Launch an influencer campaign for notes apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a notes app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 24-36, already bounced off Notion they use as a graveyard and Roam they felt dumb inside of, watches 'my second brain is a junk drawer' and Apple-Notes-is-enough videos on the train. 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. I have a second brain and I still text myself the address. They already tried Notion as a graveyard, Roam they felt dumb inside of, and Apple Notes they keep returning to in meetings. Skip the 80k PKM YouTuber whose last 15 videos are the same PARA recap with a new sponsor. Adjacent is meeting capture, junk-drawer shame, not Zettelkasten flex. 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 Notion workspace with 400 empty pages to find one address. Signal: the same junk-drawer face two commutes in a row.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a bio under a second-brain cohort; say this is an app inbox demo. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. PKM educators quote course prices for a desk tour. 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 inbox they can use in a meeting without a tutorial. Type the address, close it, find it. If they needed a graph, you overbuilt.
Why most first notes apps campaigns stall
01
PKM educators quote course prices for a desk tour. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Junk-drawer rants already have the audience; a fast inbox is the punchline they can film on the train.
02
People tag #notetaking when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A cinematic desk setup with no capture in the first 10 seconds.
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 for a full PKM rebuild. Ask them to capture one address and find it later.
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 blank note that saves in under a second.
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.
PKM educators quote course prices for a desk tour. 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 tag is PKM course-sellers; they will not demo a boring inbox. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.