The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Negotiation

We’ve covered what content to book for influencer partnerships across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty; how do you and a creator come to a (friendly and professional) agreement on a rate and what the deliverables are?

No matter whether you’re a seasoned influencer marketer or just starting out, negotiations play a central role in running programs and booking the best value content for your brand.

Whether it’s approaching influencers armed with the info you need to make a fair offer or avoiding budget blow-outs, negotiating with influencers is a fine art that’s going to determine the outcome of your program.

So, what are the key “dos” and “don’ts” when negotiating with influencers?

‍

The Do’s of negotiating with influencers:

‍

✅ DO know the numbers

"Have I looked at their engagement rate, their median views on their content, what other brands have they partnered with, those types of things?"

Mike Newton, Influencer Marketing Strategist.

Before you even start talking to an influencer, it pays to do your homework. Understanding a creator’s niche and the size of their following will provide a good indication of what is a fair deal.

There are cases where a creator may be in such a unique niche that it’s difficult to find another creator to compare them with. In this situation, having the influencer's metrics and past partnerships to hand will help you to assess their value and negotiate more effectively.

‍

✅ DO shop around for alternative creators

Remember: Your goal should ALWAYS be to find the best value creator, not the cheapest.

Setting your heart on working with a specific creator can put you on the back foot in negotiations. If you don’t have any alternative partners in reserve, it’s more likely that you’ll end up spending more than you’re comfortable with.

Shopping around for influencer partnerships is much easier when you know what size of creator is realistic to work with. As Kristen explains, you can immediately include/exclude creators based on criteria like follower counts when sourcing and vetting across different platforms:

“It's knowing that a 5k influencer, a 3k influencer - that's our bread and butter. Whereas someone who's 25k, we probably wouldn't work with them.”

Kristen Althoff, Senior Director of Influencers and Socials at Mary Ruth’s.

Our advice? Fill your top of funnel with as many creators as possible that align with your brand. This way, you have other options if you need to walk away from negotiations with one creator.

‍

✅ DO be reasonable with your initial offer

As in any business negotiation—not just influencer negotiations—you don’t want to show all your cards from the get-go. Identify a budget range that you would feel comfortable offering that particular influencer. This will empower you in those conversations, rather than leaving you with minimal wiggle room.

You NEVER want to lowball and insult a creator that you really want to work with. It’s important to find that sweet spot between starting low while still respecting an influencer’s profile.

Think about what your ideal offer would be i.e. the lowest fee that’s fair to offer a creator, and the highest fee you’re willing to pay. This will help to anchor the negotiation where you see fit, and you can let the conversation go from there.

“My first advice is never put everything that you have on the table.”

Bren Daniel, Associate Director of Partnerships at Caraway.

Don’t forget: This mindset applies not only to ambassadors and upfront paid partnerships, but to affiliates as well. As more brands invest in affiliate programs, competition to work with commission-only creators is heating up. As Sarah explains:

”I'm usually looking at a 15% to 20% commission rate for creators, just to stay competitive in all of those spaces. For example, on Amazon, the lowest you can get is 4% commission, but it goes up pretty high and a lot of creators are making 20% at this point. So, you want to remain competitive in those spaces if you're going to go off of Amazon.”

Sarah Crow, Head of Creator Success at Superfiliate.

‍

✅ DO Negotiate for long-term partnerships

Negotiations with influencers can wind up being super time-consuming - especially with larger influencers where talent agents are involved.

If you’re a small team or an influencer marketing team of one, negotiations take valuable time and attention away from other program initiatives. So, instead of always starting negotiations from scratch with a creator, try to negotiate for multiple deliverables over a longer period of time. As Lydia explains:

“Don't do one off posts. That's just a waste of everyone's time and money. Go for a minimum of three because it takes a while for you to build up rapport with that creator and that creator's audience.”

Lydia Lee, Chief Executive Officer at For The Clout

Not only is negotiating for long-term influencer partnerships more time-efficient; it provides an opportunity to negotiate for volume-based discounts and lock in a certain price to work with a creator (rates to work with successful influencers will only go in one direction; up!)

