Launch an influencer campaign for mobile photography apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a mobile photography app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 22-34, already bounced off VSCO they pay for and never open and Lightroom presets they cannot remember, watches 'iPhone can look like Portra' and over-edited-selfie regret videos on the walk home. 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 just wanted the photo to look like the walk felt, and the pack turned everyone orange. They already tried VSCO they resent paying for, a $19 preset pack they used twice, and the native Camera app they keep returning to in a hurry. Skip the preset-pack seller whose whole grid is the same orange skin. Adjacent is walk-home snapshots, not wedding-photographer education. 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 photo they liked, then the same photo after a pack made the skin plastic. Signal: the same Portra-on-iPhone face two evening walks in a row.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a bio that is a Gumroad pack; write that you are buying a camera-app demo. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Preset sellers quote pack-launch rates because that is the SKU. 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 camera they can shoot with on tonight's walk. Open the camera, shoot the walk, do not open a pack.
Why most first mobile photography apps campaigns stall
01
Preset sellers quote pack-launch rates because that is the SKU. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Recipe videos already have the audience; a camera that bakes one look in is the thing they can open on the walk.
02
People tag #iphonephotography when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A 20-photo dump with no shutter from your app.
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 sell a pack in your video. Ask them to shoot one walk in the app.
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 shutter, not a storefront of packs.
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.
Preset sellers quote pack-launch rates because that is the SKU. 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 preset sellers and Lightroom educators; they want pack affiliates, not a camera app. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.