How to pay influencers to advertise? Part II

We already shared two basic pricing models in influencer marketing, now let's look at two of the most popular ones that prefer most brands when working with influencers. 

Affiliate relationship

Affiliate marketing is probably the oldest form of influencer marketing. A lot of brands prefer this pricing model because it doesn’t include any extra expenses. So how do brands pay influencers who joined their affiliate program? The flow looks like this:

1. A brand gives an influencer a special link with tracking parameters in it to see how many leads come and convert

2. The influencer does whatever is best to promote and share it

3. The brand pays out a commission for each purchase made through that link

Simple, right? But don’t rush into this until you familiarize yourself with all the nuances that come with this payment format. First, you have to provide a decent commission in order for creators to join and stay motivated to promote your product. Second, the affiliate program should have an advanced tracking system to avoid missing any lead from each link. Third, an affiliate system might work flawlessly for well-known brands while for the ones that are just starting out it probably should be a payment method in addition to a regular flat fee, for example.

Free product

And now let’s look at what most brands find the most appealing - product exchange! Yes, this one doesn’t require any payments, brands just send their products to influencers who create content promoting it.

From our experience, it’s safe to say that free product as a pricing model looks appealing only to brands while for most influencers it’s one of the reasons to kindly decline your offer.

However, if you’re working with micro-influencers product exchange might be enough for them since they’re just at the start and keen on working with brands on any terms. But if you’re focusing on celebrity influencers, even as a big and well-known brand, please do not consider product exchange as one of the influencer payments.

Wrapping it up!

As you can see there are a few pricing models pretty different from one another and it’s only up to brands to choose which one works best and how much to pay influencers to advertise.

However, here at relay.club we always help to figure out an estimated influencer fee even before reaching out which allows brands to see whether a potential collab is financially suitable for them or not.

Sometimes figuring out the ideal pricing model can be overwhelming for brands especially when there is not enough influencer marketing experience behind it. Fortunately, our experts are always happy to share their knowledge and build a successful strategy for your brand. Reach out to us now and we’ll take care of the rest!