“Just Email The CEO” - Eli Stone

Short and Simple Storytelling

Who do you email for brand deals? Countless articles tell you to search "partnership or social media manager" on LinkedIn and shoot your shot. But Eli Stone took a different approach. His strategy of reaching out to CEOs has lead him to land 6-figures worth of brand deals.

The 24-year-old Korean adoptee has achieved 1 million on TikTok and makes short storytelling vlogs about mental health, esoteric words like “liberosis” and “my handwriting.” 

@ewistone

Words videos evert monday and friday :)

“I was diagnosed with depression and ADHD during school. Everyone always asks if I make mental health content, but it’s more about vlogging and having my followers live through life with me as that third person or camera. I only target the emotions that I want to feel from my videos. If I feel insecure, I can make a video about what I'm insecure about. The type of content I make is just really pushing myself to grow as a human at the end of the day,” Stone said.

How to DM the CEO

He advises the number one mistake content creators make with cold pitches is who they are sending to and their messaging. 

“You cannot reach out to the social media managers. Think about the pipeline and where information gets funneled down,” Stone suggests. “If you immediately try to reach a social media manager they have their guard up. Instead I email CMOs and CEOs. I email them three sentences:

I say, “Hey, my name is Eli, I would love to chat and gain your insight. Please let me know if you have time, signed a lost 20 something year old.”

This method recognizes that CEOs don’t have time to read your whole story. Just finding their email shows intention. Stone advises to not sell them anything, don’t mention metrics and focus more on fostering a relationship. He recommends, “If you go and establish a relationship with the upper management, they then introduce you to their social media manager and you can make a video together from there.”

For instance, Stone established a relationship with Truth Initiative, an anti-vaping nonprofit. When he quit vaping, he reached out to them, got a response the next day and was signed for a three video deal for $6000-8000 per video. Even when Stone relapsed and started vaping again, his relationship with them was so strong, they were understanding of his struggles and sent him letters and gear. They went as far as to send him a letter and blanket during his stay in a psychiatric hospital.

“We’re going to potentially work on another project together. These are the relationships that creators need to foster.” Stone says.

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Newsletter written by
Daniel Anderson