creator, not the content
"I'd love to partner with you!" tells the brand nothing. "Here's the video I'd make" tells them what they're buying.
Sending a novel
Long backstories and full channel history get skimmed or skipped. Put details in the media kit and keep the email short.
Asking for free product only, forever
Product-only deals can make sense early, especially for things you'd actually use on camera. But be clear with yourself about why you're doing it, and don't let "gifted" become the default for work that takes you days. Gifted items can also have tax implications, so keep records (see do influencers pay taxes on free products).
Pitching brands that don't fit
A brand your audience would never buy from won't see results, even if it says yes. That's a bad first deal and an unlikely second one.
Not following up, or following up forever
Zero follow-ups leaves deals on the table. Seven follow-ups gets you filtered. Two is a reasonable default.
A quick pre-send checklist
- Is the subject line specific and honest?
- Does the first line prove you know the brand?
- Is there one concrete content idea?
- Are there no more than three numbers?
- Is the ask a single, easy question?
- Is your media kit link working and current?
- Did you log the pitch and set a follow-up date?
If all seven are yes, send it.
How STAKD handles this
The hard part of pitching as a small creator isn't one great email. It's doing steps 3 through 6 for 20 to 30 brands without losing track. STAKD covers each of those steps:
- Finding the person. Partner Finder looks up the marketing decision-maker at a brand and their verified email. One click on "Add to Contacts" saves them to your brand CRM.
- Writing the pitch. Perfect Pitch drafts a personalized pitch for that specific brand. You edit it, add your content idea and numbers, and send it yourself.
- Knowing your price. PricePoint suggests a rate range from your platform stats and the deal details, with a usage-rights setting for when the brand wants to reuse your content.
- Following up on time. Each contact has an outreach status and a follow-up date, and follow-ups show on your dashboard calendar, so the second email actually goes out.
- Backing up your numbers. Your media kit is a shareable link with your Instagram, TikTok and YouTube stats, refreshed every night, so the link in your sign-off is never stale.
STAKD is free to start on the Starter plan with no card, and there's a 14-day free trial of Pro features. See plans.