Outreach plan — Saffana Monajed (@saffanabanana)
Outreach plan — Saffana Monajed (@saffanabanana)
Owner: Deji
Drafted: 2026-04-27
Status: Draft — execute alongside Q2 2026 user research plan
Related: docs/research/user-research-plan-q2-2026.md
1. Why her, why now
Deji flagged @saffanabanana as an avatar of Surfc’s ICP after watching one of her Reels. Independent research confirms a strong fit on both sides — she is at once a candidate user, a candidate research participant, and a candidate creator partner. Three signals in particular:
- Her own behaviour is the ICP. Her recent Threads post is literally a media-literacy reading list (Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death, Cialdini Influence, Shotton The Choice Factory, Heath Made to Stick, Chomsky Manufacturing Consent). That’s the exact cross-source, idea-driven nonfiction reading Surfc indexes.
- She’s already speaking the pain. A recent TikTok addresses “library books, borrowed books and others that aren’t yours — how to retain that knowledge.” This is the literal job-to-be-done Surfc was built for.
- Her audience is Surfc’s TAM. She educates ~294K followers on critical thinking, decoding media, and reading with intent. Different mission, identical reader profile.
She is not a generic bookstagrammer (the BookTok / Bookstagram tier in user-research-plan-q2-2026.md §6 still applies). She is closer to an educator-creator-founder hybrid. That changes the play.
2. Profile snapshot
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Saffana Monajed |
| Brand | Saffana Teaches Comms / Whiteboard Copy Co. |
| Based | London, UK |
| Mission | Comms training for NGOs and charities — “value-led teams communicating with clarity, honesty, purpose” |
| @saffanabanana — ~294K followers | |
| TikTok | @learncopywritingnow |
| Threads | @saffanabanana |
| Substack | Saffana’s Voicenotes |
| YouTube | Saffana Teaches Comms |
| linkedin.com/in/saffana-monajed | |
| X | @BananaSaffana |
| Websites | saffana.co.uk, ngocomms.saffana.co.uk |
3. Three engagement angles, ranked
| # | Angle | What it gets you | When to ask | Risk if you misfire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Research participant | A 30-minute interview slot in the Q2 research plan — high-value qualitative data from a living ICP | After 1–2 weeks of warm-up | Low — research framing is socially safe; she can decline politely |
| 2 | Informal advisor / early reader | Her comms lens applied to Surfc’s positioning, copy, and landing page; a sanity-check before launch | After the research call goes well | Medium — asks for unpaid time on top of a paid skillset |
| 3 | Creator partnership / launch advocate | Surfc demoed in front of her audience — potentially the single highest-leverage GTM move available pre-launch | Post-launch, after she’s used the product | High — pitching a partnership without product-market fit signal will burn the relationship |
Sequence matters. Going straight to angle 3 looks like every other DM in her inbox. Angle 1 is the only opener. Angles 2 and 3 are earned by what happens in the interview.
4. Channel selection
Saffana is everywhere, but volumes vary wildly. Pick the channels where you’ll actually be seen.
| Channel | Visibility | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram DM | Low — 294K-follower account, DM filter is brutal | Last resort, only if other channels don’t surface a reply |
| LinkedIn message | High — 500+ connections, more curated inbox, founder-to-founder norm | Primary channel for the research ask |
| Substack comment / reply | High in context — small audience, she reads them | Warm-up only, not for the ask |
| Threads reply | Medium — public, shows you’re paying attention | Warm-up, optional |
| TikTok / IG comments | Low — gets buried | Warm-up only, sparingly |
| Unknown — could be on saffana.co.uk | Probe, fallback if LinkedIn is silent |
Working channel order: Substack (warm-up) → LinkedIn (the ask) → IG DM (fallback) → email (last resort).
5. Tier 1 — Warm-up (Week 1 of the research plan, May 4–10)
Goal: become a recognisable name before you ask for anything. Two to three meaningful touches over a week.
- Subscribe to her Substack publicly (free tier is fine)
- Read her two most recent posts properly. Reply with a substantive comment that adds an idea — not “great post” or any variant
- Quote-reply one of her Threads posts with a thoughtful add. Don’t link to Surfc. Don’t pitch
- If she posts a reading list or book reflection, that is the post to engage on — it gives the eventual ask a natural anchor
Hard rule for this tier: zero mention of Surfc. The warm-up’s only job is to make the LinkedIn message in Tier 2 land in a recognised inbox, not a stranger’s.
6. Tier 2 — The research-participant ask (Week 2, May 11–17)
Use the LinkedIn DM. The framing matches the posting rule from the research plan (§6 — lead with the question, not the product).
LinkedIn message — primary draft
Subject (first line counts on LinkedIn): Research on how nonfiction readers retain ideas
Hi Saffana,
Your media-literacy reading list on Threads (and the recent TikTok on retaining knowledge from books you don’t own) hit a question I’ve been chasing for two years.
I’m researching how serious nonfiction readers actually keep ideas usable across books over time — what works, what falls apart, where the gap is. I’d love 30 minutes with you, recorded for my notes only, no product pitch on the call.
If you’re open to it, I can send a Calendly link. If not, no follow-up — and thank you for the reading list either way.
