As a full-time cookie artist & content creator that occasionally does brand partnerships, I often get asked: what is a brand partnership?
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in this department, but I’ve done enough brand partnerships to give you an idea of what they are and what to expect.
Click here for Blueland partnership video.
What is a brand partnership?
Generally speaking, a brand partnership is when a brand works with a creator/influencer to create content specifically for the brand. This is typically in the form of photos or videos (posted on the feed and/or stories), etc. The brand pays the creator for the rights to be able to use the content created and the creator agrees to whatever parameters the brand might have on the creative, caption, branding, voiceover, posting timeline, etc.
Most partnerships are one-offs, but others can be longer-term contracts with multiple engagements. Partnerships are sometimes with just one creator for that campaign, or they might be working with a whole list of creators for that campaign (just depends on the size of the brand and the budget). Brand partnerships are usually made to be posted on Instagram or TikTok, but there are certainly deals for YouTube, Snapchat, among other social media platforms.
Click here for Crocs partnership video.
Why do a brand partnership?
Brand partnerships are beneficial for both the brand and the creator. Brands choose to do partnerships for a few reasons, including the ability to diversify their content without having to hire in-house staff and
On the creator side, it’s not only a great way to make money, but it can also increase your audience with greater exposure from the brand. Many successful creators these days are making it big because of large-scale brand partnerships. And if you’re relying mostly just on getting paid per view on platforms, a paycheck for a single video can feel like a much better use of your time!
Click here for the Ghostsmas (CBS) partnership video.
What’s the difference between branded content and UGC?
Brand content is commissioned by the brand to be posted on the creator’s account (and also, potentially, on the brand’s account as well). This typically pays more as the brand is not just paying for your skill, but also for your following/engagement of your audience.
UGC (aka User Generated Content) is when a brand pays a creator to create content for the brand that is only posted on the brand’s pages. This typically pays a lot less since the brand is just paying for the content and not the reach of the influencer/creator.
How much do they pay?
Pricing for brand partnerships is probably the hardest part because there is no real industry standard since it’s still a relatively new industry. Here’s a post with a great place to start on pricing.
Brand partnerships can either pay you a lump sum for the delivery of the product or a fee based on the performance of the video. The former is what I only target these days, as the latter tends to be much larger campaigns that pay a lot less.
While the linked post above goes based off of number of followers, I think engagement rate is just as important. Engagement rate takes into account views/likes/comments vs. overall number of followers. In other words, someone with 1 million followers could be just getting 10,000 views per video. Often, the smaller influencers (less than 100,000 followers) tend to have much higher engagement rates than mid-tier/marco/mega influencers.
The flip side to the fee conversation is the size of the brand. In other words, a major household brand is going to have a much larger budget than the small business down the street. I do keep this in mind when negotiating with brands, but I do know that at this point in my career, a smaller brand just doesn’t have the budget to pay my rates (which is OK for me!).
You also want to keep in mind what time of year you’re striking this deal. Brands typically work on the calendar year/quarter schedule, where they’re going to have the most money to spend at the end of the quarter (March, June, September, and December) and generally speaking in Quarter 4 (October to December). Typically, if brands don’t spend their advertising budget by the end of the year, they lose it, so they’re more likely to spend more on partnerships they squeeze in at the end of the year. With this model, I will always feel more confident asking for more money in Q4. And if it’s a last-minute (within 1-2 weeks) request in Q4, I will ask for even more 😉
At the end of the day… know your worth and what’s valuable to you! If you’re just starting out and trying to make a name for yourself with brands, this may be the time to start off with lower rates to just get your foot in the door.
For me, at this point, since brand partnerships are such a small portion of my overall revenue, it’s more of a value-based judgment call for me: how much is it worth it for me to step away from my other revenue sources to devote time to this partnership? In other words, my rate is based more on the value of my time than a direct correlation to my followers/engagement rate (although it does help that those are pretty good for me!).
And remember… you can always negotiate! When I give a brand my rate, I will typically give them a slightly higher rate anticipating that they may want to negotiate (knowing that I’d still be happy with something slightly lower). I will typically only go with my bare minimum rate if it’s a brand or a type of partnership I really want to include in my portfolio.
Sometimes, they can also include some an affiliate arrangement where the creator is given a discount code to share with their followers, and any purchases made with that code give the creator a kickback on the sale. While this can happen, it’s not that common (especially depending on the niche).
Click here for the Kelly & Ryan partnership video.
How do you find brand partnerships?
Generally speaking, you can either seek brand partnerships out or have them come to you.
When it comes to seeking them out, you can either do it on your own or have representation (like a manager) that reaches out to brands for you. I don’t do enough partnerships to warrant representation (they will always take a cut), so I just operate on my own. In the past, when I was more actively seeking partnerships, I would make sure to tag my favorite brands in Instagram stories and if I was lucky enough to start a conversation via DM, I would ask for the email of the personal responsible for brand partnerships so that I could send them my pitch directly.
