BusinessBeginnerPreview
Creator Media Kit & Rate Card
A practical, beginner path to building a media kit and rate card that wins brand deals, using real pricing benchmarks, named tools, and a repeatable pitch-to-contract workflow. You will price by deliverable, package tiers, and negotiate usage and exclusivity with confidence.
Beginner and growing creators on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube who want to start charging brands for sponsored content.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into a finished media kit, a tiered rate card, and a live pitch pipeline. You will pull your real numbers, write your value story, design a one-page kit, price every deliverable and right, and run outreach through to a signed deal. Work each section as you finish the matching module, and use the templates to track your actual stats, rates, and brand outreach.
Know Your Numbers Before You Pitch
Pull your real audience and engagement data, compute your engagement rate, and turn it into a value story brands buy.
Worksheet: Audience & Performance Snapshot
Open your native analytics on each platform and record both a 30-day and a 90-day figure. Switch to a Creator or Business account first if needed. Screenshot the strongest screens for your media kit.
- Primary platform and handle
- Follower or subscriber count (and 90-day growth %)
- Average reach or impressions per post (30-day)
- Average views per Reel / TikTok / video (30-day)
- Top 2 audience countries
- Audience age range and gender split
- Best posting times (when followers are online)
Exercise: Calculate Your True Engagement Rate
Use your last 9 to 12 posts (not a viral hit). Add likes, comments, saves, and shares for each, then apply both formulas. Compare your result to the benchmark for your platform.
- What are your total interactions (likes + comments + saves + shares) averaged across your last 9 to 12 posts?
- Engagement by followers = interactions / followers x 100. What is your number?
- Engagement by reach = interactions / accounts reached x 100. What is your number?
- How does that compare to the benchmark (IG 1-3%, TikTok 4-8%), and does it justify a pricing premium?
Worksheet: Your Value Story (Three Versions)
Write your niche and audience as a story a brand can picture, with one proof of influence. Draft three versions for different buyer types.
- Niche in one phrase (e.g. budget home cooking for new parents)
- Who your audience is, in one sentence using your real demographics
- One proof of influence (sold-out rec, code redeemed, where-to-buy comments)
- Version A — value story for a product brand
- Version B — value story for a service or app
- Version C — value story for a local or regional business
Checklist: Numbers-Ready Checklist
- Switched to a Creator or Business account on each platform
- Recorded 30-day AND 90-day figures for reach, views, and engagement
- Computed engagement rate by followers and by reach from my own data
- Benchmarked my engagement against my platform's typical range
- Screenshotted my strongest analytics screens for the media kit
- Wrote three versions of my value story
Designing the Media Kit
Assemble a clean one-page media kit with the eight expected sections and credible social proof.
Worksheet: Media Kit Section Planner
Draft the content for each of the eight standard sections before you open a design tool. Keep every entry short enough to fit on one page.
- Header: name/handle, niche, one-line tagline
- About: 2-3 sentences on you and your audience
- Audience stats: followers per platform + demographics
- Performance: avg reach, engagement rate, avg views
- Niche and value story (paste your best version)
- Services and deliverables offered
- Social proof: logos, testimonial, or standout result
- Contact and call to action
Exercise: Build the Kit in Canva or Beacons
Choose your tool and assemble the one-pager. Set brand colors and fonts first, paste in real analytics screenshots, and export a clearly named file.
- Which tool will you use (Canva PDF, Beacons live link, Notion, Slides) and why?
- What two or three brand colors and one or two fonts will you lock in?
- What is your exported file name (e.g. YourName-Media-Kit-2026.pdf)?
- Will you keep pricing off the public kit and send a separate rate card? Why?
Exercise: Manufacture Social Proof
Even with no paid deals, assemble credibility. If you have zero collaborations, create one self-initiated sample case study to show what a brand would get.
- Which past collaborations, gifting, or affiliate work can you show (with permission)?
- What is your single strongest result to feature (views, code redemptions, comments)?
- Whose one-line testimonial could you request (brand, client, coach)?
- If you have no collaborations yet, which product will you make a sample case study for?
Checklist: Media Kit Polish Checklist
- Kit fits on one page (two maximum) and leads with my strongest platform
- Used real analytics screenshots, not stock charts
- Limited to two or three colors and no more than two fonts
- Included at least one social-proof element
- Exported a clearly named PDF and/or created a Beacons link
- Set a calendar reminder to refresh the numbers every quarter
Pricing and the Rate Card
Set defensible base prices, package three sponsorship tiers, and price usage rights and exclusivity as paid add-ons.
