How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post | Ultimate Cheatsheet

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October 29, 2019

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If you’ve ever wondered how much to charge for a sponsored post or how bloggers and influencers determine what (exactly) to charge brands for sponsored posts, you’re not alone! In fact, some of the most common questions we receive from influencers (and bloggers) in our community are:

“How do I price my rates?”

“Brand X is asking what I charge for an Instagram post. What should I charge them?”

“A brand wants to partner on sponsored blog post and Instagram story. What is the going rate for a blog post and what should I charge for a social media post?” 

“How much should I charge for a post on instagram?”

“What is the going Instagram rate per post?”

“Can you tell me how much to charge per blog post?”

How To Price Sponsored Posts (The Right Way)

Can you relate to any of these questions? If so, that’s understandable! Pricing sponsored blog posts and determining an Instagram rate per post isn’t common knowledge if you’re an emerging blogger or influencer. 

To be fair, determining how much to charge per blog post or Instagram post is 100% unique to you, and the campaign in question! So while we cannot provide any influencer with a specific “price”, we can offer you guidance in determining your rates and help answer the following questions many influencers and bloggers like yourself have.

Also, while you may be curious what the going rate for blog posts is, the truth is, it too varies! With so many factors involved and creative ways to collaborate on sponsored posts, there is no going rate! While this doesn’t make your life easier, we know, it gets easier with time and practice ─ that’s a promise!

Stop Guessing: Here’s a Sponsored Post Pricing Strategy That Works

How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

Given that influencer marketing is still new territory for many people, it’s normal to wonder how much to charge for a sponsored post. Or, how much to charge for Instagram posts! In most scenarios, brands will want to discuss your rates soon after introductions are made, and always before going forward with a campaign. Keep in mind however, if a brand REALLY wants to work with you, they’ll be willing to pay what you charge! So please don’t undervalue yourself and what you can offer brands.

Keep reading or learn how much to charge for a sponsored post on our YouTube Channel!

Brand Marketing Budgets

On a rare occasion you may come across a brand that simply doesn’t have the budget to pay you your unique rate for sponsored posts. Don’t despair! If they can’t afford your rates, that doesn’t mean all bets are off. Not a chance. You can always negotiate with the brand if you are just dying to work with them! Perhaps they can’t afford your rate for a sponsored blog post, but they may be able to swing a sponsored Instagram story… 

Everything is negotiable! Get creative and negotiate various factors like campaign deliverables, to make sure everyone benefits from a potential partnership. 

➞ Want to feel confident negotiating with brands? Learn easy brand negotiation strategies in our popular eCourses for influencers.

Influencer Rates: How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

With so many factors involved in brand campaigns it’s extremely important that you are very clear on what the brand’s expectations are before signing any contracts. Since there are many things to consider, you want to be sure that you’re pricing your rates fairly, but also being compensated fairly too!

Many influencers and bloggers agree that a handful of products in exchange for posts isn’t fair compensation, so please by all means politely tell the brand otherwise if you find yourself in this scenario! Best case, they’ll find room in their marketing budget to pay you! If they can’t afford your rate, perhaps they can offer you a YEAR’s worth of product, assuming you really (really) love it and would 100% use it! Get creative in your negotiations if, and only if, it’s a brand you’d love to partner with!

Sponsored Blog Post Rates: Things To Consider

From production costs to time constraints to the time of year, blogger and influencer rates for sponsored posts vary greatly, which is why we always recommend against setting rates that are set in stone! So, with that said, let’s chat about how much to charge for a sponsored post.

Given that each and every marketing campaign is unique to the brand and what they’re hoping to achieve, your rates are likely to never be the same! In fact, when surveyed, we discovered many influencers and bloggers increase their rates with each campaign until they reach a rate they are comfortable with, at which point they increase it each quarter thereafter.

How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

10 Important Questions You Need to Ask Yourself

The list below breaks down the following topics and includes the top 10 things to consider before setting any fees or sending over any rates to brands aka how much to charge for a sponsored post.

  • Sponsored Blog Posts Rates
  • Instagram Rate Per Post
  • How Much to Charge for an Instagram Post 
  • What to Charge Brands for Sponsored Posts
  • How Much to Charge for a Sponsored Post on Social Media
  • How Much to Charge for a Sponsored Blog Post
  • How Much to Charge for Social Media Posts

Production Costs

First things first, when deciding how much to charge for a sponsored post you need to think about your costs. Meaning, what are the upfront costs to you (the creator) in creating the post? Will you be traveling for the shoot, or hiring a professional photographer? Who will be editing the final images, and how much will that cost you? Will you need to shop for clothes, hire a stylist, get a blow out or bring on a makeup artist? These are all things to think about when brainstorming your production costs!

