You’ve created your media kit, but what else do you need to secure a brand collaboration? You need to know how to create a rate card as an influencer.
Marketing yourself with a media kit is one thing, but what happens when you get a brand interested in partnering with you?
They’ll want to know how much it costs to do so and what their options are for collaborations.
So, having a rate card ready is a good idea.
But coming up with a rate card is one of the hardest things to do as a blogger or influencer.
This is especially true if you have just started a blog or a social media account and are in the process of growing it.
What is your worth?
That’s the hardest part of the process of creating a rate card for your media kit.
This post is all about creating one that will get you started with monetizing with brand collaborations and sponsored posts.
Let’s get started!
DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on a product or service, and decide to purchase it, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All recommended products and services are based on my positive experience with them. For more information, please read my Disclaimer.
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How To Create A Rate Card As An Influencer: 5 Steps
Before you start sending your media kit to brands or PR reps, it’s important you have your rate card ready.
I’ll take you through an exercise that will help you determine your rate card.
Pricing things right is the biggest concern for many new bloggers and influencers.
If you’re a super micro-influencer (under 1000 followers), you may feel like it’s a pointless activity.
This is farthest from the truth! I’ll give you a few reasons why and how you can most definitely start making money – even if it’s a little bit at first.
Let’s start with the key questions and considerations first.
1. How Long Have You Been Blogging/Been An Influencer?
This first step for how to create a rate card as an influencer is quite easy.
You have to be a bit realistic when you are creating a rate card.
How long have you been blogging? How many blog posts have you published?
The same question applies to Instagram or TikTok influencers. Are you a newbie?
As a new blogger or influencer, your audience is most likely small. Does this mean you should not create a rate card and only expect free products?
No… you can still create a rate card!
There are brands that may be interested in your specific niche and audience.
2. Is Your Content Engaging And Generating Impressions?
Whether you are a blogger producing blog posts or a social media influencer, your content needs to be generating traffic.
If your site has no audience, and your posts on Instagram are getting no likes, it’s going to be very difficult to convince a brand to spend money on your site.
So if you’re just starting out, your rates are going to be much lower.
If your blog is generating more than 10,000 pageviews a month or your social media account is producing high engagement rates, you have more leverage to ask for more.
Use An Engagement Calculator
Even if you’re a blogger, a brand is going to want to know what your social media engagement is like.
If you’re doing a sponsored product review, they may as well sponsor a social media post on your account as well.
The best way to find out your average engagement rate is to use a calculator.
I like the Phalanx engagement rate calculator for Instagram.
3. What Are Your Competitors Charging?
Do your research when creating a rate card.
Find out what other bloggers and social media influencers are charging for similar kinds of work.
You can do this by asking in Facebook groups and searching out information via their sites and Google articles.
Get a general idea of what others are charging for sponsored posts, product mentions, social media posts and more.
| RELATED: How To Write An Affiliate Product Review That Generates Commissions
4. Consider Your Niche And Audience
Know your worth!
This next tip for how to create a rate card as an influencer is important. It helps you understand what to charge for various collaboration opportunities.
How niche is your blog niche? The next step to creating your rate card is to determine how important it will be for a brand to reach your specific audience.
Consider this:
A general lifestyle blogger with a broad audience versus a woman whisky blogger with a smaller audience of whisky-loving women.
And the brand is Canadian Club whisky.
Who would be a better match for a launch of an exclusive aged Canadian club whisky?
Of course, the whisky blogger.
At the end of the day, whisky-loving women readers are more likely to purchase the product.
Remember that the goal of a brand is to sell products and make profits. There is a great return on investment if they partner with the whisky blogger than with a general lifestyle blogger.
This is why you don’t always need a huge audience if you have a niche blog.
| RELATED: Tips For Choosing A Profitable Blog Niche
5. Build Your Rate Card
You’re ready to build your rate card.
This is what you should now know that will make it easier to create a rate card:
- You’ve considered how long you’ve been blogging/posting as an influencer.
- Your content is getting traffic and is engaging
- You have an idea of what your competitors are charging
- You know your worth and how important you are to brands who want to reach your audience
Now you’re ready to create your rate card.
You can do this in Google Docs, or with a design platform such as Canva or Pixlr.
To build your rate card, include the following elements:
- Your name
- Your blog/social media account URL
- Your email address
- A list of your collaboration opportunities with the associated rates
Build your rate card to look similar in style to your media kit and save it as a PDF.
For the rates listed with collaboration opportunities, I always like to write “starting at…” as this gives room for negotiation.
Privately you need to have a breakdown of what individual add-ons to the base opportunity would be.
So for example, if you have “product review post” as an option, always consider what a “product review post plus 3 social media posts on Instagram” would cost. You would know that each social media post would cost $X.
Here’s what mine looks like design-wise:
What Should Sponsored Blog Posts Cost?
Even as a new blogger, if you get a sponsored post opportunity with a brand, you should charge them no less than USD $250.
Consider what you need to do to write a 700-word blog post on a specific subject.
- Research
- Drafting an outline
- Writing the post
- Editing the post
- Pulling together the visuals
- Formatting
- SEO – keywords and interlinking
- Promotion after publishing
That’s a whole lot of work and hours required to do things right.
What about social media influencers?
If you have under 10,000 followers, $50 is a good place to start for an Instagram post. Videos take longer to put together and edit. So perhaps you will charge a minimum of $100.
If you’re a niche influencer with a very small, specialized niche you can always ask for more.
When To Send Your Rate Card
The best time to send your rate card is after you’ve sent your media kit and caught the interest of a brand or PR rep.
They will want to know what collaboration opportunities you’re proposing will best work with their budget.
Send it as a PDF and make sure the file is small in size.
Negotiate With Brands And PR Reps
Once you’ve pitched the brand or PR rep and sent your rate card, you will inevitably hear two things:
- A proposed list of activities that need to be itemized and quoted by you
- A response that your rates do not fit their budget.
Negotiate and see how you can work with them within their budget.
With new brand collaboration opportunities, you can provide a one-time “introductory rate”.
Put It In Writing And Get A Signed Agreement
Once everything is confirmed, I recommend you do two things:
- Develop a scope of work with all promised activities itemized as well as dates for delivery
- Send a sponsored post agreement to the brand for their signature
This second one is extremely important.
Do not do any work without having the sponsored post contract signed by the brand or PR rep.
This protects you legally and financially.
You want to get paid, right?
If there’s no signed agreement, there’s no work on your end, even if product samples have already been sent to you.
Update Your Rate Card Regularly
As your blog stats, email newsletter subscribers and social media channels grow, revisit your rate card and update it.
You may want to do this quarterly to ensure that you aren’t limiting your income opportunities from brand collaborations.
Get Started Making Money With Sponsored Collaborations
Now you have all the key steps to create a rate card for your media kit and tips on how to use it to secure brand collaborations.
It’s a great way to make money blogging – so try pitching brands that you love.
Before you go, get my free email template for pitching brands.
QUESTION: What’s your greatest challenge in creating a rate card?
