Since the inception of influencer marketing, the tried and true method for creators to reach potential new brand partners is by sending cold pitch emails. Creators have been taught that sending more cold pitches equals landing more deals. Splattered across TikTok are videos from coaches teaching creators how to formulate the perfect pitch email, but in 2026 this strategy isn’t having the same effect that it used to.
With the influx of new creators in the space, brands are now overwhelmed with anywhere from tens to thousands of emails in their inbox every week from hopeful creators. The effectiveness of the cold pitch email is declining, and yet cold pitching is still one of the only methods that we see being taught by social media coaches.
Problems With Cold Pitch Emails
There are some fundamental issues with the classic cold pitch email strategy. While many creators are aiming for volume of pitches considering they don’t often get successful responses, the level of personalization takes a hit. Most creators are writing an email template and customizing only a small portion of it, or they’re getting plug-and-play templates from social media that make all the pitches sent by different creators simply blend together.
A high volume of pitch emails that essentially all say the same thing and aren’t effectively able to actually set those creators apart makes it hard (or virtually impossible) for brands to read them all top-to-bottom and/or respond.
“You have to put yourself in the brand’s shoes,” says Maren Hamilton, Senior Director of Marketing & Growth at Popfly. When she was the Head of Social at The North Face, she was getting hundreds of cold pitch emails a week and notes that most were generic, misaligned and clearly written by AI with no real understanding of the brand.
“I respect the hustle, but there’s a limit to human capacity,” notes Hamilton, “I couldn’t read them all, let alone respond thoughtfully.”
But Brands Aren’t Fully Against All Cold Pitches
Brands aren’t universally anti-pitch, however. Leanna Truong, Digital Strategy Manager at Ticketmaster says that she is truly open to cold pitches, depending on how they’re framed.
“I receive many creator messages every week, and most look identical with copy-paste intros and vague subject lines without an attempt to understand the business” says Truong, “When everything looks the same, nothing stands out.”
Freelance influencer marketing consultant Tameka Anderson notes that pitches that feel more personalized are the ones she tries to respond to, like ones where creators explain why they may be a fit for the campaign she’s working on.
Anderson also mentions that other things she loves to see in cold pitches: proof the creator is a fan of the brand, evidence that they’ve organically shared the brand in the past, ideas on how the content could come to life, ideas or proof of value that the creator’s content will resonate with their target customer.
Hamilton mentioned that most of the high volume of pitch emails that she received at The North Face were poor, “not because the creators weren’t talented, but because they didn’t show why they were relevant.”
The lesson here for creators it to make sure your pitches are as relevant to the brand as possible. Do your research, and aim for quality over quantity.
Personalization Is Everything
It’s clear that personalization is bare minimum in a creator pitch email at this point. With the quick rise of AI, brands can instantly detect templated or AI-written emails. The strong personalization of an email is the one thing a creator has control over that could build the credibility that could make a brand actually read that pitch top-to-bottom.
Simply showing that you took the time and effort to write a highly personalized pitch shows your dedication to working with the brand and the level of professionalism you’re willing to put into your work.
Cailyn Medley, founder of Vue Creator Management says that “brands can usually tell when an email is a mass pitch because it lacks personalization.”
According to Medley, the most effective outreach feels thoughtful and intentional, and shows a genuine connection to the brand. She also mentions that it’s easy to spot when a creator hasn’t engaged with the brand before by something as simple as checking to see if the creator follows the brand on social.
“If you’re naturally linking a brand, tagging them in content, or sharing how you use the product in your everyday life, that immediately builds credibility,” Medley mentions. Creators can even use these organic mentions as performance data to make their pitches that much stronger and more of a standout vs. their copy and pasted counterparts.
According to Truong, the creators who stand out immediately are the ones who “make it easy for brands to say yes.”
Some Brands Aren’t Even Hiring Through Pitches Anymore
There’s a shift in how some brands are sourcing creators in the first place. While inboxes are being inundated with irrelevant pitches, many brands have taken to simply using organic socials to discover new creators to work with and ignoring cold pitch emails all together.
“We actually haven’t contracted influencers for briefed paid partnerships in over a year,” says Kayla Yedidsion, Senior Specialist in Influencer Relations at Morphe, “Organic content has fueled our growth.”
Clearly, brands are prioritizing creators who are already using the product, making social media visibility potentially even more important than being in the inboxes of the brands you want to work with. Your content simply becomes your pitch.
If Not Cold Pitching, Then What?
It may be time for creators to start looking into alternative strategies to connect with the brands they want to work with. Options like creating organic content featuring brands, tagging brands and showing use cases, showing proof of ROI, and building recognizable content formats may be more worth putting your time and energy into. This visibility can generate even more inbound opportunities.
“Include a brand’s products organically in UGC,” says Shaina Dubinskiy, Assistant Manager of Influencer Marketing at Tatcha, “Show how you already align with them.”
Creators can also use a more relationship-first approach. Networking becomes the new cold pitching. While most creators are spending most of their time on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, LinkedIn is still underutilized by most creators. The networking-first social media platform is perfect for creating warm connections with the people who work at the brands you want to partner with.
The Bottom Line
While cold pitching isn’t dead, it’s outdated in its current form. Sending out loads of pitch emails every week is no longer a competitive advantage. Your strategy and positioning now matter more when it comes to actually landing paid partnerships.
There’s also a huge shift toward inbound and organic discovery. Make it easy for a brand to find you and reach out to you by creating great content, using SEO in your posts and bio so that you show up in a brand’s organic searches, and start sharing organic content for the brands that you already love.
