How to Pitch Your First Creator Collaboration (Even If You’ve Never Done It Before)

You don't need a huge audience or the perfect credentials to start collaborating. What you do need is a pitch that makes it easy for someone to say yes. In this episode, I break down the exact collaboration pitch framework I use to land opportunities and create new growth for my business. Whether you're pitching yourself as a guest or inviting someone into your own collaboration, you'll learn how to write outreach emails that feel genuine, clear, and actually get responses.

Tune in to hear more on:

• Why simplicity makes it easy for people to say yes to you
• How to build a list of aligned collaboration partners, including why your existing network should be your first place to start
• The exact structure I use for collaboration outreach emails, from subject line to sign off
• Small personal touches that make your outreach stand out and help you build real relationships instead of sending generic pitches
• How offering multiple collaboration opportunities in one email can increase your chances of hearing "yes" and open the door to even more partnerships
• The next steps every collaboration pitch should include so your potential partner knows exactly how to move forward

If this episode gives you the confidence to finally send that collaboration pitch, don't stop here. Download my free Collab Scripts to see real outreach emails, DMs, and messages that have helped creators secure successful partnerships. If you're ready for even more templates, workflows, and step by step guidance, check out the Collab Starter Kit. Your next collaboration could be one email away. I’ll see you next week!

Links:
Website: https://heyletscollab.com
Instagram: Hey, Let's Collab (@heyletscollab) • Instagram profile
FREE Collab Scripts: Collab Scripts - Hey, Let's Collab
Collab Starter Kit: https://heyletscollab.com/kit
Blog: Blog - Hey, Let's Collab
YouTube: Hey, Let's Collab
Pinterest: Hey Let's Collab

