---
title: 'HOW TO PITCH AND LAND YOUR FIRST BRAND COLLABORATION | Free Pitch Template and Walkthrough'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=vUCAs55jBrA'
video_id: 'vUCAs55jBrA'
date: 2026-06-18
duration_sec: 0
---

# HOW TO PITCH AND LAND YOUR FIRST BRAND COLLABORATION | Free Pitch Template and Walkthrough

> Source: [HOW TO PITCH AND LAND YOUR FIRST BRAND COLLABORATION | Free Pitch Template and Walkthrough](https://youtube.com/watch?v=vUCAs55jBrA)

## Summary

This video teaches aspiring influencers how to write and send effective pitches to land brand collaborations. Millie, an influencer coach, explains that follower count is not the key; instead, brands look for parallels, community engagement, and content quality. She provides a step-by-step pitch template and shares tips on mindset, using third-party platforms, and handling rejection.

### Key Points

- **Readiness: What brands really look for** [0:47] — Brands look for three things: parallels (shared interests/audience fit), community (engagement rate of 3% or more), and content experience (quality of your posts). Follower count is not a primary factor.
- **The two goals of your pitch** [2:20] — Your pitch should have two goals: create a genuine connection and serve the brand, not just get free stuff. Pitching from a selfish mindset is easily spotted by brands.
- **Using third-party platforms (SocialBook)** [3:43] — Recommended third-party platform: SocialBook. It offers a brand collaboration form, media kit tools, and link-in-bio features, and is free to start.
- **Step-by-step pitch structure** [5:20] — Subject line: brand name X your handle. First line: introduce yourself with hyperlink. Then 2-3 sentences creating a personal connection with the brand. Then state quick stats (not just follower count, but engagement rate, story views, email list). Optional: pitch a specific idea or ask for a call.
- **Dealing with rejection and ghosting** [8:59] — Cold pitching has lower conversion rates than when brands reach out to you. Expect rejection and ghosting; it's often not personal but about audience alignment. Follow up a few times.

