Sponsored, Affiliates or UGC: choose the right campaign

Choose the campaign type by the work you need. Sponsored campaigns buy an agreed post to a creator's audience. Affiliate campaigns recruit creators to promote through your commission programme. UGC commissions content for your brand to use under agreed terms.

A creator can work in more than one way. The distinction is the arrangement you agree for this campaign, not a permanent label attached to the person.

Sponsored: you need the creator to publish

Sponsored is a useful starting point when reaching a relevant creator audience is part of the job. Specify the platform, deliverables, message, posting window and evidence you will request afterwards. Agree the fee and terms before work begins.

Follower count alone is not the purchase. Review the creator's actual content, its relevance to your product and the audience evidence available. A sponsored post does not guarantee a particular number of views, enquiries or sales.

If you also want the video for your own channels or advertising, negotiate those rights explicitly. A published post does not automatically grant unlimited reuse. Start with Sponsored sourcing when that distribution is what your campaign needs.

UGC: you need assets for your own channels

Choose UGC when your main need is a video, demonstration, photo or other agreed content asset. Your Creator Call should describe what must be delivered: formats, lengths, hooks, revisions, files and usage rights. Assess relevant examples of the creator's work and whether they can demonstrate the product well.

Posting to the creator's audience is not included by default. If you need both delivery and posting, say so and agree the combined scope. Raw footage, extra variations and paid-ad use are also commercial choices to settle rather than assumptions.

For this arrangement, your first measure of success may be usable assets delivered to the agreed brief. How those assets perform on your website, organic channels or paid ads depends on their later use and needs evidence from those channels. See UGC sourcing.

Affiliates: you need partners for your programme

Affiliate recruitment makes sense when the brand has a defined offer and a way to track qualifying sales and pay commission. Some arrangements are commission-only; others combine a fixed fee with commission. State the offer clearly enough for creators to decide whether it is suitable for them.

CreatorCall sources interested affiliate creators. Your brand sets the programme terms and is responsible for paying commission. Recruitment is not a promise of sales or a substitute for running your programme.

Prepare your affiliate offer

Before sourcing, settle these points:

• What product and audience the offer is for.
• The commission basis and which transactions qualify.
• Whether there is a fixed fee, a sample or another benefit.
• How links or codes are issued and how sales are attributed.
• How returns, cancellations and duplicate claims are handled.
• When and how commission is paid.
• The content expectations and who creators can contact for support.

If those answers are not ready, prepare the programme first. Once they are, affiliate creator sourcing can help you find interested partners.

One product, three different requests

Illustrative campaign examples: the fictional product is a reusable travel mug. These are example requests, not real customer campaigns or results.

Sponsored request: find a creator who regularly shows their commuting routine. Ask for an agreed video published to their audience, with an accurate demonstration and a posting window. The essential output is a creator-published post.

UGC request: commission two product-demonstration videos for the brand's own channels. Specify the shots, formats, review round and permitted usage. The essential output is the content package; a creator-audience post is not part of this request.

Affiliate request: recruit creators whose audiences may be interested in the mug to join the brand's existing programme. Explain its commission terms, link or code process and content expectations. The essential arrangement is participation in that programme, with terms agreed by both sides.

The product is the same, but the deliverables, compensation structure and measurement plan differ. Keep those differences in the sourcing request so replies answer the job you actually have.

What if you need a mixture?

Choose the arrangement that best describes the main deliverable, then state the additional work. A sponsored post with a reusable asset still needs explicit reuse rights. An affiliate arrangement with an upfront content fee still needs programme terms. A UGC commission with a creator post needs a separate publishing obligation.

Do not hide the extra work in a vague phrase such as "full collaboration". Put it in the scope, ask for a quote and agree it before booking. The budget and quote guide shows why two similar headline prices can cover different work.

Make the request clear, then prepare the work

Write a Creator Call to explain the opportunity and source interested creators. Once you have selected a creator and agreed the booking, write a Campaign Brief with the instructions for delivery. The annotated Creator Call examples and Campaign Brief examples cover the two stages separately.

For US-facing endorsements, plan how the relationship will be disclosed. Agree the disclosure requirements for payment, commission or supplied products before content is made.

Finally, select evidence that matches the arrangement. Read the campaign measurement guide before promising that views, comments or an asset delivery will demonstrate sales.