Exercise: Price a Single Deliverable Three Ways
Apply all three methods to one core deliverable (e.g. a Reel), then choose a base rate you would happily deliver against. Blend the methods rather than picking the lowest.
- Follower rule (~$100 per 10k followers for one in-feed post): what does this suggest?
- CPM method (avg views in thousands x a $20-50 CPM): what does this suggest?
- Engagement adjustment (add 20-50% if well above benchmark): does it apply to you?
- What base rate will you set for this deliverable, and why that number?
Worksheet: Tier Builder: Silver, Gold, Platinum
Design three packages anchored on your core deliverable. Make Gold the option you most want to sell, and price each bundle below the sum of its parts.
- Silver: deliverables + usage term + price
- Gold (anchor): deliverables + usage term + bundle price
- Platinum: deliverables + paid usage/whitelisting + price
- A-la-carte list price of the Gold deliverables (to confirm the bundle saves money)
- Which tier is designed to be the obvious choice, and why
Worksheet: Rights & Add-On Price List
Set a clear price for every right beyond a short organic window. Default your rate card to organic-only usage and list everything else as a paid add-on.
- Organic usage included (term in days, e.g. 30-90)
- Paid usage / whitelisting fee (e.g. +30-100% of base, scaled by term)
- Exclusivity fee (by category breadth and duration)
- Raw footage add-on fee
- Perpetual / buyout fee (premium above any time-limited license)
- Rush delivery fee
Checklist: Rate Card Sanity Checklist
- Every base rate is a number I would be happy to deliver against
- Each tier bundle is priced below its a-la-carte total
- Gold is positioned as the obvious-value middle option
- Paid usage, exclusivity, and buyout are separate priced line items
- Default usage on the card is organic-only for a defined window
- Deliverables are described clearly enough to avoid scope confusion
Pitching, Negotiating, and Closing
Build a target list, send pitches that get replies, negotiate by trading scope for price, and close with an agreement, invoice, and disclosure.
Worksheet: Brand Target List Setup
Build a list of at least 30 well-matched brands and find a real decision maker for each, not a generic inbox. Check the Meta Ad Library for brands already running creator-style ads.
- 10+ brands you already use and genuinely like
- 10+ brands found running creator-style ads (Meta Ad Library)
- Right contact role to target (partnerships / influencer / social lead)
- How you will find their email (site, LinkedIn, Hunter, polite DM)
- Where you will track every brand and touch (your outreach tracker)
Exercise: Draft Your Pitch
Write a pitch under 150 words that leads with the brand's benefit and proposes one concrete idea. Personalize the opener for a specific brand on your list.
- What specific, human subject line will you use (e.g. Reel idea for your new serum)?
- What is your one personalized opener line proving you actually know them?
- What single content idea will you propose, tailored to their product?
- What low-friction call to action will you end with, and when will you follow up twice?
Worksheet: Negotiation & Close Plan
Decide in advance how you will respond to common pushback by trading scope for price, never just discounting. Define your terms before the call.
- Response if their budget is lower than your quote (smaller package, not a discount)
- Your stance on gifting vs paid for a first collaboration
- Add-on price you will quote if they ask for extra usage or exclusivity
- Deposit you will require up front (e.g. 50%) and payment terms (net 15/30)
- Tool for your contract/e-sign and tool for your invoice
Checklist: Deal Close & Disclosure Checklist
- Confirmed scope in writing: deliverables, due dates, usage term, exclusivity, revisions, fee
- Sent a deliverables agreement with e-signature (e.g. Bonsai or HoneyBook)
- Collected the deposit before creating content
- Disclosed the partnership per FTC guidance (ad/sponsored + paid-partnership label)
- Invoiced the balance on delivery with clear payment terms
- Sent a results recap one week later to set up repeat work
Your Action Plan
- Pull 30-day and 90-day analytics from each platform and screenshot your strongest screens.
- Compute your engagement rate by followers and by reach, and benchmark it.
- Write three versions of your value story (product, service, local).
- Build a one-page media kit in Canva or Beacons with all eight sections.
- Add at least one social-proof element, creating a sample case study if needed.
- Set a base rate for each deliverable using the blended three-method approach.
- Package Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers with Gold as the anchor.
- Write a rights and add-on price list, defaulting to organic-only usage.
- Build a list of 30+ target brands with real contacts and pitch 10 this week.
- Negotiate by trading scope for price, then close with an agreement, deposit, invoice, and disclosure.
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