EP 6 What goes into High Ticket Content Creation with Sonia Elyss

Sonia and I chat sticker shock involved with setting your rates, developing packages that make sense and creating stellar content that brands will LOVE. From brand briefs to creator no-no's, here's what you need to know.

Timestamps:

• [2:28] Pricing and whitelisting, and researching companies.

• [6:32] Doing more work? Increase your rates.

• [11:32] Is video content less time consuming or not?

• [15:34] What should a beginner creator charge per video?

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LINKS:

Find Harley:

IG: @theharleyjordan

Website: https://www.millennialescape.com/

Find Sonia:

IG: @Sonia.elyss

Website: https://www.soniaelyss.com/

Follow The Brand Meet Creator Podcast:
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00:00

Welcome to brand meet crater podcast a place where we pull back the curtain of what it means to be all in on social media. So get ready to kick start conversations about the social media world with a little leave nothing off the table transparency, or maybe more than just a little you girl has yet to learn the art of a filter. So talk in it's time to bring some solidarity to the influencer and brand space

0:27

this episode, Miss Sonia Elise, the internet cheerleader and brand marketing whiz is back to chat about pricing within influencer marketing. So get ready, we are breaking down building packages, brand briefs, what brands want to see in your content and what we need to consider as we hone in on the art that is pricing your content. Today, we're gonna be talking about pricing with Sonia. And actually this is amazing timing because last night, I actually had a like sweating in my boots moment as I was sending off a pitch. And I don't know why this is like I literally pitch for people all the time. And when it comes to myself, I sent off this like a large, multi month package. It was a huge package. And I think it was because this amount was more than I've made in a month when I was at my nine to five. It was a pretty big amount. So I had this massive sticker shock. I immediately messaged Sonia, and I was like, literally sweating my boots. I'm like, Sonia, I don't know what to do, like, talk me into this like it. Am I being crazy? Like what should I do? Tell Tell the people what she told me.

1:44

Gosh, and what was the first thing that I said? Don't discount that is the first thing I said was don't discount always wait for the counter offer

1:53

to just she said you've literally built your platform on telling people not to discount what are you doing?

2:00

She was like I threw in a little discount. But I'm feeling like, Why did you throw in a discount? Why did they did they already tell you that this was out of budget, like if it's on a budget then decide if you want to do a discount. But this is crazy Harley as a you tell people all the time to like see depth into their words in their power like oh, why are you questioning your own? You're incredible at this, you know exactly what to do, like, let it let it ride and see how it goes. So

2:29

this, this is exactly why I want to talk about pricing. Because as I was building this package, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna make a package that's easy for me to create. And I can film it all on one day, I can film all of this content on one day. So really, they're paying for like, yes, promotion. Yes, all of the community management involves, but really, they're filming they're paying for my day, they're not paying for 12 Different times or have to get up and do my makeup and do my hair and look presentable and find good lighting, and whatever else like figure out my idea. So that's where my brain was like, okay, I can I can discount this. I don't need to I don't need to charge so much money for every single one. And it freaks me out. So this really relates to another conversation we or have we had the other day where Sonia messaged me and I was like, Nope, we're saving us for the podcast. We're not even talking about this. So context, we know that we're entering this new world of the creative economy, we know that everyone and their mother can become a creator. You don't need a billion followers to become a creator, you can blow up overnight and pricing. Because of that is getting so tricky. I feel like pricing is an art. So creation and the skills involved are just not the same as influencing and making someone press that Buy button. So I'm gonna let you set the stage of this conversation. How did this even come up with your campaign? Why did you even message me about

4:01

pricing? Sure. So I have a client that's interested in whitelisting content for tick tock, and if you don't know whitelisting means that the content is created by a content creator, but it does not get posted. So the content creator is not using their network or their audience as part of the partnership and I was curious on Tik Tok, what sorts of rates Harley was seeing in terms of just creating a single video or a package of video a videos and giving them to a brand to post as they saw fit. And Harley had some really good points in terms of like do they want them to lip sing? Does it have to go to a certain type of song like what will be going on? And of course I entered I don't know because we don't know yet. That the brand wanted to figure out approximately how many pieces of content could they get from content creators Whiteley started within a certain budget. So Harley and I chatted back and forth about, tell us the budget, the budget was $25,000 for whitelisted content only. So the Creator did not have to post it whatsoever, they had a separate budget for having them post it, which I love.

5:17

So for those of you thinking that they don't have a budget,

5:21

for those of you thinking that they don't have a budget, 25k is their budget.

5:28

And I will preface by saying this is a major, major global brands. So and this is like their play experiment budget for Tech Talk. So yes, the budgets are out there. But also keep in mind that not everybody is at this level who's reaching out to you, I think the best way to know honestly, Harley is to like research the company a little bit like don't just think oh, because something is in beauty or because something is in tech, they must have a ton of money, like Google the brand and like see what how they've gotten investing recently, like what's been going on, and then you'll get an understanding of what type of rates they can even afford to begin with. Not that that should really change your whole rate package. But you might go into things feeling a little bit more confident if you did some research into a brand. And you saw that they had been awarded like a multimillion dollar funding or grant. So

6:23

that's a public company, and they have investors, you know that it's a different ballgame than your small mom and pop.

