3 Questions You Should Ask Before Signing A Brand Partnership Contract
Hi change-makers,
Disclosure: I’ll start this off by saying I am not an attorney and my recommendations should be taken at your own risk. If you want legal advice from an attorney, I am happy to provide you with my personal recommendations. If you want advice based on my personal experience working in influencer marketing, I’ve got you covered below.
After working in the corporate PR world for a few years, I learned that it’s important for diverse content creators to pay close attention to the contractual partnership agreements they’re signing. From my personal experience working in influencer marketing, I can confirm that diverse content creators tend to ask for less money when it comes to collaborating with brands. Why is that? It’s possible that some creators don’t have guidance on how much their rates should be. If you’re navigating the world of influencer marketing without a manager, it’s possible that having conversations around your rates could be intimidating and it’s sometimes difficult to advocate for yourself.
I’ve gathered important questions you should be asking before signing a brand partnership contract:
What is the Scope of Work (SOW) for this project?
The Scope of Work (SOW) basically refers to the exact deliverables the brand is requesting from you. It’s very important that you review the SOW closely before sending over your rates for compensation. When responding to the brand’s request, you should feel comfortable asking for the amount of money you deserve, according to the content that is required of you. Business is business and your time and work are valuable. When you think you’re asking for too much money, add another $500 - $1,000 on top of that. It doesn’t work every time but trust me, sometimes it does!
What are the Rights To Use Name, Likeness and Content requirements for this collaboration?
Confirm that you’re only agreeing to allow the brand to use your content in connection to the program, campaign, or initiative they’re detailing. If this is not specifically written out in the agreement, ask them to make this clear and send you an updated agreement. The last thing you want is for the brand to later use your content to run ads for another campaign you’re not being paid to promote.
What is the Exclusivity Term for this collaboration?
I can’t stress this enough. Review the exclusivity clause and be sure you’re being compensated for the amount of time they are requesting that you refrain from working with any of the brand’s competitors. If the exclusivity term is one year, ask for compensation that will cover this exclusivity period. If they don’t want to increase compensation for the exclusivity term they’re requesting, then bring the exclusivity term down to 30 days or as long as the campaign/partnership is running.
If you ask me, it’s important that you only take on partnerships with brands you genuinely support, ones that respect your platform and the quality of your work. I understand that money speaks, but sometimes working with brands that will only give you trouble isn’t worth your valuable time. Carefully review the opportunities that come your way and remember, always feel empowered to ask for MORE MONEY! Have more questions about influencer marketing, negotiating brand partnership deals, etc.? Feel free to reach out on Instagram. You’ve got this!
Hasta la próxima,
Rosa E. Pruneda
Author Bio
Hey there! I’m Rosa. I’m a public relations, social media and influencer marketing consultant on a mission to connect multicultural entrepreneurs to opportunities that elevate their voices and highlight their empowering stories.
On the Rosa E. PR blog, you can find me talking about public relations, social media and influencer marketing.
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