At Techweek, I gave so many demos of using Okou to automate finding people that I lost count. Here's the walkthrough so you can try it yourself.
I'll use a creator partnership campaign as the example. It starts with a clear understanding of your product: who it helps, what problem it solves, and why that matters. Share that context through the product document your team already uses.
Conversations with creators help refine that understanding. Their audience knowledge, questions, and experience of trying the product can sharpen how you explain its value. Building a partnership takes personal involvement and mutual understanding over several exchanges. Okou helps with research, records, and drafts so you can give those conversations your attention.
The creators, channels, work examples, addresses, and correspondence below are fictional. Screenshots use example data; no outreach was sent or live automation enabled for this walkthrough.
Step 1: Clarify your product position before looking for creators
Before defining a creator profile, make sure you can explain your own product:
- Audience: the person or team and their situation.
- Problem: the task they struggle with and how they handle it today.
- Value: a useful outcome, with a concrete example.
- Differentiation: why they would choose your product over their current approach.
- Boundaries: current limitations and assumptions you still need to test.
For this campaign, the use case is a marketer researching partners, keeping evidence and next steps in a spreadsheet, and preparing outreach for review. That gives a creator a specific workflow to try and discuss with you.
Record open questions alongside your current positioning. Okou can organize your thinking and identify gaps; you decide what the product stands for and which claims you can support.
Step 2: Share the documents your team already uses
A Google Doc in Google Drive, a Word document, or a Notion page can hold your product context. Connect the relevant service and share a link Okou can read, or attach the document. One clear brief is enough to start; add references as needed.
| Reference | What it should explain |
|---|---|
| Product positioning | Audience, problem, value, differentiation, supporting examples, and current limitations |
| Brand and product guidance | Voice, approved claims, product documentation, and assets |
| Pricing and partnership terms | Product subscription prices and creator compensation, identified separately; mark unsettled terms as open |
| Campaign brief | Goal, selection criteria, budget, timing, and what you want to learn from creators |
| Existing templates | Outreach, proposals, and agreements your team has approved, where available |
With Google Drive connected, ask Okou to read the Google Docs in your campaign folder and summarize the product positioning before searching for creators.
Keep the current document link and its owner in your campaign notes. Record the offer version shared with each creator so later revisions don't obscure earlier commitments.
Use the product position to define whom to approach. Here, the goal is five introductory calls with English-language creators who teach marketers practical AI workflows. Recent relevant work is a requirement; previous sponsorship experience is a preference. Keep internal budgets and contract text out of public search queries.
Step 3: Find people and verify why they fit
Okou can draw on multiple databases and research tools, combining professional-profile sources, public web search, and social-platform data. Start with the audience, topic, language, and type of creator you're looking for. Okou can use those criteria to discover candidates and find their public social media handles.
The research then connects three kinds of information:
- Social accounts: Find the creator's handles and profile URLs on relevant platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn. Cross-check the accounts against their website and linked profiles so the research follows the right person.
- Professional context: Use People Search alongside social discovery to find public professional profiles and check relevant roles, experience, and areas of expertise against supporting sources.
- Content analysis: Examine recent posts and videos, available transcripts, and public comments or engagement data. Assess recurring topics, teaching style, depth of examples, publishing activity, and the questions their audience asks. Connect those findings to your product positioning and suggest a collaboration angle worth discussing.
This gives you a reason to approach each creator. For example, a creator who demonstrates a complete workflow and explains their decisions may suit a hands-on product tutorial. Someone focused on short AI news updates may be better suited to a different format. Audience composition and commercial fit still need a conversation with the creator.
Ask for a small shortlist with each person's handles, profile links, relevant work, publication dates, fit assessment, and open questions. Requiring two relevant examples from the last 90 days gives the research a clear starting point. Return fewer people when the evidence is insufficient, and keep links to the material behind each assessment.
We'll use these three fictional creators throughout the walkthrough:
| Creator | Example work and possible fit | What to learn next |
|---|---|---|
| Mara Ellis — Workflow Notes | A tutorial turns customer interviews into a research table, keeping original quotes beside themes and explaining human decisions. This could connect to learning from creator conversations. | Does her audience need help with partnership research and outreach? Which example would she want to try? |
| Devon Reed — Marketing Lab Notes | A weekly campaign-report tutorial explains the process for a small marketing team. This suggests a possible fit for connected marketing workflows. | Check recent work and discuss whether creator outreach is relevant to the audience. |
| Casey Lin — Practical AI Studio | A tutorial follows research across several tools and shows limitations alongside the result. This could support an honest product walkthrough. | Verify a public business contact route and discuss audience fit. |
Save the profile URLs and handles with the research, check for duplicates, and carry the content analysis into the tracker's Fit and evidence notes. These findings give the first email a specific starting point and help you ask better questions when you speak with the creator.