‍

✅  DO be Flexible and Creative

Flexibility is a key trait when negotiating with influencers, especially micro and nano creators. Offering some leeway is a great way to differentiate your brand from competitors that might overlook an influencer for not fitting into a certain bucket.

Information like niche and follower count provides a good indication of what you should negotiate for, but there’s always some nuance depending on the creator and their individual performance. As Amber puts it:

"If a creator has a really, really high video engagement, even if their following is lower, we might be able to adjust their rate based off of that."

Amber Kai, Head of Creator and Brand Partnerships at Sequincial.

Remember: negotiations don’t always have to be about money. You can get creative with the deliverables, usage rights, term level, and creative approaches—especially if this means you’re able to get the fee you’re gunning for.

‍

The Don’ts of negotiating with influencers

‍

❌ DON’T break your budget

It’s tempting to stretch things to secure a creator you really want to work with. But blowing your budget on a couple of creators is only going to hurt your program in the long run.

Not only does this mean you’ll have less influencer partnerships to leverage—you’ll have to rely very heavily those few you have to deliver. If they don’t, you may have a tough time justifying to your VP of Marketing why they should keep investing in your program (NOT a position you want to be in!)

“When I'm negotiating with influencers, the most critical piece of information that I need is the numbers that keep me safe from over investing. I call this my “aspiration point”and my “walk away” point.”

Mike Newton, Influencer Marketing Strategist.

As Mike outlines above, it’s really important to set clear benchmarks for negotiating with creators. The ‘aspiration point is the ideal amount you want to pay for working with a creator, while the ‘walk away’ point is where a partnership becomes too expensive to be viable. In most cases, what you pay ends up somewhere between those two points. But so long as you don’t break your budget, you’re still in good shape.

‍

❌ DON’T be unresponsive

Influencer marketers need to keep juggling a lot of balls in the air - but so do influencers! A creator’s calendar can fill up quickly, especially during peak holiday events, so staying on top of your inbox is crucial.

Ghosting a creator for days or even weeks at a time when you’re trying to book them sends a very mixed message. If you were a creator or a creator’s agent, would you prioritize your brand? Probably not!

This doesn’t just go for when you’re in the middle of negotiating a deal, but also when maintaining relationships more generally with creators and agents:

“I check in with all of my reps at least once a week or every two weeks, not just ask them about work but just things like: How is life going? What are you doing on the weekend? Those are the types of things that are going to do more for your business than anything else.”

Josh Butowsky, Founder at Influencer Response

Transparency is key here. If you’re having internal discussions at your brand around the scope of a campaign, tell the influencer. If you’re trying to understand where this campaign could fit into your budget (you guessed it!) tell the influencer.

The more open and honest you are, the most trustworthy you will be. It builds the relationship, which is the most crucial element of influencer marketing done well.

‍

❌ DON’T have a transactional mindset

Partnering with influencers is a business decision, but this doesn’t mean that creators shouldn’t be treated with respect.

Remember: Influencers are offering a service that is immensely valuable to your brand—there’s a reason why it doesn’t cost pennies on the dollar to work even with the smallest creators!

“Where brands go completely wrong is they view creators as their content is just like a commodity, and that's it. They won't take into account that the creator is actually a person; this is their job.”

Milan Freeman, Influencer Marketing Expert and Strategist.

Many brands have gotten burned working with influencers; but the reverse is also true. Hustling to set really aggressive KPIs or unrealistic timelines for deliverables is only going to backfire during negotiations.

“Be respectful. Just remember there's always another person on the other end of that conversation trying to do their job just like you are.”

Rebecca Beach, Influencer Marketing and Creator Relationship Manager at VERBfluence Agency

Remember that a good many creators have day jobs and family responsibilities. Otherwise, this risks making your brand look underprepared to work with influencers (or worse, just flat-out difficult to work with!)

‍

❌ DON’T ignore usage rights

It’s easy for discussions about whitelisting to fall out of negotiations, but usage rights should be baked into every deal you make with an influencer.

