Typically, beginner UGC rates range from $115-200 for a single video, while experts can bag up to $750 for a single deliverable. Your mortgage is covered in one 15-45 second long video. Of course, we all know that it takes longer than a minute to film, edit and deliver, but it’s hard not to look at the numbers and wonder where you would even begin to justify their rates.
UGC has a low barrier to entry: you don’t need experience, followers or fancy equipment to get going, and almost instantly you can charge hundreds of dollars for short form video content. Straight away, you’re charging the same as creators who’ve had skin in the game for a lot longer.
So, how do you justify your UGC rates?
- WHAT FACTORS IMPACT RATES
- HOW TO JUSTIFY YOUR RATES
- HOW TO ASK FOR ROAS
- DEMONSTRATING EXPERTISE
First, What Factors Impact Your UGC Rates?
If you are a creator, it’s essential to consider a number of factors when setting your rates.
✅ Your Expertise: How experienced are you in the UGC field? If you are an expert creator, you can most likely command more for a single UGC video than a brand new creator, as long as you can demonstrate why.
✅ The Market: Are we talking insurance? Beauty? Pets? Kids? The level of competition in the UGC space for the particular industry may have some bearing on how much you can charge for any one post. If there are 500 creators vying for the same job you may be able to command less than a job with only a handful of suitable talent.
✅ The Brand: Small brand. Big brand. Somewhere in between? The budget a brand has will vary greatly, and it’s important to consider when you’re setting your rates and looking to justify them.
How Do You Justify Your UGC Rates?
ROAS.
That’s it. That’s the post.
If you’re a content creator tired of trying to justify your cost to potential clients. ROAS is a metric that measures how effective an ad campaign was by analyzing the revenue generated against the amount spent. If you can tell brands that your content generated a 5x ROAS with a $5k ad spend, potential clients know that you were able to bring in over $25,000 with your content. Suddenly, your rates don’t look quite so high.
Once you know this, it shifts the pricing conversation to focus on the impact your work has on driving revenue for clients. Suddenly, you’re now not just telling them what you can deliver for them, but the results they can expect.
It also shows that you’re invested in the brand’s success, rather than just providing a one-off service.
How To Ask For ROAS
It’s all about open communication. If you’ve established a solid relationship with the brand, they won’t have a problem providing you with the data. You’re going to want to ask for two things, the ad spend and the revenue. From there, you can easily calculate the ROAS.
Some brands are hesitant to share their data as they don’t want it getting into the hands of their competitors.
If this is the case, ask for a range of ad spend and reassure them that this will only be used in your portfolio.
Dear Point of Contact,
I appreciate the opportunity to work together to create content that resonates with our shared audience. As a UGC creator, I’ve been actively tracking the performance of the content I’ve made in order to be able to make data informed decisions for future projects. It would be extremely beneficial for me to evaluate the ROAS and ad spend, or at least the ad spend range. Would it be possible to share this with me?
Demonstrating Expertise and Quality
Being able to put a number to what you do is just one way of justifying your rates. It’s the easiest, sure, but it’s not the only one.
You should be coupling your hard facts and figures with the following:
✅ Strong Portfolio: A strong portfolio goes a long way in justify your cost. If you’re sitting on a Canva domain with a hotch-potch looking portfolio, you’re not going to be able to get top-dollar. End of. Look professional. The same goes for your emails: buy a custom domain, make a professional email signature and treat your UGC business like a business.
✅ Leverage Client Feedback: If previous clients aren’t willing to give cold, hard, figures, then ask them for feedback that you can use in your portfolio. Social proof can work wonders when trying to land a new client for the first time.
✅ Communicating Value to Clients: Understand how to transparently communicate the benefits, deliverables, and impact of your work. You can’t guarantee conversions, but you can explain what you’ve achieved in the past, and the reasoning behind your angles.
✅ Understanding Client Needs: As a contractor, you’re the expert. You should be able to take a bird’s eye look at a client’s brand, problem and come up with a solution (and then communicate this in an effective way). If you want to be paid the big bucks, you need to bring more to the table, whether that be ideas, guidance or just knowledge in general.
🚀 What Are You Waiting For?
If you’re confident in your skills, that’s half the battle.
Once you know you can deliver value for clients, don’t hesitate in increasing your rates. You would be surprised at just how many potential clients won’t bat an eyelid at your pricing.