How to price your first brand collaboration
·1 min read
Most first-time rates are copied from someone else's post. That works until a brand asks why, and the honest answer is that you do not know.
Start from the deliverable, not the follower count
Followers are a proxy for reach, and reach is a proxy for outcome. Every step away from the outcome loses information, and the brand is paying for the outcome.
Price the work: the shoot, the edits, the revisions, the usage rights, and the exclusivity window that stops you working with a competitor.
Usage rights are the part people forget
A post that lives on your grid is one price. The same asset running as a paid ad for six months is a different product, and it is worth several times more.
Write the number down before the call
Deciding a rate while someone is waiting for an answer is how creators end up under-charging. Have the number, and the reason for it, before you pick up.