Time Constraints

What’s your editorial calendar look like? Do you truly have time for this campaign or do you already have multiple collaborations scheduled? 

Brand Deadlines

When does the brand want the campaign to go “Live”? Ideally a brand will provide your with plenty of time to prepare the campaign for publication, however there are exceptions to every rule

Do they need the deliverables next month, two (2) months from now or in three (3) weeks? As you can imagine, short deadlines will raise collaboration prices!

Time of Year

What season is it? If a brand is interested in partnering with you during the holidays, please be aware that they fully expect to pay influencers MUCH higher rates for holiday campaign, so you should consider increasing your rates accordingly! In fact, many brands double or triple their budgets for the holidays since this is the time of year they profit the most. Meaning, they’re often willing to maximize their spend on influencers in order to maximize their ROI (return on investment).

Extra Requests

Does the brand want just you in the campaign (ie. image), or do they want you and your partner, or you with your child? Many influencers charge more when brands want to feature them along with a relative or significant other! For example, it’s common for an influencer to charge extra if a brand asks to feature her and her toddler for a Mother’s Day campaign or her and her fiance for a Valentine’s Day campaign. In which case she can stash away the extra income in a savings account for her child or split the payment with her significant other.

Agent Fees

Are you represented by an Agent or Manager? If so, and they’re booking campaigns for you, brands expect to pay more for the creator and any other services the agency offers them, such as campaign tracking.

If you’re paying an agent a percentage of your bookings, or paying a manager a percentage of your yearly earnings as an influencer, then you can certainly charge higher rates.


Usage Rights

Due to legal complexities, we break down usage rights in this post in detail and suggest you always run any questions regarding your rights to content by a lawyer before signing brand contracts! In short, influencers and creators may charge significantly more if they sign contracts allowing the brand to reuse their content. 

Note: Occasionally influencers sign contracts without reviewing them and they lose their usage rights to brands. Again, if this term comes up in negotiations we highly suggest you run it by a lawyer prior to signing away your rights.

Exclusivity

Is the brand requesting exclusivity? If so you may charge them 3/4x your regular “rate”! As with usage rights, we recommend you run this by a lawyer before signing any contract since doing so will legally prevent you from partnering with the brand’s competitors for a period of time. As you can imagine, that could cause you to potentially lose out on future campaigns with other brands (and income)!

Campaign Complexity

How complex is the project? Will you need to purchase the brand’s products or pick them up? Or will they send them to you free of charge? What does the brand expect of you following the publication date? Brands understandably expect to pay influencers additional compensation if there are extra (logistical) matters involved in creating the campaign.

Compensation

Will the brand be paying you prior to publication date? Or, are they insisting on paying you net 30, 60 or 90 days after the campaign goes “live”? Many influencers “add-on” additional fees if the brand fails to pay them prior to the publish date or, worse makes “late payments”. 

Make sure everyone is clear how you’ll be compensated and that the details are included in your contract so you have a legal leg to stand on should the brand fail to follow through on payment!

How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

Influence

There’s a reason why some celebrities (athletes, etc.) retain more for brand campaigns than others, and that same wisdom applies to influencers! If you believe you are more influential than other influencers in your niche it may be in your interest to charge higher rates.

Brand Demands

Like influencers, brands also have reputations in this industry. Ask around! Is the brand known to be “difficult” to work with? What’s their reputation? If they’re known to be demanding or unreasonable, not many influencers will want to collaborate with them! Meaning, those who are willing to do so often charge them higher rates to accommodate the additional work (and stress) involved in meeting their unique needs and expectations. 

“My Rates Vary”

As you can see, we can’t possibly offer influencers or boggers specific advice as to “how much to charge for a sponsored post” since each influencer and brand partnership is significantly different! However, if you can determine a “base rate” that you’d like to meet for each partnership and then factor in the above-mentioned variables, you’ll likely find “pricing your rates” going forward much easier!

Not to mention, if a brand asks what rates you charge, you can reply that they vary depending on the campaign. Likewise, if they (for any reason) question the rate you finally propose you can easily communicate all that is involved in your pricing, making negotiations considerably easier.

How Much To Charge For a Sponsored Post

By now you should have a much better idea of how much to charge for a sponsored post! Next, learn the 25 “influencer marketing” terms all influencers and bloggers must know to negotiate with brands! To learn more tips about pricing your rates, including the pricing formula influencers swear by, consider enrolling in our eCourses.

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