Launch an influencer campaign for DTC supplement brands
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a DTC supplement brand. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: the client's customer is US English, 25-40, already bounced off a tub they tasted once and a stack a YouTuber sold them, watches 'my supplement graveyard' and 'this tub tastes like chalk' videos at the kitchen sink. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You already have the client. You keep the retainer. I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as your client's customer on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I own a cabinet of almost-full tubs I will not finish. They already tried a YouTuber stack, a tub under the sink, and a powder they used for a week. Skip the gym influencer whose whole grid is a storefront of 12 tubs. Adjacent is graveyard tubs, chalk taste, not medical claims and not before-after bodies. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone opening a cabinet of half-used tubs. Signal: the same graveyard-cabinet face two sink nights.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a bio that is not a 12-tub storefront. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Storefront influencers quote supplement-haul rates. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. The mix in a real glass, not a lab coat. Mix it, taste it, drop the code. No outcomes.
Why most first DTC supplement brands campaigns stall
01
Storefront influencers quote supplement-haul rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Graveyard videos already have the audience; a mix that tastes like something they will finish is the only honest demo. No cure language.
02
People tag #supplements when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A before-after you cannot legally run.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask them to claim sleep, muscle, or a cure. Ask them to mix it and say if they will finish the tub.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. The client's live product, in stock, no disease claims on the page.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is codes on a live in-stock SKU.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as your client's customer on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Storefront influencers quote supplement-haul rates. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The catalog is storefront gym talent who will bury the SKU in a 12-tub haul. I read the session your client's customer actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.