Important Questions to Ask Before Working With Brands

As an Influencer, you want to choose the best partnerships that align with your values and resonate with your audience. To ensure that it’s the perfect fit, there are important questions to ask before working with brands.

Although it’s exciting to partner with your favorite brands, you want to get all of the information about the campaign before saying yes. You don’t want to accept any and every offer that comes your way.

In this post, we’ll be discussing the top questions to ask before you start working with brands. These will help you figure out if the opportunity will be mutually beneficial and how much to charge for your time.

Questions to Ask Brands

What Deliverables Are You Expecting?

A brand is reaching out to you for a reason. They see your value and want to get in front of your audience. But, how do they plan on doing that?

You want to ask what they’re expecting from you. Which platforms do they want you to post on and what deliverables are they interested in?

They may want a certain number of posts, videos, or blog posts. Knowing this will help you determine how much your base rate should be and how much time it’ll take to create the content.

What Are Your Goals?

KPIs, also known as Key Performance Indicators, is what brands use to determine if a campaign was successful.

When a brand reaches out, they already have an idea of the goals they want to reach. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, sales, or link clicks, you want to know how to utilize your content to help them exceed their goals for the campaign.

For example, if you know they’re looking for link clicks, create engaging Instagram stories and encourage your audience to click on links. If a brand is looking for awareness, share your content on multiple platforms.

This question will show brands that you’re interested in helping them have a successful partnership!

What Are the Deadlines?

When will the brand need your content completed and posted? Will you need to submit approvals beforehand? Is there a quick turnaround time?

Knowing your deadlines will help you stay on track with the campaign. Waiting until the last minute to throw content together isn’t the best option. Always put your best foot forward and submit content before deadlines.

If a brand is reaching out to you at the last minute for content, you can charge a rush fee. I usually charge this when I have less than a week to submit content for a campaign.

Do You Need Usage or Exclusivity?

The two money-makers for Influencers are usage rights and exclusivity. These can increase your rates for a campaign if a brand needs them.

Usage rights refer to the rights you grant a brand to use your content for marketing purposes. They may use your content as an advertisement, post it on their website, or use it in email marketing.

Exclusivity means that you’re not allowed to work with or publish the brand’s competitors for a specific amount of time.

You want to ask brands if they need rights to your content and if it’s okay to work with their competitors. If not, how long do they expect you to turn down those potential deals?

These need to be discussed before moving forward because they’ll help you determine your final rate for the campaign. To learn more about these terms, check out this post: A Breakdown of Terms to Know in Influencer Contracts.

Asking questions and negotiating are key when you start working with brands. At the end of the day, this is a business and you want to get paid your worth.

You also want to keep the trust of your audience by choosing partnerships that make sense. Every opportunity won’t be a good fit, even if compensation is involved.

Check out these other posts!

• 7 Ways to Create an Engaged Audience on Instagram
• How to Increase Your Income As A Content Creator
• How to Confidently Pitch to Brands as an Influencer