This is part four of a nine part series for creators who want to improve their hand when negotiating brand partnerships. If you tuned in for part one, Exclusivity & Monetizing Opportunity Cost, part two, Demystifying Content Boosting, Licensing (Whitelisting), & more, and part three, Content Licensing & Usage, free to skip the intro and dive right in.
The saying knowledge is power holds true for every profession and industry. Any power disparity in professional partnerships can and will be exploited to the detriment of the party with lesser knowledge.
Having worked with social content creators for the past 5 years, I have seen this dynamic on full display. Influencers who negotiate for themselves unknowingly make concessions and leave huge amounts of revenue on the table.
On the other hand, creators who put this knowledge into practice thrive. The secret to their success isn’t working harder. It doesn’t require more followers or producing more content.
It’s quite simple: as a creator, if you want to earn more income from brand partnerships, you need to negotiate from a position of strength, with a full understanding of the meaning, implications, and value of specific conditions of your contracts.
You do not need a lawyer or a talent agent to utilize the knowledge any of these terms. However, if you are not aware of them, you are likely earning less than half of what you could be as a creator.
After reviewing thousands of brand partnership contracts for creators and spent time on both sides of the negotiation table, I’d like to share a guide to the secrets that have enabled creators to double their brand partnership earnings almost overnight.
In part IV of this guide, we’ll focus on how to ensure that your work and time are compensated for adequately by charging for re-shoots and rushed production timelines.
Time’s-a-wastin’, so let’s get started!
Disclaimer: the following is not legal advice, nor should it be used to replace the guidance of certified legal, tax, or accounting professionals.
Estimated increase to contract value: +10–40%
What it means:
When you create content that isn’t what your client had hoped for, they will request a revision or re-shoot.
Most contracts have ambiguous terms around necessary content revisions. This can lead to endless rounds of revisions, which are not only annoying but also a drain on your already-limited time.
Why it’s important:
YIt’s important that your content meets and exceeds your client’s’ expectations, but to protect your business and your time, the amount of revision requests your client can make must be clearly defined.
How to negotiate it:
If there is any ambiguity in your contract around how many revisions your client is entitled to, you must request clarification. It is standard practice to include a single round of revision for each piece of content you create, but anything beyond that should be subject to an additional fee.
For each additional revision outside of what is included, I recommend charging anywhere from 10% — 40% of your rate for a single deliverable. The more time-consuming the revision is, the higher your fee should be. For example, if you need to re-shoot a 60- second video, your fee should be much higher than if the client requests a slight edit to the content you have already shot.
Regardless of any additional fees you may collect, it’s still more advantageous to use your time to produce content to client expectations the first time. Revision/re-shoot fees are there to help ensure your client isn’t taking advantage of your time and effort. The best clients will understand this and have no problem agreeing to additional fees for re-shoots.
Estimated increase to contract value: +20–50%
What it means:
Every creator has encountered a client who needs an ASAP turnaround on a deal. As with Content Revision fees, Rushed Production Fees are another way to help ensure your time is respected and protected, but these terms are rarely included in most creator contracts.
Why it’s important:
Accelerating a client deliverable into your content calendar, especially during busy seasons can adversely affect other client priorities and may cause undue stress. Agreeing to rush a piece of content through production to meet an immediate client deadline is another opportunity to make sure you are adequately compensated.
How to negotiate it:
Set a standard production timeline to set expectations with your clients (example: I require a minimum of 5 business days to produce each piece of content). If a client requests an acceleration of that timeline, communicate that any content requiring faster turnaround will be subject to an additional fee.
Depending on the complexity of production, the timeframe you are working with, and conflicting client priorities, you can expect to charge a 20–50% premium on each deliverable. Make sure your standard production timeline and the fee charged for any shorter-term exception to that are specified in your contract.
Remember, your client is under no obligation to respect or abide by anything not explicitly stated in your contract. “Verbal agreement” will not suffice.
