How to Get Brand Deals as a New Creator With No Followers

How to get brand deals as a new creator with no followers comes down to one thing: who you contact and what you send them. A brand deal is a paid agreement to make content for a brand, and you do not need an audience to win one. You have no followers, no past brands, and no idea who to contact, so nothing goes out and nothing comes back. The steps below end with one message you can send today.

Do brands pay creators with no followers?

Brands buy two different things from creators. Influence work pays for reach: your audience, your post, your endorsement. Content work pays for a video the brand runs on its own channels. The second kind has no follower requirement at all, and it is where a new creator starts.

The demand is on the record. A June 2026 survey of 209 senior marketing decision-makers by the Medill Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern University found that 92% of brands run creator content in their own social advertising (Medill Spiegel Research Center). The brand is running your video as an ad. Your follower count never appears in that transaction.

Budgets are moving the same way. Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark report found that 87.49% of surveyed marketers expect their influencer marketing budget to increase in 2026 (Influencer Marketing Hub). Brands need more of this content than they can film themselves. That gap is the door.

What do you need before you contact your first brand?

Less than you think. The whole kit costs nothing and takes one afternoon:

• three sample videos, 20 to 40 seconds each, filmed on your phone in daylight
• one niche you can talk about for months, not "lifestyle"
• a shared folder holding those three videos with one line under each saying what it is
• one sentence explaining what you make and for whom
• a price you can say out loud without checking a note

A website, a camera and a paid editing app are all optional. If a piece of advice starts with buying gear, it is selling equipment, not a career. For the full build order from zero, see the guide to starting as a creator.

How to get brand deals as a new creator with no followers?

Five steps. Each one has a single job, and the last one is a message you can copy.

1. Pick ten brands that already post this style. Look for brands that post short vertical video themselves, several times a week, in your niche. Skip the giant accounts with a media agency attached. Small and mid-sized brands that already publish this content are the ones hiring for it. Write the ten names in a list with an email address or a social handle next to each.

2. Film one sample for three of them. Take a product you already own, or a product from one of the ten brands, and film one 25-second video in the style that brand posts. One sample, not a free campaign. Three of the ten get a sample made for them; the other seven get the folder of your general work. This is what replaces the followers you do not have.

3. Work out what to quote before anyone asks. Not knowing the price is a common reason the message never gets sent. Pick one number, for example US$200 for a single 20 to 30 second video with revisions included, and say it the same way every time. The Creator List's rate calculator gives you a number in your own currency to start from. The Starting Price Calculator inside the creator tools does the same job before you have any deals behind you, so there is nothing left to stall on. Usage rights add their own line, and UGC usage rights cost on a first deal shows how to price them.

4. Send this message today. Not next week, today. Customise the two brackets and send it to the first brand on your list:

Hi there,

I make short product videos for [niche] brands, and I have been
following yours for a while.

I filmed a 25-second sample in the style you post, using [product you
already own]. Here it is: [link to the video]

If it is useful, I can make more like it for your next launch. My rate
for one video is US$200, revisions included.

Worth a look?

[Your name]
[Link to your folder of work]

That message is four lines long on purpose. It names the work, shows the work, and states a price. If you would rather not write each one from scratch, the Reply Library in The Creator List holds full example brand conversations you can tap to copy, which takes writing every message from scratch off your list.

5. Follow up once, then keep the list moving. If nothing comes back in five to seven days, send one short follow-up: "Hi, just bringing this to the top of your inbox. Happy to send more samples in the same style." One follow-up, then mark the brand as answered or silent and move to the next ten. Keep the list in one place so you know who heard from you and when, which the deal tracking guide covers in a page.

What do you say when a brand replies?

A reply is not a deal yet, so do not celebrate and do not over-explain. Answer three things in your first response: what you will make, when you will deliver it, and what it costs.

Keep the scope small for a first deal. One video, one round of revisions, a delivery date you can hit. Leave usage rights, exclusivity and paid advertising for the follow-up message, because a brand that wants your clip as an ad is buying something extra and should pay something extra. The pitch structure guide walks through the fuller conversation once a brand is interested, and the rate card guide shows how to lay out the numbers so they are easy to say yes to.

If the brand asks what you charge and you have already picked your number, say the number. Then send it in writing the same day, before the conversation goes cold.

What should you do when a brand ignores you or says no?

Assume silence is normal, because it is. Most brands do not reply to a first message, and none of it is a verdict on your ability. The two responses that hurt are stopping altogether and sending the same message to nobody in particular. If you want the honest timeline for that wait, how long to get your first brand deal explains what moves it.

So run it as a weekly habit instead of a one-off event:

• ten new contacts a week, written into one list
• one follow-up per silent brand, then move on
• one new sample filmed each week so the folder keeps improving
• one check of what you quoted, adjusted only when you have a reason

Volume is the lever a new creator actually controls. Ten contacts a week for a month is forty brands that have seen your work. Nothing about that requires followers. Once a brand says yes, the step-by-step path from brief to payment covers what happens next.