Deji Building Surfc — surfc.app
Why this works:
| Element | Why |
|---|---|
| First-line specificity (the reading list + the TikTok) | Proves you actually pay attention; not template outreach |
| ”Question I’ve been chasing for two years” | Founder framing, not vendor framing |
| ”Research… serious nonfiction readers… across books over time” | Mirrors her own language, qualifies the ask |
| ”30 minutes… recorded for my notes only, no product pitch on the call” | Removes the sales smell that kills these DMs |
| One-line graceful out + thank-you | Lowers the cost of saying no, raises the chance of yes |
| Surfc named in the signature only | Lets her opt in to learning more without it being the centre of the message |
IG DM fallback (if LinkedIn is silent after 5 days)
Same beats, halved length. IG inbox favours brevity.
Hi Saffana — your media-literacy reading list and the TikTok on retaining ideas from borrowed books were the two things that pushed me to message you.
I’m researching how serious nonfiction readers actually keep ideas usable across books. Would you be open to a 30-minute conversation? Recorded for my notes only, not a pitch.
Either way, thank you for the reading list.
Deji (building surfc.app)
Subject-line alternatives (LinkedIn / email)
- Research on retaining ideas across books — 30 minutes?
- Your media-literacy reading list + a question
- Serious nonfiction readers — research conversation?
7. Tier 3 — Collaboration options (post-interview, conditional)
Only pursue if at least one of these signals appears during or after the interview:
- She volunteers that her current system for retaining ideas is broken
- She asks for early access without being prompted
- She offers to be kept in the loop
- She organically suggests something — a feature, a use case, an introduction
If none of those happen, ship her a thank-you note and leave the door open for a year. Forcing a partnership against weak signal poisons the relationship and her audience can smell it.
If signal is there, here’s the menu, ranked by reversibility (try the cheapest first):
Option A — Free Pro for life + named in launch credits
- Cost: zero
- Ask: would she be open to using Surfc through her current reading and giving you ongoing feedback in exchange for lifetime Pro?
- Why first: low pressure, no obligation to post, lets her use the product organically. Many of her most authentic content moments would emerge naturally if it sticks.
Option B — Co-create a “reading system for media literacy” piece
- Cost: your time + a custom demo
- Ask: would she be open to co-creating one piece of content (her platform, her voice) that walks through a reading system for media literacy, using her own list (Postman, Cialdini etc.) as the live demo?
- Format: long-form Substack post or a 5–8 minute YouTube video — she controls editorial
- Why second: deeply on-brand for her, naturally features Surfc, doesn’t smell sponsored
Option C — Paid sponsorship of a single video / Substack edition
- Cost: real money — typical UK creator rate at her tier is £2k–£8k for a sponsored video; Substack sponsorships are usually less
- Ask: only after A or B has demonstrated the product fits her audience
- Why last: paid sponsorships from a pre-launch product to a 294K creator are statistically unlikely to convert. Earning a partnership through B is materially more effective.
Option D — Advisory equity / formal advisor seat
- Cost: small equity grant on a vesting schedule
- Ask: only if she ends up wanting to be deeply involved
- Why mentioned: keep it on the table but don’t lead with it. Most creators don’t want this; some do.
8. Follow-up cadence (Tier 2 specifically)
| Day | Action |
|---|---|
| 0 | Send LinkedIn message |
| +5 | If no reply: gentle nudge on LinkedIn — single sentence, no new pitch |
| +10 | If still no reply: switch to IG DM (fallback draft above) |
| +20 | If still no reply: stop. Note in CRM/notes “no response — try again post-launch when there’s a product to show” |
Three touches across three weeks is the ceiling for cold outreach. More than that and you erode goodwill, especially with a creator at her scale.
9. What NOT to do
- Don’t comment on her posts more than 2–3 times in the warm-up week. Performative engagement is visible
- Don’t use the words “I love your content” or “huge fan” anywhere
- Don’t pitch Surfc in the first message — research-participant framing only
- Don’t send the same message on every channel simultaneously. Sequence them
- Don’t reference her follower count in the message (signals you’re treating her as a marketing channel, not a person)
- Don’t ask for free promotion, ever, at any tier
- Don’t follow up more than three times across all channels combined
10. What to capture from this outreach (regardless of outcome)
If she replies and the call happens:
- Treat it like any interview from
user-research-plan-q2-2026.md§7 — same discussion guide, same Van Westendorp PSM, same channel question. No special treatment. Tag her in the participant list ascreator-recruitedso her data is analysed alongside cold-recruited participants and not as a hand-picked cheerleader - Capture verbatim quotes about her current reading-retention system. Even a no-conversion call delivers high-value voice-of-customer data
If she doesn’t reply:
- Note the channels tried and the gap. Useful Q3 channel-data point: “creator-tier outreach via LinkedIn DM converted at 0/1” is real signal, not a failure
- Re-attempt once Surfc has a working public product to demo (more interesting hook, shorter ask)
11. First three actions to take
- Subscribe to her Substack today. Read the last three posts properly. (~30 min)
- Engage on the next post she publishes that touches reading or retention — substantive comment, no Surfc mention. (~10 min)
- On Mon May 11, send the LinkedIn message in §6. Set the 5-day reminder for the IG DM fallback.