Negotiating

How to successfully negotiate with influencers has been a hot topic in the influencer marketing sphere, since there is no official “rate” for influencers or brands to use as a universal guide. Many brands (and influencers alike) find themselves puzzled in front of the many elements of influencer negotiation – How do I not overpay or underpay influencers? How do I avoid shooting too low or too high with my initial offer? How do I not turn influencers off with my offer and burn bridges?

Be Thorough With Your Research

When you are reaching out to an influencer with a collaboration proposal, it’s similar to extending a job offer. You want to make sure you’re partnering with the right influencer and offering them a great deal that they can’t resist. Even before the actual negotiation process begins, invest time into researching the influencer and their content.

Here are a few things your brand should check during influencer evaluation:

• Brand Fit
• Follower Count
• Engagement Rate
• Audience Demographics
• Content Quality
• Influencer Media Kit
• Rate Card

Some questions that can help your brand get through this process include:

What type of content do you want influencers to create for you?
Influencer compensation heavily depends on the type of content you want them to create for you. The pricing for different content like sponsored posts, Stories, and videos will vary.

What is the volume of content that you expect influencers to deliver?
The amount of content you expect influencers to deliver is an important factor in the negotiation process. If you are offering them bulk work or are looking for a long-term collaboration, your brand has the bargaining power. Influencers may be willing to lower their estimated post value for a steady inflow of work.

Which product are you promoting?
During the negotiation process, your product and industry are also crucial factors. The more expensive your product is, the higher your brand can expect the influencer compensation to be. Social media influencers are likely to charge a higher fee from a brand to promote products in the premium or luxury segments.

List Deliverables and KPIs in Your Proposal

When you’re reaching out to an influencer, list all of the influencer deliverables clearly in your proposal. The way you communicate with influencers during the negotiation process sets the tone for your relationship. Also, mention which metrics you will measure to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns. If you want influencers to work exclusively with you, you need to add terms of exclusivity. Adding these details will help you set the right expectations.

Include an Exit Strategy
An important part of negotiating with influencers is also defining how and when a deal should end. Include clauses that clarify how either of the involved parties can cancel the contract. Additionally, define how you may handle potential conflicts. Negotiate these terms clearly before you seal the deal.

Understand influencers’ costs
First, let’s step back into the bigger topic of influencer payment. In order to successfully negotiate with influencers, you’d need to understand what variables determine an influencers’ cost.

• Influencer size and engagement rate: Generally speaking, the larger the influencer and the higher their engagement rate, the higher the price.
• Influencer industry: In high-demand industries like fashion, beauty, or tech, influencers are constantly offered collaborations from brands, and can ask for a pricier fee.
• Influencer locations: Influencers in metropolitan areas like New York City, Los Angeles, or Dubai can ask for higher compensations.
• Campaign variables: The more involved your campaign is, the longer it takes, the more resources influencers have to put into, the higher the price.
• Other compensations: The value of the product they’ll receive, or comped flights, accommodations, etc. can count towards the total package.
• The relationship between the influencer and you: If they already worked with your brand before, most likely they will offer a lower price for continuous collaborations.
• Their schedule, time of the year: During busy times like the holiday season, influencers have a tighter schedule, more competitions from brands, etc., which can up their price.
• Influencers’ content value: Some influencers put less time in their content, and others invest more in equipment, education, or other resources. For this reason, they can determine their own content value.
• Other: Influencer’s social status (celebrities, reality stars, etc.), brands they have worked with and/or continue to work with, etc.

How to negotiate with influencers

Be the first to set an offer price.
If possible, always be the first to mention a price. This technique helps anchor the conversation around that number. However, you need to start at a reasonable price in order to attract influencers’ interests first.

Negotiate content vs. negotiate price.
If the influencer’s price is still higher than your original offer price, there are two ways to meet halfway: Negotiating for more content with the same price or lower the price for less content.

Use mixed-value offers.
Are you on a specific marketing budget that you can’t stretch? We have good news for you: Money isn’t everything. Especially in the influencer marketing world. At the very beginning of this article, we mentioned that there are no official rates for influencers, which means you can offer influencers a combination of payment and products, exclusive partnership status, or other perks that you can afford to provide.

Long-term collaboration.
Long-term relationships are beneficial in many ways, including being cost-effective in the long run. Influencers are more open to long-term collaborations as they offer a more consistent source of income. That also means that they can afford to lower their price for each collaboration.

Ask for the influencer’s opinion.
At the end of the day, influencer marketing is very much a people business. If you can’t match the influencer’s price range, that doesn’t mean an automatic “no” to your offer. Instead, ask what they are willing to do for your offer. Maybe you can’t get a Youtube video, but an Instagram story is a great compromise.

What not to do when negotiating?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a mutually beneficial relationship is the key to successful negotiation (and collaboration). Unfortunately, there are some very common negotiating no-no’s that prevent brands from building this relationship with influencers – and sometimes down-right turn an influencer off!

• The obvious: Being rude or pushy. The rule of thumb is that if you find yourself negotiating too much, then it’s better to walk away and find a better match for your budget. It’s better to thank the influencers and let them know you’ll keep them in mind for the future than to burn bridges!
• Compare prices: There is no use comparing one influencer’s price to another.  Especially now that you’ve seen how influencer prices vary depending on many different elements.  By telling influencers that other people charge less than they do, you’re essentially saying they are not worth their quoted price.
• Not having a clear direction and expectation: It’s hard for influencers to determine the best price for you if you don’t give them enough details about the collaboration. Make sure you check out how to construct an influencer brief and contract so that influencers understand all the requirements, goals, and expectations.

How to Message an Influencer: Tips for Outreach Emails

• If you don’t know their first name, stick to a more generic greeting. Use their name if it is available, but don’t use their username. Influencers want to know that you put in the effort to get to know their profile before reaching out. Nothing says “form letter” like saying “Hi @Username.” Better to use a generic greeting like “Hi there” than to risk them tuning out because you used an auto-filled username in your email.
• Keep your general email template customizable with dynamic fields. This will save a huge amount of work as you send out emails to your influencers. Design each email with quick customization in mind.

Before you work on your influencer marketing outreach strategy, it’s important to invest some time in research. To be successful at negotiation, it’s essential to be clear about your campaign deliverables. Clearly understanding your requirements and your deal-breakers set the stage for effective negotiation.

To reach out with a fair deal, you need to know what motivates influencers. Based on what their priorities are, you can leave some room for concessions.

Keep in mind that negotiation isn’t about having the last word. Instead, it’s about finding a middle path that works for both of the parties involved.