Get Sponsored as a Travel Influencer with a Small Following

You don’t need a massive following to attract brand partnerships. Since 69% of consumers are more likely to buy a product/service based on an influencer’s recommendation, marketers increasingly value creators who build genuine connections and trust with their audiences, not just big numbers. That means even if you’re just starting, there’s a real opportunity waiting for you.

I’ve seen creators with just a few thousand followers land free stays, sponsored trips, and long-term partnerships. The difference isn’t their follower count but how they position themselves. In this guide, I’ll dive right into how exactly to get sponsored with a small number of following. We'll learn how to build meaningful travel influencer collaborations and practical ways to earn real income. Here are some of the tips for travel influencers!

1. Understand What Brands Actually Want

Travel influencer jobs span content creation, partnerships, and community engagement. Before reaching out to any company, you need to understand the brand's point of view and what makes a travel influencer sponsorship appealing. Because marketers are not just looking for reach, they want trust and influence. Here are some influencer sponsorship tips to kickstart your journey:

• Always remember that authenticity matters a lot more than numbers. Brands truly take note of the creators whose audiences engage with their content.
• Alignment is more important than aesthetics, a perfect photo doesn’t really matter if your niche doesn’t align with the brand’s market.
• Conversion matters: a small and loyal audience that engages, clicks, books, or buys. It means more to a brand than the number of followers or vanity metrics per se.

Pro tip: Track your engagement rate, saves, link clicks, and comment quality, these are the numbers that impress sponsors. Don’t stress about the number of followers. A highly engaged small following is always better.

2. Define Your Niche and Target Audience

The more specific your niche, the easier it becomes to attract travel influencer brand deals. Instead of being “a travel blogger,” position yourself as:

• A female traveler (solo) focused on offbeat destinations
• A sustainable travel creator showcasing eco-lodges and responsible tourism
• A luxury weekend getaway expert for professionals

Your niche helps brands immediately see if you’re a good fit for a travel influencer collaboration. You can use insights from your analytics tools (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or your blog) to define your followers’ age, geography, and interests. Social media platforms can help you a lot in getting sponsored.

3. Build a Sponsorship-Ready Profile

A clean, professional, and cohesive profile signals to brands that you’re serious. Here’s how to make yours stand out:

• Optimize your bio: Mention your niche, location, and contact email. Example: “Exploring luxury and eco travel across Europe | Partnerships: hello@yourname.com.”
• Highlight your best work: Pin your top-performing posts, reels, or travel collaborations.
• Create a media kit: This is your digital résumé and every travel influencer must have this. It includes audience insights, engagement rate, previous brand work, and sample deliverables.

You can also create a short pitch video introducing yourself, your niche, and your audience. Many brands appreciate seeing the face behind the profile.

4. Start with Micro Influencer Travel Sponsorships

If your following is small, start by collaborating with local tourism boards, boutique hotels, and travel startups. They often have smaller budgets but are eager to work with genuine creators.

• Offer content-first partnerships: Instead of asking for cash upfront, offer high-quality deliverables such as photos, videos, or blog posts. These are in exchange for experiences, products, or stays.
• Build case studies: Even one successful project can help you pitch larger brands later.
• Show ROI: Include before-and-after stats (clicks, followers gained, conversions).

Once you’ve built a few examples of travel influencer sponsorships, you can confidently start asking for payment.

5. How to Approach Brands for Sponsorship

This is where most creators struggle, but it’s way simpler than you think.

Step 1: Identify potential partners

Look for brands that align with your and already work with social media influencers like you such as travel gear, luggage companies, airlines, hotels, or tourism boards. Because these brands are gonna be your potential partners, and they’re the ones you'll keep wanna working with!

Step 2: Find the right contact

You can search for the marketing or PR manager on LinkedIn or the brand’s website. Try to avoid generic DMs when possible. It’s very important to find the right contact because you don’t want to be stuck in a mess and deal with someone who has no clue about anything.

Step 3: Craft a personal pitch

Keep it short and professional. Create your pitch by including your name and telling a little about yourself. State your purpose, niche, and let them know why they should collaborate with you. Attach your media kit with engagement stats, audience demographics, etc, and let them know of your past collaborations to show your credibility.

Step 4: Follow up

If you don’t get a response in a week, send a friendly follow-up. Persistence shows professionalism.

6. Use Influencer Marketing Platforms

Many travel influencer brand deals start through dedicated platforms. Register on:

• AspireIQ
• Collabstr
• Travelpayouts (for affiliate income)
• Influencity
• Impact
• Tribe

These connect micro influencers to travel brands looking for authentic partnerships. Complete your profile, add travel niches, and set fair pricing for sponsored posts, videos, or blogs.

7. Diversify Your Travel Influencer Income Sources

Relying solely on sponsorships is risky. Expand your earning potential with multiple income streams, for example:

• Get into affiliate program and earn a commission by promoting travel products or booking links. Every time someone makes a purchase with your links, you’re gonna earn a small income.
• Look into User-Generated Content (UGC) and content creation for different brands for them to use on their own channels.
• You can also monetize through ads, SEO traffic, and partnerships.
• Other ways to earn a steady income are workshops and digital guides. You can sell photography presets, ebooks, itinerary templates, and so much more.

You can think of influencer marketing for travel bloggers as a full ecosystem. It’s not just sponsorships that make your brand stable, it’s also the strategic use of affiliate links and your own products. When all of these work together, they create a sustainable foundation for your brand.

Many creators begin by accepting free products, but as your audience grows, having a clear rate card becomes essential. It helps brands understand your value and sets expectations from the start. This also ensures that every collaboration remains professional and mutually beneficial.

To manage everything effectively, it helps to develop a structured influencer program. This keeps partnerships organized and gives brands a clear pathway to work with you. And because you’re juggling content creation, negotiations, audience engagement, and affiliate management, it’s important to recognize that influencer work is a full-time job that requires consistent attention.

8. Strengthen Your Personal Brand

Brands prefer working with influencers who treat their content as a business. To stand out:

• Post consistently (quality > quantity).
• Use storytelling captions, not just pretty pictures.
• Engage with your audience, reply to comments, and DMs.
• Collaborate with other creators to cross-promote audiences.
• Track your analytics monthly to showcase growth.

The stronger your brand identity, the easier it is to attract and retain travel influencer collaborations.

9. Negotiate Smartly

When the time comes to discuss terms and conditions, confidence and good communication are key.

• Know your worth and do not settle for less. Always base your pricing according to engagement and not followers.
• Set deliverable limits which means that you make it clear what you’re gonna provide: for instance, one reel, two stories, one blog post, or all of these, etc.
• Ask for long-term deals such as monthly retainers/multi-campaign partnerships provide stability.
• Use contracts and clarify rights, duration, and payment terms.

At the end of the day, even if you have a small following, negotiating like a professional helps build credibility and make your brand.