Influencer marketing for your startup

Influencer marketing for your startup is a test channel, not a department. Run one TikTok or Instagram campaign with micro-influencers who already talk about the problem you solve. Measure it. Then decide whether to repeat.

This page is how you run it. It is not a directory of influencer-marketing startups.

If you already have a campaign brief, find creators from the homepage. The methods: how to find micro influencers. A wider small-business playbook: influencer marketing for small business.

Why this fails in early companies

Founders treat influencer as a brand campaign. They hire one mid-tier account, skip unique links, and call it a channel after one post.

Or they search "influencer marketing startups" and get company lists. That does not get you a shortlist.

The job is narrower: prove that a specific creator style can move a trial, a waitlist, or a first order.

What to buy

Micro-influencers, not macros. You need a reply, a real product shot, and a fee you can explain to a cofounder. Nano (under 10k) is fine for a gift test. Mid-tier is usually the wrong first check.

One platform. Your buyers are already on TikTok or Instagram. Pick the one you can support with comments and DMs for two weeks.

One deliverable. A 20-30 second video or a Reel that shows the product in use. "A series plus usage rights plus a story" is a second campaign.

Write a discovery brief, not a pitch deck

The search brief is for you and the tool. The creator-facing brief comes later.

We are a seed-stage meal-prep app for people who lift. We want Instagram creators who already post grocery hauls, weekly prep, or cut-season meals. Deliverable: one Reel cooking a real week of meals and mentioning the app. US, English, roughly 8k-60k followers. No gym-bro supplement energy.

Template and constraints: how to write a creator campaign brief.

Find names without a $200 database

Hashtags and competitor tags work for five handles. After that, run a live search from the brief. Microinfluencer ranks TikTok or Instagram creators by campaign fit. You own outreach. No marketplace, no payouts.

Free includes 1 agent search per month (up to 5 keyword searches), 5 username analyses, and 20 analytics reports. No card. Pro is $9.99/month or $99.99/year.

If you were comparing a static index, start with Modash alternatives and Modash vs Microinfluencer. Those tools cost more and cover more of a CRM workflow. You may not need that yet.

Instrument the test before you DM anyone

You cannot reconstruct attribution after the posts go live.

1. One unique link per creator.
2. One unique code if you have checkout.
3. A 7 or 14 day window.
4. A baseline week of signups or orders.

Full setup: how to measure influencer marketing ROI. Fees: how much to pay.

Vet the last ten posts. Contact with one specific ask. Three to six creators is a real test. Twenty is a program you do not have time to run.

When to stop

Stop if nobody in the niche will post the product without a fee you cannot pay. That is a positioning problem, not a discovery problem.

Stop if the posts get views and zero attributed signups after a clean setup. Try a different creator style or a different offer before you hire an agency.

Do not hire an influencer marketing agency to "own the channel" until you have one campaign you can describe in a sentence: who, what they posted, what it cost, what you can attribute.

Next step

Paste the brief into Creator Discovery Agent. Review the ranked matches. DM the top fits yourself.