I’ve been doing this for a few months now, and I realized that my pitch to a Russian brand and my pitch to a US-based brand are completely different animals. The Russian brand cares about aesthetics, engagement rate, and whether I understand their cultural nuances. The US brand? They want to see audience demographics, conversion potential, and a detailed media kit.
What really shifted for me was when I started using the bilingual hub here and realized that cross-market matchmaking isn’t just about finding brands—it’s about understanding what each side actually wants. A Russian-rooted brand expanding to the US market needs something different than a pure US brand testing the Russian market.
I’ve had success approaching this systematically: I prepare two versions of my pitch, but not in a desperate way. Instead, I focus on what value I bring to their specific market expansion goal. When pitching to Russian brands with US ambitions, I emphasize my understanding of both audiences. When pitching to US brands interested in Russian markets, I highlight my authenticity and local credibility.
The deals that actually close are the ones where both sides see me as a bridge, not just another influencer.
How are you structuring your pitches when you’re targeting brands across both markets? Are you finding that one market is significantly harder to break into than the other?
This is such an important distinction! I’ve been connecting creators with brands for years, and I can tell you—the best deals happen when creators understand that they’re not just selling content, they’re solving a specific business problem for that brand.
What I’d add: don’t just pitch differently. Research differently too. When you’re approaching a Russian brand going global, look at their existing US campaigns (if they have any), their LinkedIn presence, their investor backing. This tells you what problems they’re actually trying to solve. For US brands testing Russia? Check their international expansion strategy, read between the lines of their press releases.
I’ve also noticed that brands respect creators who ask intelligent questions back. Something like, “I see you’re expanding to the US market—are you looking to adapt your existing brand voice or create something new for that audience?” This shows you understand their challenge, not just your own portfolio.
The creators I work with who land the best cross-border deals are the ones who treat it like a partnership from day one, not a transaction.
I love this breakdown because it touches on something I see constantly in campaign performance data: the conversion metrics are wildly different across markets, and most creators don’t account for that in their pitches.
Here’s what the data shows: US brands typically track ROAS (return on ad spend) and attribution directly. Russian brands often care more about brand awareness metrics first, then conversion. This isn’t a small detail—it completely changes how you position your value.
When I’m working with brands on influencer ROI, I always recommend that creators provide market-specific benchmarks in their pitches. So instead of saying, “I get 8% engagement rate,” you’d say something like, “My audience engagement averages 8%, which is 40% above industry average for US audiences, but I also see strong brand lift metrics with Russian audiences interested in premium products.”
The brands that take cross-market deals seriously are already tracking their cost per engagement and cost per conversion separately by market. If you can speak that language in your pitch, you stand out immediately.