12 Must-Haves for Your Influencer Contract Template to Earn More and Protect Your Money (Part 2)
Do not miss out on your high-income potential or lose all your money with a crappy influencer contract template! Here’s exactly what you need in your contract template to earn more and protect your income.
It’s very exciting to make money from brand deals as an influencer, and if you’re anything like me, you want to maximise your earnings from your brand deals while ensuring you don’t lose your hard-earned cash. As a lawyer myself who has drafted a fully customisable influencer contract template for influencers like you, I’m giving you all the essentials your template must include to maximise your earnings and protect your money.
In this 2-part series, I’m sharing each must-have for your influencer contract template (if you’re not using mine). So, you’ll have a simple influencer contract checklist to help you create the ultimate money-making influencer contract template free of fluff.
After learning all about the key must-haves for your template, you’ll 3x your brand deals and feel safe knowing that your money is fully protected.
This post is all about the key must-haves your influencer contract template must include to earn more while safeguarding your money.
Best Influencer Contract Template
The best influencer contract checklist to earn more & protect your money
The first 6 must-haves for your influencer contract template
This is Part 2 of the 2-part series in which I’ll be sharing 6 out of the 12 must-haves for your influencer contract template.
If you haven’t already, make sure you read about the FIRST 6 must-haves in Part 1 of this series.
7. Upfront deposits so you actually get paid
Too many influencers create amazing content, post it, and generate a lot of attention for the brand, resulting in amplified brand awareness and increasing the brand’s sales. But those same influencers end up not getting paid.
What do you do in that case? Sue the brand? You don’t have any money for that. Take the content down from your Instagram? Fine. The brand got what it wanted anyway, and that Instagram post won’t get many more views at this point anyway. In other words, you suffer, and you have nothing to remedy that.
That is why a proper influencer contract template should include:
A deposit which you can set at any rate, like 50% or even 100% of the total fee
A clear deadline for the payment of the deposit
An explicit stipulation that states you won’t create anything until you get paid that deposit
With these terms in your influencer contract template, you’ll always be ensured that:
You get paid on time
You can never be legally forced to invest your time and energy into creating content before you get paid
Of course, if you have already worked with the brand before and know they’re good for their money, you don’t necessarily have to ask for a deposit every time. But when working with a new brand (no matter how popular it may be, I recommend always asking for a deposit.
8. Don’t let exclusivity limit future income
Most brands will ask for exclusivity, which is reasonable. They don’t want you to promote their vitamins and promote another brand’s vitamins the next day.
However, you don’t want an exclusivity clause that not only restricts you from working with other brands to promote their vitamins but from promoting any other products in the entire healthcare industry!
That is why you need to not only charge for exclusivity (which I discussed in Part 1 of this series) but you also want to limit the exclusivity itself.
An ironclad influencer contract template sets boundaries, including:
A time limit for your exclusivity, like 2 or 3 months, for example (the brand can always ask for a longer exclusivity period. Then, you’ll have the right to compensation, which I explain in this blog post)
A limit on the competitors that ensures the exclusivity only applies to brands that directly compete with the brand’s current lines of business
A limit on the type of products to which the exclusivity applies, like only other types of vitamins and not other healthcare products like protein powders
A proper influencer contract template like that ensures your exclusivity is limited and fair so that you do not get blocked from future opportunities, resulting in you missing out on making money.
9. Make the brand pay for your expenses
What costs you incur to create content for the brand will depend on the project. For example:
An influencer who collabs with a hotel brand to create content for their hotel will face travel and food and drink expenses.
An influencer who collabs with a car brand will face fuel and insurance expenses
That is why you need a comprehensive influencer contract template that includes:
A clause that clearly states whether expenses are included in the fixed fee or reimbursed by the brand separately
An option to break down all expenses covered by the brand so that there’s no discussion on what expenses are covered
A catch-all clause that explicitly states that any (additional) costs the brand asks you to make will be charged to the brand, so the brand can’t ask you to do anything else for the content that will cost you more without being fairly compensated
10. Limitations on liability, disclaimers, and indemnities to protect against money-draining claims
A proper influencer contract template not only ensures you are fairly compensated but also protects you against losing all your hard-earned cash!
