When you send a brand a direct message on social media or email press(at)brand.com saying, "I love your brand and I've been using your product for five years! Let's collaborate…"

Here's the cold reality:

• The person reading this message is likely handling community engagement, e.g., "Sorry you got a lukewarm burrito; here's a $5 coupon."

• They may not even work at the brand! Social media management might have been delegated to a separate agency.

• They're rarely in charge of paid partnerships

• Worst case: your message got flagged as spam and they never even saw it

In simpler terms, what do you do when you receive a message meant for someone else?

You probably delete it or don't respond.

So, it's a worthwhile exercise to zero in on the exact person who handles partnerships at the brand.

Type This Magic Search Query to Uncover the Best Person to Pitch

To start piecing together the marketing hierarchy at a brand, enter this search query into your favorite search engine:

"[Brand name] [Job title] LinkedIn"

For example, "Nike Influencer Marketing Manager LinkedIn"

I've found search engines to be much better at cataloging employees at your target brands than the search functionality on LinkedIn.

Note: If LinkedIn is not widely utilized in your country, replace it with a more relevant networking platform.

Of course, not all brands have "Influencer Marketing Managers," especially if you're in B2B (Business-to-business) or other niche industries.

Also, not all job titles are made equal.

We've got to be a bit more thoughtful.

Target Different Job Titles Depending on the Brand's Size

Small brands (less than 15 employees)

When a brand is small, there's probably only one person on its marketing team.

That one marketing person is doing everything:

• Running point on the entire advertising strategy

• Turning off and on social media ads

• Placing ads in local magazines

• Handling partnerships (if they're doing them at all)

Titles to target at small brands:

You can start by looking for a "Director of Marketing," "Marketing Manager," or "Social Media Manager."

Titles to avoid at small brands:

President or anything C-Suite (CEO, COO, CMO)

Mid-size brands (16-100 employees)

As brands grow, it gets trickier.

They begin hiring multiple layers of marketing personnel.

I've found it most effective to target the "Manager" level at mid-size brands as they usually have decision-making power but aren't too senior to be entirely removed from the partnership process.

Titles to target at mid-size brands:

Look for "Marketing Manager," "Assistant Marketing Manager," "Influencer Marketing Manager," or anyone with "Partnerships" in their title.

Titles to avoid at mid-size brands:

Anything VP level (e.g., VP of Marketing), President, or anything C-Suite (CEO, COO, CMO)

Big brands (100+ employees)

As brands achieve scale, the name of the game is delegation.

They often have multiple employees handling marketing and may have outsourced things like partnership strategy to an outside advertising agency.

However, always pitch the brand directly first (since they have the ultimate say), and they can refer you to their agency if necessary.

Titles to target at big brands:

Digital Marketing Manager or Coordinator, Influencer Marketing Manager or Coordinator, Influencer Strategist, Partnerships Manager or Coordinator, Affiliate Marketing Manager or Coordinator, Content Marketing Manager or Coordinator, Creator Partnerships Manager or Coordinator.

Titles to avoid at big brands:

Assistant or Associate Brand Manager, Brand Manager, Social Media Strategist, Social Media Manager, Community Manager, Anything Director-Level (Director of Marketing), Anything VP level (e.g. VP of Marketing), President, Anything C-Suite (CEO, COO, CMO),

If you run into a dead end when pitching a big brand directly, it may be time to reach out to its agency.

When I ran my influencer marketing agency, I paid more than $10,000 to subscribe to services that told you exactly which large advertising agencies were contracted by which big brands.

Eventually, I discovered an easier (and free) way that gets you 95% of the way there.

Search the Internet for "[Brand name] [region] [agency type] agency"

For example, "Nike U.S. PR agency"

You'll almost always be able to find industry news articles about which agency recently "won" the account for that brand.

So, simply insert the job titles below into the magic search query above.

Titles to target at big brands' agencies:

Account Executive, Account Coordinator, Account Manager

Titles to avoid at big brands' agencies:

Account Director, Vice President