How much should I charge for my first brand deal?

Most creators don't underperform on their first deal. They undercharge — not because they were greedy, but because they had no benchmark and panicked. This guide gives you one.

Start with your tier's baseline

Public rate reports from Influencer Marketing Hub and InfluenceFlow converge on roughly the same bands for single-deliverable, organic-only posts. These are starting points, not ceilings.

Single-deliverable, organic-only rates by platform and follower tier.

Follower tier	TikTok (1 video)	Instagram Reel	YouTube integration
Nano (1K–10K)	$200–$1,000	$50–$300	$100–$500
Micro (10K–100K)	$1,000–$10,000	$250–$2,000	$500–$5,000
Mid (100K–500K)	$2,000–$20,000	$1,500–$7,500	$3,000–$15,000
Macro (500K–1M)	$5,000–$25,000	$5,000–$15,000	$10,000–$40,000

These ranges are wide on purpose. A 25K beauty creator with 8% engagement and U.S. audience is not priced the same as a 25K general-lifestyle creator with 2% engagement and mostly international followers.

Adjust for engagement

Engagement beats follower count almost every time. Brands know this even when they do not say it. Use a simple multiplier.

• Engagement above 8%: add 30–50% to the baseline.
• Engagement 4–8%: keep the baseline.
• Engagement below 3%: expect to land at the low end of the range (or justify with niche/audience quality).

For TikTok specifically, one widely cited formula is:

Rate = Average video views × Engagement rate × $0.10–$0.50

It's not scripture, but it's a useful sanity check. If your typical TikTok video gets 40,000 views at 7% engagement, that's $280–$1,400 — matching the micro-tier band above.

Adjust for scope

The baseline ranges above assume one deliverable, organic only. Real offers usually bundle more. Each add-on has a standard multiplier.

Common add-ons and approximate uplifts on top of base rate.

Add-on	Typical uplift
Usage rights — 3 months	+25–50%
Usage rights — 6 months	+50–75%
Usage rights — 12 months	+100%
Whitelisting / Spark or Partnership Ads	+25–30% per 30 days
Category exclusivity — 30 days	+50%
Category exclusivity — 90 days	+100%

If you remember one thing from this guide: the money is in the scope, not the deliverable. Creators lose more on un-priced usage rights than on base-rate haggling.

A worked example

You have 18K Instagram followers. Engagement is 6%. A mid-sized skincare brand offers $400 for 1 Reel + 3 Stories with six months of paid ads usage.

• Micro baseline for 1 Reel: ~$500 (midpoint of $250–$2,000, adjusted down because you are at the low end of the micro tier).
• Add 3 Stories: +$150 (roughly $50 each).
• 6 months paid ads usage: +50–75% on the base → +$325 to $488.

Defensible counter: $975–$1,138. You can land in the middle at $1,050 and still feel you left room to meet the brand.

The point is not the exact number. The point is that $400 for that scope is 60% below a normal rate — and you now have a reasoning chain to show why.

What to say when you send the counter

You don't need to be aggressive or legal-sounding. A manager-style counter does three things: acknowledges the offer, names the rate, and gives one-line reasoning.

"Thanks so much for the offer. For 1 Reel + 3 Stories with six months of paid ads usage, my rate for this scope is $1,050. Happy to move forward at that, or we can trim usage to 3 months to fit your budget."

That's it. No apology, no over-explaining. The optional scope-reduction line is important — it turns the conversation into a choice between two paths, both of which pay you fairly.

When to say yes at the offered rate

There are real reasons to accept a below-market first deal: you genuinely love the brand, the usage is narrow, the creative freedom is high, or a strong case study unlocks better deals in your target niche. Those are legitimate choices — as long as you make them on purpose, not out of anxiety. If your gut is "I'll take it before they change their mind," that's the anxiety talking.

Charging fairly on your first deal sets the anchor for every deal after it. Price the scope, show the reasoning, and let the brand decide.