How to Get Influencers to Work with Your Brand in 2025/6, and Why Using an Agency Makes It Easier

Getting influencers to collaborate with your brand is one of the most effective ways to build credibility, grow awareness, and reach engaged audiences. But influencer outreach in 2025/6 is more competitive than ever. Creators receive hundreds of pitches every week, so standing out takes more than sending a free product or a polite email.

The truth is that it can take the average in-house marketing team between 1.5 and 2 months to get an influencer campaign fully live. Between finding suitable creators, negotiating rates, creating briefs, approving content, and sorting contracts, the process can drag on. In contrast, a specialist influencer marketing agency can have a campaign ready within as little as a week, thanks to established relationships, ready-to-go tools, and efficient workflows.

Here’s how to get influencers to say yes to your brand, and where an agency can make that process dramatically faster and easier.

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Step 1: Research the Right Influencers

The most common mistake brands make is focusing on follower numbers instead of relevance. The right influencer is someone whose community genuinely overlaps with your customer base and shares your brand’s tone and values.

Micro-influencers often deliver higher response rates because their followers are active and engaged. Bigger doesn’t always mean better - fit and trust matter most.

Do it yourself:
Search social media platforms for creators already engaging with your audience type. Review engagement rates, read the comments, and check that their content aligns with your brand values.

Where an agency helps:
Agencies already have databases of vetted influencers. They can match your brand with the best creators in days rather than weeks, using in-depth analytics and established industry connections to ensure a perfect fit.

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Step 2: Personalise Your Outreach

Influencers can spot a generic pitch instantly. Personalisation shows respect and increases your chance of a reply. Reference something specific from their content, explain why your brand fits their audience, and highlight mutual benefits.

Do it yourself:
Write concise, friendly emails that sound human, not automated. Avoid long introductions and get straight to why you value their content.

Where an agency helps:
An agency can scale personalised outreach across dozens or hundreds of creators at once. They know how to position your brand authentically, manage tone, and track responses, often cutting weeks off the early stages of communication.

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Step 3: Be Transparent and Clear

Creators want clarity. When contacting influencers, outline what you are offering, what you expect in return, and the timeline for delivery. Include details about compensation, deliverables, and creative control. Clear expectations prevent misunderstandings and build trust.

Do it yourself:
Provide a clear breakdown of deliverables, payment, and deadlines. Keep your tone open and collaborative.

Where an agency helps:
Agencies handle communication professionally from the start. They manage creative briefs, review content drafts, and ensure all messaging aligns with your campaign goals. Because they already understand influencer processes, they can reduce setup time dramatically—what might take an in-house team two months can often be completed in under a week.

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Step 4: Create Compelling Offers

Influencers are more likely to respond positively if your offer respects their value. Hybrid payment models, combining a base fee with bonuses or commissions, are now standard practice. Transparent terms, creative freedom, and prompt payment are also key factors.

Do it yourself:
Research industry benchmarks to estimate fair rates. Offer part-payment upfront to build trust, and let the creator know you value their style and authenticity.

Where an agency helps:
An agency can benchmark accurate rates using real market data. They also manage payments, contracts, and rights usage, ensuring everything is legal, fair, and timely. This professionalism improves acceptance rates and speeds up campaign setup.

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Step 5: Follow Up Professionally

A polite follow-up 48 to 72 hours after your first message can make a big difference. Many influencers simply miss initial emails due to inbox overload.

Do it yourself:
Send a short, friendly reminder showing continued interest.

Where an agency helps:
An agency automates and manages follow-ups at scale, tracking responses, maintaining communication consistency, and ensuring no opportunity slips through. This process efficiency cuts manual admin time dramatically.

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Step 6: Build Long-Term Partnerships

The strongest influencer relationships grow over time. Consistent partnerships improve authenticity and trust, helping the audience see a real connection between brand and creator.

Do it yourself:
Keep in touch with influencers after each campaign. Share performance insights and look for future collaboration opportunities.

Where an agency helps:
Agencies manage ambassador programmes that nurture these relationships long term. They also track performance analytics to help you decide which creators are worth re-engaging, ensuring sustainable results.

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Step 7: Why an Agency Launches Faster

Influencer marketing can be resource-heavy. Building a campaign internally involves multiple stages—sourcing, outreach, negotiation, creative review, contracts, payments, and tracking. The average in-house timeline for all of this is between six to eight weeks.

An agency, however, can complete the same process in as little as seven days. Their advantage comes from:

• Pre-vetted influencer databases.
• Established negotiation and communication templates.
• Dedicated account managers and creative teams.
• Automated analytics and reporting tools.

This speed not only gets your campaign live faster but also keeps your content relevant and timely, especially around product launches or seasonal events.

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Final Thoughts

Getting influencers to work with your brand takes patience, professionalism, and a genuine understanding of their creative world. While it’s possible to do everything yourself, partnering with a specialist agency dramatically shortens timelines, increases response rates, and ensures campaigns meet both creative and commercial goals.

With the right approach, and the right agency, your influencer campaigns can go from idea to execution in a single week, turning connections into conversions faster than ever.