6:32

Exactly. But something I think that people should always keep in mind when it comes to pricing is packages. And that's something that you mentioned at the very beginning, I think and that you talk about for yourself and for people who follow you all the time. I love when creators already have a package deal. Because they know as you mentioned, like okay, if I get ready, and I set the stage to film a specific type of topic, I could get four or five videos out of that moment, let's say, and that package costs x amount of dollars, right? I think that when we talk about packaging, or we talk about rates, to me, the signals that influencers need to be having in their own brain is I should increase the rate when it starts to create a significant amount of additional work for me. So setting a new stage backdrop, multiple days of shooting, you know, things that cost more time and money. Of course, you should charge more time and money. But if a brand is saying like, Hey, could you shoot this one thing and give me two still images in one video, but it's all the same topic. It's all the same product to me, like you should have a package

7:41

and it's on your phone, and it's on your phone. If there's also a difference between I need to shoot on my camera, upload it, put it in Lightroom edit it then send it over versus I can film literally by switching the toggle on my frickin iPhone between film and take photo.

8:00

Absolutely. Like I know that there's a huge focus on video right now for brands. And while I want creators to be able to raise their rates if it involves like a lot of extra editing and time for them. Also know that like the average Tik Tok video, if you're already native to Tik Tok, like takes you five minutes or less to film like, consider that as well, like it is a learned skill. And you should definitely charge for the knowledge that you bring to the table to be able to do it in five minutes. Like I'm not saying build an hourly rate and then only charge for five minutes if it takes five minutes. Add in that app. Dre.

8:39

Can you also it is it responsive content. So you did get up and do your hair and find good lighting. And like all of that, like there is a lot more thought that goes into that content versus maybe something that you've seen on my feed because as much as I want it to fit into my feed, I know that I'm getting paid for it. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna show up to work the same way that I show up to coffee with a friend. Like I feel like coffee with a friend is my feed sometimes, but partnership is I'm walking into the office

9:10

agreed. And I would even challenge you and say that, like could you even lower the mindset a little bit so that those two like align, because sometimes I think that people are showing up to the office quote unquote, like too buttoned up. And then it doesn't align with how natural some of the other things in their feed are. Like they're overthinking it too much because they're like, Oh, now there's a price tag attached. Now a brand is really wanting something you know, like there's a level of heightened awareness around the content that they're creating. They're really trying to perfect it because of course, they want to impress that brand. And I love that. But at the same time, if it's going to like create a left turn from your regular content, then it's not going to perform as well. It's not the Harley or you know the person that we see on the page every single day, and thus it doesn't perform as well. So that's a good thing to keep in mind as well when you're talking thing about paid content.

10:02

So true. But I'm sure you've also seen the opposite in the world of extremes where you're not showing up like it as a job. So I'm sure you have horror stories there.

10:15

Sure all the time, I have had creators send content where the background is so messy, they clearly didn't tidy at all. It's like wild what they will send in, they said, they say the brand name wrong, they use the wrong products that weren't on their spelling errors. I mean, the list goes on and on. So like

10:37

another product in the frame. That's another product in the frame backwards photos, backwards, video content, backwards. Photos,

10:49

squares, videos, and photos are my number one pet peeve, especially when it comes to the beauty industry. Because like label recognition is such a part of why we are paying for sponsored content to get out there. And if you're posting frames and sending me frames where the label is in the mirrored view, I'm like, hello, no one can read this girlfriend, I'm gonna need you to like a baby step, right? That's like an automatic in iPhone like button like, no, that's not a difficult thing.

11:22

Literally in that edit function, you don't need to take it into another app, it's in your photo album. I have I have a dilemma for you. Let's go back to this is video content, less time consuming or not?

11:37

I think the video content is more time consuming for people who are not exactly sure what they're trying to achieve. Right? Like someone like me, who's a professional video content creator is shooting a lot more extra footage and going through it and back and forth of like, oh, do I like this section more? Do I like this section more or like this section, you know, and you have to go back and forth. Also, like, if you're not paying close attention to detail, it might require more edits. So one thing we always tell creators, that is asking for video is like please make sure to like shoot multiple times and have extra outside of the initial video that you send us. Because most likely, we're going to say like, oh, can they say that again? Oh, did they do that this way? Perhaps like are there other options? So having other options and still image is so easy. Having other options in the video is much difficult. Sometimes it's even just like, oh, like their hand is kind of covering the label on the bottling too much like do they have another option of This? Is? A lot of times the answer is no. And they have to reshoot the whole video because we don't have it where they didn't do that. So I would definitely say I understand why creators are

12:53

asked for rough drafts. I feel like I have so many clients where if they're trying something new like like social media, coaching clients, strategy clients, who will say if they're trying something new, I'll be like, Okay, here's what I want you to do, I don't want you to get ready, I don't want you to care about your lighting, make it? Let's talk about it, and then just make it just get it out there, then we can talk about it, we can revise it. And you can make it again, once you're ready. Sure, I

13:18

think that's a great idea. When it comes to video content. We've never done that before. We do create a really, really detailed for you if like when I'm telling you there's like five pages. The only one in the world. I don't Okay, other brands, other agencies out there that do work on behalf of brands like please hear me clearly the amount of clients I've had where I share my briefing process to them for their influencer programs. And they're like, What is I just like, what is everybody else doing? Like? Can I just have a quick moment?

