How to pitch a brand without sounding like a beginner.
Pitch a brand like a supplier, not a fan. Name the brand, prove you know the one thing they are trying to sell this quarter, put one concrete number and one price in the first hundred words, and ask for a specific small next step. Skip the compliment, the follower count and the word "collab". Chad Studio drafts that email in your own voice and never sends it for you.
Written for South African creators pricing in rand. Everything below is structure you can copy; the words have to be yours, because a brand can tell.
The six moves, in order.
- 01
Open with the brand, not yourself
The first sentence should prove you are not writing to forty brands at once.
Name the product, and name the thing about it you would actually use. One sentence. "I saw the new 30ml sunscreen is fragrance-free" beats "I hope this email finds you well" by the width of the industry. A brand reads the first line to decide whether the next nine exist.
- 02
Say what you would make, in one sentence
A deliverable, not a vibe.
One post, one reel, one carousel, one story set — say which, how long it runs, and what it shows. If you already know the angle, say it: "a three-shot reel of the morning routine it fits into" is a plan. "A collaboration to showcase the product" is nothing, and everyone can tell.
- 03
Put the number where it can be seen
Buried numbers get ignored; missing numbers get a low offer.
Give your engagement rate and your reach for the last nine to twelve posts, then your price for the deliverable you just described. Published 2026 South African rates run roughly R500 to R2 500 per post for nano creators under 10 000 followers and R2 500 to R12 000 for micro creators between 10 000 and 50 000. A price inside that band, stated plainly, reads as professional. A price you hedge reads as negotiable.
- 04
Name the risk you remove
Brands do not buy reach. They buy not being embarrassed.
Tell them what you will not do as well as what you will: no unapproved claims, no competitor tag in frame, the caption sent for approval before it goes live, and the post staying up for an agreed period. Appendix K of the ARB Social Media Code expects disclosure up front, so say how you will disclose — #ad, first line, visible — before they ask. That paragraph is why a bigger account with no process loses the deal.
- 05
Ask for one small next step
The ask is a question with an easy answer.
"Would a fifteen-minute call on Thursday or Friday suit you to confirm the brief?" is answerable in six seconds. "Let me know if you are interested" is not an ask, it is homework you have handed to a stranger. One step, two options, no deadline theatre.
- 06
Follow up twice, then stop
Silence is not a no. It is usually a Tuesday.
Follow up four working days later with one new fact — a date you have free, a second angle, the same product from a different use case — never with "just checking in". Follow up once more a week after that, then leave it. Two follow-ups is persistence; a third is a reputation.
What it looks like sent.
One worked example. Square brackets are yours to fill; nothing else is a placeholder, because vague emails are the thing we are fixing.
Subject
Reel for [product], first week of [month]
Hi [Name],
I saw the [product] launched in the fragrance-free range. I have been recommending a similar swap to my audience for months, which is why this one is worth a message rather than a forward.
What I would make: one 20-second reel, three shots — the product on the shelf, the morning routine it belongs in, the result on skin — plus four story frames the same day. Caption and script sent for your approval before anything goes live.
My numbers: [reach] accounts reached and [rate]% engagement across my last twelve posts, audience mostly [city], mostly [age band]. My price for that reel and the stories is R[price], including one round of edits and the post staying up for 30 days.
I disclose sponsored work up front with #ad in the first line and no health claims in my own words. I will send the caption for sign-off before we shoot.
Would a 15-minute call on [day] or [day] suit you to lock the brief?
— [Your name], [handle] · [link to media kit]
A draft like this in your own voice is exactly what Chad writes for you, and what it will never send for you.
Four ways to lose a deal you should have won.
The compliment opening
"I absolutely love your brand and have been a huge fan for years" is the same sentence every other creator sent that morning. It also signals that nothing you say next was written for them.
The numbers you did not choose
A follower count with no engagement rate, or an engagement rate with no reach, is a number the brand will interpret for you — usually downward. Give both, and say which twelve posts they come from.
The free-first offer
Offering to work for product teaches a brand your price is zero. If the budget genuinely is not there, say what a smaller deliverable would cost instead; a lower price for less work is a business decision, a free post is a habit.
The one-line email
"Rates attached, let me know" leaves the brand to invent the brief, the timing and the risk. You will get a shorter reply than the one you sent, and it will be a no.
The short answers.
How do I write a pitch email to a brand as a creator?
Lead with the brand and the product, not with yourself. Then give the deliverable in one sentence, your engagement rate and reach for the last nine to twelve posts, your price for that deliverable, how you will disclose the sponsorship, and one small next step with two dates. Keep it under 200 words and attach nothing a link cannot carry.
How much should I charge a brand for one post in South Africa?
Start from the published 2026 bands: roughly R500 to R2 500 per post for nano creators under 10 000 followers, R2 500 to R12 000 for micro creators between 10 000 and 50 000, R12 000 to R50 000 for mid-tier and R50 000 upward for macro. Engagement rate moves the number more than follower count, and video usually pays more than a static post.
Should I send a media kit with the first email?
Link it, do not attach it. Attachments from strangers are opened last, and a link to a one-page kit proves the kit exists without costing the brand a download. Put the numbers in the email itself as well — a brand should not have to open anything to learn whether you are worth a reply.
How long should I wait before following up?
Four working days, with one new fact rather than a reminder. Then once more a week later. After two follow-ups, leave it: a third message changes how you are remembered, and the next campaign brief will go to whoever did not do that.
Does Chad Studio send the email for me?
No. Chad finds brands in your lane, drafts the first email in your own voice and dates the follow-ups so the deal does not die of silence, but the send button stays yours. If a message reaches a brand, you sent it — that rule exists so nobody can spend your reputation without your fingerprint on it.
The part after the email
A pitch is a Tuesday. The follow-up is the business.
Chad keeps the list of brands in your lane, drafts the first email in your voice, dates every follow-up, then invoices the deal and chases it on 30 days. Free to start, no card.
Rate bands quoted are published 2026 South African market rates, given as indicative benchmarks and not a promise of earnings. Disclosure guidance follows the ARB Social Media Code.