Brand deals with a small following: how to land your first

Short answer: you can get brand deals with a small following by picking a clear niche, starting with brands close to you, selling your content and not just your reach, showing your numbers with context, and pitching regularly with a media kit ready. Size is rarely what decides; audience fit, good content and being easy to work with are.

The most common reason creators never contact a brand is that they think their account is too small. But size is rarely what decides. Brands look for the right audience, good content and someone who is easy to work with, and none of that requires a hundred thousand followers. In the team behind Unwrappa, where brands post campaigns and creators apply, we have reviewed thousands of creator profiles, so this guide is written from the brand side. Here is how to go from zero brand deals to your first.

Why do small accounts get brand deals?

A brand selling running shoes to casual runners in Manchester gets more out of an account with 3,000 followers who all run in Manchester than an account with 300,000 followers who don't care about running. A small account has three advantages that are easy to forget:

• The audience is often narrower. You know who they are, and the brand can see whether they're its customers.
• The relationship is closer. You answer comments yourself and recognise the names. It shows when you recommend something.
• It costs less. A brand with a small budget can't work with the biggest names, but it can work with you.

1. Be clear about your niche

"Lifestyle" isn't a niche. "Weeknight cooking for students", "fitness for new mums" or "second-hand fashion in Brighton" are. The more clearly you can describe what you do and for whom, the easier it is for a brand to see where you fit. Write one sentence about it, and use it at the top of your media kit and in every pitch.

2. Start close to home

The big brands get the most requests and usually have agencies choosing for them. Start where there's less competition:

• Local businesses: cafés, gyms, hairdressers, shops and restaurants in your city
• Small brands where the founder runs Instagram personally
• Brands that already work with creators your size, which you can see in their tagged posts

A first collaboration with a small brand gives you a case to show next time, and that's worth more than waiting for a big name.

3. Sell the content, not just the reach

With a small following your reach is limited, but your content is worth as much as anyone else's. Many brands need photos and video for their own channels and ads. This is often called UGC (user-generated content): content you create but the brand publishes.

Show two or three examples of content you're proud of in your media kit, and offer a package where the brand may use the material on its own channels. Then you're selling something that doesn't depend on how many people follow you.

4. Show your numbers with context

Small numbers don't look small when they're explained. Three things make the most difference:

• Engagement per view. It compares well with larger accounts. How to calculate it is in how to calculate your engagement rate.
• Average views. If your videos reach more people than your followers, show it.
• Your audience. Gender, age and top cities often say more than your follower count. "Mostly women aged 25-34 in Manchester" is a reason for a brand to pick you specifically. More in how to show your audience demographics.

Never write down a number you can't show in the app's analytics. Brands sometimes ask for screenshots, and a number that doesn't hold up costs more than a small number that does.

5. Pitch yourself, and do it regularly

As a small account, requests rarely come by themselves at first. You need to reach out. Pick a few brands a week, write a short pitch with a concrete idea and attach your media kit. How to write the email, with templates, is in how to pitch a brand. Also look for open campaigns: on platforms like Unwrappa, made by the same team as Mediakitster, brands post campaigns and creators apply directly, from gifted products to paid collaborations.

Expect most brands not to reply. That's normal and says nothing about your account. It's the number of well-thought-out pitches over time that decides.

6. Decide what you say yes to

Your first collaboration may well be paid in products. That can be a good way to get started, as long as you choose it deliberately. Ask yourself whether the product is something you would have bought anyway, whether the work is in proportion to its value and whether the collaboration fits your content. Say no to what doesn't, even early on. If you say yes to everything, your feed turns into an ad break, and you lose the audience that made you interesting in the first place.

Whatever the payment, sponsored posts need to be disclosed under the advertising rules where you and your audience are; use the platform's paid partnership label and say clearly that it's an ad. When it's time to ask for money, read how much to charge for a brand deal.

7. Turn your first collaboration into a case

When your first collaboration is done, do three things:

• Send the brand the post's stats without them having to ask
• Ask if you may use their logo in your media kit
• Ask if they'd write a sentence about what it was like to work with you

With a real case in your media kit, the next pitch gets much easier. Only use what you've actually received, never rewritten or invented testimonials.

Have your media kit ready before you need it

The worst thing that can happen when a brand finally gets in touch is having nothing to send. A simple media kit with your niche, your numbers, your audience and a few content examples goes a long way, even when the account is small. The full list is in what to include in a media kit. Or answer the questions and let Mediakitster build it for you: each step tells you what brands need to see, and you see the whole kit before you pay.