Always be upfront about usage rights right from the very beginning of negotiations. Do not slide usage rights into your agreement and hope the influence won’t notice (trust us, they will!) Not only does this avoid you having to go back and to try and negotiate usage rights after the fact. As Amber outlines here, negotiating for whitelisting is a great way to manage the price of deliverables:

"If you need usage rights in perpetuity, you need to put that up front because most people are not going to want to willingly give that away—unless you've got a million dollar price tag on it."

Amber Kai, Head of Creator and Brand Partnerships at Sequincial.

So, if a creator is pushing for a higher-than-expected rate, countering with a long window for whitelisting (90 days or longer) is a great way to push that fee down. Alternatively, you get a longer window to test that content in ads, which is immensely valuable to your paid team.

Influencer negotiations are not an easy part of the job. It takes practice to approach negotiations confidence and not take rejections personally (it’s business, after all!) The most important thing is building a structure for yourself so that you know what your brand can commit to and the results you can expect from partnering with a particular creator. This way, it’s not up to the spur of the moment for you

There are going to be times where you need to walk away from a partnership with an influencer, whether that’s due to their rate, whitelisting rights, or simply scheduling conflicts—and that’s completely ok. In fact, being willing to walk is one of the strongest negotiation “levers” or tactics that you can arm yourself with as an influencer marketer.

The other negotiation levers we recommend? You can find those in the next chapter!

‍

What are the key metrics to consider when negotiating with influencers?

Metrics help influencer marketers to evaluate an influencer's potential value to your campaign or program, so you have a better understanding on what to negotiate for. Engagement rate, median views, and follower count are important metrics to gauge a creator’s skill and community building capabilities. Cost Per Mille (CPM) also allows you to compare costs across different influencers, providing a standard measure of the cost-effectiveness for partnerships. However, you also need to go beyond pure numbers to include factors like content quality, brand alignment, and past brand partnerships, which can indicate an influencer's experience and reliability.

‍

How can I negotiate long-term partnerships with influencers?

Negotiating long-term partnerships with influencers are game-changer for your marketing strategy, offering consistency and cost efficiency. Negotiating volume discounts in exchange for booking for more content not only reduces the cost per post, but also ensures a more sustained presence in the influencer's feed. If your budget cannot stretch to book so much content, consider ways you can offer value beyond monetary compensation. Exclusive access to products or events, opportunities for professional growth, or mentorship shows that your brand is genuinely invested in this partnership and wants a creator to succeed, which increases the likelihood of working together longer term.

‍

What should I avoid during influencer negotiations to stay within budget?

Never lead with your best offer during negotiations with creators. Instead, start with a lower offer that gives you room to negotiate and potentially land at a favorable price point. It’s a good idea to set a clear "walk-away point" to pass on working with an creator and avoid going over budget. Keeping notes on past deals your brand has been involved in will help you to identify what is reasonable to spend on influencers with different engagement rates, followings, niches, etc. Consider adjusting the deliverables you’re asking for, if an influencer's rate is above your budget.

‍

How can I build strong relationships with influencers during negotiations?

During negotiations, you should show genuine interest in the influencer as a person and a professional, not just the service they’re offering. Treat creators as you would any other vendor that your brand is working with—with respect and courtesy. Be transparent and share what your brand is wanting to achieve through a partnership, so creators can understand your mission and how they can contribute to achieving it. Being responsive in communications also shows respect for their time and skillset, and underlines your commitment to working with them.

‍

Is it important to discuss usage rights during influencer negotiations?

Discussing usage rights is crucial to avoid misunderstandings or disputes with influencers further down the line. Usage rights for creator content in your brand’s paid media efforts can significantly impact the cost and value of a partnership for both parties, so you need to outline exactly what type of usage your brand is negotiating for and understand how this impacts the total cost of a partnership. Be prepared to explain to a creator why you need certain usage rights, as this can help influencers understand the value proposition from your perspective.However, be aware that extensive usage rights (60-90 days) can affect an influencer's willingness to enter into a partnership.

‍