How to launch an indie skincare brand influencer campaign

I launch an indie skincare brand 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.

The person: the client’s customer is US English, 26-38, already bounced off The Ordinary they used like a chemistry set and a derm-ticket they cannot get, watches ‘I wrecked my barrier’ and ‘The Ordinary confused me’ videos at the bathroom mirror after 10pm. I built a 12-step from TikTok and now my face is angry at me. They already tried The Ordinary as a chemistry set, a dermatologist waitlist, and a Sephora haul they used twice.

If you want the product that does the scrolling as a job, that lives on jumptrend.co/for/indie-skincare. Scout is $1,500/month. The general campaigns page is jumptrend.co/campaigns.

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 your client’s customer. I built a 12-step from TikTok and now my face is angry at me. What they watch: barrier wreck, Ordinary-confusion, ‘I do not need another 12-step’, bathroom-mirror routines. Adjacent: barrier repair talk, bathroom 10pm, not 12-step hauls. Reject: the 2M beauty creator whose last 30 posts are PR unboxings. Do not ask for a medical claim or a 12-step. Ask them to use the one live SKU.

Steal the shape at jumptrend.co/brief. The client’s live product page with real inventory, not a coming-soon. If screenshot-one does not show the mechanic, stop. Creators cannot fix packaging.

Scroll as the customer

Then I open a fresh Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube account if I’m marketing something like a live vitamin C serum in three sizes, or a barrier cream that is actually in stock. I try to put myself in their shoes and linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained, I take whoever keeps showing up.

The example I want: someone holding eight Ordinary bottles and a red face. Signal: the same barrier-wreck face two bathroom nights.

Ideally over 50k average. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.

If the shop scrolls as a 12-step haul they will get PR faces the client already cannot afford. Scout is $1,500/month for the list.

Email, then call

I prefer email. The contact is usually in a Linktree that is not 40 other serums this week. Subject line: Paid Promo? then product x creator name. Line one names a real video. Then who I am, what a live vitamin C serum in three sizes, or a barrier cream that is actually in stock does in one sentence, and that this is a paid promo. Then I ask for the phone number.

Just send that. Do not attach a PDF. Don’t start the deal over email. PR-unboxing faces quote brand-deal rates the client’s margin cannot eat. 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 they won’t give a phone number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.

Minimum View Guarantee

Pay $X for N posts with a minimum view guarantee of Y. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Balance those three so you hit your CPM.

I still measure product page visits and codes on a live SKU, not a waitlist separately. Views are not UA. Unique codes on a live SKU, not a bathroom routine with no product in frame.

Contract while the yes is still fresh

Once a verbal deal is made, send the contract while the topic is still in their head. The SKU in a mailer or a honest ‘I bought this’ if seeding lags; do not film an empty cart. Show the live SKU, use it, drop the code. No cure language.

Dealmaker is $5,000/month for paperwork you approve before it goes out. You remain the party who pays talent. Creator fees extra. No demo. No download guarantee.