How to get brand deals as an influencer

How do influencers get brand deals?

Influencers get brand deals in three ways: brands find them through a platform's creator marketplace, they pitch brands directly, or they list packages on an independent marketplace that handles payment. Most working creators use all three. Marketplaces bring inbound offers. Pitching is how you get the brands you actually want.

Offers also arrive by email and DM once your profile shows a business contact. Treat those like any other lead. Check that the sender's email domain matches the brand's website before you send rates or sign anything.

Fit matters more than follower count. A running-shoe brand would rather pay a 4,000-follower account that posts training logs than a 40,000-follower meme page whose audience will never buy shoes. If you are still building an audience, read how many followers you need to make money first.

Which creator marketplaces should you join?

Join the marketplace built into each platform you post on. None of the three lists a sign-up fee for creators in its help center, and each one puts your profile in front of advertisers already spending money on that platform. The requirements below come from each platform's help center in October 2026.

• TikTok One. You can sign up from TikTok Studio, then add starting rates, contact details, languages, and industries. TikTok's help center says project requirements vary and start at 1,000 followers. Every TikTok One project turns on the branded content disclosure automatically.
• YouTube Creator Partnerships. There is no separate application. If you qualify, a Creator Partnerships tab appears under Earn in YouTube Studio. YouTube's help page tells creators to settle payment terms with the advertiser or agency directly. See how much YouTube pays for the Partner Program requirements.
• Meta's creator marketplace. Meta's help center says it is open in every country where Meta ads run, except six listed countries and regions, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Brands message you directly, and those messages land in a separate Partnership folder in your Instagram inbox.
• Collabstr. You list fixed-price packages and brands buy them. The 15% commission is the cost of never chasing an invoice. If a brand finds you somewhere else, invoice it directly and keep that 15%.

How to pitch a brand

A good pitch is a short email to a named person that proposes one specific piece of content, proves your audience matches the brand's customers, and gives a price. Pitch brands you already mention on your channel first. You have the proof built in, and the brand's team may already know your name.

Find the person who runs influencer or creator marketing on LinkedIn, or use the partnerships or PR address on the brand's website. Generic support inboxes rarely forward pitches. Follow up once after a week, then move on.

• Subject line. Name the idea. "Marathon training series with your gels, 3 Reels in March" gets opened. "Collab opportunity" gets ignored.
• First line. Say why this brand, with something specific: you already use the product, or your audience keeps asking about it.
• The idea. One concept, the format, the platform, and the posting window.
• Proof. Two or three numbers from the last 90 days, such as average views per post, top audience country, and the share of followers in the brand's age range. Link your media kit.
• Price. A package price, or "packages start at $X". A pitch without a number invites a lowball reply or none at all.
• One easy question. End with something the reader can answer in a line, such as "Who handles creator partnerships for spring launches?"

What to put in a media kit

A media kit is a one- or two-page PDF or web page that tells a brand who your audience is, how your content performs, and what you sell. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.

Pull every number from native analytics. Expect a brand to ask for screenshots of Instagram Insights, TikTok Studio, or YouTube Studio, so the kit has to match them. Update it every quarter, and date it.

• Who you are and your niche, in one line.
• Handles and follower counts for each platform, with the date you pulled them.
• Average views and engagement rate per post over the last 30 or 90 days. Views tell a brand more than follower count does.
• Audience demographics from platform analytics: top countries, age ranges, and gender split.
• Past brand partners, with one result each if the brand allows you to share it.
• Packages and starting rates, or "rates on request" if you change them often.
• A business email address.

What to check in a brand deal contract

Before you sign, a brand deal contract should spell out the deliverables, the payment terms, the usage rights, any exclusivity, and how many rounds of revisions are included. If the brand sends only a DM with a fee, write these points into an email and ask them to confirm it in writing.

Usage rights are where most underpriced deals go wrong. The US Copyright Office says the person who creates a work is ordinarily its author and copyright owner. A commissioned video only becomes the brand's work made for hire if it fits one of nine categories in the Copyright Act and both sides sign a written agreement that says so. Watch for the phrases "work made for hire", "perpetual", "irrevocable", and "all media now known or later developed". Any of them can let a brand run your face in ads for years, so price it or strike it.

On Instagram, paid usage usually runs through partnership ads. You generate an ad code in the app, and Meta's help center says one code can be used by up to two partners at a time. Agree in writing how long the brand may run ads under your handle, and charge for that window.

Narrow exclusivity is a fair ask. "No other energy drinks for 30 days after posting" is normal. "No other beverage brands for 12 months" costs you every drinks deal for a year, and the fee has to cover that.

• Deliverables. Number and type of posts, length, platform, posting dates, and any required links, captions, or discount codes.
• Payment. Amount, currency, due date, and what triggers payment. "Net 30" means the brand has 30 days from your invoice to pay.
• Usage rights. Where the brand may reuse your content, for how long, and whether paid ads are included.
• Exclusivity. Which competitors you cannot work with, and for how long.
• Revisions and approval. How many rounds of changes are included and how long the brand has to approve a draft.
• Kill fee. What you are paid if the brand cancels after you have started work.
• Disclosure. The contract should require a clear ad label. See the FTC disclosure rules.

How and when do brands pay influencers?

When you get paid depends on who runs the deal: the platform, a marketplace, or the brand itself. Agree on the payment trigger and due date before you post, because once the content is live, the brand has no reason to hurry.

Platform programs pay on their own schedule. TikTok pays creators directly for TikTok One projects, and its help center says creators outside Europe and Canada can request a payout at any time. YouTube Creator Partnerships deals are paid by the brand.

Marketplaces hold the brand's money for you. Collabstr collects payment at checkout and releases it once the brand approves your content. Popular Pays, run by Lightricks, sends payment 30 days after a creator is marked complete. Its help center says direct deposit is free and PayPal deducts a service fee.

Direct deals pay on invoice. Ask a new brand for 50% up front and the rest when the content goes live. If it refuses any deposit on a first deal, push for net 15 or keep the deal small. Send the invoice the day you post, with the contract reference, links to each deliverable, the due date, and your payment details. Late fees only work if the contract mentions them.

Brand deal red flags

Walk away from any deal that asks you to pay money, overpays you by check, or wants you to hide that the post is an ad. Real brands pay creators. They do not charge them.

• You pay first. A "brand ambassador" offer that needs you to buy the product at full price or pay a sign-up fee is a sales funnel, not a deal.
• The overpayment check. The sender mails a check for more than your fee and asks you to send back the difference. The FTC warns that banks must make deposited funds available quickly, but a fake check can take weeks to be discovered, and you end up repaying the bank.
• Login requests. No brand needs your password. Legitimate access to your account goes through platform tools such as Meta's partnership ad codes.
• Perpetual, all-media usage for a one-post fee. That is an ad campaign priced as a post.
• Payment only on results. Commission-only offers move all the risk to you. Take them only if the product already sells to your audience. See affiliate marketing for influencers.
• No written terms. If the brand will not confirm deliverables and payment in writing, it will not honor them either.
• Skip the label. The FTC says a material connection to a brand has to be disclosed in the post itself. A brand that asks you to leave it out is asking you to carry the legal risk.