Launch an influencer campaign for meditation apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a meditation app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 27-40, already bounced off Headspace subscriptions and a singing-bowl they used twice, watches 'meditation apps made me worse' and panic-at-2am videos with the phone brightness down. 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 really need to do this for hundreds of creators a day, because the market is not efficient. Some dumb startup is paying thousands for hundreds of views. I scroll as the person who would download this 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 fees 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. The voice started talking about my inner child and I closed the app angrier than I opened it. They already tried Headspace, Calm's sleep stories they skipped, and a singing bowl in a closet. Skip the 500k breathwork coach selling a retreat in the caption of every sit. Adjacent is insomnia adjacent, not manifestation or crystal shops. 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 muting a guided voice 40 seconds in and just staring at a clock. Signal: the same mute-the-guide face after midnight, twice in a week.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a bio that also books 1:1 coaching; say you are buying a timer demo, not a package. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Retreat sellers quote wellness-brand rates for a talking-head sit. 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. A working sit they can finish tonight without an account wall. Open the timer, sit two minutes, no voice. If they cannot start without an account, stop.
Why most first meditation apps campaigns stall
01
Retreat sellers quote wellness-brand rates for a talking-head sit. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. The people who hate the guided voice already have the audience; a silent timer is the punchline they can film.
02
People tag #meditationapp when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A cinematic sunrise sit with no timer on screen.
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 film a 20-minute sit or a before-after glow. Ask them to start the timer and shut up.
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. A live listing whose first screenshot is a timer, not a library of 400 courses.
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 App Store installs with a unique custom code.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would download this 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.
Retreat sellers quote wellness-brand rates for a talking-head sit. 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 wellness coaches and breathwork retreats, not a utility timer. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.