Our First Email to an Influencer and How to Write Cold Emails
When it comes to starting influencer partnerships, the question I get most often is “How do I talk to an influencer?”
I wanted to share my first email to Susie Lau of the blog Susie Bubble. It was shortly after we launched Chictopia and back then she was considered the most revered fashion influencer on the Internet.
Subject: from the CEO of chictopia
Hi Susie,
I’m a fan of your blog and your originality in style. I’m interested in discussing some potential partnership/employment opportunities with you for Chictopia. Let me know if you are up for a quick chat. Thanks!
I got a response and eventually met with her for lunch when she visited San Francisco.
To put it in perspective, in 2008, there were very few people working in fashion. Meeting people via the Internet and cold emailing was pretty uncommon. The Internet was not regarded as a reputable place for credible fashion inspiration, let alone sharing photos of your outfits. I got involved early. And I got lucky.
That said, my current cold emails to influencers I have never met in person before aren’t so different from my email to Susie. I’ve found some things that I continue to do with my introductory emails and they generally convey the following points:
- I’ve read their blog and appreciate their content.
- I’m someone who understands their mindset. (I usually show this by linking to my own blog or Twitter profile.)
- I give them reasons why a partnership with me would be mutually beneficial. (I.e., the blogger would get paid, they’d be able to collaborate and create cool content, or other interesting ideas.)
Chictopia is influential in the fashion community and we get pitched often from PR companies and brands. The type of emails that we respond to generally fit same qualities as the above.
So you can say the formula today is simple for us — treat others how you would like to be treated.
How do you write an effective cold email? We’d love to hear your tips in the comments!
