Inclusive Marketing: How Brands Can Champion Fair Pay For Influencers

Consumer preference for inclusive brands has been well documented in recent years, putting inclusive marketing at the top of the agenda. Brands are ever more focused on representing a diverse cast of talent in their influencer campaigns. But what happens behind the scenes is just as important to building an inclusive influencer marketing strategy.

Even as inclusive marketing grows in prominence, many influencers from underrepresented communities still face pay inequity. Women creators made up 83% of influencer marketing deals in 2021. But they earned 30% less per post than their male counterparts. There’s also a 35% pay gap between Black and white content creators.

Brands who care about their reputation must not look the other way.

We exist in a world where unfair practices never stay secret for long. If brands want to build customer loyalty, they must treat their partners with respect. Here are four impactful ways brands can adjust their influencer marketing strategy to stand up for fair pay.

1. Understand the landscape.

Influencer marketing has changed a lot in recent years. Sending an influencer a product to promote in exchange for visibility used to be the norm. That's no longer the case—and rightly so.

Creators have reclaimed the fact that they're doing a job like anyone else. While they may not work a traditional 9-to-5 , they give their time, energy and expertise to brands. It takes a lot of dedicated effort to grow and build a loyal audience base. Why should brands profit off of this work for free?

We’re in a moment where people across sectors are demanding better pay and better benefits for their efforts. Brands must tune into this cultural shift and adjust their influencer marketing strategy accordingly—or they'll stand out for the wrong reasons.

Influencer marketing has changed a lot in recent years. Sending an influencer a product to promote in exchange for visibility is no longer the norm.

2. Knowledge is power.

Brands must be transparent about how much they're paying influencers, and why. This is essential to driving fair pay at scale, especially for historically excluded communities.

Long-standing inequities mean that underrepresented groups have typically been given less work by brands. It follows that they may have less negotiating experience. They might not know that they have the right to ask for better. Or how to spot an unfair contract.

At Praytell, we always have open conversations about how we're making pricing decisions. This arms all our partners with the knowledge they need to advocate for themselves down the road.

Transparent conversations about pay can arm our partners with the knowledge they need to advocate for themselves.

3. Pay is nuanced.

In an ever-changing media landscape, using a CPM based compensation model (similar to traditional advertising spend) can help to standardize a complex system. This involves taking the cost per 1,000 impressions earned, and multiplying by every 1,000 followers an influencer has.

However, follower count is only one piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t take into account the many nuanced benefits and services that an influencer may be providing. To price influencers fairly, we must consider other key factors, including:

• Expertise: Your target might have clout within the media landscape. Or influence that goes beyond their social following. They might bring a unique new presence to a typically homogenous sector. Brands must take all of this into account when figuring out pricing.
• Pieces of content: Not only the number of pieces, but the time and creativity it will take to create them.
• Usage: Where will the content appear? Social media, print and point of sale all come with different price tags.
• Exclusivity: How long are you asking this creator not to work with other brands? Remember that you're essentially barring them from other work for a given period. Their pay should reflect that.

Follower count doesn’t take into account the many nuanced benefits and services that an influencer may be providing a brand.

4. It’s a two-way street.

Finally, it’s important to go in with a strong offer, but always be fair and open to negotiate. If an influencer tells you their rate is usually higher, be curious as to how they’ve structured their rates.

Creators are professionals, and they deserve to be treated as such. Be willing to have an open dialogue and see if there is a way to meet in the middle. Ask for their latest metrics or another measure of their influence, and go from there.

It’s not a case of being lenient to the point of overpaying. It’s about respecting these creators’ craft and working to educate each other around why fair pay is important. The more transparency we can facilitate between brands and influencers, the closer we are to creating a more equitable industry.

Let’s keep the conversation going on fair pay for all! Reach out to us at hello@praytellagency.com.