Transcript

Nadalie Bardo 0:00

Hey, it's Nadalie and welcome to the Hey Let's Collab Podcast. This is a podcast about how successful creators grow through collaboration. Every episode, we unpack one specific partnership from the first pitch to the final result. This gives you the full blueprint on how to collaborate with confidence and grow your business through aligned connections. Ready to get started? You'll love this week's collaboration. So you've got a collaboration idea, and now comes the scary part. Pitching. What do you say to secure a yes? Right? Before you even type one word, I want you to know that right now, in this moment, you are ready for this collaboration. You have everything you need in order to secure that yes. You don't need a huge audience or a big presence online for someone to reply, yes, sounds good. What's that next step? So let me walk you through exactly how to write a pitch if you've never done it before. And this is exciting for me to draw on a little bit of my history, as I do technically have a postgraduate's diploma in communications and public relations, and spent a little bit of time at a PR agency writing pitches for companies to land media. So this is my jam, all right? I've done so much of this. Okay, first, what's a collaboration pitch? It's essentially your offer. It could be two ways or one way. The collaboration pitch should go like, hey, I've got this community or this platform. I invite you to be a part of it. That's what I did when I hosted the Creator Collab bundle and invited contributors to give a resource. The reverse is you offering your expertise as a guest on the other person's platform. Either way you go about it, this is an outreach pitch. Okay, so let me walk you through those steps. No matter your intentions for this collaboration to feature them or for you to be featured, here are three steps to get you a yes. Step one is to outline your collaboration idea. I could not tell you the amount of times I've received super vague emails and super vague pitches where I am not quite sure what's even happening. Or even on the flip side, overly complicated collaboration ideas. You need to write it out simply in a way that if someone has no idea what you're talking about, they won't need to read it 10 times to get it. So, what is your collaboration idea? Is it to do a guest post, roundup contribution? Do you want to be in their bundle? Do you want to go live into their community? What exactly is it? Say it in simple terms. One of the most common mistakes I see with collaborations is coming up with super like complicated names for what it is instead of just saying what it is. Like, hey, do you want to do an email swap? Just say what it is. Have some dates, make a timeline. Like, when do you want it to happen? If a video is involved, for example, how long should the video be? What's the format? Are slides involved? Is it just a quick interview on an IG live? Like, just write out the details and be clear and specific. You're going to need that for the email. Don't make it confusing because the more confusing your collaboration idea is, the less likely someone is going to say yes to it. And if you're unclear on potential collaboration ideas, you should go check out my episode on the 10 easy collaboration ideas or grab the collab starter kit at heyletscollab.com forward slash kit, where I break down all 10 collaboration types. Okay, so once you're clear on your idea, now let's make a list of your potential partners. Who do you want to invite to this collaboration? Maybe you already have one person in mind or a few. I challenge you to make a list of at least 10 possible partners. So think about who has an aligned audience for you. Who's your target audience? Who do you help? Right? And think about potential partners in parallel industries. So, say for example, you're a nutritionist, potential partners could be recipe bloggers, or they could even be health coaches. Health coaches are probably more aligned, right? So you want to think and brainstorm who could I possibly reach out to? You want to start with who you already know. Those are going to be your easiest yeses because they already know and trust you. So add them to the top of your list, the people and other experts who might have audiences that are open to your topic, your expertise, and your offer. Then you want to also find other related experts who have communities that you can reach out to. When you're making this list, there are a few things you should note that will make writing your pitch even easier. Of course, you should write down their name, the name of their brand. Also make note of the platforms you want to collaborate on. So, say for example, you want to speak in their membership. What's the name of the membership? Right? If you want to go on their podcast, what's the name of the podcast? You also want to take notes on how you feel or what you think about that specific online creator. Do you love their Instagram stories? Was there a YouTube series that you really felt connected to? This is what's going to help you to get a yes. And don't just say like the vague stuff like, oh my gosh, you're so great. I loved you on so-and-so's podcast. Be specific, right? Make it feel real. So, for example, I was recently doing some outreach, and I saw that one of those creators was recently in Mexico City, and I was like, oh my gosh, I loved those pastries. They were so good, right? I hope you had a great time in CDMX. So if you can say something that's like, wow, I'm paying attention, I know who you are, and this is genuine, that's what's gonna help you to get a yes. Okay. And of course, you're gonna need a way to connect with them. So when it comes to pitching, I do encourage you to start with email. Email is where all the business happens. Yes, yes, we can slide into DMs, but when it comes to collaboration, email is the place to start. So when you're making notes, you want to write down what their email address is, or you want to save a link to their contact form. If you can't find their email, a few places you can look are if they have a YouTube channel, look in the details or a Facebook page. You can also check the details there, or join their email list and read some of their emails, engage before you pitch them. That's a pro tip, okay? And our third step, of course, is to draft that collaboration pitch. I encourage you to write this yourself. You can do it. Yes, AI is great, but give it a shot. That's how you're gonna stand out in their inbox when you don't sound exactly like everyone else. So let's go through