It is no secret that the easiest way to gain online success is by piggybacking on an influencer. In fact, this is the fastest route to building an audience, increasing website traffic, improving your online reach, or generating a buzz about your product or service.

But how do you convince these influencers to work with you? After all, they are incredibly busy people. And, of course, they get more than their share of requests to collaborate every single day. So how do you set yourself apart and get them to consider your pitch? Well, an email outreach program might just be your best bet.

Over the years, cold email outreach has become a kind of boogeyman in the online marketing community. Most people still can’t figure out if it’s a great marketing tool or just spam. Also, there is the simple fact that people just don’t like receiving emails from people they don’t know.

That represents the main challenge you will face during any email outreach problem. Any successful email outreach helps you start a meaningful conversation with an influencer. That is the only way to ensure that they are willing to open, read, and respond to your message.

But before getting into the nitty-gritty of how to accomplish this, what exactly is an email outreach program?

Simply put, an outreach program defines the process of crafting and sending cold emails to influencers in order to get them to review your site, product, or service, or gain links. Email outreach is the most powerful and effective way to market your brand, products, or services to companies and influencers alike.

But this outreach program definition does not include spam or annoying unsolicited mail. The process is not about just sending out a lot of emails to as many people as possible. Instead, the focus of any good email outreach program is to create invaluable relationships with the movers and shakers within your niche that can help you build up your brand.

It is obvious that one of the main factors that will determine the success of your campaign is your email copy. You might be thinking, “How hard is it to write an email?” As it turns out, it’s not as easy as you would think!

At least, this is true when it comes to writing a good outreach email that gets results.

Research shows that outreach is the most difficult part of the marketing process. That is because, between finding background info on your prospect and crafting a compelling pitch, a lot of time and effort goes into sending a single outreach email.

Despite this, the good news is that you can learn how to do outreach right. But to do this, the first step is to know which common mistakes to avoid in order to craft relevant, timely, and reply-worthy emails:

Effective email pitches are never sent out blindly. You must research the person you’re reaching out to first. It is always a good idea to know the recipient, what they do, and where they work. The goal here is to prove that you have invested some time and effort before reaching out. This will show the prospect that you are less likely to waste their time.

Here’s the bottom line: if your email subject lines are boring, then the prospect probably won’t open your email. Instead, find ways to make your subject lines relevant, intriguing, and compelling.

They should also be accurate enough to tell prospects exactly what to expect from your message. Otherwise, they will be less inclined to open and read it. Find out more about creating the perfect outreach email subject  lines and drive your open and response rates through the roof.

Apart from helping you understand your prospects better, research will also give you enough information to get the tone of your message just right. Some prospects may prefer a casual tone while the overly familiar approach will turn others off. Tailoring your email well enough is just as important as what you write.

Obviously, you should also keep your email polite and personable. It should never come across like you used a copy-pasted template – even if you did! Instead, a friendly and easygoing approach can work wonders for your outreach program.

Relevance is one of the most important things to keep in mind. How does your email create value or offer insight? Use any relevant piece of information that you have come across in your research to tie in your offer.

If the prospect has recently done or achieved something interesting, comment on it. This sort information is a great way to tailor your pitch to appeal to specific prospects.

Dropping a name or two can also work to grab the prospect’s attention. Do you have any mutual contacts? Have you worked for any well-known clients that the influencer may be familiar with? Using this information is a great way of ensuring your email stands out from a crowded inbox.

Would you want to read a long, winding email from someone that you don’t know? Well, don’t assume that your prospect will feel any differently about this. Try not to waste their time with emails that are too long or vague. This will only give the prospect a perfect excuse to send your message straight to the trash folder.

Instead, keep your email short and clear. Avoid using useless buzzwords and give the prospect the right information quickly and briefly. Remember, the whole point of any outreach exercise is to get the prospect excited enough to connect with you.

Now that you know what to avoid, what can you do to craft effective blogger outreach emails? This step-by-step influencer outreach guide will help you create a winning blog outreach strategy:

The main aim of a subject line is to act as a preview for what is in the rest of the email. You might be tempted to be excessively vague here in order to entice the prospect to open and read your message.

