Talking about money can be a difficult topic, especially if you don’t know what you’re worth or how to ask about budget while talking with brands. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there before. In this blog post, I want to cover all aspects of working with brands on a paid and in trade basis. Overall, I want you to remember that you MUST be professional while speaking with brands. There are numerous influencers/ digital content creators that are not professional at all and are, to be frank, giving others a bad rep.

Let’s begin by discussing my credibility. I had the opportunity to work in social media marketing for 6 years. Of that time, I specifically worked in influencer marketing where I worked with influencers for my clients. My role included running client accounts on social media as well as creating influencer marketing campaigns and working with influencers directly. See more on my LinkedIn profile, I don’t want to talk about it too much here. I did, however, want to share how we conducted our influencer research at the marketing agency I worked at because it can be extremely beneficial from an influencer’s perspective of what brands are looking at before choosing to work with you.

THE INSIDE SCOOP ON WHAT BRANDS ARE LOOKING FOR FROM A PROFESSIONAL MARKETER

The influencer research included:

Looking for influencers in the specific niche my clients wanted.

If the brand was KitchenAid, we would be looking for influencers in the food or lifestyle realm.

Looking for HIGH QUALITY IMAGES.

This is extremely important, you guys. I cannot stress this ENOUGH. If you’re struggling getting collaborations, it could be because your photos aren’t high quality enough for brands. I’m going to be completely honest, iPhone photos aren’t going to cut it. If an influencer sent us an iPhone photo as their post photo we would tell them to hire a photographer because the quality of iPhone photos isn’t there. Brands need to be able to blow up a photo to use for all sorts of marketing. They can’t do much with a low quality iPhone photo. I know iPhones are getting a lot better but at the end of the day they’re not the same quality as a DSLR camera. A DSLR camera is the best investment I ever made. I’ve landed paid brand collaborations that have paid for my camera 10x just this year.

BIG PRO TIP: Don’t pose in front of garages, doors, etc. This is so overdone in the influencer world and unless you have 300,000 followers and a thoroughly engaged audience then you’re not going to have an image that performs adequately let alone one a brand will want. Be creative and fun! That’s what brands are looking for, believe me!

Analyzing their engagement

• Looking over their captions and if they’re fun, detailed, and overall get their followers involved. We really looked into previous sponsored posts the influencers did and looked at how the worded the post. Did it read more like an advertisement or was it genuinely talked about. Did they bring a story into the post about why they truly liked the product or service?

• Looking at the comments on their posts and if their followers were engaged or if they were only receiving “so cute” comments.

• Looking at how they responded to others in their own comments. If they were genuine and brought some personality it was a big bonus. We also wanted individuals who kept the conversation going instead of just saying “thanks”. Of course, we understood if there wasn’t much else that could be said. Sometimes people are very dry, haha!

Looking at the influencers previous sponsored work.

If the influencer’s feed is solely brand collaboration after brand collaboration it comes across as if they were only in it for the money. Additionally, this can come across to their followers as untrustworthy because they’re constantly promoting products which can make followers question “if they really like the brand or not”. If you’re following an influencer that always promotes products, does it seem like they have their own personality or does it seem like their feed is just a big advertisement. Something else would be promoting product after product in the same area.

For example, if an influencer was promoting a shampoo they love one day and swear by, then the next week they’re saying the same thing about another shampoo brand it comes across as disingenuous.

Once we researched the influencer and decide to move forward, we really looked at how they responded to emails. Professionalism is KEY! So, make sure you’re dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s. Also, add a professional signature to your emails with your website, social media links, and title. Not a lot of people do this and it’ll help you stand out. Brands ultimately want to work with influencers who take this seriously. The relationships I’ve been able to build with brands is priceless. I’ve truly created friendships with brand reps and individuals who work in the social media department for brands. Influencer’s and brands should be working together to create a mutually beneficial partnership, not one-sided. At times influencer’s and brands can be selfish and these are the deals you want to avoid. Don’t be a selfish influencer and don’t let a brand take advantage of you.

How to talk budgets with brands

Now let’s move on to how to talk to brands about their budgets professionally. The best way to give a brand a bad taste in their mouth is respond with something like “Is this paid?” or “Do you have a budget?” You might be thinking, but “Tanna isn’t that what you’ve been telling us to do?” You’re not completely wrong but look at those responses. Do they look professional to you? Brands want to work with someone who takes the time to write out a full email and asks for details on the campaign. This shows that the influencer is genuinely interested in the campaign. Then you can flawlessly throw in those questions. Typically I’ll ask a couple questions on what they’re looking for, give a couple ideas for the collaboration to get them excited, thank them for thinking of me and reaching out, THEN I’ll ask if they have a budget to pay me for my time to create the content + space on my social media platforms.

