How to Research a Brand Before Pitching UGC (10-Minute Checklist)

The difference between a UGC pitch that gets a reply and one that gets deleted is almost never the writing. It's the research.

When I worked on the brand side reading hundreds of creator pitches a month, I could tell within one sentence whether someone had actually looked at our business. The ones who had were rare, and they were the only ones who got replies.

Here's the 10-minute checklist that finds what a business owner actually cares about.

Minute 1-3: Read their reviews first

Not their website. Their reviews. Google and TripAdvisor reviews are the business's customers telling you, in their own words, what almost stopped them from buying.

Look for repeated worries:

• "I was nervous, but the guides made it easy"
• "Wasn't sure what to expect"
• "Couldn't tell from the photos how big the room was"

Each repeated worry is a content gap, because if the worry shows up in reviews, it's stopping other people who never booked at all. A what-to-expect video that answers it is the easiest pitch you'll ever write.

Also note the strength of the reviews. A 4.8-star business with no video has trust they aren't converting into bookings. That gap is your pitch.

Minute 4-6: Audit their Instagram and TikTok

Three questions:

When did they last post video? Flyers, text graphics, and still photos in a feed mean the business knows it should be posting but doesn't have a content source. That's not a flaw to point out rudely; it's a job opening.

Is there any customer-POV content? Most small businesses only post from the business's perspective. Content that shows what the customer sees and feels is almost always missing.

Do they post in bursts? Three posts one week, silence for six. That's a small team running out of time, and it means a content library (one shoot, many assets) will resonate more than a one-off video.

Minute 7-8: Check their Google Business Profile and booking path

Google explicitly tells businesses to add photos and videos of their storefront, services, and products. Most haven't updated theirs in years. Three photos from 2022 on a business with great reviews is one of the most concrete, fixable gaps you can name in a pitch.

Then click through their booking path. Hotels and rentals that depend on Airbnb or OTAs often have a direct-booking site with no content supporting it. "Direct-booking support content" is language that makes property owners lean in, because every direct booking saves them commission.

Minute 9: Identify their customer

One sentence: who is the customer, what are they deciding between, and what makes them hesitate?

"Families choosing between three kayak tour companies, hesitating because they don't know if it's safe for kids" gives you a completely different concept list than "experienced paddlers looking for an advanced route."

You can infer this from reviews (who writes them), pricing, and which platforms the business already uses.

Minute 10: Pick the angle and write the observation

From everything above, pick the single strongest gap:

1. Strong reviews + no video showing the experience
2. First-timer hesitation with no what-to-expect content
3. No short-form presence at all
4. Outdated visuals on Google
5. Weak direct-booking content

Then write it as one specific sentence: "Your reviews are fantastic, and so many mention being nervous before the trip, but nothing on your site shows a first-timer what those first 15 minutes look like."

That sentence is the pitch. Everything else is formatting.

Or do all ten minutes in one

This checklist is exactly what our free Pitch Finder runs automatically. Enter a business and get the research highlights, the strongest angle, and an outreach message built on it, ready to personalize and send.