Soy honesto: en mi mercado local tengo relaciones, conozco gente, las puertas se abren más fácil. Pero con marcas US o internacionales? Soy un desconocido.
No tengo conexiones en Nueva York o Los Ángeles. No estoy en listas de contactos de agencias grandes. No tengo un agente que me represente. Es como empezar de cero, pero sin la ventaja de ser “local”.
Lo que observo es que algunos creadores simplemente aparecen en campañas de marcas grandes, y parece mágico. Pero sé que no es magia—hay algo detrás. ¿Cómo lo averiguas? ¿A quién contactas? ¿Por dónde comienzas si eres nadie en ese mercado?
También está el miedo a contactar a alguien importante y parecer insignificante, o enviar un correo que termina en spam. ¿Cómo se supone que debo navegar esto?
¿Alguno de ustedes ha logrado conectar con marcas grandes sin tener all the right connections?
You already know this, but let me be clear: connections help, but they’re not everything. Here’s how I think about it.
First: warm connections beat cold outreach. Point blank. So your strategy isn’t to email a brand directly—it’s to find someone who knows someone at that brand. LinkedIn. Industry events. Other creators. Someone has a connection.
Second: be strategic about which brands you target. Don’t email Coca-Cola. Target mid-market brands or DTC companies. They’re growing, they have smaller teams, and they’re more likely to take a chance on someone new if your fit is right.
Third: have a reason they’d care. Not “I have followers.” Literally say “Your audience is X, my audience is X, here’s why we match.” Show you’ve done research. That shows respect and effort, and it makes you infinitely more attractive than people sending generic pitches.
Fourth: start with smaller brands, build your portfolio of international partnerships, THEN approach your dream brands. You’ll have proof of performance.
The last thing: events and communities matter. Join Slack groups, masterminds, online communities where brand people hang out. Post useful stuff, build genuine relationships. When someone needs a creator, they’ll remember you because you showed up and helped first.
Honestly, my first international partnership was luck-ish, but honestly it was just because I was in the right place. I was posting in these Instagram threads for UGC creators, gave advice, helped people, and this brand manager saw my comments and DM’d me. No connection. Just visibility and being helpful.
Since then, I’ve been intentional. I research brands I actually use and want to work with. Then I engage genuinely with their content. Not follow and ghost—actually comment thoughtfully. Brands see that. Their team sees that you’re interested.
Then, after I’ve engaged for a bit, I reach out. My message is short: “I use your product, here’s why. I think there’s a fit with my audience. Here’s my media kit.” That’s it. Professional but genuine.
I’ve gotten responses from bigger brands this way. Not all of them, obviously. But way more than when I was doing random pitches.
Also useful: find other creators who’ve worked with your target brand. Engage with them, maybe DM them. Sometimes they’ll introduce you to their brand contact. Reciprocal help is real.
Another thing that’s worked—micro collaborations first. Work with smaller brands in your niche. Get case studies and testimonials from them. That portfolio becomes your entry point to bigger brands. Nobody hands you a big partnership without proof you won’t mess it up.
I’ll give you the inside view. When we’re looking for creators, we use a few channels: agencies, influencer networks, direct research on Instagram, and recommendations from our team.
But here’s the thing—if you’re not connected to an agency or network, you can still get noticed. We literally search hashtags, search followers of our competitors, look at comments on our posts. If someone is engaging authentically and their audience matches ours, we notice.
So the real strategy isn’t about having connections—it’s about being findable and relevant. Have a professional media kit on your website or a link in bio. Make sure your bio makes your niche clear. Engage authentically with brands you actually care about.
And honestly? Size doesn’t matter as much as alignment. I’d rather work with a 15K follower creator whose audience perfectly matches our customer than a 100K creator with random followers. If you’re specific about your niche and your audience is right, you’re valuable.
Last point: DTC and emerging brands are your shortcut. They have less red tape, smaller teams, faster decision-making. Get 2-3 successful partnerships with DTC brands. That proof becomes your leverage to approach bigger brands later. Build the portfolio first.