When to unlock vs go straight to outreach
Unlock when you're committing real budget to one specific person. For broad campaigns, run outreach directly, the campaign itself reveals who's responsive.
Rule of thumb
If you’re deciding whether to spend > $1,000 on a specific influencer, unlock first. The $5-30 unlock cost is trivial insurance against picking the wrong person.
If you’re running a broad outreach campaign (50+ influencers), skip unlock, the campaign itself filters who’s interested + responsive, and brief acceptance is a stronger signal than the unlocked data anyway.
When to unlock
- Pre-investing in a Macro/Mega for a flagship campaign
- Considering a long-term ambassador relationship
- Needing audience demographics to justify spend to internal stakeholders
- Specific brand-fit concerns (does their audience actually align with us?)
When to skip
- Discovery phase, too early to unlock
- High-volume outreach, let acceptance rates filter for you
- Tight budget, campaign costs dwarf unlock costs anyway
- Repeat influencer, you already know them