Influencer marketplaces vs. direct cold outreach

Influencer marketplaces vs. direct cold outreach
Everyone says: "Skip the cold grind — source creators from a marketplace where they've opted in."
Myth. A marketplace creator has opted into being pitched by everyone, which means your offer competes in a feeding frenzy on price alone. Opted-in isn't warm; it's saturated. Cold outreach to a creator who's never been monetized that way is harder to start but lands you a partner with no anchor price and no twelve competing DMs. It's not opt-in vs. cold, it's commodity vs. exclusive. The harder list is the less crowded one.