How-to Find Brand Contacts

The most successful influencers are the ones that actively seek out brands to work with. Many of our favorite large influencers still spend significant time researching and reaching out to brands they want to work with. As you get bigger, the brands you aspire to work with get bigger too. Why wait for them to come to you when you can go to them.

There are many ways to find brands to work with and to reach out to them. Obviously, we think influence.co is a critical part of that strategy. We cover how to use that in these resources. Here are some other ways to find brands as well. We cover what to say when you reach out to them in another article.

• Instagram DM - The tried and true way to find brands to work with is to look them up on Instagram and then DM them. Depending on the size of the company, you may or may not get a DM back. It never hurts to ask. If the company is larger, you might want to inquire who to direct collaboration inquires too or where they have an active brand ambassador program.
• LinkedIn - Many influencers forget that LinkedIn is an incredible source of information about brands. When you find a business you like on Instagram, go to LinkedIn and find them there (usually searching on their Instagram handle works). You can then look through the titles of the employees at that company. Larger companies might even have employees with “influencer” in their title. If not, look for high-level folks in the marketing department. For small companies, you might want to look for the owner. Once you find the best contact (or two) - connect with them on LinkedIn and send them a message!
• Company Websites - Many companies put links to their brand ambassador programs on their websites in the footer. This may take you directly to a place you can apply to work with them.
• Press Releases - A great tip we got from an influencer was to set up Google News alerts about all the brands you want to work with. You’ll get a daily summary of news from and about those companies. Sometimes that news will include press releases that have email addresses of who to contact on their PR team. Many companies think of influencer marketing as PR so the PR teams are very connected to influencer activities. It’s a quick and easy way to get to the right person sometimes.
• Other Influencers - if you see other influencers posting about brands you want to work with, and especially if you see them tag the post with #spon, #sponsored or Instagram’s built-in sponsored post tagging feature, you can simply ask them. Many influencers are starting to become more collaborative and share their tips about how they have found collaborations.