## Transcript

if you want to start Landing brand
collaborations and you've thought about
pitching to a brand but you have no idea
what to say or where to even start this
video is for you what's up everyone I'm
Millie I'm an influencer coach welcome
back to my channel where I post videos
every week teaching you the latest
strategies and Trends on social media to
help you grow your brand as an
influencer I've been in the influencer
space for over 5 years now I've worked
with hundreds of Brands I also have a
course that teaches influencers how to
grow on Instagram and land brand
collaborations so I have quite a bit of
experience under my belt when it comes
to pitching working with Brands all the
things when I teach on this topic
typically the most asked question that I
get over on Instagram is how do I write
my pitch what do I say in my pitch how
do I talk to the brand how do I reach
out to the brand so that's what we're
going to go over before you start
pitching you want to ask yourself if
you're even ready to start pitching and
no I don't mean do you have enough
followers you don't need to have any
number of followers to start working
with Brands I've helped my student Ryan
land paid brand collaboration and so no
it's not about the follower numbers when
brands are looking for influencers to
partner with they look for three things
your parallel your community and your
experience your parallels is basically
the things that you have in common they
want to have things in common with you
especially if your audience is their
target audience they're going to be way
more willing to slat into those DMS pay
you a little bit of cash to reach your
audience and then two your community if
they go to your Instagram and they see
that you have a loyal Community people
commenting on your posts you replying to
people's comments they're going to see
that as a lot of value brands are
looking for influencers with a 3%
engagement rate or more and if you have
less than 10,000 followers you're
actually at an advantage because you
have a higher engagement rate than those
over 10,000 followers so that could be a
strategy with your pitching and then
when I say experience I don't mean do
you have all the experience but are you
generally good at creating content take
a look at your feed an honest look at
your feed and ask yourself would a brand
pay me to make something like this if
the answer is no you you just got to
practice a little bit more content
creation is key literally the main part
of working with a brand is that you're
creating content with them so if your
profile doesn't have content that would
entice a brand or maybe the quality just
isn't quite there yet that's what you
want to work on a little bit more is
honing in on your content creation craft
not building your followers okay now
that you know the three things to look
for and you're like okay Millie I think
I'm ready I think I'm ready to start
pitching you have two goals with your
pitch it could be either or or it could
be both
one goal is to create a connection the
other goal is to serve your goal with
pitching is not to land a paid brand
collaboration believe it or not it's not
to get free stuff if that is your goal
if that is your intention you are
pitching from the wrong place I know how
exciting it feels or that feeling of
doing your first collaboration and a
brand wants to send you something for
free and being like Oh my gosh I've made
it like I know we all want free stuff we
all want to work with our Dream Brands
but if you're pitching from that selfish
mindset or if you're pitching from that
place you won't be able to land honest
genuine great brand collaborations
because Brands could see right through
that they probably get thousands of DMS
a day plenty of emails a day with people
asking for free stuff so you want to
stand out and you want to create a
genuine email to them so really when
you're pitching all you want to do is
create a connection ask to get on a call
grab a cup of coffee you just want to
connect with the person behind the
screen and and if you do want to partner
with them and land a collaboration the
collaboration is going to be one that is
mutually beneficial not just you getting
free stuff but you know exactly how you
can benefit the brand and you want to
come from a service mindset okay now
that you kind of know the basics of what
to look for the intent of your pitch
let's talk about how to craft your pitch
how to write it if you're still like ooh
Millie I'm not sure I definitely
recommend starting out with third party
platforms if you're too intimidated to
pitch send a cold email third party
platforms are where it's at that's I
have a bunch that I recommend to my
students I think I have like a list of
10 that are my favorites but the one
that I want to talk to you about is
called social book who is also the
sponsor of this video social book is a
top influencer marketing software for
both Brands and influencers alike they
provide endless social tools that not a
lot of third-party networking platforms
have so not only can you connect with
other brands inside of the social book
account but you can also work on your
media Cas you could create a link in BIO
with all of your links in the right
place they have a bunch of content
creator tools within their website that
can genuinely help creators take their
content and their business to the next
level for brand collaboration
specifically you have a brand
collaboration form that you fill out
you'll get to set your rates you get to
Mark what your interests are what your
Niche is and then you'll be able to
connect with other brands that want to
partner with you and are willing to pay
your rates for me personally I partner
with Brands who have the same values as
me and one of of social books goals is
to help content creators grow and
uplevel their businesses so that's why I
really wanted to partner with them
because we have similar values and we're
both on the same track of wanting to
help content creators yes creating a
social book account is free so if you
want to get started by filling out your
brand collaboration form or making your
own Media Kit I'll leave a link down in
the description below where you could
start setting up your free account today
now let's talk about your pitch
structure this is a pitch that I use and
I have used and I give to my students to
use it's a great General outline for you
to copy paste and fill in with your
information feel free to screenshot do
what you got to do I also have a
downloadable below it's free there's
multiple pitch templates because
sometimes there's different reasons for
pitching so maybe you just want to pitch
to have an introduction pitch because
you have a specific idea in mind or
pitch because you want to land a hotel
collaboration there's so many different
types of pitches so I put a few in a
free downloadable down below so you
could grab that if you want to but let's
break down your pitch first let's start
with your subject line line your subject
line simple straightforward not too
