Have you ever reached out to a brand’s email address and had the email bounce? Nothing is more frustrating than crafting the perfect email pitch just for it to not make it through. Today, I’m sharing my tips on how to find brand and PR contacts to pitch yourself to without the barrier of an email bounce!
Looking for a brand contact? Here’s two tools you can use:
- Hunter.io
My Contact Search Method:
Step 1 – Search in LinkedIn for the company:
Let’s use Revolve for example. Open up LinkedIn and search for “Revolve.” Once you find their official company profile, navigate to the “people” section.
Step 2 – Search for influencer marketing-related terms to help you locate a potential contact:
Common job titles/keywords in influencer marketing are:
- Account Executive
- Marketing Coordinator
- Marketing Associate
- Influencer Relations
- Public Relations
- Marketing
I’ll also sometimes filter my search further by adding my college, the University of Florida. This allows me to personalize my pitch even further knowing that we have a connection based on where we went to school.
Step 3 – Review search results and consider who the best contact may be:
You may see a wide range of search results and that is OKAY! You can try sending your pitch to multiple individuals. In the case of the below search for Revolve, I can see already I have 3 potential contacts who work in Influencer Relations.
If I were to try to pitch Revolve, I would craft a personalized pitch email, then send to each of these three contacts. Are they absolutely the right person to send the pitch to? You won’t know until you try. But using this method allows you to *potentially* make a more direct contact and get your pitch through to the right person. My feeling is even if you pitch to the wrong person, they can likely help you reach the right one since they work for the same company.
If I am pitching a brand directly and looking for the contact who manages their socials, I typically look for “influencer relations” “social media” or just “marketing” if it a smaller company.
Once you select your contact of choice, open up their LinkedIn profile. You can check their “about” section as well as the “contact” section for more contact info. If you get lucky, you will find that the brand contact have their email listed and you can go ahead and send your pitch.
Most often, this is NOT the case as they would likely be SPAMMED. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through the process of how to find contacts through a direct email.
Step 4 – Find the email format for the company:
I’ll usually just Google “COMPANY email format.” I’ve had the best luck with Hunter.io so far. So, if I worked at Revolve for example, my email would be [email protected].
I will note – Hunter.io is NOT FOOLPROOF! But, so far, it has been the most accurate for me. I believe it is worth a shot to get through to the right contact!
Step 5 – PITCH!
Not sure what to say? Check out my FREE pitch template on Instagram!
What next?
Do NOT be discouraged if you don’t hear back or even if the email bounces. Sometimes, the email bounces because of an inbox rule as the company knows you are from outside their organization.
When the email bounces, I typically will find their general press or info email address and send my pitch over that way. I prefer to try to make a personalized connection when pitching, but understand that it isn’t 100% guaranteed.
If your email flops…
Look for a general press contact or “info” email address. On the company’s website, click options like “contact us” “ambassadors” or “press” to dig for a little more info.
On most company’s websites, there is usually a section dedicated to press, media inquiries, influencer inquiries, or just general questions. You can typically find the email here. This link is usually at the bottom of the webpage.
Here is an example of what this looks like on Revolve’s site:
I was able to locate Revolve’s general email address on their “Contact Us” page.
If you can’t find the email listed on the company’s website:
Another spot I’ll look is on the company’s Instagram page. NOTE: you can only see this on MOBILE. This is another reason YOU should have your brand’s email address in your Instagram bio – I explain why in this post dedicated to optimizing your IG bio. When you click the EMAIL button below their bio, it’ll often list a contact email address for the company:
One more back-up option:
Pull up the brand on Instagram mobile. Once you are there, click on who they follow. Under their following, you should be able to view any hashtags that they follow. This can be a good place to look for fellow influencers that have partnered with the company in the past. For example, Revolve follows #RevolveForTheWorld and #RevolveInBloom. I might look through these hashtags to see if I can find an another influencer who clearly is a BRAND PARTNER (tags the brand, maybe a brand hashtag, and #ad #sponsored etc) who would be willing to share their contact.
Now, different influencers will feel differently about sharing their brand contact. I try to use this option sparingly, but telling the truth, I really have rarely heard a “no” when I’ve asked. My belief is that most influencers care to support each other, at least in the community I run with (fashion + lifestyle content creators). Worth a try! Sometimes, I even offer to trade one of my contacts in exchange for theirs.
Once you pitch, be patient
Like I mentioned, the emails don’t always make it through. But why not try? If you get lucky, you will reach someone who can be a valued contact. Pitching to brands can be absolutely worthwhile as you can begin a relationship that can last years to come. Some of my favorite brand contacts are ones that I have pitched myself!
So why not give it a try? Let me know if you have any questions as you go through the pitching process! Go find contacts who you can truly connect with and grow your relationship with as an influencer! I’d also love to hear any tips or strategies that went well for you when pitching to PR contacts or brands.
Are you a new blogger or content creator looking for more resources? Check out these recent posts:
- How to Monetize Your Content in Q4
- When to Raise Your Rates
- Answering Your Most Asked Questions
- Most Common Reasons People Hit the Unfollow Button
- How to Find Success on Instagram Reels
- 7 Ways to Ensure a Successful Brand Partnership
- How to Carefully Read Brand Contracts
- Influencer Terms You Need to Know
- Boost Your Engagement on Instagram Stories
- Grow Your Following
- Negotiate with Brands
- Pitching Techniques: How to Land the Perfect Pitch Every Time
- How I Build My Content Calendar
- 9 Blogging Essentials You Need
- How to Maintain Relationships with Brands
- Pitching to PR Contacts (+ How To Find Them)
- Boost Your Instagram Story Engagement