this email, right? The first thing we need is a subject line. There are two ways you can go about this. I've tried both ways, and both ways get responses. So the first way is curiosity inspired. So instead of being super straightforward here, you could say something like, open to this idea, I wrote this for you, would love to help you with, right? We're just we're not saying, hey, it's a collaboration idea, but this type of curiosity can get your email opened. Okay, the second way is to be super clear and specific. You could say collaboration idea, or are you open to guest posts, or you're invited to whatever it is. So being super clear and specific can also get you a response. So 100% when it comes to writing the body of this outreach pitch, we're gonna be clear and specific. This is not where we're leading with curiosity. We want to make sure all the information they need to say yes, to say no, they likely won't say no. Typically, a no is just a non-response, is in the body of the email. Okay. So the first line, how you're opening this email is hi or hey, person's name. Okay, so big warning here. Please use the person's name and make sure it's the correct name, right? That's the name that's on the about page, the name that signs their newsletter emails, the names in their Instagram profile. You want to make sure you're speaking to the right person, not hey team, hi name, okay? This is where you're gonna use that personal note. Remember, I told you to write down what you thought or felt about them. This is where you're going to compliment them or mention something specific. It can be something like, love your threads post. I'm always like, I'm laughing so hard, I'm cackling, or something like that. But of course, if they're not on threads and they're not funny, that is not going to be helpful, right? So make it specific. You can even say if it's someone who's like a food creator, my save tab is filled with your recipe videos. I'm obsessed, right? Something like that. And then you can even transition to your audience, like, and my audience would be too. Or I shared your so-and-so with my audience as well. Like, let's transition a bit if possible, and don't lie. Like, make it real, okay? Then the second part of this email, next little mini paragraph, keep your paragraphs super short. It's not an essay, all right? It's just an outreach email. This is where you're gonna introduce who you are. So if you have a point of connection with this person, this is where I'd mention it, right? This could even be part of your introduction, like, hey, we are both in so and so's mastermind, or hey, I met you at the insert name of conference here. This is where you're able to open up by using this point of reference, you're more likely to get a yes. You could also mention any mutual connections you have. Like, for example, if someone recommended that you reach out to them, this is where you're gonna mention that. And then you're also gonna say who you are. If they have no idea who you are, you can say, hi, we haven't officially met yet, or hey, you might not know who I am, but I'm say who you are, say if you have a title, what your expertise is, and who you help. This is where you enter that line. And then you also want to say you can find me online at. This is a great place to include a link. So whether that's to that social profile, that's your proof of who you are, your little bit of credibility, your website, your TikTok, whatever it is you have, this is where you're gonna share that bit of information. The third section of this email needs to just dive right into whatever the idea is. I'm reaching out to invite you. I was wondering if you're interested in, are you open to having or doing or just be super specific about it, what it is. Just be super specific about what it is. Okay, so as I mentioned, is it a podcast? Is it a summit? Is it a bundle? Do you want to be in their summit or bundle? Do you want to go live into their community? Do you want to do an email swap? Say specifically what it is. And here's another pro tip: give options, right? A collaboration pitch doesn't need to just be about one specific collaboration. It could be about a few. Like maybe you want to be on their podcast and you're also open to writing a guest post. Let them know, right? For myself, at the start of the year, when I did my annual outreach emails to my top partners, I mentioned, yes, let's host my masterclass again for your audience. But I also invited them to be guests on this podcast and to be a part of my bundle. So one email, three pitches. This opens up multiple opportunities for yeses. So if you're only pitching one opportunity and they're not interested or it's the wrong timing, then you are just gonna get a no. But if you leave it a little bit open-ended or have multiple options, you're more likely to get a yes. And on that point of leaving it open-ended, I am a fan of saying, or if you have another collaboration idea in mind, hit reply and let me know. Or I'd love to hear about it. And then the final section of the email needs to have clear instructions as to what is next. So, say, for example, you're inviting them to do an email swap. Say, for example, you're inviting them to contribute a quote for a roundup article you're working on. You can include a link to the form when you're hosting a collaboration, no matter how big or how small, use forms. You can use a free Google form or free Airtable and use it to collect information. This just cuts down on the back and forth of emails, and you don't always have to like copy and paste and fill it in. Just include it in the email, and they can take action by filling out the form if they're interested. So you can say something like, if you're in, click here to fill out the quick questionnaire, if it's for that roundup post, or hit reply if you have any questions. And you can also end with, I'm also open to any other collaboration ideas. And you can even be a little bit specific here as well. So always give them the next step to take. So whether that next step is to fill out a form, to say hit reply and say you're in, or even to book a call. So they can book a call with you if they have questions. If you want to hop on a quick call, here's my booking link, or just let me know. So you want to give actions. Tell them what the next step is. Of course, sign off with your name, and then you can include a link. If you didn't include your link up top, below your name is another place to go. Hey! Pausing the episode because I really wanted to tell you about my collab starter kit. It has everything