Pick a niche a brand can place you in, make your profile read like a media kit (who your audience is, where they live, your best work), set your rates before anyone asks, and pitch brands you already use with a short, specific idea. You don’t need 10K followers: brands book small accounts for engaged, local audiences, and UGC needs no following at all. Get the fee, deliverables and usage rights in writing, and label paid posts as ads.
How many followers do you need for brand deals?
None for UGC, where you make content for the brand’s own channels and your audience doesn’t matter. For posts on your own account, paid deals start around 1,000 followers, and engagement matters more than the number.
As published UK ranges, Whito puts a sponsored post at about £20–£150 for 500–10K followers and £80–£1,500 for 10K–100K, with a UGC video at £50–£250. Short-form video earns more than a static post. Work out yours with the rate calculator.
What do brands look at before they book you?
A clear photo of you. Brands are booking a person.
A one-line headline: what you make, and who for.
A short bio: your audience, where they are, what you’re known for.
Three of your best pieces of work, ideally including one made for a brand.
Your rates, so they don’t have to ask.
Proof your audience is real: insights screenshots, or an account verified from the platform.
Put the same things in a one-page media kit you can attach to emails.
How do you set your rates?
Price the content and the rights separately. The base fee covers making it and posting it once. If the brand wants to run it as an ad, keep it beyond a month, have the raw files or stop you working with a competitor, each is an extra. Published guides put usage rights at 30–50% of the base fee on top. See partnership ads and usage rights.
Quote a fixed price for a named deliverable. “£250 for one 30-second Reel, organic use for 12 months” gets a yes or no; “depends on the brief” gets ignored.
How do you pitch a brand?
Start with brands you already use and can talk about honestly.
Find the right person: the marketing, partnerships or social lead. LinkedIn and the brand’s press page help.
Send five lines: who you are, who your audience is, one specific idea, your price, and a link to your best work.
Follow up once, a week later. Then move on.
Small and new brands say yes more often than big ones. They have less agency budget and more need for content.
Where do UK brands look for creators?
Their own tagged posts, creator marketplaces, agencies, and matching services that shortlist creators for them. Being findable in more than one place matters more than pitching harder.
On Matched by Sponsarva, brands ask us for creators and our partnerships team puts forward the best fits. Complete profiles go first. It’s free to join and not exclusive: 15% on completed deals only.
What should be in the deal?
The fee, and when it’s paid.
Exactly what you’re making, and the dates.
Usage rights: how long, where, and whether it can run as an ad.
How many rounds of changes are included.
Label every paid or gifted post as an ad, at the start. The CMA’s guidance for content creators and the ASA and CMA influencers’ guide set out how. If you’re worried about getting paid, ask for the fee to be held in escrow: see escrow for creator deals.
How do you turn one deal into repeat work?
Deliver on time, take feedback once and well, and send the brand your results a week after posting: views, saves, clicks and anything the code or link tracked. Most creators never do this, so the ones who do get rebooked.
Then offer the next thing: a three-post package, a seasonal idea, or content for their own ads. A brand that has already worked with you is the easiest yes you’ll get.
How do you spot a fake brand deal?
Be wary of a free-mail address, payment promised “after your first post”, being asked to buy product, or an ambassador scheme with a joining fee. Check the company on Companies House before you agree. How to check a UK brand is real.
Yes, through UGC. You make the content and the brand posts it, so your follower count doesn’t matter.
Only if you want the product and the work is small. A gifted post still has to be labelled as an ad. See gifted vs paid collaborations.
No. Most creators start without one. Do you need an influencer manager?
Use a clear “Ad” label at the start of the post or caption, and the platform’s paid partnership tool where there is one.
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