How Brand Partnerships Work

Plus a media kit guide and, for paid subscribers, my real partnership numbers since 2019

Aug 10, 2026

∙ Paid

Earlier this summer, I wrote about how much money I make as a content creator. It was so well-received that I wrote something about how affiliate works, and how much I spent on business expenses, too.

Today, I’m going to unpack how brand partnerships work. How to land them, what to charge, and how to decide what to say yes to. This post will walk you through how to manage brand partnerships, from my early "say yes to everything" years to how it works today. I’m also sharing a media kit guide and for paid subscribers, my annual partnership income since 2019 and rough industry rate ranges by follower count.

If you find this post helpful, please scroll all the way down and give it a heart This post is free to share, so send it to a friend who's thinking about working with brands or just starting out as a creator.

How It Started (And What I’d Do Differently)

I’ve been blogging since 2007, so I’ve been learning alongside brands from the beginning. No one knew what they were doing.

When I first started working with brands, I said yes to almost everything. I had no idea what to charge, zero leverage, and was scared to say no. Should I have taken on the Walmart fashion campaign 12 (or so) years ago? Probably not, since I don’t buy clothes at Walmart. Would I do it today? No. Live and learn.

It started with gifted product, which is a great place to start, and then shifted toward paid.

Where Things Are Now

Brand partnerships have always been primarily inbound, meaning that someone from the brand or an agency reaches out to me directly. What’s changed is what I do once they land.

At first, I used to say yes by default. I eventually started to only say yes when it was a yes, and when that was the case, would discuss budget and deliverables. When I am interested in a direct, inbound partnership, I pass along all the details to Carly and she does the negotiating for me. She also pitches various partnerships throughout the year. Her pitches are the best, because she will come to me with the brand, rate, and deliverables, and I can just say yes or no.

How Partnerships Happen

Not every deal comes in the same way, or gets handled the same way. Mine break down a few ways.

Most brands will email me directly. I used to manage everything myself, but now forward them to Carly, who handles all of my brand partnerships. She also brings in a lot of partnerships, and handles all the contracts and brand communication.

LTK-sourced deals are few and far between since I am not very active there. But when they happen, they are usually great. I usually work with someone at the brand or someone at LTK who facilitates partnerships. These are self-managed.

ShopMy Opportunities are relatively new, but a lot of brands have shifted from larger, dedicated partnerships to these smaller opportunities. Creators receive a fee plus affiliate commission for what is usually a few links and sometimes, tagging the brand anywhere from 1-3 times. These are a lot easier for the creator, and the brand, too. Zero back-and-forth, zero approval.

In 2026 alone, I’ve made more on partnerships than I did all of last year. I will share exactly how many I’ve had and how much I’ve made below.

Creating a Media Kit

Before you reach out to any brand, you’re going to want to create a media kit. It’s the thing you attach to a cold email or send when a brand reaches out about a possible partnerships. You don’t need a designer for this. Canva has free templates that are easy to edit.

Include a short bio that lets people know who you are. Include your follower count across each platform, blog traffic if you have it, and a little about who follows you (age, gender, location).

If you’ve had any past partnerships, you can add logos or names of brands you’ve worked with. If you’re just starting out, skip this section. You can also include a few screenshots of your best-performing posts.

Add in your rates and offerings, so cost for a single story, story set, in-feed post, dedicated reel, blog post (dedicated and mention), and Substack mention. This makes it easy for a brand to know what you do. And this feels painfully obvious, but don’t forget to include your contact info.

Your media kit should be 1-2 pages, and should be updated every few months.

Knowing What to Charge

Here’s the way I’d think about it if I were just starting out.

A single Instagram story is worth less than a dedicated Reel, which is obviously worth less than both a reel and stories. Price each piece, then price the bundle.

Two creators with the same follower count can charge different amounts for the same deliverable if one has an audience that’s a better match for the brand, or higher engagement and conversion.

If a brand wants to reuse your content in their own paid ads, (this is called whitelisting), or asks for any exclusivity from working with competitors, those usage rights should be priced separately. These are add-ons and should be priced per month. I’ve had these rates go from 10-30%. It’s the wild wild west out there.

There are rate-card guides out there that give ranges by number of followers and type of content. I'd start there.

Negotiating

If a rate doesn’t line up with an offer, try negotiating the deliverables or see if there’s more room in the budget. If the budget is firm, let them know what you can offer for their proposed rate. Dropping a story frame, cutting a follow-up/reminder frame, or scaling back from a full bundle to a single piece are all easy ways to bring a deal in line without walking away from it. Sometimes, it’s a yes and other times, you have to figure out if you want to take the deal for less.

Production

Once a deal is signed, there’s a whole process people don’t see. There’s a brief, sometimes a shot list and script (although that’s not often the case), content creation, edits, and sending it off to the brand. Then you’ll wait to hear back on possible edits. In my experience, brands might ask if you can add in a note, but asking for a reshoot (photo or video) is extremely rare. Then you’ll get any necessary tracking links and codes, and a live date. 24 hours after social content goes live, you’ll be asked to share metrics in the form of screen shots.

Some brands are incredibly easy to work with. Others ask for a lot, but again, from my experience, most are great. You want to make sure you leave room for no more than one round of revisions. Partnerships have come a long way. Most brands come to you because they like your work or style and trust you to share their brand in a way that feels natural for you and your audience.