Launch an influencer campaign for scheduling tools
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a scheduling tool. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English two-person shop, 27-40, already bounced off Calendly's price jump and a Cal.com they never finished, watches 'stop making me play email tennis' and 'Calendly wants more now' videos between client calls. 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 pay for this tool 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 sent six times and they still asked if Thursday works. They already tried Calendly until the bill jumped, a When2Meet they are embarrassed to send, and Cal.com they never finished hosting. Skip the SaaS-review YouTuber whose video is 40 tools in 8 minutes. Adjacent is email tennis, two-person shops, not enterprise SE calendars. 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 pasting six available windows into an email and still getting 'what about Thursday'. Signal: the same email-tennis face two call-days in a row.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a studio bio, often bookings@ or a personal gmail. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Roundup channels quote affiliate-video 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. A public link, no sales call, no 'seats'. Send the link, show the booked slot, stop playing tennis.
Why most first scheduling tools campaigns stall
01
Roundup channels quote affiliate-video rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Email-tennis rants already have the audience; a link that does not look like every other founder is the demo.
02
People tag #calendly when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A 40-tool roundup with your name in the description.
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 40-tool review. Ask them to send the link and get a booked time.
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 working booking page they can send today.
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 signups to a live scheduling product, unique link.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would pay for this tool 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.
Roundup channels quote affiliate-video 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 SaaS roundup creators; they want an affiliate cookie, not a two-person shop story. I read the session the person who would pay for this tool actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.