Launch an influencer campaign for pickleball apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a pickleball app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 28-52, already bounced off a Facebook group that is 80 percent open-play drama and a DUPR they cannot log a rec game in, watches the group is drama and parking-lot-court-hunt videos after work. 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 group said court 3 and court 3 was a lesson, and I am in the parking lot in shoes. They already tried a Facebook group that is drama, DUPR they cannot log a rec game in, and a group text that is always wrong about the court. Skip the 400k pickleball-influencer whose grid is a paddle brand trip. Adjacent is parking-lot hunts, group drama, not paddle-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 in a parking lot because the group said court 3 and court 3 was a lesson. Signal: the same parking-lot face two after-work days.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a small after-work-play bio. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Pickleball influencers quote paddle-haul 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. Find a court they can play after work. Find a court after work, show it is not a lesson, drop the code.
Why most first pickleball apps campaigns stall
01
Pickleball influencers quote paddle-haul rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Group-is-drama rants already have the audience; a court they can trust after work is the product.
02
People tag pickleball tag when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A paddle flex with no court.
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 paddle unboxing. Ask them to find a court after work.
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 court and a time, not a social feed.
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.
Pickleball influencers quote paddle-haul 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 paddle-brand talent. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.