How to Launch an Influencer Campaign

I launch an influencer campaign by writing who it is for, then scrolling as that person on a fresh account, then emailing, then calling. Then I lock a Minimum View Guarantee and send a contract while the yes is still warm. Just that sequence. Not a marketplace casting call, not a six-week deck.

If you want the one-page founder checklist, use First creator campaign checklist for solo founders. If you want the product that does this as a job, that lives on jumptrend.co/campaigns. This page is the sequence I actually run.

Write the brief before you hunt faces

Once you start scrolling without a sentence, you will save whoever looks famous. That is how you get a list you cannot use.

Write who the customer is. The problem in their mouth. What they already quit. What they actually watch. Not “women 18-34 who like wellness.” A phone can learn the first. It cannot learn the second without lying to you.

The artifact is an influencer campaign brief. It is not the one-pager you later send a creator. That later page is a creator brief for mobile apps. Mixing them is how a cold email arrives with homework attached.

Steal the shape at jumptrend.co/brief if you want. Finish the store first. If screenshot-one does not show the mechanic, stop. Creators cannot fix packaging.

Scroll as the customer

Then I open a fresh TikTok and Instagram account. I try to put myself in that person’s shoes. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained, I take whoever keeps showing up.

I want roughly 50k average views. The reason is economics, not prestige. Below that they often quote $700 a post for videos that get 1k views. That is a money sink.

That is why JumpTrend exists: AI on real phones, in the avatar’s niche. Scout is $1,500/month for the list. You can attempt the session yourself on a dedicated login. Do not contaminate your personal For You and call it research.

Hashtag search is vocabulary. A database tells you who exists. Recurrence in a live session tells you who the customer is being shown this week. I built the product around the third one. The long method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.

Hundreds of creators a day because the market is not efficient. One no is not the campaign.

Email, then call

If they published an email, I email. Subject line: Paid Promo? then product x creator name. Line one names a real video. Then who I am, what the app does in one sentence, and that this is a paid promo. Then I ask for a phone number and I give them mine.

Just send that. Do not attach a PDF. Do not talk about the deal over email. 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 better structure. Over email you just get the first number.

Once they send a number, I call immediately. If it is not a good time, they will tell you. On the call, just be enthusiastic, genuine, and interested. Make jokes. Ask them how they got started. They are a tiny little human being like you. Then the topic will drift to money.

If they will not give a phone number, move on. You shipped an app. You are some dumb startup with a live listing, not a holding company. Volume is how you get a fair price. The longer outreach essay is Outreach that doesn’t get ignored.

Minimum View Guarantee

What I actually use on the phone: pay $X for N posts with a minimum view guarantee of Y. Balance those three so you hit your CPM. This, done well, can land around $1-$7 CPM.

Example: we’ll pay you $2000 for 4 posts with a minimum view guarantee of 1 million views. You can add “per month” if you want it recurring. If they post 4 videos and they do not reach 1 million views, they keep posting.

If they think the offer is too low, keep the same CPM and just up the numbers. $2k for 1 million views instead of $1k for 500k. The higher number is more psychologically worth it. Increasing your CPM should almost never be an option if it makes the product unprofitable. Move on.

I still measure installs separately. Views are not UA. See measuring creator-driven installs. The budget math lives on Influencer campaign budget for apps.

Contract while the yes is still fresh

Once a verbal deal is made, send the contract while the topic is still in their head. Deliverable, date, fee, disclosure, install path, organic vs Spark. Handshake DMs are how Spark rights vanish.

Dealmaker is $5,000/month for paperwork you approve before it goes out. You remain the party who pays talent. Scout and Outreach do not include paper. Do not buy Contract for a first campaign unless you already know you need usage clauses.

You approve every creator and every rate. No demo. No download guarantee.

Content CTA

Then you actually have to tell them what to film. One problem. One mechanic. One CTA: download, unique link if the rules allow, or the code in the caption if that is all the platform gives you. Not a feature tour. Not a Shop cart for an IAP.

Give hooks they can ignore. Forbid medical cures and fake “not sponsored” energy when you paid them. Send TestFlight or a working install the same day they agree. If they never open the app, the video will be a read-through of your website.

Promo codes

Give each creator their own code. Unique custom codes in App Store Connect or Play Console, or unique links where the platform allows. You will want this when you later try to decide repeat / Spark / stop.

Codes are a floor, not payroll. Plenty of people will tap through to the store and never type the string. Do not run a Product Hunt day on the same morning if you wanted isolation.

Ship access the same day. Then sit still. Two follow-ups, then stop.

What I actually buy

Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and more of the emailing and the paper gets done for you. Creator pay is extra.

• Scout, $1,500/month: the list. You launch from there.
• Outreach, $2,500/month: contacting and follow-up.
• Contract, $1,500/month: outreach plus contract generation you approve.

The product page is jumptrend.co/campaigns. If you are choosing a venue rather than a sequence, see Where to launch an influencer campaign.

No download guarantee. Cancel Scout if the list is wrong. Do not keep paying for a CSV you will not email.