3 Things Bloggers Need to Pay Attention to Before Signing The Contract
Contracts are a serious deal when it comes to brand partnerships, and despite being super boring to read, it only takes one small oversight to get yourself locked into something that could actually be detrimental to your brand. Words like exclusivity, asset rights, content usage rights, and payment terms need to be very familiar to you! It’s not your manager’s job to explain everything to you because, to be honest, it might not matter to them when you get paid. It’s YOUR job to understand this stuff. Plus as a business owner, it is empowering to be able to comb through a contract and not only understand what everything means but also properly negotiate your worth.
If your mind is already spinning and you are feeling a little guilty for not fully reading through contracts in the past as well as you maybe should have, don’t worry. In this blog, I’m breaking down 3 key parts of a contract to pay attention to and what they mean.
Payment Terms in a Campaign Contract
When going through your contract, payment terms should be very clear. If you are seeing the word NET with a number behind it, usually NET30, NET60 or NET90, that means there will be up to 30, 60 or 90 days before payment (after all deliverables are published/campaign is completed). I can tell you from experience that some companies will push these numbers and not pay you on time. Companies are constantly moving money around and the more cash flow they can hold on to, the better, which often means influencers are not a priority. So, unfortunately, in some cases, we have to chase our money.
When you see NET60, or whatever it may be, jump into your calendar and set a reminder ‘Expect Payment from X Brand’. If you haven’t received the payment after 3-5 business days from that due date, you can follow-up with an email to your original PR contact. Here’s an example:
Hey Jill!
Hope you’re having a great week. Just following up regarding payment for the campaign we worked on together a few months ago! We are over the NET60 deadline so just wanted to check-in. Happy to correspond with someone in your finance department if you want to share their email with me.
Thanks in advance,
Lisa
In a perfect world, Jill alerts the finance department and they pay you within 48 hours. If not continue to follow up, you are NOT being a pain by asking for money you already worked for.
If you don’t keep track of these payments, no one will and something could get missed, which might mean hundreds or thousands of dollars lost.
Exclusivity to a brand
Exclusivity is a really powerful concept in the Influencer marketing industry. As an Influencer, offering exclusivity actually gives you more leverage and puts you in a higher position of value for a brand. Essentially, the more exclusive you are, the more value you bring. So if you are working with a brand in the hotel space, for example, they may want you to be working only with them, making you ‘exclusive’. When you commit to exclusivity, you are then potentially turning down thousands of dollars in other deals (that might come up). Therefore, you should increase your rate to account for the possible loss in other partnerships for the stated time frame.
Exclusivity requires very specific detail. In the example of a hotel, here are some questions that you should know the answers to:
Can I post about other hotels that I’ve paid for or been gifted?
Can I partner with other hotels for paid collaborations?
Can I partner with other hotels that aren’t in the same star-rating? Ex// 4-star vs. 5-star
Does the exclusivity last for the duration of the campaign or for an extended time after?
What are the exclusive terms in regards to the brand using your content and/or your likeness?
Does exclusivity affect prior partnerships you’ve had? Example: if you worked with a hotel a month ago. Some brands may be picky about this.
An example of specifics within your contract may end up looking like this;
“Talent cannot advertise for a competing 5-star hotel within 2 weeks of posting date”.
You can probably see now why knowing your exclusivity details are important. If the brand expects no exclusivity, you could technically post two campaigns back to back for separate hotels. But, of course, you also want to consider your audience and what is authentic to your brand.
Content Usage Rights
As a content creator, you should know your rights for image/video/brand image usage. Will the brand be using it only on digital platforms or are they going to be blowing up your face up on a billboard? Maybe your images will be on their new website.
If they are going to be using your content for marketing purposes, you definitely need to be getting compensated for it! There’s a difference in the expected ROI (return on investment) of 1 Instagram post versus a Facebook Ad that a company is putting thousands of dollars behind. If your images/videos are driving them money, in sales, then you will need to charge more.
Unfortunately, it’s very hard to know what our content is worth with this evolving industry. There is no pricing guide for creators because the industry is still fairly young. Some people charge per image based on the content usage period.
Ex: “1 image for 3 months use on Social Media channels only” or “1 Image with unlimited use for 1 year”.
When it comes to content usage rights, the more details you have the better. Are you getting credit? Who owns the photos? Be specific with how many assets you are providing, what format they will be in, which platforms the brand can use them on and for how long.
Consequences of Not Understanding These Terms
You can probably see how detrimental overlooking these details could be. Not understanding contract terms means less revenue for you, and less control over the partnership. Now that you are more knowledgeable about payment terms, exclusivity, and content usage rights, you can read through and understand your next contract with ease!
This post was written by Johanna, a freelance content writer who specializes in Influencer Marketing