Why Brands and Influencers
Ignore Each Other
And How to Fix the Ghosting Problem in Creator Collaborations

One of the biggest problems in the influencer marketing world — and something we see constantly at Apiway — is the massive gap between creators and brands.

Apiway is used by both sides, so we have the data to analyze it. And here’s the truth:

Just go on Reddit, and you’ll find dozens of posts:

• “How to find influencers?”
• “How to get brand deals?”
• “Why aren’t influencers replying to me?”
• “Why don’t brands respond to my collab pitch?”

The advice in the comments? Mostly the same: write better messages, personalize, fix your spelling…

That’s all surface-level.

There’s a much deeper truth that no one is talking about:

Relationships between creators and brands work like a marketplace.
And every marketplace has two sides — the easy side and the hard side.

Let’s take dating apps as an example.

When it comes to hookups, women are the hard side.
If you get women to join your app, men will follow automatically.

But if we’re talking about serious relationships or marriage — men become the hard side.
It’s easy to find a woman who wants to get married.
It’s much harder to find a man who wants the same.

So what happens?

The easy side always does the outreach.
They chase. They send DMs. They make the effort.

Same thing in the creator economy.

If you’re an influencer with 1 million followers, your main problem is filtering spam from real offers.
You’re on the hard side. Brands want you — and they’re reaching out.

If you’re Nike, you’re also on the hard side.
Everyone wants to collab with Nike.

But if you’re a small creator with 5,000 followers — or a brand no one knows —
You’re on the easy side.
You have to hustle. Pitch. Get ignored. Follow up.

That’s why you see:

• Creators with 10K followers asking, “How do I get brand deals?”
• Small brands with no marketing budget complaining, “No one replies to us.”

This isn’t about rudeness.
It’s not personal.
It’s just how the market works.

If you're on the easy side of the network and trying to pitch a collab — don’t be unclear.

One of the biggest mistakes small brands make is sending short, confusing, or lazy messages.

We live in a noisy world.

You’ve got 10 seconds to make it clear:

• What is the product?
• Is this real? Is the brand legit?
• Is it paid, gifted, or affiliate?
• When is the campaign?
• What do you want from the creator?

Let’s break it down:

Write a short, clear description.

Influencers should understand what you’re offering in 3 seconds.

Mention your brand name, a short line about what you do, and your social handles (like @yourbrand on Instagram or TikTok).

No links — just the handle names. Keep it clean.

Creators want to know you’re real. They’ll check your profile to see if you look legit.

They care about safety and how your brand looks publicly.

They ask themselves:

Be honest right away — is it paid, gifting, or affiliate?

If it’s not paid, say it at the beginning.

When you say a specific date — for example, next week — it becomes more interesting for the creator because they can earn quickly.

Creators hate when the deal sounds like, “sometime next year.”

Imagine you're chatting with someone on Tinder and you say, “Let’s have a date,” but don’t say when or where.

That would be weird, right?

Subject: Collab with us?

No info. No product. No offer. Dead email.

Subject: @Brandjundle – Paid collab opportunity for summer dress campaign

Hi [Influencer Name],
I’m [Your Name] from @Brandjundle. We love how you [insert something specific — e.g., “style feminine looks that feel modern and effortless”].
We’re launching a new campaign on [Date] to promote our summer evening dress collection — elegant silhouettes, breathable fabrics, designed for warm nights out.
We’d love to explore a paid collaboration with you.
If you're interested, I can send over the campaign brief, deliverables, and rates.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
[Your Name]
Brand Manager at Brandjundle

Let’s talk about the tech side of cold outreach — the stuff that gets you ghosted before your email is even opened.

If you’re reaching out to U.S. creators, email is still the main communication channel.

But here’s how most people mess it up:

• If you send emails manually from a free Gmail like [email protected], you’re limited to around 50 emails per day.
• If you plug that Gmail into a cold outreach tool and start sending automatically — your account will hit spam filters after 100 emails.

So what do people do?

They start using business emails like [email protected]. That helps.

But even then, the sending limit is around 70 emails/day — more than that, and you're back in spam land.

That’s why experienced teams create 10+ email accounts to rotate.

But here's the catch: new domains and new inboxes must be warmed up first. Otherwise, they’ll all go straight to spam too.

You also need proper setup:

• DKIM, DMARC, SPF — all must be working.
• If you don’t know what that means, it’s fine. Most people don’t. But spam filters do.

And that’s the real point here:

Remember earlier when I said you need to clearly explain the offer, the product, and your website?

That helps creators. But for email providers, those things are red flags:

• Words like “paid,” “price,” “collab,” and “offer” = spam triggers
• Adding a link to your site (especially from a domain with no DKIM setup) = spam trigger

So now you're stuck in a deadlock:

• If you include links and talk about money — creators trust you, but your email goes to spam
• If you skip links and don’t say anything about the deal — you make it past spam filters, but creators think you’re a scammer

If you're doing cold outreach and you’ve never thought about any of this…

Then 99% chance your emails are sitting in spam folders right now

There are a lot of guides about cold email outreach. You can also use ChatGPT to help write messages.

But here’s my quick guide, based on what actually works:

1. Use a paid Gmail account with your domain — like [email protected].
2. Never send cold emails from a free @gmail.com. It kills your deliverability.
3. If you’re sending more than 10–20 emails per day, don’t send them manually.
4. Use a proper outreach setup that spreads your emails over time.
5. Warm up your domain and Gmail account for at least 30 days before sending real messages.
6. New domains with no warm-up = instant spam.
7. Send a maximum of 30 cold emails per day
8. Add around 40 warm-up emails.
9. Total = no more than 70–80 per day.
10. Don’t include links in your first email
11. Just say: “I can send all the details if you’re interested.”
12. Links often trigger spam filters — especially for new senders.
13. Make sure your email looks professional
14. Say who you are, what your brand is, when the campaign is, and whether it’s paid or gifted.
15. Once your domain is warmed up, you can mention “paid” or “price” — spam filters won’t care.
16. Your domain must have proper tech setup
17. That means DKIM, SPF, DMARC, and all the other technical stuff.
18. If you don’t have this — your emails will go straight to spam, no matter how good your message is.

In the U.S., the main communication channel is email.

Most influencers include their email in their bio — and they actually check it.

But in many other countries, email is not used for brand deals.

Depending on the region, you might need to:

• Send a DM on Instagram
• Message them on WhatsApp
• Or use local platforms (like Telegram, Line, or WeChat)

Some influencers change their settings so that DMs from non-followers go into the Request folder — which they often ignore.

But if you follow them first and then send the message, your DM can go into their Primary folder, where they’re more likely to see it.

That small move can double your chances of getting noticed.