In this post I’m gonna breakdown what goes into pricing influencer rates and answer the question that many of you are searching for, which is “how much should I charge as an influencer?”
I’m also gonna cover how to calculate your rates, and *and spoiler alert* I’m gonna reveal where you can get your hands on my personal influencer rate calculator, because it seriously takes the headache out of calculating your rates for brand deals since all you need to do is plug in exactly what the brand is asking for (so for example, say 1 image shared to Instagram, 1 story slide, and 3 month usage rights) to get an instant rate that you can send over to all the brands that request your rates.
OK so if you’ve been wondering how much to charge as an influencer you’re in the right place, so let’s dive in and chat about everything that goes into pricing influencer rates so you can really take your income as an influencer to the next level.
By the way, if you’re new here — welcome to the agency, I’m Jaye and I’m the creator of 11 St. Studio influencer agency and I’ve been helping influencers calculate their rates for sponsored posts and brand deals, as well as negotiate with brands, since 2019. And for those interested, I recently launched a NEW webinar where I share exactly what goes into calculating rates for brand deals — IN DETAIL — as well as a simple formula to pricing influencer rates that has been proven to work for influencers across the globe, and that goes for nano influencers, micro influencers, macro influencers and mega influencers. I also reveal how to get your hands on my personal influencer rate calculator, and influencer rate card template because trust me when I say, it’s a MUST-HAVE if brands are asking for your rates.
Again, I reveal IT ALL in the webinar, so make sure to check it out.
How Much to Charge as an Influencer
K, back to the video, let’s chat about how much to charge as an influencer, how to set your rates as an influencer, and more specifically, what you should be charging as an influencer and how to calculate it all.
So, to start, it’s important to keep in mind that, as an influencer, the “product” you’re selling brands is the community you cultivate and the quality of the content you create. And I think it goes without saying that the most valuable influencers are (1) experts within their niche, (2) are highly skilled in videography or photography and (3) are experts at nurturing a very engaged audience.
K, and I wanna really stress the word engaged here. As an influencer, your product should NEVER just be the size of your audience. Focusing on the size of your audience is the best way to get burnt out and discouraged when trying to gain brand deals.
OK, so keep that in mind. What brands are interested in when partnering with influencers is an engaged community that loves your content and respects your expertise and opinion.
Influencer Rates
So if you want, you can think of your “product” in three parts.
With that in mind, a third of the “product” you’re selling brands is a spot in front of the community of people you’ve built, meaning you should be including the following when calculating your rates for brand deals:
- your engagement rate
- your overall reach
- your expertise in your niche
- any press or media mentions you’ve won that add to your credibility
- your conversion rate, meaning your ability to drive your community to products/services that you recommend
- your likeness, if a brand is asking to run ads with your images
OK, so now that you know that, let’s pivot and chat about your personal, creative skills as an influencer, because if a third of your product is your unique skills, you should be including the following in your prices:
- your level of creativity and the quality of your content
- if and how long a brand want to use your content for their promotions
- any sort of permissions they’re asking for, for example whitelisting
- whether the brand is asking that you create user generated content for them or whether they want you to create content AND promote it on your channel
OK, and next we need to chat about your specific expertise in your niche. This again, counts towards a third of the product that you’re offering brands. Now obviously, this is going to be something you need to reflect on so you can decide what an ideal going rate would be for someone with your expertise. But, I recommend taking into account things like years of experience and any other credentials that you may have and use that as leverage when determining your base rates.
Influencer Rates
To make things easier, I like to ask influencers, what would you charge per hour if someone was coming to you for coaching in the area you’re an expert in? So for example, maybe you’re a fitness influence and you charge say, $100/hour for coaching, and it takes you 3 hours to create content for a brand. Well, you could include a $300 charge for your expertise alone. And then add on the fee for reaching your specific audience, as well as any fees for your skills, so for example photography.
OK, so once you can answer that question, pricing your base rate for your expertise alone should become a lot easier.
Alright, so now that you’ve got an idea of what you should be charging brands for based on your personal expertise, your unique creative skills and what it costs to reach your particular audience, it’s important to get a stong handle on the specific requirements of the project, and the size of the brand that’s interested in partnering with you.
When figuring out what to charge as an influencer, you need to know upfront what the brand’s specific requirements are, and that includes all deliverables the brand is requesting from you, and things like usage rights, whitelisting permissions, rush fees, seasonal fees etc.
