Pitching brands without a following

Find the right person

A generic marketing inbox is where pitches go to be ignored. For a smaller brand, the founder is usually reachable and usually the decision-maker. For a larger one, look for a social, influencer or partnerships title rather than a head of marketing.

If the brand works with an agency, the agency is the gate. Finding that out first saves you a month.

Lead with the idea, not the numbers

The pitches that get replies open with a specific proposal: this piece of content, for this product, for this reason, at this time of year. That is a thing the recipient can say yes or no to. "I'd love to collaborate" is not.

Your audience data belongs in the pitch, but underneath the idea, and framed as evidence that the idea will work rather than as the reason to hire you.

Why smaller accounts win these

Brands with modest budgets get very few well-argued pitches and a great many copy-pasted ones. A pitch that shows you have used the product, understood who it is for, and thought about what would actually sell it stands out regardless of audience size — and a smaller, specific audience is often a better match than a large general one.

The exception is a brand running a large paid campaign, where reach is the point. Those are agency-mediated and rarely won by cold pitch.

Follow up once, then stop

One follow-up after about a week, adding something rather than repeating yourself — a new angle, a relevant result, a seasonal hook. After that, leave it. Marketing inboxes are genuinely overwhelmed, and persistence past two messages is remembered for the wrong reason.