Influencer Invoice Template: What To Include in an Invoice

Securing a brand deal is huge, but ensuring that you wrap up that brand deal on a positive note will leave a lasting impression on the brand you work with—not to mention could help you get work with that company again in the future. 

Today I want to review how to create an invoice as an influencer or content creator and review the basics of getting paid by a brand after a campaign wraps.

What is an invoice used for?

An invoice is basically like a receipt that you can send to a company after you’ve completed work for them. You can send an invoice for any kind of contract work including content creation, photography, graphic design, writing, editing, and more.

Most people send invoices in the form of a PDF or Word Doc.

What should my invoice wording look like?

Unlike brand contracts that can sometimes be filled with lots of legalese, invoice wording is typically very straightforward! You’ll only be including the most necessary information on there that you’ll need in order to get paid.

What does an invoice need to include?

• Name

• Invoice number (for your own internal tracking)

• Date issued

• Date due

• Company contact info including the name, phone number and email address of the contact you were working with

• Your contact info

• The service provided

• Your payment details

How do you provide payment instructions on an invoice?

Check the contract you have with the brand to understand how you’ll be getting paid. Some brands will pay you via direct deposit, meaning they’ll do an ACH transfer and put the money directly in your account. In this case you’ll provide them with your bank name, account number and routing number. Be sure you only give this info to trusted clients and that you keep your passwords and pins to yourself.

Other brands might want to pay you through PayPal and Venmo. Both are totally safe options for getting paid but before you agree to get paid through PayPal or Venmo make sure that you factor in the goods & services fee to your rates as a content creator.

They’ll take a percentage if it’s a business transaction and charge it to you, the seller. The rate of the fee varies based on the amount so I always recommend working this into your rate at the beginning if you notice in the contract the brand wants to pay you through Venmo or PayPal.

Some brands will also pay you via check, but I find that that is more and more rare.

Is there somewhere where I can find an invoice template that includes all of this info?

I’ve got good news! I’ve actually gone ahead and done the work for you and I’ve created an invoice template specifically with influencers and content creators in mind. This template is professional and playful and you can edit it in Canva.

If you’re not familiar with Canva, it’s both a website and mobile app that makes it super easy to create anything graphic design related. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up for Canva here.

My templates include all of the information I listed above, so you’ll never be left wondering if you’re missing something important and you can save yourself the time it would take to make one on your own.

Simply replace the dummy text with your own information, save the invoice as a standard PDF, and email it to your brand contact. Boom! You’re done.

The templates come in 4 colors and you can even customize the invoice templates by adding your own brand logo to them! Once you buy one, it’s yours forever that you can use over and over again.

These are the templates I use myself when I invoice brands and I’ve tweaked them based on beta tester feedback to make them as great as they can be for you to use. I hope you get a chance to check them out!

When should you invoice after the campaign?

After you post a piece of content for a brand, usually the brand will request insights 24-48 hours after the campaign has gone live.

This is also the time where I like to send a brand my invoice. I’ll typically create a new email thread that will serve as a campaign wrap up where I’ll share analytics and insights that the brand requested and I’ll also attach my invoice PDF.

How long will it take a brand to pay me?

This will depend on the original terms of payment that you agreed to at the beginning of the collaboration so see what is listed in your contract.

Standard payment for most freelancers and contract workers is net-30, meaning you’ll get paid 30 days after the content was posted or the project was completed.

Some brands will try to get you to agree to net-60 or even net-90 payment terms. Don’t be afraid to negotiate and push back on those timelines if you see them in a contract!

I’ve even heard of some influencers who were able to negotiate net-14 payments or request half of the money upfront.

What about late payments?

When I invoice a brand I like to make a note in my calendar for the day before the payment is actually due. If the brand hasn’t paid me by the day before it’s officially due, I can send them a friendly reminder about the payment due date.

It’s possible that your contact at the brand may not be responsible for payments so you can also get asked to be looped in with their accounting team.

If for some reason the brand is late to pay you, you should feel free to follow up with them until you get some answers. If you’re in the New York City area I recommend reading up on the Freelance Isn’t Free Act to understand your rights.

Some influencers will also incorporate late fees into their contracts for this reason. You can either create a flat rate late fee or include a percentage or incremental late fee to a contract where the amount due gets higher the longer it takes a brand to pay past the due date.

If you’re still having trouble getting paid, I’d recommend crowdsourcing in a Facebook group like Freelancing Females or rewardStyle Bloggers to see if anyone has been in a similar situation.

Finally if that doesn’t pan out, you can consider legal action to retrieve your funds. This has never happened to me so I’m not personally able to advise you here but you can ask in one of the Facebook groups I mentioned above or do some Googling to get answers.

I know chasing down late payments as a freelancer sucks and I look forward to the day where contract workers are paid within 2 weeks just like everyone else!

Do I account for taxes on my invoice?

Typically, no. As a freelancer or contract worker, your taxes will not be withheld from your payments in most cases.

I recommend paying voluntary quarterly tax estimates if you’re based in the US and typically that means setting aside 20-30% of your income to go towards taxes.

You should also provide the brand you’re working with with a W9 form for tax purposes. A W9 form is the standard tax form for contract work.

Do you have any additional questions about invoicing brands I didn’t cover in this post? Leave them down below!

yours,

Austen