Now, in terms of the size of the brand, a small startup is going to spend much less on influencers than a medium sized business or a well-known, popular brand.
Influencer Rate Card
K, so keep that all in mind when calculating your rates for brand deals and sponsored posts. I think it goes without saying that there are SO many variables to consider when figuring out how much to charge as an influencer, it can feel a bit overwhelming to get it right sometimes.
And to be totally transparent, that’s where I come in. Like I said earlier, i’ve been helping influencers price their rates for brand deals and negotiate with brands since 2019 when I launched 11 St. Studio. Before that I worked one-on-one with brands myself for years as a blogger and photographer, so I know a thing or two about pricing brand deals and photography projects. And like I just said, with all that experience and knowledge I launched my influencer agency, to help influencers just like you. Since 2019 I’ve created a ton of resources for influencers in order to help y’all really hit the ground running, including things like the influencer rate calculator, and the newly released Influencer Rate Report, which are both in our Shop.
Influencer Rate Calculator
So, I hope you check those resources out. Because, and I’m gonna be totally real with you here, the easiest way to determine what to charge for sponsored posts is to use the influencer rate calculator. It’s been tested pretty rigorously over the years, and is proven to work for influencers in all categories (from nano all the way up to mega) across all niches, and allows you to price your rates for brand deals based on your specific level of influence, creative skills, and the brand’s requirements for the campaign.
Now in all fairness, I don’t have a specific range of what you personally can make as an influencer simply because influencer’s rates for sponsored brand deals are so personal, but I can guarantee we’re the ONLY influencer agency that creates resources like the influencer rate calculator that allow you to customize a price for brand deals — in seconds.
Influencer Rate Calculator
Because, like I mentioned earlier, the influencer rate calculator is a fill-in-the-blank, “plug-and-play” tool, meaning, you enter your base rates for all kinds of variables, like your base rates for one image, one video, usage rights, rush fee’s ect, and then in another column enter exactly what the brand is requesting, so say 3 images and 1 month of usage rights, and viola, the final rate is calculated based on those specific details. It really, really takes the headache out of calculating your rates. So make sure to check it out because it’s honestly life-changing and has been proven to help influencers go from earning a few hundred dollars per brand deal to well over a few thousand dollars per deal. In fact, we found that (on average) influencers make upwards of 300% of their previous rates for sponsored posts using the influencer rate calculator. That’s freakin’ bananas.
K, so there you have it! I hope this gives you some unique perspective into influencer rates and helps you look at pricing your rates for brand deals a little differently in the future! And I really hope it helped answer the question: “how much should I charge as an influencer” because my hope is that the more I can share this information, the sooner influencers everywhere will consistently earn what they should be from brand deals. Because the truth is, brands have budgets for influencers, and it pays (no pun intended) to know what you’re worth so you can choose the brands that you partner with wisely. Cause no one’s got time for brand deals that don’t pay, am I right?
OK so remember, before you go, check out my FREE webinar where I share my step-by-step formula to pricing your rates for all kinds of brand deals! And, if you’re ready to actually get paid what you’re worth, make sure to grab you copy of the influencer rate calculator, because, trust me, I don’t leave out any variables, that calculator takes EVERYTHING brand’s request into account, so no money is left on the table.
And, like I said earlier, since launching it we’ve found that influencers are typically able to charge on average 300% more per brand deal simply by using the calculator, so it really pays for itself!
Read More
- What Brands Look For In Influencers — Read more here.
- Influencer vs Content Creator: What No One Tells You — Read more here.
- Influencer Tips & Tricks — Read more here.
- Influencer Opportunities: The Truth About Brand Deals — Read more here.
- Become a Paid Influencer: 6 Tips — Read more here.
- How To Make Money Creating Content For Brands — Read more here.
- How To Approach Brands As An Influencer: Quick Guide — Read more here.
- Influencer Brand Deals: An Ultimate Breakdown — Read more here.
- How To Negotiate As An Influencer — Read more here.
- How To Get Brand Deals — Read more here.
- How Much To Charge For A Sponsored Post — Read more here.
- The Brand Pitch Email Templates (That Brands Can’t Refuse) — Read more here.
- Get More Brand Deals With This Engagement Rate Formula — Read more here.
- How To Work With Brands As An Infliuencer — Read more here.
- What (Exactly) To Include In Your Media Kit — Read more here.
- How Much To Charge For A Sponsored Post — Read more here.
- Influencer Marketing Terms You Need To Know To Work With Brands — Read more here.
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