Launch an influencer campaign for pet food brands
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a pet food brand. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: the client's customer is US English, 25-42, already bounced off a grocery bag that upset a stomach and a boutique brand that ghosted a shipment, watches 'this food wrecked my dog for a week' and unboxing-the-wrong-recipe videos after a vet bill. 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. The last boutique ghosted a shipment and I was back in the grocery aisle at 9pm. They already tried a grocery bag that upset a stomach, a boutique that ghosted a shipment, and a vet food they cannot afford forever. Skip the 2M pet account that is a costume page. Adjacent is vet-bill dread, recipe honesty, not costume pets. 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 showing a bag they switched from after a bad week, without claiming a cure. Signal: the same vet-bill-dread face two weeks.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a small dog-parent bio, not a costume brand kit. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Costume-pet accounts quote entertainment 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 bag on camera, real lot, no lab coat. Show the recipe, the ship date, the code. No outcomes.
Why most first pet food brands campaigns stall
01
Costume-pet accounts quote entertainment rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Upset-stomach recaps already have the audience; a live recipe with a real ship date is the demo. No medical claims.
02
People tag #dogtok when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A talking-dog skit with a bag cameo.
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 the food healed anything. Ask them to show the bag and the ship date.
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 recipe page, in stock.
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 bag or a real subscription.
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.
Costume-pet accounts quote entertainment 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 costume-pet talent and treat hauls. I read the session your client's customer actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.