13:52

Literally nothing, nothing.

13:55

Under the content comes back to the ship shell Hello like it's your own?

14:02

It is me that Pinterest board tell me exactly what you want. Like I know that as a creator, I should have a little bit of creative direction. Yes, mood board.

14:13

salutely like we have a mood board. We have links to previous content that we thought was executed really well. We have a page that shows when you edit like these are the Instagram native fonts that you're allowed to use. These are the colors that you are allowed to use. We give a styling mood board in terms of the actual outfits that you should be wearing. Like we are very detailed. And then we also do a pre shoot, like call with one of the members of the internal team for the brand. So that you get a full tutorial of how every product works. What order do you use them in like everything and if you have any questions at that time, then we address it.

14:51

This is a new service for you. This is a new service for you just create the brief for me. Brief one on 190 minutes

15:00

If you're out there listening to this, and you need a thorough brief, and honestly, I think it's just stuff that people don't think of asking like, we've done it so many times. Now. That's how we've gotten to this detailed point. Because we were so tired of getting stuff back. That wasn't correct. That needed more edits. That was like taking us out of the timeline and making more effort for everyone that we got to this detailed process that like really tightens it up. So yes, if you are out there and you need a briefing, please email me because if it would be a happy

15:32

head to the show notes. Sonya you need her. Okay, so what about with pricing? You got to this campaign 25k for however many influencers we're throwing spaghetti at the wall on Tik Tok, we're just trying to experiment in a way, what is your gut reaction per video as a creator, not someone that's posting on their feet, not your promotional posts?

15:59

To me, I think unless you have a video style that other people cannot emulate like something that is really truly unique. I would say something around 500 250 feels right for me and 250 could be a single video 500 might be two videos that are within the same scene. I think that's a great entry point. For most people, I would understand if people did not want to go below that. Or if they said, Listen, it's 250 per video, but you need to do a package of three, because I don't really feel like going through all the paperwork for $50. Right. And I understand that and if somebody writes, and it's 250. But I'll give you a package of five for x amount, which includes one free like, I'm more willing to do that. And I did have a creator who's very specific to beauty do that recently. And we ended up getting a bigger package than what we had initially thought that we were going to because there was that, like you get all of these and one of them is free, because you're buying like the whole package makes more sense for everybody.

17:06

I think that's what I would definitely do to my gut reaction says somewhere in the $200 rate, but I would definitely pitch you know, a package between 500 and 1000, if not more, because as a as a creator, like I need that getting out of bed, right? I don't want to do anything less than that. Because if I'm going to get up and have this project on my to do list and invoice it and do all of the things involved with that kind of project, even talking about the contract that back and forth and email like is a lot of time it takes what two weeks from like the initial outreach to like really solidify the partnership and start to create and then another two weeks to actually create the stuff and send it over and like there's a lot of back and forth. So yeah, I think I agree my initial is 200 low end, but don't even pitch the 200 pitch the 1000 for five

18:00

I would say for a creator if a brand or agent reaches out to you, Manager whomever and says, Hey, how much for you to create one tick tock video or one reel? I would not let them know for the single option I would just go directly to the package also from a marketing

18:21

videos 500 Yeah 500

18:26

There you go. And see what happens

18:29

115 second videos $500 But five of them is 1000 There you go. Done. She's well on that on say it with me.

18:41

Packages.

18:43

create those packages. That value

18:47

wrap up notes. Packages value mic drop done. Thank you so much, Sonia. You know she'll be back specifically we'll be diving into usage. So if you love this topic, come find us on Instagram at Harley Jordan with two wise two ends and Sonia dot Elise to tell us what topic you want us to cover next. Our DMS are open and ready for you. And of course, review subscribe and share if you loved it. See you next week. We are brought to you by our production team up starter Podcast Network a virtual podcast production and management company whose unique and customizable approach helps anyone anywhere turn their passions into a podcast and walk them through all aspects from recording virtually editing social media assets, monetization, a custom show growth strategy and all other little details. My experience with UPS starter has been on real I hand them everything they take the lead, I can focus on making the show and creating the content. So if you are a creator that is looking to expand their personal brand with The podcast or a business that wants to increase awareness and credibility sign up for a free concert today and learn more you can go to upstart or pods.com or upstart or pods on Instagram and let them know that brand new creator sent you