salesy you could put the brand name X
your handle done simple that's all you
got to do next is the first line of your
pitch you want to introduce yourself who
you are what you do who you do it for
with a hyperlink on your name so I'm
going to say hey what's up what's mar
Just kid I'm not going to say I'm going
to say hey what's a brand I want to
pitch to Mr Coffee I love Mr Coffee so
I'm going to say hey Mr Coffee I'm
Millie I'm an online educator that
teaches influencers how to grow their
businesses from home and I'm a huge fan
of your brand or I'm a I've been an avid
customer of yours for over 10 years now
right make it personal you want to have
that personal connection speaking of
personal connection the next two to
three sentences get even deeper with why
you love that brand do your research go
to their website look at their about
Page look at what sort of nonprofits
they support create a personal
connection so with them I can say when I
went off to college my parents gave me a
coffee machine to use in my dorm and I
still have it to this day parenthesis
we're going 10 years strong and then
I'll say I recently did a poll on my
stories asking my followers if they're
coffee lovers or tea lovers these were
their results okay so I create the
personal connection but I'm also tying
it into my audience's interest in that
brand so one personal connection two
it's a brand I love I use I know I'm
going to love their products three I'm
connecting it to my business to my brand
and to my audience I'm going to
hyperlink the stats and I'm going to say
here's a few quick stats about me and
this is where you're going to highlight
your best assets your best assets this
isn't going to be just your follower
number because if you're not confident
in your follower number maybe you could
highlight your engagement rate instead
so list a few things that you're really
confident in I have a 10% engagement
rate this is my average story views I
have 10,000 email list subscribers right
so you're just highlighting some of the
best things about you even if it's your
experience like I've been a professional
photographer for 5 years maybe that's
something that is a huge asset to them
and then this is where you could either
wrap up the email or you could pitch
them a specific idea after I say my
stats I'll say I saw you recently
released your iced coffee maker and
wanted to know if you needed help
marketing that product as you can see my
audience is AVID coffee lovers and I
love to partner with with you in
promoting XYZ is this something you
would be interested in would love to hop
on a call XOXO Gossip Girl no I'm just
kidding EXO EXO why am I saying EXO
follow your joy Milly okay that's as
simple as that so you can pitch a
specific idea or if you don't have an
idea you just want to partner with the
brand you're going to say something like
we'd love to see if there's an
opportunity for us to partner together
whether now or in the future do you have
time to hop on a call to discuss your
marketing goals for this year
say something like that most of the time
if you're like Millie I don't want to
hop in a call most of the time they are
not going to hop on a call they're going
to be like oh we're actually busy but we
can email but the fact that you're
willing to hop on a call is going to
make you stand out above and beyond
everybody else okay now believe it or
not the conversions of pitching is lower
than catching and when I say catching I
mean like if a brand pitches to you and
they're like hey we want to partner with
you that collaboration is almost a done
deal right you just got to negotiate but
pitching and cold pitching Brands the
conversion of actually them saying yes
not as high up there you're not going to
land every pitch that you send it's just
a matter of fact so don't be scared of
hearing no and don't be scared of
getting ghosted because I hear NOS all
the time I get ghosted all the time some
of my favorite Brands I pitch to them
and they ignore me I follow up three
times they ignore me I even had a brand
that I wanted to partner with oh should
I call him out should I call him out I'm
going to call him out book of the month
I said it okay I love book of the month
their monthly subscription box service
if you're a reader I love reading and
I'm such a fan of them I've been
subscribed for two years I get a new
book every single month and I post on my
stories I talk about my book sometimes
and I've converted some people to book
of the month lovers if you're curious
I'll drop a link down below because I'm
obsessed and I hope you'll be obsessed
we could read together buddy read anyway
so I've pitched to them and they've
turned me down multiple times because my
audience is not in alignment with their
audience and that's okay like it's
totally fine they have every right to
say no because it's true majority of my
audience isn't looking to read fictional
books and that's just that they did say
no for now so it was like a comeback
later type of a thing but really what
they're looking for are like YouTubers
that are booktubers Haley Hughes love
Haley Hughes she's partnered with book
of the month when she had less than
10,000 subscribers so like they would
rather partner with Haley Hughes over me
I'm not saying oh my God better but if
you're somebody who's stuck on
subscriber number or follower number I
have 200,000 subscribers here and so you
would assume oh you could get any brand
deal but that's not what brands are
looking for they really want to connect
with your audience and they want people
who have similar passions as them and
Their audience types so it makes total
sense for them to want to partner with
Haley over me because my audience they
want to be influencers they don't want
to be Book Lovers you know what I mean
so don't be afraid to hear no don't be
afraid to be ghosted because that's
literally the worst that could happen I
hope this video is helpful if you have
more questions about brand
collaborations let me know in the
comments below I do have a few other
videos on brand collab so I could do a
little series here on my channel if this
is something you're interested in or if
you're like no I'm serious I want to
make bank I want influencing to be my
full-time job I want to make multiple
figures and brand deals take my course
Shameless plug I do have a course that
literally teaches how to land paid brand
collaborations as as an influencer it's
everything from branding growing on
Instagram to monetizing Instagram from
affiliate marketing brand collabs all
the things so I'm going to Shameless
plug sponsored by myself what's up and
if you're really serious about Landing
paid brand collaborations check out the
modern influencer I'll link it down
below if you've made it this far and
you're not already
subscribed what are you doing who are
you be sure to hug that subscribe button
and turn on the Bell notification so you
don't miss when I post my next videos
and I'll see you in the next one thanks
so much for watching follow your joy
bye