Price Your First Brand Deal

The first offer a brand makes is rarely their ceiling, and the number most new creators name is far below what the work costs them once travel, shooting and editing days are counted. Two things drive the real number: your cost to deliver, and the usage rights they are asking for. Follower count is the least important input.

How to do it

1. Count your true cost first

   Days of travel, days of shooting, days of editing, gear, fuel, permits. Put a day rate on your time. If the offer does not clear that, it is not a deal, it is a hobby with paperwork.

2. Price usage separately from creation

   Making a video and licensing that video for the brand to run as a paid advertisement for a year are two different products. Organic post on your channel only is the baseline. Whitelisting, paid amplification, and use on their own channels each add to the number.

3. Charge for exclusivity

   If they want you to not work with competitors for six months, that has a real cost because it removes future income. Price it or decline it. Never grant it for free, and never grant it in perpetuity.

4. Send a rate card and let them react

   Naming a number first is fine and it anchors the conversation. A one page card with tiers reads as professional and stops the endless back and forth.

5. Get it in writing, with deliverables and a payment date

   What exactly is delivered, by when, where it can run, for how long, and when you get paid. Net thirty is normal. No contract means no recourse.

6. Say no to free product in exchange for work

   Product is not payment for a professional deliverable. It is fine when you genuinely wanted the item and the work is small. It is not fine as a substitute for a fee, and accepting it teaches the brand what you are worth.

Where people go wrong

• Pricing off follower count. A small engaged audience in a specific niche is worth more to a brand than a large general one.
• Giving unlimited usage rights. This is the most expensive thing new creators give away without noticing.
• Working with no contract. You will eventually not get paid and have nothing to point at.
• Accepting the first offer. Almost every first offer has room in it.