you need to start collaborating, even if you've never done it before and don't feel expert enough. With a step-by-step guide, outreach templates, tracker, and more, the kit takes you from I know I should be collaborating to I'm ready to send my first pitch. It's available at Hayletscollab.com for $36. But if you sign up for my free collab scripts, you'll unlock a special discount. Link in the show notes if you're ready to start collaborating with confidence. I'm also a huge fan of the PS and the PSS. I wouldn't do a PSS for an outreach email, but I would for a newsletter, for sure. So in your PS, it's totally optional. This is an opportunity to flex your credibility, right? So you could down here put anything from, you know, you could talk about a past collaboration, even if it's not official, you could talk about a feature, you could talk about like this could be a place where you mention someone who told you to reach out to them. It's just an opportunity to say a little bit extra, right? A little bit extra that could tip the scales towards them saying yes. So if you were featured in anything like a roundup, on a podcast episode, if you went live on someone's community, this is where you can sprinkle that in. You could also link to another one of your platforms. So, for example, if you're pitching something that requires you to teach on camera, you could link to a video on any platform. It could even be in your Vimeo or your Loom of you teaching. Okay, so it could be like if you'd like a taste of my teaching style, click here to watch this video. Okay, so make use of your email pitch from the subject line to the optional PS and position it in a way that is going to secure you a yes. So I wanted to read you an example of a collaboration outreach pitch that I've sent. Okay, so for this email, I'm reaching out, inviting someone who doesn't know me to be a part of my bundle. So for the subject line, I said, you're invited to the Creator Collab bundle. So I said, Hi, Katie, and I name drop the person who told me about them that they're a good person to reach out to. So I said, Nina Clapperton suggested that I reach out to you and invite you to my upcoming bundle. She's a client of yours and loves everything you do. Okay, so I already said why I'm reaching out. I made it personal, even though that's borrowed from the person who told me to reach out to them. And then I'm gonna dive right into what my collaboration is. I haven't said much about myself here because the name dropping is what lets me bypass that. Because by name dropping someone she knows, I can bypass that a little bit. And I said it's called the Creator Collab bundle, and it's live June 1 to 7. The goal of this free bundle is to offer a collection of paid resources to help online creators host and participate in collaborations. Your contribution should be sold for $9 or more and focused on any part of the collaboration process, including, and here's where I list a whole bunch of topics, because for me, this part of the email, just like pitching multiple collaboration ideas, the point is for the recipient to be like, okay, yes, that's me. I have a product that I could include in this bundle that fits that category. So I said, Do you have a template or discount you'd like to contribute? Because they have a template shop. So I said, template. That proves that I know exactly who they are, what they offer. So make it related to them. I said the promotional requirements are one solo email, one PS, and one social media post during the live launch week, June 1 to 7. It's also important to include the dates when we're being specific about what this collaboration is. Are you available to join? If so, just fill out this onboarding form, hit reply if you have any questions or other collab ideas. Talk soon, Nadalie. And then in a PS, I include if the bundle isn't a great fit for you, I would love to tell you about how you can be a guest on my podcast. So I use the PS to find another way to keep the door open and make a potential collaboration opportunity for myself. So I hope that gives you a little idea on how you can craft your own pitch. And if you're looking for even more examples, be sure to get the collab scripts. Head to heyletscollab.com and you'll see the button to sign up. Inside it, you'll find the real emails, DMs, and social posts of the guests you'll be hearing from on this podcast. I've collected them all into an ebook for you so that you can learn from their example. So what are you waiting for? It's time to craft your pitch. And by the way, if you go sign up for those collab scripts, you will get an offer for something that is going to help you with your outreach. Okay, I'm just gonna tell you what it is. It's the collab starter kit, and inside it you will find 30 plus templates that you can use for your outreach, depending on whatever it is. I wrote these out for all collaboration types and for multiple circumstances, whether you know them, whether you are being introduced by someone, whether you saw a social post. So you can go and check that out if you're looking for templates that you can use to form your own emails. All right. So what are you waiting for? Get writing, draft that pitch. And remember, before you hit send, please, please, please make sure you triple check it. Read it out loud. Does it sound natural? Does it sound like you? Are you sending it to the right person? Okay, so when you're doing your outreach pitches, and I encourage you to pitch at least 10 people. I feel like 10 is a great sample size to start with. Make sure the email matches the name, matches what you talk about inside of your email body. So just triple check before you hit send. All right, and it gets faster as you go. Getting into a habit of doing outreach is just a great way to open doors for yourself. You don't always need to be invited in. You don't need to wait for organic marketing to take off. You can create your own opportunities for audience and income growth today for your business by just saying, hey, let's collab. All right. So have fun doing your outreach. Thanks for listening. And be sure to stay tuned. I've got so many interviews in store where we break down the collaboration pitches that got yeses. So this was Nadalie Bardo, and bye for now. I'll see you in the next episode. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Bye for now. Thanks for tuning in to Hey Let's Collab. If you're looking to kickstart your collaboration game and land that dream partnership, check out HeyletsCollab.com and download the free collab scripts to get started.