How to Get Brand Deals as a Small Creator or Influencer in the UK
You do not need a huge following to be paid for your content. Brands of every size, from local cafés to national labels, work with small creators because their audiences trust them and their engagement is often higher. What makes the difference is showing brands what you offer, making it easy to book you, and handling the deal professionally. This guide sets out how UK creators with smaller audiences land their first paid brand deals.
List your services on ZOMZEY and brands send you paid offers. Joining is free.
1. Choose a clear niche
Brands look for creators whose audience matches their customers. A clear focus, such as budget home décor in Manchester or plant based baking, makes you easy to picture in a campaign. You can post about more than one thing, but make it obvious what you are known for.
2. Know your numbers
Brands will ask about your audience, so have the figures ready: followers on each platform, average engagement rate, and your top audience locations and ages. Work out your engagement rate from recent posts with the free engagement rate calculator, and update your figures every month or two.
3. Set your prices before anyone asks
Decide what you charge for each format so you can answer quickly and confidently. The free influencer pricing calculator gives a starting range for your platform, format, audience and engagement, and our guide to how much influencers charge in the UK explains what moves the price. Price usage rights and exclusivity separately.
4. Build a rate card
A one or two page rate card with your introduction, audience figures, formats, prices, packages and terms makes you look professional and saves time in every conversation. Download our free influencer rate card template and fill it in.
5. Show brands what you can do
Create a few posts that look like the brand work you want: an honest review, a styled product shot, a short tutorial. Pin them or save them to a highlight, so a brand can see your style in seconds.
6. Pitch the right brands, the right way
Start with brands you already use and love, and local businesses near you, where your recommendation carries real weight. Keep a pitch short: who you are, why their customers are your audience, one idea for a post, and your rate card. Follow the brand’s own contact route, often a partnerships or press address on their website.
7. Let brands come to you
Pitching one brand at a time is slow. On ZOMZEY, brands, authors, shops and local businesses post the work they want done, and you send an offer at your own fee. You can also list your services so buyers can find and book you.
Not sure how to label a paid post? Read our guide to how to label influencer ads in the UK.
8. Handle the deal professionally
Agree the deliverables, deadlines, number of edits, usage rights and payment terms in writing before you start. Label every paid post clearly as an ad, as the Advertising Standards Authority explains in its guide for influencers. On ZOMZEY, Protected Payments secures the fee before you start and releases it when the agreed work is delivered, so you never chase an invoice.
Creators on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and more receive paid offers on ZOMZEY.
Frequently asked questions
How many followers do you need to get brand deals?
There is no fixed number. Brands work with creators of every size, and small creators with engaged audiences in the right niche often land deals first with local and independent businesses.
How do I get my first brand deal?
Know your niche and numbers, set your prices, build a rate card, pitch brands you already love and local businesses, and list your services where brands look for creators, such as ZOMZEY.
Do I have to label brand deals as ads?
Yes. In the UK, paid posts must be clearly labelled as advertising, for example with “Ad” at the start of the caption.
How do I make sure I get paid?
Agree the terms in writing and use a payment method that secures the fee before you start. On ZOMZEY, Protected Payments holds the money until the agreed work is delivered.
What does a typical first brand deal look like?
Often a gifted product plus a small fee from a local or independent business, or a single post for a brand you already use. A first brand deal is worth taking for the review and the portfolio piece, as long as the terms are clear and the post is labelled as an ad.
Should I accept a brand deal for free product only?
Sometimes, early on, if the product is something you would buy anyway and the brand is not controlling the post. Once brands ask for approval, deadlines or usage rights, that is work, and a brand deal should carry a fee.
How do I avoid a brand deal going wrong?
Agree deliverables, deadlines, usage rights and payment terms in writing before you start, keep the conversation on one platform, and never post before the fee is secured. On ZOMZEY, a brand deal is funded under Protected Payments before you begin and released when the brand approves your evidence.
