A 67% reply rate from Instagram influencers. A 40% reply rate from YouTube vloggers. Those are results from two cold outreach campaigns we ran ourselves.

In this post, I’ll break down the two brand pitch email templates behind those numbers. I’ll also cover the deliverability moves that kept us out of spam and the exact steps to find the right contacts.

It doesn’t matter how good your offer is if your emails land in spam.

When sending emails, especially in bulk, you need to be aware of the factors that could trigger spam filters. We’ve outlined them all in our email deliverability checklist.

Here are the things you need to keep under control.

We recommend creating a dedicated professional email to communicate with brands.

An @gmail.com account doesn’t look professional and draws spam filters’ attention.

These are two vital records that verify your email is coming from you and not someone else.

When an email provider performs an “ID check,” they want to confirm the sender’s identity. To make sure that goes smoothly:

If you’ve just created your email account, you need to warm it up.

Email warm-up is a gradual increase in sending volume. A warmed-up email address sends and receives messages like a real person would.

You can use lemwarm to automate the entire process.

You can connect with people through direct messages, but email is still the most reliable way to reach a busy partnerships lead. The Radicati Group projects worldwide email users will grow from over 4.4 billion in 2024 to 4.9 billion by 2028, so it stays the channel professionals actually watch.

Finding the right address takes work. There are two types of contacts you can go after:

General addresses are usually easy. Just visit the brand’s contact page.

You’ll get faster, more relevant replies by reaching a specific person, though. Start on LinkedIn, filter down to the exact partnerships or marketing lead you want, then pull their address instead of guessing.

Here’s where I’ll be honest: most guides send you off to a pile of separate tools for this. You don’t need them. lemlist does the whole job in one place. Search the 600M+ contact lead database to find brands and creators that fit your target. Enrich any list in one click with the Email Finder & Verifier so you only send to verified addresses. Let AI Agentic Enrichment pull context from a prospect’s website and LinkedIn, so your pitch reads like you actually did your homework. And if you’d rather skip the setup, lemAgent builds the whole campaign from a plain-language brief.

Always verify your addresses before you send. A bad list wrecks your deliverability faster than anything else.

If you’re trying to cooperate with Instagram influencers, check their profile description. Most of them list their email right there.

Now let’s look at the two networking cold email templates I promised.

This template works for founders promoting software through influencers, or for getting on podcasts and shows.

Here’s what it delivered for us:

This email is designed specifically to pitch YouTube influencers.

If you do your homework well, you’ll gain insights into your influencer’s world: what they talk about, how they run their channel.

This gives you content references to open the conversation. That’s ideal material for your intro line.

Personalization catches influencers’ attention.

You can insert a screenshot of their channel directly into the email. When people open it, they see their own content staring back at them. lemlist’s personalized image feature automates this at scale.

Always share why people should collaborate with you.

For example: “I’ll share this video with my client base. That’s X number of clients checking out your channel.”

Don’t forget the proof behind your words. Otherwise, they’re just words.

The objective here was to collaborate with influencers on a giveaway: free wine for a year for 4 lucky winners.

We pitched most of them with a cold email.

Here are the stats:

Here’s a step-by-step overview.

About one month before executing, we divided influencers into two buckets: ones we already knew and others we had just discovered.

For the new ones, we started following them on Instagram and engaging with their content in a meaningful way. No generic comments.

The objective? Get them to notice us by replying to a comment or DMing. That way we didn’t have to introduce ourselves from scratch.

Not everyone noticed, but some did.

Our target included 3 micro-influencers and 9 macro-influencers from TV, photography, food, and wine.

Since most influencers already knew our brand at least a little, we kept the cold email text-only and short.

We linked our profile in the signature in case they wanted to check it out.

Worth noting: two influencers we didn’t manage to warm up both declined our offer.

When an influencer showed interest, we followed up with precise details of what we needed and what they’d get in return.

The focus stayed on keeping a friendly tone.

For every influencer we targeted, we had a longer-term project in mind. We continued building relationships by personalizing their compensation packages.

We gave influencers room to create their own Instagram Stories and promote us however they saw fit. Based on that and how our live meetup went, we decided whether to take things forward.

3 out of 4 influencers passed that test. And obviously, we passed their tests too.

Before you hit send, here are the mistakes that tank brand pitch email campaigns. I’ve seen all of them.

“We’d love to collaborate” means nothing without specifics. Name the exact campaign, what you need from them, what they get. Vague asks get ignored.

If your email could have been sent to anyone, it will get treated like it was. Reference a recent post or a topic they cover. Make it obvious you did the work.

A PR email going to a founder, or a partnership request going to customer support, signals you didn’t bother researching. Find the right person first.

One email isn’t a campaign. Influencers are busy, and your first message might get buried. Follow up at least twice, spaced a few days apart.

All the personalization in the world won’t help if your emails land in spam. Set up DKIM and SPF. Then warm up your sending address before you launch.

No. Brands now weigh engagement over raw follower count, and the Influencer Marketing Hub shows why: Instagram nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers) averaged a 1.73% engagement rate in 2024, versus 0.61% for macro-influencers. If your content aligns with the brand’s target customer and you can show proof of engagement, you have a pitch.

Start with the brand’s website and look for a partnerships or PR page. You can also try LinkedIn, media kits, contact forms, or Google searches with the brand name plus “partnerships email.” Prospecting tools like lemlist’s lead database let you search by company and role, then pull verified contact info.

Wait 3 to 5 business days after your first email. If you don’t hear back, send a short follow-up that adds something new or restates the value. Two follow-ups total is standard.

Two brand pitch email templates, the deliverability setup behind them, and the process to find the right contacts.

If you use these templates, make them your own. Adapt the emails to your target audience and the way you speak. Pair them with a tight brand pitch deck when the deal is bigger. That extra effort separates a reply from the trash folder.

Ready to run your first campaign? Start a 14-day free trial and see how lemlist handles lead finding and outreach with enrichment built in.