Price A Brand Deal

---
name: price-a-brand-deal
description: "Value a sponsorship and build a creator rate card on VALUE, not a flat CPM: audience value + deliverable + usage/exclusivity rights as separate line items + a walk-away number, with rate benchmarks dated + verify-at-use and clear disclosure. Reach for this when a brand makes an offer, or to set standard rates. Driven by creator-business-strategist."
---

# Skill: Price a Brand Deal

Sponsorships are the fastest cash and the biggest trust cost. This skill prices them
on value and protects the audience. Driven by `creator-business-strategist`.

## Step 1 — Start from audience value, not views

Price up from: niche **buying-intent**, **trust/engagement** (not raw reach), and how
hard the audience is for the brand to reach elsewhere. A niche professional audience
is worth many times a broad entertainment one at the same view count. A flat CPM
ignores all of this.

## Step 2 — Price the deliverable

Different products, different prices: a dedicated video ≠ a 60-second integration ≠ a
story mention. A multi-post series or a bundle is priced as a package, not a sum of
list prices. Define exactly what's delivered.

## Step 3 — Charge separately for usage & exclusivity

These are often the **largest** line items and are routinely given away by accident:

- **Usage / whitelisting / paid amplification** — the brand running your content as
  *their* ad, or boosting it, is a separate grant. Price it; time-box it.
- **Category exclusivity** — not working with competitors for a period has real cost
  (lost future deals). Price it by the window.
- **Content reuse / perpetuity** — perpetual rights cost more than a campaign window.

Never bundle these into the base fee for free.

## Step 4 — Set the walk-away number

Below some price, the trust cost of the promotion isn't worth it — especially for a
product you wouldn't use. Name that floor before negotiating, and hold it.

## Step 5 — Benchmark (dated) as a sanity check only

Cross-check the value-based number against current rate norms — but treat every
benchmark as `[verify-at-use]` (see
[`../../knowledge/creator-platforms-and-monetization-2026.md`](../../knowledge/creator-platforms-and-monetization-2026.md)).
Benchmarks sanity-check a value-based price; they don't replace it.

## Step 6 — Require clear disclosure

The deal must include clear, conspicuous, in-content disclosure (legal *and* trust —
verify the jurisdiction/platform rule, dated). A brand that wants disclosure hidden is
a red flag.

## Step 7 — Output

A rate card / deal valuation: **base fee by deliverable + usage/exclusivity line items
+ the walk-away floor + disclosure terms**, with benchmarks dated. Feeds the P&L and
the concentration check in [`choose-monetization-mix`](../choose-monetization-mix/SKILL.md).