How to price brand deals
Pricing a brand deal is two skills, not one: working out a number you can defend, and holding it in a negotiation. Most advice covers the first and skips the second — this covers both.
A practical guide to building a defensible rate and negotiating the deal, without a fabricated rate chart in sight.
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How do you price a brand deal?
In three steps: understand what drives the price (audience and engagement, content and production, usage rights, exclusivity, timeline), build a number from those factors rather than guessing, and present it as a breakdown you can negotiate on scope. The factors give you a defensible figure; the negotiation is where you hold it.
Understand what actually drives the price
Before you can name a number, you need to know what moves it. Pricing isn't a fixed rate you look up — it's built from your situation and the specific deal in front of you. Anyone quoting a universal "creators charge X" figure is guessing, and quoting a number you can't justify is the fastest way to lose a negotiation.
The factors below are the levers. Some are about you (your audience, your engagement), some about the work (content, production), and some about what the brand is really asking for (usage, exclusivity, timeline). For a deeper look at the factors, see creator rates.
What sets the number
Some are about you, some about the work, some about what the brand is really buying.
Audience & engagement
Reach sets the ballpark; engagement decides where in it you land. An audience that acts on your recommendations is worth more than a bigger passive one.
Content & production
The format and the effort to make it — a produced video costs more than a single Story. More pieces and more complexity move the number up.
Usage rights
The factor creators underprice most. Running your content as an ad for months is worth far more than one organic post. Understand usage.
Exclusivity
If the brand wants you off competitors for a period, you're pricing the deals you'll have to turn down.
Timeline
A rush that compresses your schedule or bumps other paid work justifies a premium.
Negotiation
The final number is set at the table too — inbound interest, competing offers, and how much the brand needs you all move it.
Build a number you can defend
With the factors in mind, build your price up in components rather than plucking a total from the air. Start with the base cost of creating the content, then add for usage if the brand wants to run it beyond your channels, add for exclusivity if they want you off competitors, and add a premium for a rush timeline. Adding them together gives you a total — and, crucially, a breakdown.
That breakdown is what makes the number defensible. When a brand asks "why this much?", you can point to the parts rather than defend a lump sum. The free rate calculator does this maths for you, and brand deal rates shows exactly how the components stack into a total.
Present it — and hold it
This is the part most pricing advice skips, and it's where the money is won or lost. Lead with the breakdown, not a single figure, so the conversation is about scope rather than "that's too expensive". If a brand pushes back, adjust what's included — fewer deliverables, less usage, drop the exclusivity — instead of simply discounting your work. You're trading scope for price, not giving your rate away.
A few things that help: ask the brand's budget before you quote, so you don't anchor yourself low. State your number and then be quiet — silence does a lot of work. And decide your floor before the conversation starts, so you can walk away from a deal that would cost you more than it pays. A rate you can't walk away from isn't a rate; it's a hope.
Finally, present it professionally. A clear quote or rate card signals that you do this seriously, which makes your number easier to accept.
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Pricing brand deals, answered
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