Outreach is the part of the job nobody shows on Instagram and the one that most determines what you earn. A mediocre creator who writes every day earns more than an excellent one waiting to be discovered.

Where to find brands in Spain

The ads shown to you

If a brand is running ads at you, it has a media budget and consumes creative. It is the best free filter there is.

Amazon and the marketplaces

Sellers with volume and listings without video: an obvious need.

Instagram by hashtag and location

Madrid and Barcelona have more brands and more competition; Valencia, Seville, Bilbao and Malaga reply more.

Sector fairs

A food or cosmetics fair gives you twenty real contacts in an afternoon.

Small agencies

Not the end client, but a single agency can bring you work every month.

What a message that gets answered looks like

Three rules: short, specific and with a closed proposal.

What ruins a message is starting by talking about yourself. Start with them: a real detail about their product or their communication that proves you looked before writing.

Always close with a question that is easy to answer. "Shall I send two examples for your summer line?" works better than "let me know if you are interested".

Through which channel

Email works with mid sized brands and agencies. Instagram direct messages work with small brands, where the owner runs the account. WhatsApp only if the number is public and it is a local business.

A rule that saves frustration: if there is no reply, one single follow up after five days. Then move on.

Realistic volume

Ten personalised messages a day, five days a week. That is two hundred contacts in a month, and with that any creator with a decent portfolio closes work.

Keep a simple spreadsheet: brand, date, reply, next step. Without a record, you will write twice to the same one and never to the others.

The months that matter

In Spain the calendar rules. Brands order creative four to six weeks ahead of the January sales, Black Friday and the Christmas and Kings campaign.

Writing in mid October for Black Friday is late. Writing in early September is exactly the right moment.

The most expensive mistake

Writing only to large, well known brands. They have an agency, a process and zero urgency. Mid sized brands growing fast hire through a direct message and pay without arguing.

Passive outreach, in parallel

While you write, make yourself findable. A profile on a UGC marketplace with your niche, your languages and your rates brings enquiries from brands you would never have contacted, including from outside Spain.

Where to go next

Outreach is a habit, not a campaign. Our guide on how to become a UGC creator places this piece within the whole craft.