Template

Brand deal negotiation templates

Every negotiation reply below does the same job: it restates what the brief actually asks for, prices each line, and lets the total argue. None of them apologize for the price, and none of them bluff. Copy the one your inbox needs.

When to use it. Keep these next to your rate card. The first reply to an offer sets the shape of the whole deal; a calm, itemized counter sent the same day beats a perfect one sent next week.

The offer is too low

Hi [Brand] team, thanks for the offer. Let me show you how my rate builds, so we are looking at the same brief:

• 1 Reel: $[rate]
• 1 Story set (3 frames): $[rate]
• 90 days of usage rights on the Reel: $[rate]
Total: $[total]

Your offer of $[their number] prices the usage at $0, and usage is the line your ads will run on. I can meet you partway on scope: drop the Story set, or shorten the usage to 30 days, and the total moves with it. The lines themselves are my standard rates.

The offer is product only

Hi [Brand] team, thanks for thinking of me. I do not work for product alone on a brief with deliverables and usage, because the work and the rights are the same whether they are paid in cash or in product.

What I can do: if you would like a gifted post with no obligations, no usage, no exclusivity, and no deadline, I will happily try the product and post if I love it. For the brief as written, my rate is $[total], built line by line on my rate card here: [link].

Usage got added without pay

Hi [Brand] team, happy to add usage. Quick note that it is a separate line on my rate card, priced by term:

• 30 days: $[rate]
• 90 days: $[rate]
• 12 months: $[rate]

Tell me the term you need and I will update the total and the invoice to match. Everything else in the brief stays as agreed.

Asking for a higher budget

Hi [Brand] team, I want to make this work, and I would rather ask plainly than trim the idea quietly. The full brief, with the usage term your ads team will want, prices at $[total] on my standard rates.

If the budget is fixed at $[their number], here is the version of the brief it buys: [the smaller scope, deliverables and term named]. Either version gets my full effort; they are just different amounts of work and rights. Which would you like to book?

Make it work

Counter with the breakdown, once, in full. A negotiation dripped out line by line over five messages teaches the brand that every line is negotiable forever.
Trade scope, never lines. A smaller brief at honest prices protects your rate for the next brand; a discounted full brief resets it.
End every reply with the choice stated plainly: the full brief at the full price, or the smaller brief at theirs. Brands answer choices; they stall on open questions.