But this is the wrong way to go, mainly because an unclear subject line is one of the characteristics of spam. Most times, this approach will just make the prospect lose interest even before opening your email.

Instead, you have to find innovative ways to sum up a complicated pitch in a short and sweet subject line. Your best bet is to keep it as honest and sincere as possible. Some examples of great subject lines include:

•    I loved your blog/post/tweet on (mention specific subject)
•    Hoping to get your advice on (mention specific subject)
•    Did you know (insert a relevant and interesting statistic)?
•    Congratulations on (mention relevant event/award)

These examples may seem a bit simple, but they work. They help the prospect get an idea of what you are proposing. This is a great way to hook a target prospect, instead of using a deceptive subject line as bait. That approach may work to improve your open rates, but no one will be rushing to respond to your email!

One of the most important factors that will determine the success of your blog outreach is credibility. Think about it: is there an influencer that will give you the chance to guest post or collaborate if they don’t see you as a credible source?

Unfortunately, content creators who are just starting out will have their work cut out for them. Since you are unknown, very few people will be willing to take a gamble on you. But that doesn’t mean that such influencers don’t exist! You just have to put in some extra effort into convincing them.

A great way to do this is by giving your prospects a reason to care. Since they won’t waste time on subpar work, introduce yourself by briefly running down your biggest achievements. They may not know you, but they might be familiar with your work.

Show the prospect that working with you will benefit them too because your work is just that awesome.

One of the main ways to distinguish cold email outreach from spam is through personalization. And the only way you’ll be able to customize your outreach emails is through research. Show the prospect that you know their name, what they are working on, and their interests in general.

Influencers will know that you are doing all this just to build rapport and establish a personal connection with them. You might not care about them (they are strangers too, after all), but they will appreciate the time you took to do your background research.

Email outreach templates are an easy, proven way to reach out to influencers. But if you don’t customize each to your prospect, they will do more harm than good for your outreach campaign.

Take the time to customize each template by injecting a little bit of your personality in there. The last thing you want is to come off as stiff, robotic, or boring. Email templates offer a great starting point, but a little customization will make your emails more friendly and personal. Using RooJet to automate and customize your outreach campaign will make the process much easier for you. 

Whenever you’re reaching out to someone new for the first time, it is very important to keep your email short and concise. Not only will this show that you value their time, it is also a great tool you can use to gauge their interest.

A lot of people make the mistake of cramming every little detail into that first email. After all, they aren’t sure if they will get a chance to engage the prospect again!

But this only serves to overload the recipient. Instead, make your pitch brief, offer a little tidbit to show value, and then ask if the prospective influencer is interested. This approach will save you a lot of effort and headache down the line.

A lot of people (even professionals) expect something for nothing. But if an influencer is going to make time to work with you, then it has to be beneficial to them in some way.

But you can’t just offer anything and call it creating value. For example, will your advice really be helpful to a successful businessman? Again, research is very important here. It is the only way to know which buttons to push with each prospect.

Some people think that their outreach emails are so great that they’ll get a reply immediately after sending one out. But that’s not how the real world works. Most times, the people you’re reaching out to are busy or caught up in their own projects and won’t see your first email right off the bat.

That’s why it is always important to remember that a lack of a response doesn’t always mean no. If you don’t receive a reply within two days, then send a follow up email. Be persistent about it and, many times, it will pay off.

A great pitch and relevant value proposition will be enough to get you a response most of the time. But even if the prospect can’t work with you now, they will show their interest and promise a partnership later on.

With these tips, it shouldn’t be too hard to put all of them together to draft the perfect blogger outreach template for your campaign.

Here are a few examples to help you get started on the right footing.

•    Sample 1

Hey (influencer’s name),

Just wanted to reach out and say that I’ve been a huge fan of (mention name of influencer’s website blog) for a long while now. I got hooked on your blog/site when you posted about (mention relevant topic/takeaway). I recently used your tips to (mention relevant action). The good news is (mention specific benefit to your site). So thank you!

Since the post helped me out so much, I wanted to ask if you are planning to put up any more material on (mention relevant subject) soon. If so, I’d love to (one-sentence pitch, e.g. share my journey implementing it to your audience).