Step 4: Create and populate the tracker
Create a Google Sheet named Creator partnership tracker, with one tab, Creator tracker, and one row per person. Connect Google Sheets with permission to read and update this file. Google Drive supplies the background documents; the connected Sheet holds the working records.
| Column | Header | What belongs here |
|---|---|---|
| A | Name | The person's professional name. |
| B | Profile | Their official website, professional profile, or owned channel. |
| C | Fit and evidence | Relevant work, why they may fit, and questions still open. |
| D | Contact route | A verified business email or public contact page; leave blank until checked. |
| E | Status | Researching, Shortlisted, Draft ready, Contacted, Replied, Meeting booked, Paused, or Closed. |
| F | Last contact | The date of the latest confirmed outbound message. |
| G | Next follow-up | The next unanswered-outreach review date; blank before the first send. |
| H | Next action | The task the owner should do next. |
| I | Owner | The teammate responsible for the conversation. |
| J | Context and conversation | Positioning document, offer version, email thread, notes, creator feedback, and the latest activity check. |
Freeze the header, enable filters, wrap long text, format dates as yyyy-mm-dd, and add a Status dropdown. Start the three example records at Researching. Leave contact dates blank, and leave Casey's contact route blank because it still needs checking.
The screenshot below shows the populated tracker in the Excel web viewer. Use the same columns in the connected Google Sheet for automatic updates. The downloadable example workbook is a static starting point.
The point of the tracker is to preserve the reasoning behind each next step. After an exchange or call, keep the creator's question and your proposed response beside the record, with a link to the conversation.
Step 5: Let activity update the same rows
Once you enable a tracker-update workflow, Okou can read new activity and write changes back to the existing Sheet. You don't need to copy sent dates, replies, and next actions into the tracker by hand.
Connecting the apps is the starting point. Automatic updates need saved workflow instructions, access to Gmail and the Sheet, and an enabled trigger. Set up two ways to run the same update:
- When a matching Gmail message arrives: check replies from the campaign's tracked contacts, read the latest thread, and update the matching row. Narrow the email rule to the relevant senders and campaign subject; adjust it as you add contacts.
- On a weekday schedule: reconcile pending drafts and confirmed sent messages, check for missed replies, and review follow-ups that are due. Choose the time and timezone during setup. A message sent between checks is recorded when the next check verifies it.
Give the workflow the tracker link and tell it which columns it may update. Keep the Gmail thread link in column J so subsequent runs can find the same conversation. If a message cannot be matched confidently, flag it for review rather than creating or updating the wrong record. Preserve your manual notes and approved commercial terms.
Example request: Keep [tracker link] updated from the linked Gmail conversations. When a matching reply arrives, update the existing row, summarize the creator's question, and suggest the next action. Every weekday at [time] in [timezone], check pending drafts, confirmed sends, replies, and follow-ups due. Mark Contacted only after verifying a sent message. Clear unanswered follow-up dates after a reply or decline. Prepare emails for my review, reuse pending drafts, and leave sending and commercial decisions to me. Confirm the matching rules and schedule before enabling the automation.
Here's how Mara's row changes in the example:
| Verified activity | Changes in Mara's row | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| A first email draft exists | Status: Draft ready. Both contact dates stay blank. | Review the initial email. |
| The first email was sent on 20 October | Status: Contacted. Last contact: 2026-10-20. Next follow-up: 2026-10-26. | Wait for a reply; review after four business days. |
| Mara replies on 22 October asking to try one complete example together | Status: Replied. Last contact stays 2026-10-20. Next follow-up clears. | Review the reply and offer a product walkthrough. |
After the confirmed send, the tracker records the contact date and the follow-up due date. Devon's email is still a draft, so Devon's contact dates stay blank.
When Mara's reply is processed, the same row becomes Replied. The unanswered follow-up date clears, and the next action and conversation notes change. Last contact stays at 20 October because that field records your latest outbound message. The reply date belongs in the conversation notes.
These are the changes the configured workflow should make from verified activity. They happen when the relevant run completes; the screenshots are static examples of those states.
Use filters on this same Sheet as your dashboard: Researching for unfinished research, Draft ready for emails to review, Replied for conversations needing attention, and active contacted rows with a due date for follow-ups. Filter by owner when several teammates share the campaign.
If you track reply rate, divide substantive replies by people actually contacted in the same campaign cohort and reporting period. Exclude drafts and automatic replies.
Step 6: Start a conversation about fit
Connect a specific piece of the creator's work to the problem your product solves. Explain why you thought of them and invite their perspective on whether it would help their audience. Leave room to shape the idea together.
For Mara, the useful detail is how her example tutorial keeps original interview quotes beside research themes and shows where human judgment changes the next step. The outreach connects that approach to a marketing team researching creators, maintaining a tracker, and learning from replies. It proposes a tutorial she can help shape and asks about fit, format, availability, and terms.
Open the draft in Okou's email panel to check the recipient, subject, body, and attachments. Ask for changes in the conversation, keeping the same pending draft, then use Send when it's ready. The tracker should move to Contacted only after Okou verifies the send, either in an update you request or during the next scheduled check.
Use verified public business contact details or information you have permission to use. People search itself doesn't enrich email addresses or phone numbers.
