The first number you send a brand becomes the anchor for everything that follows. Quote low once and that rate travels: the brand remembers it, the next brand hears it through the grapevine, and you spend a year climbing back to where you should have started. A rate card fixes this. It turns "what do I charge?" into a calm, repeatable answer.
A rate card is not a public price list. It is your own internal map of what each thing costs, so when a brief lands you can build a quote in five minutes instead of panicking and undercharging.
3 layers
content fee + usage + exclusivity
price each one separately
25–100%+
usage uplift on the base fee
scaled by scope and term
1 floor
rate below which you never work
set it before the brief lands
50%
deposit common on larger first deals
protects you on non-payment
Representative creator-rate benchmarks (Influencer Marketing Hub, Aspire, HypeAuditor). Directional, not exact — your niche and engagement move these a lot.
Build the rate card in three layers
Every quote is the sum of three separate questions. Keep them separate on purpose: bundling is exactly how brands get usage and exclusivity for free.
- Content fee: what it costs to produce and post the deliverable on your own channel for your own audience.
- Usage: what the brand pays to run that content beyond your organic post — paid ads, their channels, their website, email.
- Exclusivity: what the brand pays to stop you working with competitors for a defined window.
Set a floor and never break it
A rate floor is the number below which you do not work, no matter how exciting the brand. It exists because every negotiation opens with a lowball, and without a floor you negotiate against yourself. Decide it cold, before any specific deal makes you emotional about it.
- Set the floor by what your time and audience are worth, not by what a brand offers.
- A floor protects against the slow erosion of "just this once" discounts.
- You can give value (a bonus story, a longer caption) without dropping below your floor.
- Walking from a sub-floor deal is cheaper than the year of low rates it would anchor.
Underpricing vs a rate card that holds
Underpricing vs a rate card that holds
Guessing the number
You quote a single bundled figure and hope. Brands extract the rest for free.
- One blended price, so usage and exclusivity ride along unpaid.
- No floor — every lowball drags your rate down.
- You re-decide your price from scratch on every brief.
- Scope creep has no cost, because nothing was itemised.
- Your first low quote becomes your ceiling for a year.
A rate card that holds
You quote itemised lines from a card you set in advance. Each ask has a price.
- Content, usage and exclusivity are separate, priced lines.
- A floor you never break, decided before the deal.
- A repeatable quote you can send in five minutes.
- Extra asks map to extra lines, so scope creep gets billed.
- A defensible number you can explain and hold under pushback.
What to charge by deliverable
The table below is a starting frame, not a price list — your niche, engagement and audience quality move every number. Treat it as the shape of a quote, then anchor the actual figures with your own reach.
| Deliverable | What to charge (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Single in-feed post / static | Base content fee, anchored to your reach and engagement. |
| Short-form video (Reel / TikTok) | Higher than a static — production time and watch-through carry more value. |
| Story set (3–5 frames) | A fraction of a post fee; price the set, not per frame. |
| Bundle (e.g. 1 Reel + 3 stories) | Sum the lines, then a small bundle adjustment — never a deep discount. |
| Paid-ad usage / whitelisting | A separate line: 25–100%+ uplift, scaled by channels, territory and term. |
| Category exclusivity | A separate fee, sized to how much future income it blocks and for how long. |
Score your rate before you send it
Run your draft number through this scorecard before it leaves your outbox. Each row is a check on whether the quote is actually defensible — if you cannot tick the "what good looks like" column, that is the line to fix first.
| Pricing factor | Underpriced quote | What good looks like | Fix it by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base fee | A round number you guessed | Anchored to your reach and engagement | Run the rate calculator before quoting |
| Usage | Bundled into the post fee | A separate line, capped by channel and term | Quote content first, usage as a second line |
| Exclusivity | Given away unpriced | A fee sized to the income it blocks | Only include it when the brand asks, and price it |
| Floor | Negotiable when pushed | A number you never go below | Decide it cold, before the brief lands |
| Scope creep | Free extra asks | New asks map to new priced lines | Itemise so every addition has a cost |
A worked pricing example
Numbers below are an illustrative worked example to show the shape of the math, not a price list. Substitute your own anchored base fee — the ratios are the point, not the absolute figures.
×1.0
base content fee
one Reel, organic, your channel
+50%
paid usage line
one channel, 3-month term
+30%
category exclusivity
60 days, one tight category
×1.8
total of the quote
base + usage + exclusivity combined
Illustrative worked example. Assumptions stated in the Methodology note below; substitute your own anchored base fee.
How to send the quote
- Confirm the full scope first: deliverables, where it runs, how long, and any exclusivity. Never quote a half-defined brief.
- Itemise the lines so the brand sees what each thing costs and what it would cost to add more.
- Send one confident number for the agreed scope — no apology, no hedging, no "but I'm flexible".
- Hold your floor. If they cannot meet it, offer less scope, not a lower rate.
What to do now, next and later
| Horizon | The action | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Now | Anchor a base fee with the rate calculator and write down a floor | A number you can defend on the next brief |
| Next | Build the three-line rate card: content, usage, exclusivity | A quote you can send in five minutes, itemised |
| Later | Track which brands renew and raise your floor each year | Compounding rates with the partners worth keeping |
“Your first quote is not just a price for one deal. It is the floor every brand after it negotiates up from.”
Before you send the number, run the brand: a great rate from a brand that pays late is still a loss. Check its reliability profile, then quote with confidence.