Pitch a brand in one short DM

A DM is one way in and often not the best. Start on the brand's profile. Instagram lets professional accounts display contact details under Public business information, so check the profile and the bio for a partnerships address (Instagram Help Center, read 12 October 2026). Then look on the brand's website for a creators, press or partnerships page, which may say how the brand wants to be approached.

Also check whether the brand takes part in Instagram's Creator Marketplace. Instagram lets eligible creators add up to ten preferred brand partners, and brands that search the marketplace see those creators on an Interested creators list. You can only choose brands that currently take part. Eligibility, per Instagram: 18 or over, a public professional account, at least 1,000 followers and agreement to its partner monetization policies. How Instagram's Creator Marketplace works has the detail.

A brand answers faster when the ask is clear. The common shapes are a paid post or Reel, a gifted product in exchange for content, a commission link, and a Collab post, where you and the brand co-author one post. Name the one you want in your first message.

Know how Instagram treats each. Branded content is content a brand has compensated with money or something of value, and Instagram says that may include gifted products and services, so a gifted deal still needs the paid partnership label every time. A Collab post is Instagram's co-authoring feature: the invited account accepts, its username is added to the post and the post is shared with its followers. One post can have up to five collaborators. A Collab invitation is not a message, which is why "collab DM" can mean two different things. How do you tell real Instagram collab messages from scams covers the other side of the inbox.

Instagram lets you message anyone, but where the message lands depends on whether the brand follows you. Instagram's Help Center says that if someone does not follow you or is not already connected to you, your message is sent as a message request that can only contain text, and you cannot send photos, videos or voice notes until they accept. Depending on their settings, they may receive no requests at all. Once someone accepts your request, your future messages go straight to their inbox.

Three consequences follow. Your first message has to work as plain text. Your media kit should travel as a link, not an attachment. And a request does not show as seen until the recipient accepts it, according to Meta's developer documentation, so silence tells you nothing yet. Instagram's pages do not say whether links are held back inside a request, so send a test to a second account that does not follow you before you pitch.

Write for a reader who has never heard of you and has a full inbox. This shape fits on one phone screen:

Hi [first name], I'm [your name]. I make [type of content] about [topic] for [audience].

I've used [product] for [how long], and [one specific thing you liked or did with it].

I'd like to make [one concrete idea: a Reel, a how-to, a before and after] for it, as a [paid partnership / gifted collaboration].

My media kit is here: [link]. Would you like a one page outline?

What each line does: the first says who you are in one breath. The second shows you know the product, which a copied pitch cannot. The third offers one idea and states the arrangement, so nobody has to ask. The last gives the brand a yes or no question.

Put your numbers in the media kit, not in the message. Instagram's Creators site suggests giving a brand data such as followers, average likes, views, comments and shares on your organic content, plus results from past branded deals, to back up your rate. How to send a PDF on Instagram shows how to share the kit, and Instagram DM templates has more wording to adapt.

Send it when the brand is likely to be at work, if you can tell where it is based. Instagram lets you edit a sent message for 15 minutes, up to five times, which is long enough to fix a typo and short enough that you should proofread first.

Personalize every message. Instagram's Help Center says it limits messages to stop spam, and that if you are warned about sending too many and carry on, you may not be able to send more direct messages for a period of time. Meta's Spam standard also bars posting and engaging at excessive frequencies, by hand or automatically, and says it may restrict accounts at lower frequencies when other signs of spam, such as repetitive content, are present. A few considered messages a day beat a long list.

If there is no answer after about a week, send one short follow-up that adds something new, such as a link to a recent post that used the product. Then stop, and try the email address from the first step. A request that is never accepted will not show as seen, so the silence may only mean nobody opened it.

Agree the basics in writing before you make anything: the content, the dates, the payment and when it arrives, whether the brand may use your post in an ad, and how many rounds of changes you will do. Instagram's page on branded content says it is up to you to discuss the terms with brand partners, and that you can message the brand about payment, content and the date to post.

A Creator Marketplace project shows the same fields: about the project, content to create, date to post and offered payment, and Instagram says the brand pays you directly, not through Instagram or Facebook. A DM deal has no such screen, so write those four things into the thread or an email before you start.

Label every paid or gifted post with the paid partnership label. Instagram's Help Center says all branded content must carry it, and its Branded Content Policies say you cannot accept anything of value to post content that does not feature you or that you had no part in creating. Before you send details or accept anything, check the other side too: tap the brand's three dots, choose About this account, and treat a request for a fee, a login or a move off Instagram as a stop sign, as Instagram's scam guidance describes.

Automation cannot send this message for you. Instagram's rules for business tools are built around responding: a reply window opens when a person messages you, and a comment opens one private reply. A brand that has never heard of you has done neither, so every pitch to it is written and sent by hand. A tool that promises cold outreach at scale is working against those rules, and Meta's Spam standard bars posting and engaging at excessive frequencies, by hand or automatically. The cold DM entry has more.

Where inDM helps is on your own posts. If a brand comments on a post or reel of yours, a private reply can send your media kit link straight away: Instagram allows one private reply per comment, within 7 days. Ask for a keyword such as MEDIAKIT in the caption of a post about your work, and anyone who comments gets the link. Set up comment-to-DM automation shows how.

• No message guarantees a reply. We found no data from Instagram on how often brands answer a DM from a creator, so we quote none.
• Some brands cannot be reached by DM. Message controls let an account receive no requests at all.
• Instagram does not tell you a request was read. It is not marked as seen until the recipient accepts it.
• The Creator Marketplace has a floor. It asks for 1,000 followers. Below that, the email route and the DM are the open ones.
• Links inside requests. Instagram's pages do not cover them, so test before you rely on one.
• Contracts, tax and advertising law. These sit outside Instagram's pages, and this page does not cover them.

Meeting a brand in person is another way in, and creator events in 2026 lists dates and venues from each organizer's own site.