Give the creator time to try the product. Learn about their audience and creative approach while helping them understand the product's value and limits. Finding a shared direction may take several exchanges, a demo, and revisions to the brief. Stay personally involved in those discussions.
Step 7: Follow up, listen, and refine the idea
Let the conversation determine the next step. A creator may need a demo, a clearer example, time to test the workflow, or a discussion about how it fits their audience. Read their feedback and respond to the specific concern.
For unanswered outreach in this example, the first follow-up review is four business days after the initial send. If you send that follow-up and still receive no reply, review once more seven business days later. Stop after two confirmed follow-ups, and respect any timing the recipient requests.
| Situation | Next action |
|---|---|
| No reply and follow-up is due | Prepare a short follow-up with a useful detail or clearer request. |
| Interested | Share the brief, offer a demo, and ask what would be useful to their audience. |
| Unclear about the product or audience fit | Walk through a specific use case together and record what needs a better explanation. |
| Suggests a different use case or format | Explore the reasoning and check that the product supports it before revising the brief. |
| Questions about rates, scope, or rights | Answer from approved sources and discuss open terms with the responsible teammate. |
| Declines or opts out | Close the record and clear the follow-up date. |
| Requests contact later | Pause the record until the requested date. |
If Mara had not replied, a useful follow-up would offer a more concrete tutorial angle: start with one positioning document and three creator profiles, then follow the evidence into the tracker and a tailored email. It builds on her example work and gives her a simple next step—deciding whether a one-page brief would help.
The scheduled check in Step 5 should read the latest thread before preparing a follow-up and reuse a pending draft. A reply or decline stops the unanswered-outreach sequence. Review and send the email yourself; update Last contact and the next review date only after the send is confirmed.
Okou can look up a feature detail or approved price and prepare a response. Questions about why the product matters, whether the workflow is convincing, or how to explain it call for your judgment and a discussion with the creator. A repeated question may reveal something your positioning document needs to explain more clearly.
Step 8: Prepare the brief or proposal from confirmed details
Once you and the creator have discussed the product and found a promising direction, ask Okou to prepare the brief or proposal from your approved template, product documents, and conversation notes.
Include the agreed use case, intended audience, format, deliverables, review process, and commercial terms. Mark unresolved items To confirm. Don't turn a suggestion in an email into an agreed commitment.
For Mara, the next step might be one tutorial built around a complete partnership-research example. The fee, publication date, and usage rights remain open until discussed and accepted. Link the working brief in column J and set the next action to Confirm scope and commercial terms.
Review before sharing. Compare changes with earlier commitments and attach final documents and confirmed outcomes to the same record. Mark Meeting booked only when the meeting is confirmed.
Step 9: Use creator conversations to sharpen your positioning
Review what you learned while the conversations are fresh. Note the value creators grasp quickly, questions that recur, and use cases they want to demonstrate. Link each observation to the exchange behind it and separate their words from your interpretation.
In our example, Mara wants to try a complete workflow and understand why the positioning document comes first. That gives the team a useful next conversation: walk through how product context affects the search criteria and the first email. Her response may help you see which parts of the explanation need a concrete example.
A missing feature, a confusing explanation, and a mismatch with one creator's audience suggest different next steps. Discuss the feedback with your team before deciding what to change. Have Okou propose revisions to the product explanation and brief, then update the shared document with the changes your team agrees on.
Test that explanation in subsequent conversations. This is an ongoing process of listening, trying the product, and adjusting together. Okou organizes the feedback; you and the creator work out whether the collaboration makes sense.
Also track people contacted, substantive replies, calls, proposals, and confirmed outcomes. Give people comparable time to reply and distinguish silence from rejection. A conversation that improves your product explanation can be useful even without a partnership.
Frequently asked questions
How can I use AI to find the right people?
Start with your product positioning, then give Okou a goal, a target profile, and clear selection criteria. Ask for a small shortlist with source links and recent work. Refine it after reviewing the evidence and talking with creators about their audience and interests.
What document should I give Okou before starting?
Use an existing Google Doc, Word document, or Notion page explaining your product's audience, problem, value, differentiation, and limitations. Share it through a connected service Okou can access or attach the file. Keep it current as creator conversations sharpen your understanding.
Does Okou's people search find email addresses?
People search returns professional profiles and supporting sources; it does not find email addresses or phone numbers. Use a verified public business contact page or contact details you already have permission to use.
How does the tracker update automatically?
Connect Gmail and Google Sheets, save instructions for updating the tracker, and enable the relevant reply and scheduled triggers. Each run checks the latest activity and writes verified changes to the matching row. A confirmed send updates Contacted and Last contact; a substantive reply updates Replied, clears the unanswered follow-up date, and adds the next action. Connecting a file alone does not enable this process.
Does the downloaded Excel example update automatically?
The download is a static example of the tracker. To run the workflow described here, put the tracker in a connected Google Sheet and enable the update workflow for that file.
Does Okou send outreach and follow-ups automatically?
In this workflow, Okou prepares drafts for you to review and send. The automation can maintain records and prepare follow-ups, while you handle the conversation, creative direction, and commercial decisions.
