A collab DM does not arrive in an inbox. It arrives in Requests, where the brand sees your name, your avatar, and roughly forty characters of preview. Nothing about your rates, your kit, or your follower count survives that screen. The whole job of the first message is to get out of it.
This guide is the DM half of pitching. The full system, DM to email to booking, is the free book Get Brands to Reply; the email side is in how to pitch to brands. Here: the DM, five scripts, and the two-step that moves a reply to where the money is.
The four rules that decide it
- The first six words are about them. That is the preview. "Just tried the new cleanser after" beats "Hi! I'm a creator who" before the message is even opened.
- No link in the first message. A link from a non-follower is the strongest spam signal there is, to the platform and to the person, and your profile is one tap away anyway.
- One easy question. "Is the launch getting creator content?" is answerable. "Interested in a collab?" is a decision about you.
- Then stop. One message, four days, one follow-up. The pitch, with the link, is message two.
Five scripts
Adapt every bracket. The specific detail is the message; the rest is scaffolding.
1. The launch reply (reply to a story or post about a launch)
Just tried the [product] after your launch post, and the [specific thing you noticed]. Is the launch getting any creator content?
2. The customer opener (a product you already bought)
Been using [product] for [time], the [specific result] is real. Do you ever work with creators on [format], or is it all in-house?
3. The local one (a shop, café, studio near you)
Was in on [day], the [specific item] is the reason I will be back. Do you work with local creators, or would a quick visit reel be useful for the new menu?
4. The gap (something their feed is missing)
Love the product shots, noticed there is no talking-to-camera content on the feed yet. Is that a format you have tried, or on the list?
5. The seeding ask (for PR lists, from the PR packages guide)
Made this after the launch since [product] has been in my routine for a month anyway. If you seed creators for the next drop, I would love to be on the list.
Attach a clip to 5 if you made one. Never attach a link.
The two-step: from DM to email
When they reply, and small brands often do within a day, message two carries the link and the switch:
Amazing. Here is my page with the work and rates: [link]. I will email the full concepts to [hello@ or the name they gave] too, so it is easy to forward.
That sentence is the most important one in the process. The DM got you noticed; the email is what gets forwarded to whoever holds the budget, and it is the thread the deal will live in. From here the pitching guide takes over: six lines, one link, the ask.
The follow-up is the switch. Day four, one message: "Sent you an email too, in case DMs get buried." It only works because you are running both channels, and it reads as organised where a third DM reads as pushy.
What to send when they ask for rates in the DM
Two questions first, then a number: what format they have in mind, and whether it is for their channels or yours. Then a floor and the paid-usage multiplier from your rate card. Rates typed into a DM get screenshotted and forwarded without context, so keep the number to a starting point and put the full quote in the email. The rate card template is the structure.
Keep the record
Every DM you send is a pitch, and pitches you cannot see are pitches you forget to follow up. On Plug Pro, tapping I sent it on a brand starts the follow-up clock, so the day-four nudge and the switch to email show up as reminders instead of good intentions. The follow-up reminders page covers the cadence; the outreach worklist is where the DMs and the emails sit side by side.