Your’e pricing on follower count.That's the problem.
Here's what most creators do when a brand reaches out: they look at their follower count and reverse-engineer a number from there. 50K followers? Maybe $2,000. 100K followers? Maybe $5,000.
Sounds logical. It's not.
Follower count tells a brand how many people could see your content. It says nothing about how many people will. And engagement, actual views, actual attention is what brands are paying for.
The One Number That Matters
CPV: Cost Per View.
CPV stands for Cost Per View. It's the metric brands use to measure the efficiency of creator campaigns. And it's your baseline.
The formula is simple:
Base Rate = Average Views (last 30 days) × CPV Rate
For micro-to-mid-tier creators (10K–500K followers), your CPV baseline is around $0.24 to $0.27 per view.
Let's make this real.
The Quick Calculation
Pull your last 30 days of average views. Let's say you're averaging 50,000 views per post.
Here's the math:
50,000 views × $0.25 (CPV) = $12,500
That's your baseline rate.
Not $1,500. Not $3,000. $12,500.
And that's before you add:
•Exclusivity fees (add 20–50%)
•Usage rights for paid ads (add 50–100%)
•Rush turnaround fees (add 15–25%)
Most creators I talk to are charging a fraction of this. Not because their content isn't valuable. Because they didn't know the formula.
What You're Missing
This is just your starting point. You haven't added the variables yet. You haven't accounted for usage rights. You haven't built the rate card you can actually defend in a negotiation.
Here's what I see happen:
A brand reaches out. You quote $5,000. They say yes immediately. No pushback. No negotiation. Just "yes."
That's not a win. That's a sign you're too low.
When brands don't negotiate, it means you left room on the table. They were ready to pay more. You just didn't ask.
The Real Cost
I talked to a creator last week. 80,000 followers. She was charging $3,000 for a brand deal. Her Reels were averaging 120,000 views.
Let's do the math
120,000 views × $0.25 = $30,000 baseline
She wasn't just undercharging. She was leaving $27,000 on the table. Per deal.
That's not a rounding error. That's revenue.
What This Looks Like in Practice
You don't need to memorize this formula. You need to build a rate card.
A rate card is a one-page document that shows:
• Your average views over 30 days
• Your CPV baseline rate
• Your add-ons (exclusivity, usage rights, rush turnaround)
• Your final deliverable rate
When a brand reaches out, you don't quote on the fly. You send your rate card. They see the math. They see the variables. They see you're not guessing.
And when they push back, you don't drop your rate. You adjust the scope. Fewer deliverables. No exclusivity. Organic only, no paid ads.
But the baseline holds.
The Question Worth Sitting With This Week
What would change if you stopped pricing on what you think a brand will accept and started pricing on what your attention is actually worth?
Write it down. Don't answer it yet. Just sit with it.
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The Reset Memo publishes every Thursday. Forward this to a creator who's undercharging.