Hello! My name’s Elly and this is my first guest post for Bonjour Blogger.
If you’re a fashion, lifestyle or beauty blogger, it’s likely that you’ve been approached about working with a brand on a sponsored post before. Setting a rate for sponsored posts is difficult – it depends on the individual blogger, the brand, the work that’s involved and lots more. But it should be considered as carefully as if these sponsored posts were your main source of income, not just given away for peanuts.
The Bonjour Blogger survey of sponsored posts showed us that what bloggers charge varies wildly, from £5 to £500. There’s no right or wrong amount but there are simple ways to work out a ballpark figure.
Make sure you value your work.
Being a blogger is fun and exciting, as well as a good way to develop your skills. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard work or that your blog just magically appears out of thin air. It takes time, energy, expertise and creativity to produce your blog: make sure you value your work by charging respectable rates.
When you go into Primark, you know those £3 t-shirts won’t last very long. We equate low quality with cheap prices. Don’t under-sell yourself!
Look at people who are similar to you – but not bloggers.
Each individual blogger will charge something different, often because they might rank higher on Google. But you need to be paid for what you know, not just who you know. Work out the key skill involved in running your blog and research professions that use that key skill. Find out a range of salaries and work out an hourly rate from them. If you can find out freelance rates for the careers, even better.
For example, you’re a beauty vlogger. Your key skill for your blog is video work: filming, production, editing, sound, etc. Take a look at junior video producers, runners and other jobs in the film industry to see where your skills sit.
Take experience, knowledge and creativity into account.
It’s really hard to put a cost to creativity: one idea does not equal one pound. Brands want to work with you and your readers want to read your blog because you know your stuff. You create exciting posts, detailed reviews, and intelligent writing. Those things can’t be bought cheaply.
When setting a rate, look at how many years experience you have, who you’ve worked with previously, and the quality of your blog. Brands don’t want to shell out for 50 words and a blurry iPhone picture. If you make great work, you can charge great prices.
Work out your hours exactly.
Time really is money. When you work out a rate for sponsored posts, work it out by the hour. That way you have a flexible cost you can scale up or down depending on the time you have and what you’re able to do. Next time you create an outfit post or review video, time yourself: how long does it really take to use the product, take photos, edit them, write the post, upload it, share it online…? It sounds rigorous, but being that exact helps you get a fair rate as well as making sure you have enough time for creating the post itself!
So, these tips seem simple enough. Let’s see them in real life with my own work:
- I’m a published fashion writer with two years’ copywriting experience and lots of theoretical knowledge about fashion. I know my work is worth something to brands.
- My key skill is writing. I spoke to around four different writers, all at different career stages, to find out different rates they charge per hour. This included conceptual copywriters, freelancers and juniors, and rates varied from £10 to £100 an hour.
- I don’t have loads of experience but I always write detailed, well-researched posts with unique images and engaging arguments. Brands are paying for my writing skills and brain!
- It takes me two to three hours to write a great post, from the very first idea to tweeting it out.
I took the lower end of the salary scale for my freelance role (£20) and times it by two or three (£40 – £60). Because of my specific knowledge and creativity, I increased this to £50 to £75.
That’s my sponsored post rate. There are some other pointers to consider when setting your rate.
This isn’t dependent on brand. It could be Coca-Cola banging on my door – if they won’t pay the rate, then I’m happy to not work with them. I value my time and brain.
This isn’t dependent on social following or ranking. I’m not a high-ranking, super-popular blogger. This rate is based on skill and time. If you’re incredibly popular then make sure you increase your rate to reflect the ‘reach’ (or number of people your post will filter through to) of your blog.
This rate is justifiable. I can show brands my working and why I charge that amount. And that’s pretty much it! Remember to:
- Value your time
- Compare the market
- Consider your creativity
- Work by the hour
How do you work out what you charge for a sponsored post? Do you think this method will be helpful? Tweet me @ebsnare – I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Elly is a fashion blogger and full time copywriter who blogs at Three Word Outfit on style and fashion theory.
Really valuable post! This topic came up in many conversations I’ve had recently.
Thank you for this, it is really useful to have a starting point for talking about sponsored posts, some very good advice here!
Maria xxx
Nice post. I usually charges 25-40$ for a sponsored post on my website.
Really useful post, thank you for sharing.
Lovely post. I love how the core is to value oneself and the contributions that she/he is able to make and not from a ‘bargaining’ point of view :)
I think sometimes we bloggers forget that we are valuable, not just in monetary terms!