If you’re interested, let me know so that I can start working on the post right away. In the meantime, here are some of my recent articles to help you get a feel for my writing style:

•    URL 1
•    URL 2

Either way, keep up the great work!

Best,

(Your name).

•    Sample 2

Hi (Influencer’s name),

I’m sure you get this a lot, but I’m a huge fan of your blog/posts/work. I’ve followed (name of influencer’s blog/website) for a few years now and I’m always blown away by your unique insights on all matters (mention specific field/industry).

I especially loved your recent post/article/tweet on (mention specific topic). I was so inspired that I (mention relevant takeaway or action, e.g wrote article, did some more research etc.). [insert relevant URL].

Because of this, I thought that I’d show you my appreciation for all your hard work by (your value proposition).

I’ve put together a list of how you can do this. If you’re interested, just drop me a line and I’ll get shoot it over to you ASAP.

Cheers,

(Your name).

•    Sample 3

Hi (Influencer’s name),

I’m a huge fan of (mention name of their website/blog). I just wanted to reach out because I’ve really enjoyed your work over the last few years. In fact, I was able to (mention a cool accomplishment) from reading your post on (mention specific topic/title).

I know you’re really busy, so I won’t take much of your time. I had some awesome ideas that I think your audience at (mention name of their site/blog) would love, and I was wondering if you’d be open to a guest post.

I managed to come up with a couple of ideas that I think you might like:

•    Idea 1
•    Idea 2
•    Idea 3

To give you an idea of my writing style, here are a few of my best posts:

•    URL link to best-written post
•    URL link to most shared post

Let me know what you think. Either way, I love your work – keep doing what you’re doing!

Best,

(Your name)

Even with all these tips and strategies, many people do not know how to start or run their email outreach program. But that’s okay! Luckily for you, there are various outreach software that can help you run a smooth, successful campaign:

RooJet is a tool that will help you find all the email addresses related to a specific domain. You can either search for email addresses in bulk or one by one. Then, it allows you to add them automatically to your email outreach campaign.

This tool also helps you automate your follow up efforts. This frees up your time to focus on reaching out to new prospects every day. Coupled with its easy reporting capabilities, you will be able to track your progress throughout the outreach campaign.

Mailshake in another awesome blogger outreach software that allows you to build relationships, promote content, and generate leads. It comes with a database of pre-written outreach email templates or allows you to save your own.

This tool also helps you personalize your outreach emails easily. Answer a few questions and it will generate personalized emails for your outreach campaign. You can also schedule follow ups and let the software handle any unsubscribe requests automatically.

Apart from that, you will also be able to track the progress of your outreach campaign. Seeing how prospects respond to your messages can help you refocus and target your campaign for higher success rates.

In blogger outreach, you can use BuzzSumo to find the best performing content within any niche. It allows you to filter this content by location, type, and rank. This tool organizes the content based on its number of social shares. Once this is done, you can then reach out to the right influencers and make your pitch.

Outreach IO is another tool that helps marketers run their outreach program. This sales automation tool enables you to get insights that will then help you manage your sales pipeline more efficiently. Deleted.

Apart from that, this tool also helps you run your email outreach campaign more efficiently. By harmonizing your efforts over email, voice, and social channels, you will be able to land more meetings with your prospects.

This tool also lets you track your progress. You will be able to quickly see what works and identify what doesn’t. This will allow you to make changes that could mean success or failure for your email outreach campaign.

The downside of OutreachIO is that it can run at $12,000 per year, or $1,200 per month. This package covers a maximum of ten users for the licensing period.

On the other hand, you could also get a single user license for at least $100 per month. But this amount could range between $100 and $150 per month, depending on the type of package that you choose.

It is so common to hear about people or companies that have great content, products, or service but get no traffic on their websites. Regular marketing efforts may help, but the fastest way to establish yourself as a credible player in your industry is by working with an influencer.

This forms the basis of any outreach program. It’s all about getting forming relationships with influencers that can help propel your brand to the next level. And most of them will gladly do this – if you can only get them to read and respond to your emails!

When running an email outreach program, getting influencers to do this can be a really hard task. But if you put in the time and effort to create helpful and insightful emails, you will have better luck connecting with the right people.