How to turn your gifted campaigns into paid ones!
When it comes to influencer marketing, most often, especially amongst micro influencers, brands reach out for gifted campaigns in exchange for content. That sounds great, but when you are spending time creating the content, possibly using a photographer and essentially working for them, you deserve to be paid!
So the question is, how do you go from gifted to paid?
The first thing to note is that brands do have a budget! They have a set budget available for influencer marketing, that’s you! So when a brand reaches out for a collaboration as gifted, your response should include the following:
“Please can you let me know your budget for this campaign.”
Easy. Don’t be fearful, because most often, if you don’t ask, you simply don’t get.
You may feel awkward at first, but you shouldn't! Be brave, and reap the rewards you deserve.
Still not sure what to say? Here are some ways to say, “Sorry, I’m not doing that for free.” as a content creator.
Ask for a budget
“Thank you so much for considering me. I think this would be a great fit for my audience! What’s the budget for this project?
No room for Product exchange collaborations.
“Thank you so much for sending this opportunity along. I’m not taking on any product exchange collaborations, but I would love to work something out that is mutually beneficial for your brand as well as myself and my audience! Here are my rates for the deliverables requested, please let me know if this works for you!”
Explain why you charge
“Thank you so much for this opportunity. I’m thrilled you love my work! As a content creator a dedicate a lot of my time to prepare, execute and edit in post production to provide unique and high quality content (for your brand). Something you can also notice about my social media page is a high engagement rate and the genuine bond I have with my audience. I’d be happy to find something that fits your budget. Typically I charge X for the deliverables requested. Let me know if this works for you!
Sometimes however, there are limited budgets available so you can always negotiate with them if their offer is significantly less than your usual fee. It is up to you what you choose to accept and this includes the type of content you produce.
So what happens if they don’t have an available budget at the time?
It is up to you what to accept and what not to accept. If it is your dream brand and they don’t have the budget at the time, you can decide if you want to accept it as a gifted campaign. Just remember that you can build the foundations for future collaborations, so don’t automatically say no to gifted. However, there is also a fine line with this as accepting too many gifted campaigns can also do harm, as you do not want a brand to know they can work with you for free!
Don’t be scared to say no. Because a brand can also come back to you at a later date with a paid campaign for you if they like you! You are on their radar for a reason!
So good luck and start reaping the rewards of your hard work!