How to Score Brand Deals and Sponsored Travel (What Actually Works)
Let me start with a reality check: we have about 12,000 Instagram followers. We're not making a living from brand deals. Not even close. But we've scored enough free stays and small payments to meaningfully offset our travel costs, and I've learned a lot about how the process actually works.
Most "how to get brand deals" content comes from creators with 500K+ followers. Their advice doesn't apply to anyone starting out. Here's what works at our level.
What We've Actually Gotten
Deal 1: Boutique hotel in Cappadocia They reached out to us via DM after seeing our Istanbul content. Offered 2 free nights in exchange for 3 Instagram posts and 10 stories. No cash payment. We said yes because the hotel was $75/night and we were going there anyway.
Deal 2: Cooking class in Chiang Mai We pitched them via email after taking the class and loving it. Offered to create a reel featuring their class in exchange for a future free session and a small fee ($150). They said yes. The reel did 45K views, which was 3x our average.
Deal 3: Beach resort in Koh Lanta An agency representing the resort found us through a location hashtag. Offered 3 free nights plus $300 for 2 reels and 15 stories. This was our biggest deal. The content performed well and they've since offered us a return visit.
Total value from brand deals: approximately $1,200 over 3 months. Not life-changing. But that's 8 nights of free accommodation and $450 cash, which covered our eSIM costs for the entire trip and then some.
How Brands Find Small Creators
Location Hashtags
This is how 2 of our 3 deals happened. We use specific location hashtags on every post (#cappadocia #goreme #cavehotel, not just #travel #wanderlust). Brands and their agencies search these hashtags to find creators who are currently in their destination.
Engagement Rate Over Follower Count
A 12K account with 8% engagement is more valuable to brands than a 100K account with 1% engagement. Brands know this. If your audience is small but active, you're worth reaching out to.
How to maintain engagement: Respond to every comment and DM. Post consistently. Ask questions in captions. Create content people actually want to save and share.
All of this engagement management happens from your phone. Being constantly connected via your eSIM means you can respond to DMs within minutes, not hours. That responsiveness is part of what makes small accounts attractive.
The 10-Minute Window
The Cappadocia hotel sent me a DM on a Tuesday afternoon. I saw it within 10 minutes and responded immediately with our travel dates, content examples, and a "yes, we'd love to."
The brand later told me they'd reached out to 5 creators that day. I was the first to respond. Two never replied. Two replied 24 hours later. Being first meant being chosen.
This only works if your phone has data. I was at a cafe in Istanbul when the DM came in. If I'd been offline waiting for Wi-Fi, someone else would have gotten those 2 free nights.
How to Pitch Brands
For the deals that didn't come to us, here's the approach that worked:
1. Use the Product First
Never pitch a brand you haven't experienced. Take the cooking class, stay at the hotel, eat at the restaurant. Then approach them with genuine enthusiasm and real content to show.
2. Keep the Email Short
My pitches are 3 paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Who we are, our account, our engagement rate, and why we love their product/service. (Link to our account.)
Paragraph 2: What we're offering. Specific deliverables: "2 reels, 10 stories, and 1 carousel post featuring [their business]."
Paragraph 3: What we're asking for. Be specific: "2 complimentary nights" or "$200 + product." Don't be vague. Brands appreciate clarity.
3. Include a Media Kit
Even at 12K followers, having a one-page media kit makes you look professional. Include:
- Follower count and engagement rate
- Audience demographics (age, location, gender)
- 3-4 examples of past content (screenshots with view/engagement counts)
- Your rates or exchange expectations
We made ours in Canva in about 30 minutes.
4. Follow Up Once
If you don't hear back in a week, send one follow-up. "Hi, just wanted to check if you saw my email about a potential collaboration." If no response after that, move on. Don't be desperate.
What Brands Actually Want
After talking to several marketing managers at hotels and tour companies, here's what they care about:
Authentic content. Not overly produced, not obviously an ad. Content that looks like a real person having a real experience. This is why user-generated-style content from small creators often outperforms polished content from big influencers.
Quick turnaround. Brands want content delivered within 1-2 weeks of the experience. The cooking class reel went live 3 days after we took the class. Quick turnaround requires reliable data for editing and uploading on the go. See our full content creation setup.
Usage rights. Most brands want to repost your content on their own channels. This is standard. Don't fight it unless you're at a level where exclusivity is worth negotiating.
Geographic relevance. Brands care most about reaching audiences who might actually visit them. If your followers are in Australia and the hotel is in Thailand, that's a decent match (Australians travel to Thailand constantly). If your followers are in Brazil and the hotel is in Finland, it's a harder sell.
Pricing at the Small Creator Level
Here's what small travel creators (5K-20K followers) can reasonably expect:
| Deliverable | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| 1 Instagram reel | $100-300 |
| 1 Instagram carousel | $50-150 |
| 10 Instagram stories | $50-100 |
| Full package (3 posts + stories) | $200-500 + product/stay |
Most deals at our level are product/stay exchanges, not cash. That's fine. Free accommodation is free accommodation. As your account grows, cash payments become more common.
Building Towards It
If you're starting from zero, here's the progression:
0-2K followers: Post consistently, find your voice, don't pitch anyone yet. Build a portfolio of content.
2K-5K: Start creating content specifically about businesses you love. Tag them. If they repost you, that's your first "collaboration."
5K-10K: Begin pitching. Start with small, local businesses at your destination. A cafe, a hostel, a tour operator. They're more open to working with small creators.
10K-20K: You're in the sweet spot where brands start finding you. Keep engagement high, respond fast, and always deliver more than promised.
20K+: Agencies start reaching out. You can be pickier about partnerships and start charging cash.
The Connectivity Thread
Every stage of the brand deal process requires being online:
- Discovery: Brands find you through hashtags (you need to post regularly, which requires upload data)
- Outreach: DMs and emails need quick responses (which requires constant connectivity)
- Content creation: Shooting, editing, uploading from the road (see our full setup)
- Engagement: Responding to comments and DMs to keep your engagement rate high
Tom and I both run GOAN eSIMs so we're always reachable. The $29/month group pricing means our total connectivity cost is $58/month for two fully connected phones with real phone numbers. That's less than the value of a single brand deal.