Your influencer contract template should, at the very least, include the following safeguards for your money:
Indemnities for intellectual property infringement that ensure (1) the brand can’t make a claim against you or drag you to court if the brand gets a claim from a third party for IP infringement and (2) the brand will fully compensate you if you receive any IP infringement claims directly from third parties
Indemnities for claims from the brand’s customers you receive for any damages they may suffer from the brand’s products which you promoted (which customers could blame you for)
Indemnities for fines for breach of influencer marketing laws (which the brand should compensate you for as the brand has reviewed and approved your content)
Limitations of liability that exclude your liability as much as possible for direct claims from the brand for any damages the brand may suffer and at least limit your liability to the payments you’ve actually received from the brand (for liability claims that can’t lawfully be excluded completely), so you can never lose more than you received
Disclaimers that ensure the brand knows exactly what you’re not responsible for (and can’t hold you accountable for), so the brand can’t claim you breached the contract and does not pay you at all
If you want to know what (niche-specific) disclaimer you need in your influencer contract template, read this blog post!
11. A step-by-step approval process so you actually get paid for your time & energy
A problem that I’ve seen with a lot of social media agreements is that they do not include a clear step-by-step process for the creation of the content from start to finish.
Why is that a problem? Well, it could create multiple issues:
The brand could ask you to keep making endless revisions without actually getting paid for all those extra revisions you need to make
The brand could not respond for weeks, leaving you waiting around for the rest of your money (if that will ever come)
The brand could refuse to approve the content, again, ending up with you waiting around and maybe never seeing your money either
In all these cases, you’re losing money!
First of all, the scope in your influencer contract template must specify how many revision rounds are included in the fixed fee and the extra fee for additional revisions, so you’ll never end up spending extra time and energy revising content without being fairly compensated for it.
Secondly, an ironclad influencer contract template must include a clear step-by-step approval process that states:
When you’ll start creating the content and within how many days you’ll deliver the content to the brand for approval or feedback, so the brand knows when to be prepared to look at your content and provide feedback or approval
Within how many days after the brand receives the content, the brand must provide either approval or feedback for further revisions
Within how many days after you’ve received feedback (if any), you’ll provide new drafts and, again, within how many days, the brand must provide further feedback or approval
What happens when the brand does not respond at all within the stated number of days (the content will be deemed approved, and you’ll post the content)
When the content will be posted once it is approved by the brand (or approval is assumed)
Now, you’ll never have to wait weeks or even months for the brand’s approval and get paid on time!
12. Still get paid if the brand cancels (or ghosts you)
Another major issue that influencers face when working with brands is when the brands cancel, and they don’t ever see their money. This could take multiple forms:
The brand might be unhappy with the first draft of your content and, as a result, the brand wants to stop with you altogether
The brand might cancel the contract before you deliver the content, but you already put a lot of work into creating the content
Or worse, the brand could randomly ghost you at any point in the process
In all these cases, you’ve already put in all this work, and thus, you should be fairly compensated for that.
That is why your influencer contract template should include the obligation for the brand to pay a deposit before you start creating the content. That way, you’ll still always have some money that should at least cover the time and effort you’ve put into the creation process.
But to have a legal right to keep or get paid the compensation you deserve, a comprehensive influencer contract template should include:
The right for you to suspend your work when the brand does not cooperate
A specification of what percentage of the fee you are entitled to if the influencer contract is cancelled before posting the content
That could be 25% of the fee if the brand cancels before you deliver the first draft
That compensation could then be increased to 50% of the fee if the influencer contract is cancelled after you deliver the first draft but before you get to post it
If the content is already posted, you’ll receive 100% of the fee
Now you have all the must-haves for your influencer contract template to earn what you deserve and keep your money!
The ULTIMATE influencer contract template free of fluff
Now, you know about all the money-making and money-protecting essentials you need in your influencer contract template.
You could try to find a template that includes all these must-haves (good luck) or hire a lawyer for thousands of dollars to create one for you.
OR, you could purchase an affordable, influencer-friendly influencer contract template free of fluff that includes all the money-making terms and protections you need.
My influencer-friendly influencer contract template is easy to understand and fully customisable to your specific niche!
So, if you want to save time and earn more, make sure to check out my influencer contract template!
