The Brief: Turning $18k into $27k

In case you missed it, I’m focusing on Kickstart Your UGC Career – a series to help you establish a fully fledged UGC Career from the ground up. The first? Your UGC Tech Pack (which you can grab by clicking this link.)

While the Behind the Brand Partnership series will still continue as usual, I wanted to make sure the topics we cover apply to brand new UGC creators as well!

And this week, I’m going to show you how I structure my brand deals for maximum earnings. Starting with a personal anecdote.

Recently, I received a pitch from a brand requesting 2 Reels posted to my feed for $18k.

While that’s a fair compensation for the amount of deliverables, I practice exactly what I teach to my own students:

👉 I proposed add-ons to the collaboration.

Key Takeaways ⬇️

• Content is just the tip of the iceburg
• Your “base rate” is just a starting point
• Add-ons for all types of content creators

What Are Add-Ons & Why Do They Matter

Here’s how I structured that opportunity, taking it from $18k to $27k total.

Initial proposal from the brand:

• Deliverables – 2x pieces of video content posted on Instagram at $18k

Amended proposal from me:

• Deliverables – 2x pieces of video content posted on Instagram at $18k
• Whitelisting – 8 weeks of whitelisting at $3k
• Exclusivity – 8 week duration at $6k
• Total paid: $27k

I encourage you to think beyond content when you’re proposing your rates and negotiating a contract with brands.

While you absolutely can offer more content deliverables like Stories, photos, and even blog posts to increase your total payout as both an influencer and a UGC creator…

I wanted to share four add-ons you can leverage to maximize your total earnings.

A Guideline for Charging Per Add-On

How you choose to price these add-ons vary depending on each situation. This will have to be clarified during the negotiation phase.

But I want to give you a good ballpark percentage of how much more you can charge for each one of these add-ons.

Whitelisting: Due to its high value, you can charge anywhere between 20% – 50% of your base rate per month for any post or story that’s amplified

Exclusivity: You can charge between 50% – 100% of your base rates per month of exclusivity. This is the most lucrative and risky opportunity for you, since you want to consider missed opportunities and revenue, along with a clear understanding of the specificity and broadness of the competitors you can’t work with.

Usage Rights: For social media, you can add 15% – 20% of your base rate per piece of content. For newsletters, websites, and ads, you can add between 20% – 35% of your base rate per month.

Raw Footage: Set your rates at 50% – 100% of your base rate, depending on the volume of raw footage delivered to the client.

If you need help calculating your base rate, you can check out this blog post or follow the chart below for the quick and easy version.

That’s it from me this week!

As a creative, you provide so much value to a brand beyond content deliverables. So don’t be afraid to take your time to negotiate a few add-ons to maximize your earnings.

If you have questions about pitching, negotiating, or increasing your payout as an influencer or UGC creator, don’t hesitate to hit reply and ask away!

Here to help you succeed,

Catarina