How to get brand deals as a small creator, step by step

Can a small creator really get brand deals?

Yes, and the reason is simple: a brand is not only buying reach, it is buying attention from a specific group of people. A creator with a few thousand followers who all care about home espresso, trail running or beginner guitar can be a better fit for the right brand than a much larger account with a vague audience. What a small creator usually lacks is not value but proof, and most of this guide is about supplying that proof.

No one can promise you deals. Some months nothing lands, and some brands only work with larger accounts. The steps below make you easier to say yes to, which is the part you control.

We should say up front that Premiums Only LLC, the company that publishes this site, also makes market.fan, one of the options mentioned below, along with hello.fan and store.fan. The rest of the advice is general, so it works wherever you find your deals.

Which niche makes you easy to sponsor?

Brands look for creators whose content already sits next to their product. Before you pitch anyone, write down:

• Who watches you. Age range, country and interests from your own analytics, not a guess.
• Your two or three content pillars. The topics you return to every week.
• Products that already appear in your content. The tools, apps, gear or food you actually use on camera.

That last list is your first set of brands to approach. A pitch that starts with "I already use your product in my videos" is far stronger than one that starts with "I would love to work with you".

What goes in a media kit?

A media kit is a one-page summary a brand can read in a minute. Keep it short and keep every number real.

1. Who you are: one sentence on what you make and for whom.
2. Audience: followers per platform, typical views per post and the audience breakdown from your analytics, with the date you took the numbers.
3. Samples: three to five links to posts that look like what you would make for a brand.
4. Services and prices: a story, a feed post, a short video, a bundle, each with a delivery time and the revisions included.
5. Usage rights: what is included by default and what costs extra.
6. Contact: one e-mail address and how fast you reply.

Never round your numbers up or buy followers to make the kit look bigger. Brands check, and a single mismatch can cost you the deal and the relationship.

How should you price a story or a post?

You will find plenty of "rate per follower" formulas online, and they rarely fit a small creator. Price from parts you can explain instead: your time, how well your audience matches the brand, and how the brand will use the content.

Here is a labelled example with made-up numbers. Say a short video takes you three hours from idea to posting, including one round of changes, and you want $35 an hour for your time. Your floor is $105. If the brand also wants to run the video as a paid ad for three months, that is extra value to them, so you price usage rights as a separate line, for example $45, and the total becomes $150. The numbers are only an illustration; the method is the point.

If you sell through a platform that takes a fee, include it. On market.fan you keep 60% of each completed order, or 70% while your linked store.fan store is an active paid seller, so a $150 order leaves you $90 or $105. Our creator pricing framework works through the same logic for calls and products.

How do you pitch a brand?

Keep the first message short enough to read on a phone. A good pitch has five parts:

1. A specific opening: the product of theirs you use and where it appeared in your content.
2. Who your audience is, in one line, with one real number.
3. One concrete idea, such as "a 30-second Reel showing how I use it on a morning run".
4. Your price, or a link to your listing, so they know the size of the ask.
5. A clear next step: "Shall I send a short script?"

Send it to the right person. Many brands list a partnerships or creator e-mail address on their website, and that beats a direct message to the main account. Follow up once after about a week, then move on.

Tip: pitch brands in batches of five to ten, and track who you contacted, when, and what they said in a simple spreadsheet. It turns a discouraging guessing game into a process you can improve.

What should a brand deal agreement cover?

Even a small deal needs the basics in writing, whether that is a contract, a marketplace listing or an e-mail both sides confirm:

• Deliverables: format, length, number of posts and which account.
• Dates: when the draft is due, the posting date and how long the post stays up.
• Approval and revisions: how many rounds are included.
• Disclosure: the paid-partnership label or an "ad" tag. In the US, the FTC expects paid endorsements to be clearly disclosed.
• Payment: amount, currency, when it is due and how it is paid.
• Usage rights: whether the brand can repost, run the content as ads, for how long and where. This is an add-on, not a default.
• Exclusivity: whether you can work with competing brands, and for how long. Exclusivity has a price.

If a brand mainly wants videos to post on its own channels rather than on yours, that is UGC, which works a little differently; our UGC creator guide covers it.

How do you deliver so brands come back?

Repeat deals are easier than new ones, and they come from plain reliability. Confirm the brief in your own words before you film. Send the draft on the date you promised. Make the agreed changes without arguing over small ones. Post on time, and send a short report a week later with the real numbers from your analytics, including the ones that are not flattering. A brand that trusts your reporting is far more likely to book you again.

Where does market.fan fit in?

Direct outreach works, but it has two weak spots for small creators: brands cannot find you, and getting paid depends on an invoice. market.fan addresses both. You list what you post, such as stories, feed posts, short videos, UGC videos or link-in-bio slots, with a price, a delivery time and the revisions included, and add-ons like usage rights on top. Brands can also post free requests with a brief and a budget for you to answer.

The buyer pays through Stripe, and market.fan holds the money until they approve your delivery, or until 3 days pass after delivery with no reply. Disputes go to a person on the market.fan team, who decides within two business days. You withdraw from $50 to your own Stripe account. Signing up and listing are free at market.fan.

What should you avoid?

• "Exposure" instead of payment. Free product can be fine if you want it, but it is not payment for your work.
• Paying to be considered. A brand or agency that asks you for money before a deal is a red flag.
• Promoting what you have not tried. Your audience trusts you, so say only what is true.
• Relying on one deal. Sponsorships come and go, so pair them with income you control, such as paid calls on hello.fan or a shop on store.fan. Our guide to small creator income lists other options.

Frequently asked questions