What Every Influencer Should Know About Gifted Collabs

“It All Started With a Candle…”

Why that Candle isn’t FREE: What EVERY Influencer should KNOW About Gifted Collabs

A friendly DM slides into your inbox.
“Hey lovely! We adore your aesthetic and think you’d be perfect for our brand. Can we send you one of our new candles in exchange for some content?”
Me: Flattered. Blushing. Already imagining the candle styled on my coffee table, glowing beautifully in golden hour.
But then came the list.
One reel.
Three stories.
Two grid posts.
And could I shoot it in three different rooms? By Friday?
Oh, and they’d love to use the images across their socials and website.
All for a Candle worth £22!
And this, my friends, is where flattery and reality part ways.

What Is and Isn’t Acceptable in a Brand Collaboration

In the world of influencer marketing and brand collabs, there’s a big difference between a gift and a job. If a brand sends you something with zero expectations, no deadlines, and no pressure? That’s gifting. But if they send a product plus a content brief, deadlines, and plans to reuse your content, what they’re actually doing is commissioning a campaign.

That deserves a fee.

How Much Content is Reasonable for a Gifted Item?

This is where things often get murky. Here’s a rough guide I use when evaluating gifted influencer campaigns:.

Gift Value	Content Suggestion	Paid?
Under £100	1 optional story or casual mention	Probably not
£100–£250	1 story or post, if aligned with you	Maybe
£250+	Paid campaign territory	Absolutely yes

The higher the product value, or the more content required, the more you should be charging. Your influencer services have value, and you are not being difficult for wanting to be compensated fairly.

Should You Give Brands Your Photos and Videos?

Short answer: not for free.

Just because a brand sent you something doesn’t mean they own the rights to the content you’ve created. If they want to reuse your images or videos in ads, emails, or on their website, that requires a content licensing fee.

Here’s a quick guide:

How to Ask for Payment as an Influencer (Without Feeling Awkward)

Here’s a message you can copy and paste the next time a brand slides into your DMs:

“Thanks so much for reaching out, I love the look of your product and would be interested in collaborating. As content creation is part of my business, I do have a rate card for campaigns involving deliverables and image usage. Let me know what you had in mind and I can share my packages with you.”

It’s confident, professional, and sets the right tone.

Your Creativity Isn’t Free… And That’s Okay

You didn’t grow your platform overnight. You’ve spent hours creating content, nurturing your audience, building trust, learning photography and video, editing, writing captions, and now brands want in on that. That’s business. And business deserves fair compensation.

Is that Gifted Collab Worth it? Don’t Get Burned by a Candle, Know Your Worth

So next time you are asked if you want to do a gifted collab, remember, being asked to collaborate is a compliment. But don’t let flattery override the facts.
Your content has value. Your time has value. Your voice has value.

If the candle is cute? Enjoy it.
If they want a marketing campaign? Invoice it.

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Yvette x