1. Make your profile legible in five seconds
A brand manager opening your profile is asking what you make, who watches it and where they live. If your last nine posts cover five unrelated topics, the answer is "unclear", and unclear does not get budget. Put your niche, city and a contact email in your bio. Pin the three posts that best show the audience you want brands to buy.
2. Know your numbers before anyone asks
Three numbers carry a pitch: average reel views over your last 10 to 15 posts, your engagement rate, and where your audience lives. Run the engagement rate calculator to see how your rate compares with Indian accounts your size. Run the fake follower checker on yourself as well: a clean score is a sales asset, and it is better to find a problem on a page than from a brand that stops replying.
3. Find brands that are already paying creators
Cold-pitching a brand with no creator budget wastes both your time. These methods find ones with a budget:
- Search your niche for paid posts. Look for #ad, #sponsored and the Paid Partnership tag on creators slightly bigger than you. Those brands are buying right now.
- Check the Meta Ad Library. It is free and public, and shows which brands are running ads, including creator-style ones. A brand spending on ads has a marketing budget.
- Look at what you already use. Your existing enthusiasm is the easiest pitch to write and the hardest to fake.
- Go local. Cafés, gyms, clinics, coaching centres and shops have real budgets and few creators asking. A city-specific audience is worth more to them than national reach.
- Find the right person. LinkedIn search for "brand manager", "influencer marketing" or "growth" at the company usually beats the generic support email.
4. Send a pitch that takes 20 seconds to read
Lead with the idea, not with yourself. Nobody decides from a follower count alone, and a specific concept shows you have looked at their brand.
Subject: Reel idea for [brand]: [specific concept in 4 words] Hi [name], I make [niche] videos for [audience, city]. My last 10 reels averaged [X] views, with [Y]% engagement. Idea: [one sentence on the video, and why it fits their product]. Media kit attached, with rates. If this suits your next campaign, I can share a rough script this week. [Your name] · [handle]
Attach a media kit rather than a wall of text. Follow up once after about a week, with something new to say. Then let it go.
5. Know your number before they ask
The first question back is "what are your rates?", and "whatever you think" costs you the deal or the margin. Use the influencer fee calculator or see the rate tables for India. Open above your fair number, and know the figure you will walk away from. If the reply is barter only, read how to value it first.
6. Get it in writing, then get paid
Before you shoot, agree in writing: the deliverables, how many edit rounds, the posting date, the usage term, any exclusivity, the amount and when it is paid. A WhatsApp thread is better than nothing, but it is a poor thing to argue from three months later. Label the post as ASCI requires, and send an invoice from the invoice generator.
Where PRsathi fits
PRsathi is one place to do this: a public profile with your rate card, live campaigns from brands, and a deal room that holds the terms, signatures, content review and invoice in one record. Creating a profile and receiving requests is free. Sending a request, accepting one and starting a deal need a subscription plan, listed at ₹499 a month for creators on the date of this page. We take no commission on the deal value. It will not guarantee you deals, and neither will anyone honest. The steps above work with or without it.