The ultimate guide to brand deals: how to get them, what to charge, and how to know if they're legit

One of the possible revenue streams for influencers or content creators is brand collaborations - but how? You might feel pumped about securing brand deals until you sit down at your computer and realize you have no idea where to start; how do you get brand deals, what should I charge, how do I know if they’re legit … don’t worry, I got your back - just follow these steps!

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Step 1: Be known for a specific topic.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first and talk about being known for a specific niche. I know, I know - this is mentioned in almost every blog, podcast, or video about growing your presence online, but there is a reason - establishing a niche and target audience is crucial to pitching yourself to brands. If you were a brand and your focus was women content creators in their 20s - you wouldn’t have much success if you advertise your product on a fishing-based YouTube channel targeted to men - amirite?

If you can prove that your audience matches the ideal audience of the brand you’re wanting to collaborate with - you will be more likely to land that brand deal.

Step 2: Increase your engagement rate.

It’s not all about the size of your audience. I actually touched on this in the last Creator Club episode when talking about the 2021 approach for being an Instagram influencer - I mentioned that some brands prefer working with influencers with smaller audiences.

It’s all about engagement. You could have a small audience under 5k, but have an outstanding engagement rate and specific target audience - this is like gold to a brand. Having a high engagement rate shows a brand that the audience you do have is very interested in what you have to say or recommend to them - it gives the brand more security that your audience would have interest in their product if shared by you.

Step 3: Create a media kit.

This is a document that has information about you, your demographics, your social platforms, and your pricing. This information can all be gathered into a well-structured PDF that can be sent to the brand when you reach out or if they reach out to you. Here are some of the important details you should include in your media kit:

Include a short bio. In the introduction, it is important to share a little bit about yourself and your brand so the brand you’re pitching knows if you are a good fit for their ideal customer.

Share your demographics. Sharing who your audience is and all of the details you can about them is going to be very important in convincing a brand to work with you, as it gives them a little proof that your audience matches theirs.

Include your stats. This provides the brand insight on how big your following is on your top platforms - you can include YouTube subscribers, email subscribers, Instagram followers, TikTok followers, etc. Only include the accounts you’re active on and would want to do a branded post for.

But even more important, include your engagement rates. It’s important to share more than just the number of followers you have obtained, but how engaging your audience actually is.

Pricing. You have to decide the price that YOU think seems reasonable. You don’t have to worry too much about being competitive with other creators or influencers because it’s really up to you what you think your time and your audience's attention is worth. Just keep in mind that depending on the price you choose, you may get more or fewer brand deals.

Step 4: Start pitching to brands.

Now that you have a targeted audience, a high engagement rate, and you have added all of the important details to your media kit - it’s time to start pitching to brands. If you still have a small audience, I would recommend starting by pitching to smaller brands. In the early stages of your growth - you would probably have a hard time landing deals with large brands like Nike or Squarespace - but there are so many small brands out there who would love the opportunity to work with someone with a smaller audience, especially if you already established the first two steps in this episode and have a target audience with high engagement.

You can actually download this free pitch template I use to reach out to brands.

But what if a brand reaches out to you? How do you know if it’s legit?

You can find out a lot about a brand and their legitimacy just by looking at their Instagram page. First, don’t be fooled by a brand having a large following - sadly, we all know followers can be purchased. Engagement rate is a huge giveaway, if a brand has 100k followers but only an average of 1 comment and 20 likes on each post - that’s a whopping 00021% engagement rate…. it’s safe to assume this brand purchased their followers. You can calculate someone's engagement rate by adding up their likes and comments and dividing it by the follower count.

Another idea is to search through the brand’s hashtags and account tags, you might find that other Instagram users have used their hashtag or tagged them in posts about being a scam!

Lastly, listen to your gut. If your gut is telling you that this seems scammy and it’s not a brand you recognize, just ignore it and take the time to reach out to small brands you know are legit and would love to work with.

Here is a little bonus tip as well.

I can only assume you are trying to learn everything there is to know about securing brand deals because you’re trying to make an income out of being a creator online - so I wanted to share a little bonus tip about increasing your pricing with brands, even if you still have a small audience. In addition to a paid post advertising on your platforms, you can offer them a marketing package that they can use in their own marketing efforts as well. If you are skilled in photography, filming, editing, etc., you can use those skills to offer the brand additional marketing assets for a higher rate. This is a great way to get the most out of each partnership you secure.

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The most important thing to remember is your worth - this is your business and you have worked hard to get where you are today with your brand, so believe in yourself and never settle!