A creator asks for $1,000. You offer $500. What are the chances they accept? Probably higher than you think. We looked at negotiations across 10k unique creators at @1stcollab to help brands make better offers. Here’s what stood out: 1. As expected, acceptance rates fall sharply as brands request larger discounts Using approximate discount levels: • 10% discount → 78% acceptance • 50% discount → 39% acceptance • 90% discount → 6% acceptance That said, there’s still a chance, even with a steep discount. 2. A low offer can still start a conversation. At a 70% discount, over 50% of creators still submitted a counter offer. Your opening offer doesn’t have to close the deal to move the conversation forward. 3. More expensive creators hold firmer on price. A roughly 10% discount showed almost no drop in acceptance for creators asking $2,500 or less. For creators asking over $2,500, acceptance was nearly 30% lower. 4. Rebook sooner if you want to keep the same rate. Same-deal acceptance was about 80% within 1–3 months of the prior contract signing. That fell to 66% at 3–6 months and 50% at 6–12 months. The tradeoff behind all of this: better rates require more outreach. Negotiating aggressively can stretch your creator budget. But you’ll need more sourcing, outreach, negotiations and time spent on the campaign to fill your campaign. In our latest post, we share the findings and practical tips for putting them to work: how to set offers, plan outreach, and balance performance with scale and your team’s time. Read the full breakdown here: 1stcollab.com/blog/creator-n… How do you decide what rates to offer creators?

With $25k for influencer marketing, do you spend it on one big creator or 100 smaller creators? Fewer creators is easier to manage but spreading your budget across many smaller creators significantly improves your performance. We analyzed 10,000+ pieces of content on 1stCollab. Posts under $250 generated 5x more views and 8x more clicks per dollar than posts over $10,000. More affordable content also gives you more chances to find a breakout hit. Consider clicks: • 42% of posts priced 10k–20k exceeded 250 clicks. • Just 2.3% of posts priced 100–200 did. But give 100 posts an independent 2.3% chance each, and the probability of at least one exceeding 250 clicks rises to 90%. The catch is execution. Managing 100 partnerships means more sourcing, outreach, approvals, contracts, and payments. That work can eat into the savings on content. I broke down the data, the case for scale, and how brands manage the operational challenges in our latest report. What’s the bigger barrier to working with more creators: confidence in the results or the capacity to manage them? 1stcollab.com/blog/small-cre…

🚀 We’re live on @ProductHunt! → producthunt.com/products/1st… After nearly 3 years of building, we’re excited to officially launch @1stcollab--the first fully-automated, ROI-optimized influencer marketing platform. We'd love your support!