Content creation includes:

Time driving to a store to buy props or even the products, time it takes to take the photos, money spent hiring a photographer (if you don’t take your own photos), etc. Brands should be compensating you for space on your platforms as well. Think about your social media platforms as prime real estate that should be sold to brands. Finally, brands should be compensating you for using your images to run ads. Full rights to your images should not be free. If they run ads with your images and generate profits YOU should feel okay with that so be sure you’re selling full rights for a number you’re okay with. You don’t want to end up the face of a brand and only have been paid $300 for an image. I wanted to share how I calculate the rate for space on my platform as mentioned previously. I calculate this rate by [0.01] x [your following #] = base rate for each platform. For example on Instagram I have 41,000 followers so my base rate would be $410. Then you add on your hourly rate for content creation + full digital rights if the client wants that. Again, just ask the brand. Additionally, be sure to attach your media kit while talking about budget so the brand can see who they’re working with. Think of your media kit like your resume. It’s where you want to shine for the brand while showing off your past collaborations with various companies, demographics, stats, and testimonials.

It’s extremely important to understand that you deserve to be compensated for your work depending upon the project at hand, not for a set price per post on social! Maybe people will try to tell you that you need a rate sheet but you don’t unless it’s solely your base rate prices. Watch a video I made here to gain more insight on this specifically.

Why sometimes working on trade can turn into more

Before we hop into discussing budgets with brands let us first talk about why and how it could be beneficial to work with brands on a trade basis or product for posting. I know, you’re probably like “Uh Tanna! You literally have been saying DON’T do this!” You’re right. I have been saying this, however, there are some moments where this does pay off for you and the brand in the end. First things first is:

Listen to your gut.

This is how I determine a lot of unpaid collaborations at first. Listening to your gut and judgment up front. If it seems sketchy or too good to be true it probably is. If you feel like you connect to the brand or the campaign manager, then it might be meant to be.

What to avoid.

If the collaboration is coming from a random IG DM and they seen sketchy in the beginning that’s an automatic NOPE. Sometimes after asking about budget, a brand will say something like “Well we want to try you out first and see how it goes then talk payment” I’m not typically going to say okay because, as mentioned before I want to be compensated for my time and efforts creating content. You can’t just walk into Target, grab a shirt, take it to the register and say “Hi! I want to take this shirt home with me without paying for it, then if I like it… I’ll pay for the next one.” Haha uh yeah that’s stealing. Not that a brand is stealing when they do this but it’s unfair right? Another thing brands might say is that you must hit a certain number or sales before they’ll pay. Welp.. you’re not a salesperson, you’re a creator. A creator must be compensated for their time and space on their social media platforms. I would avoid brands who base their successes on solely numbers or codes generated. They clearly don’t understand the value of content, brand awareness, or that return on investment isn’t just codes being used.

What to consider.

When you receive an email from a brand that’s genuinely interested in you and doesn’t seem like a mass email. Stop and take a second to thoroughly read what they’re saying and write down any questions you might have about the campaign. If they blatantly state they don’t have a budget up front and are honest in the beginning consider what might be beneficial for you that isn’t payment. Maybe extra items in exchange for posting and creating content for them. You could even ask for them to promote you on their pages to ensure it’s a mutually beneficial partnership. If they don’t mention anything about budget up front, politely ask as I mentioned above while asking about other campaign details too. How they respond back to you is how you can determine if it’s worth it. For me, one of my favorite brands to work with started out on trade because the campaign manager openly stated they didn’t have budget to pay at the time.

Again, go with your gut and what feels right. Working with this brand felt right from the very beginning. I negotiated extra product and worked with them 2-3 times with no monetary compensation but I over delivered and that didn’t go unnoticed. PRO TIP: Always over deliver regardless of if it’s paid collaboration or not. It shows your work ethic and makes brands want to work with you again but you go above and beyond for them. INSIDER INFO: Budget can be allocated fairly far in advance so when a brand says we don’t have budget right now, don’t assume they’re fibbing. They might not at that time but again if you believe this is a good brand for you to work with, aligns with your personal brand, and feels good in your gut, go for it and see what happens. In the future they may be able to allocate budget for you and honestly appreciate you working for them on trade in the meantime.

Have any other questions? Feel free to comment them below!

XOXO

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