Launch an influencer campaign for outdoor apparel brands
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing an outdoor apparel brand. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: the client's customer is US English, 26-42, already bounced off a fashion-outdoor jacket that wet out on mile two and a Patagonia wait they cannot get, watches 'this jacket wet out' and parking-lot-trailhead videos before a Saturday hike. 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. It looked like a hiking jacket in the photo and it wet out on mile two. They already tried a fashion-outdoor jacket that wet out, a Patagonia they cannot get in size, and a cheap Amazon rain shell. Skip the 600k trail influencer whose grid is brand trips. Adjacent is wet-out, trailhead, not summit selfies for a trip. 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 wringing out a fashion jacket at a trailhead. Signal: the same wet-out face two Saturdays.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a small hiker bio, not a talent agency. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Brand-trip talent quote outdoor-apparel campaign 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 jacket on a real wet walk, not a studio fog machine. Wear the in-stock size in rain, show the inside, drop the code.
Why most first outdoor apparel brands campaigns stall
01
Brand-trip talent quote outdoor-apparel campaign rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Wet-out rants already have the audience; a jacket that is actually in stock in their size is the demo.
02
People tag #gorpcore when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A drone summit with no rain.
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 summit. Ask them to walk in rain in the size that is in stock.
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 PDP with real sizes.
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 size/color 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.
Brand-trip talent quote outdoor-apparel campaign 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 tag is brand-trip talent and gorpcore hauls. I read the session your client's customer actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.