Pitching is not begging. It is offering a service to a company that already pays for content. The people who get replies are not the ones with the biggest accounts — they are the ones who sent something short and specific to a real person.
The six beats
Under about 120 words, in this order.
- A line that proves you know them. A product, a launch, a post. Something you could not have written about any other brand.
- Who you are and your niche. Your name, what you make, who you make it for.
- One piece of proof. A brand you have worked with, a result, or "here is a piece I made in this exact style."
- One specific idea for their product. Describe one video. This is the whole pitch.
- A clear ask. Say what you want to happen next.
- Your link. The page that backs up everything above.
Personalise the idea, not the greeting. Dropping a brand name at the top fools nobody. The line that earns a reply is an idea that could only be for them.
A DM is not an email
A DM lands in Requests, where the brand sees your name and about forty characters. So the first six words are about them, there is no link in the first message, and you ask one easy question — "is the launch getting creator content?" beats "interested in a collab?" Then stop.
When they reply, message two carries the link and moves the conversation to email, because email is what gets forwarded to whoever holds the budget.
Write the first one now.