How to Negotiate with Brands as a Blogger

As someone who is a blogger and works in the influencer marketing industry, I have been on both sides of the table when it comes to working with brands. All influencers should know their worth, therefore here is how to negotiate with brands as a blogger.

According to Linqia The State of Influencer Marketing, 92% of brands and agencies believed influencer marketing to be effective. This year, 86% intended to dedicate a portion of their budget to influencer marketing.

What does this mean for you? Influencer marketing is growing at a rapid pace for 2019 and you should be a the forefront of the market!

How to get brands to notice you

If you are just dipping your toe into monetizing your blog or social media channels, it’s important to think of your blog as a business.

In this post, I am going to show you how to work with brands in a way of monetizing, but if sponsored posts are not your thing, you could go down a path of affiliate marketing, selling products and services, and more.

To begin, start signing up for influencer marketing platforms now.

Recommended platforms:

• Linqia
• TapInfluence
• Activate
• Social Fabric
• Clever
• Influence Central
• BrandBacker
• Ahology
• Mavrck
• Aspire IQ

These platforms don’t have a minimum requirement of followers to join. But, it may be a slow start for bloggers under a 10k reach.

But, go ahead and fill out all of the information and if you see an open campaign on one of these platforms, go ahead and apply!

Collaboration Examples:

• If the brand is not willing to pay AND they are not providing a product in exchange for a post.
• If a brand is not willing to pay your minimum rate.
  • A brand with a budget will nudge it up a bit and compromise in the middle. You need to value your worth, but also think about your future collaborations and relationship with the brand. Are you willing to work a little less than your normal rate to start a relationship with the brand?
• The brand is expecting you to pay for the product yourself.
• If the brand is only paying the top performers on a campaign. This is only damaging the company’s reputation when they use influencer marketing platforms and think this type of campaign is okay.

What to say when a brand reaches out to you to join a campaign

It’s an amazing feeling when a brand reaches out and wants you to join a campaign!

If a brand wants to pay you either by a private campaign or have you join them on an influencer marketing platform to run the campaign, always, always, always read over the contract and deliverables.

• Look for usage rights of your content, draft deadlines, what social channels are needed to post on, brand URLs + hashtags, and all of the information you are required to put in your post.
• If everything looks great on the contract and you are satisfied with the offered rate, go ahead and sign!
• Don’t agree with something in the contract?  It’s okay to ask if the sections of the contract can be amended. If the brand refuses, that is your cue to back out if you don’t agree with the terms. 

Rate Questions

If a brand has found you from an influencer marketing platform, your rate should be stated on your account. Depending on the deliverables, you can keep this rate or negotiate a higher rate based on the campaign.

If a brand reaches out to you outside of an influencer marketing platform, they may not include rates and compensation in the initial email.

It’s up to you to determine from the campaign pitch if you are willing to continue with a product for post-compensation or ask about rates and try to negotiate. I talk about how to negotiate with brands in my free templates below!

For example, the compensation might be something amazing like a high-end gadget like a computer, where there is no additional money paid to the creator. If you believe that your content is worth the exchange for a computer, go ahead and join that campaign!

But, if it’s something that you don’t believe you would use, it doesn’t align with your own personal brand, or you simply don’t accept campaigns without payment, it’s okay to say no and turn down the offer.

Are you stumped on what to say in those negotiation emails regarding rates?

As a result, I am sharing the templates that I personally use to discuss campaign rates and how to gracefully say no if the campaign is not a good fit.

If you found this post helpful, be sure to check out these other posts:

The Big List of Instagram Story Ideas

A-Z Blog Glossary

The Big List of Opt-In Freebie Ideas

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