These days, I allow brands to come to me. Brand partnerships are a very small portion of my income (and I’d like to keep it that way), so I don’t seek out partnerships anymore. I make sure to have my customer service email easily accessible on my Instagram and TikTok pages so that brands can email me directly. Because, yes, brands do go searching for profiles that they want to work with! For me, this has always resulted in the brands best aligned with my values and ones that tend to have higher budgets. Sometimes, for the larger brands, a PR agency will reach out on behalf of the brand.
What kinds of brands do partnerships?
All types and sizes of brands! Everything from the huge brands everyone has heard of to the lesser-known brands like local small businesses. You may get asked to do the exact same type/scope of video by these brands, but the biggest difference is usually the budget they have to offer.
Click here for the Paige’s Candle Co partnership video.
Do you pick and choose which brands to work with? Or do you always say yes?
At the beginning of my business, I said yes to just about any brand that was legitimate and I felt aligned with. Now, I am much pickier about the brands I work with and the projects I agree to.
On the brand side, I want to make sure that my own values and the values of my brand align with the brand that wants to hire me. Their brand/product is going to live on my page, so I want it to feel authentic to my content. It’s also important that they’re asking me to do a type of video that is consistent with the content I already offer.
My other consideration is my time: as I’ve mentioned, brand partnerships are a very small portion of my revenue. In fact, I didn’t do a single partnership in 2024. While partnerships are not a focus, I do welcome those that align. When considering a new partnership, I first confirm if they can agree to my fee. Second, I consider whether or not I want to devote the time to this project (because to do a partnership, I have to choose to take that time away from one of my other revenue streams).
How much creative freedom do you have?
This all depends on the brand and scope of project! While not always the case, I find that the bigger brands typically give you more creative freedom than the smaller brands. For me, I typically agree to projects where they ask me to create a cookie decorating video featuring a specific product in cookie form–the actual execution of the decorating/editing is completely up to me and consistent with my style. I will write the voiceover and captions myself, while the brand will review and revise as needed. I do send the final video to the brand for edits, and so far (knock on wood) I’ve never had to completely redo a video (just make small tweaks in editing).
Click here for the Eddie partnership video.
What’s a reason to say no to a partnership?
There are a few reasons you might want to say no to a partnership:
- Timeline is too tight
- Fee is too low
- Brand’s values do not match your own
- Do not feel excited by the creative direction
- They’re asking you to do something that doesn’t feel aligned with your brand
- Terms in the contract (i.e. maybe they want use in perpetuity but you only want to grant 3 years, etc.)
- Payment terms: i.e. if you make the video and deliver it, but it never ends up getting posted, will you still get paid? (this has happened to me once)
What does the timeline look like for executing a brand partnership?
This all depends on the particular project! Typically, I agree to a partnership 2-4 weeks before the video is due. Once I deliver the video, the brand typically needs 1-5 business days to review for edits. And then the video is usually posted within 1 week of delivery.
Of course, this timeline all works backwards from the agreed up on posting date. Sometimes, if the brand is delayed in their edits or change their mind on creative, they may need to push back the posting date.
What kind of terms do you agree to? What does the contract look like?
When reviewing my contract, these are the terms I pay most attention to:
- Payment timeline: Most contracts are paid out 30-90 days after the completion of the product.
- Payment amount
- Deliverables (make sure this aligns with what was discussed via email)
- Rights (as the creator I want to maintain the copyright of the video, however, I am licensing the brand the right to use the video)
- Length of use of video (often in perpetuity or a limited length like 1-3 years)
Please note this is *not* a comprehensive list of terms to consider, just the most important ones that are top of mind for me!
Click here for the Michael’s partnership video.
How often do you do brand partnerships?
Quite sparingly! In 2024 I didn’t do any partnerships. Whereas, in 2023, partnerships probably accounted for 10% of my revenue. This is just because of my business model (most of my income comes from class sales, quite distantly followed by ad sales revenue from TikTok, YouTube, and my blog).
For many influencers, brand partnerships could be 75%+ of their income. For me, that’s a model I never wanted to have because I find the ebbs and flows of partnerships to be unpredictable (at least in the cookie decorating space).
What is considered a “successful” partnership?
The actual posting day of a partnership is always quite stressful. You always hope to generate similar engagement (views, comments, likes, etc.) as your usual content, but, that’s often not the case with branded content (aka ads).
Given that, it’s often expected and understood by all parties involved that your numbers for their ad is probably not going to be as good as what you usually pull. That’s expected! It’s an ad.
For me, I’m just looking for my video not the “tank” in the context of my usual numbers. As long as it’s in a respectable range, I’m happy! Granted, I’ve had a few videos do incredibly well, so I’m grateful to not have to worry about this too much!
But to answer the burning question you might have: I’ve never had a brand refuse to pay because the performance of the video wasn’t what they wanted. In fact, I’ve never seen specific analytics as a requirement for payment on a typical brand partnership (which are flat-rate fees). Other lower rate partnerships may pay based on engagement.
