How do you find brands that hire UGC creators?

What signs show a brand might hire UGC creators?

The clearest sign is a brand already posting or running videos that look like a regular person filmed them on a phone.

A brand that already uses UGC does not need convincing that the style works, so your pitch only has to show that you do it well. Treat your own feed as a place to take notes. When a sponsored video stops you, note the brand, the format and whether the person on camera seems to be a creator rather than someone famous. The questions in how to find a video worth remaking in your niche are useful here too, because a brand whose videos fit a clear format is easier to pitch an idea to.

Where should you start looking for brands?

Start with your own shelves, your own feed and the shop shelves in your niche, because those brands are easiest for you to film honestly.

• Walk around your home and list every product you would happily talk about on camera. These give you real footage and an honest story.
• Scroll TikTok and Instagram for ten minutes with a note open, and save every brand that shows up with creator-style videos.
• Search your niche on TikTok and look at the brands that appear in the videos you already watch.
• Look at newer and smaller brands in the same category as the ones you found, since a brand that is still building its video library may have room for a new creator.
• Check the brand's website footer and social bios for a creator, partnership or press contact, and note it next to the brand.

Stay inside a niche you know. A pitch about a product you understand reads as more credible than one about a category you have never touched, and your sample videos will match what the brand sells. If you have not picked a niche yet, start with the products you already buy without thinking.

How do you build a target list that stays useful?

Keep one simple sheet with a row per brand, a named contact, a specific reason to pitch, and the date you last got in touch.

A list of brand names alone is hard to act on. A list with a reason on every row turns into a pitch in a few minutes, because the reason is the opening line of your message. Write the reason as something you could say to the brand: a video idea, a product you use, or a gap you noticed. Cut any brand you cannot write a reason for.

• Brand: the name, plus the product you would film.
• Contact: a person or an address, and where you found it.
• Reason: one sentence you could open your pitch with.
• Idea: the format or hook you would use for this brand.
• Status and date: not contacted, pitched, replied, or follow up on [DATE].

How many brands should you pitch at once?

Pitch a small batch each week, such as five brands, so each message stays specific and you can keep up with the replies.

Sending to dozens of brands at once pushes you toward a copy-paste message, and a generic pitch is easy to ignore. A small batch lets you make one sample video or script idea for each brand. Follow up once, about a week later, with something new, such as a second idea, rather than asking whether they saw your first message. How do you write a UGC pitch email to a brand? covers what to put in the message itself.

What should you have ready before you contact a brand?

Have a short portfolio of sample videos, one idea for that specific brand, and a clear line on what you deliver.

Your samples matter more than how you found the brand. Film three videos for products you already own, each in a different format, because a brand can judge your range from them. Write one idea for the brand you are pitching and keep it to a sentence or two. Know what your standard video includes before anyone asks, so you can answer quickly. When a brand replies with questions about pay or usage, UGC rates, pay and usage rights has the answers you will need, and finding UGC brand deals collects the rest of this topic.