How to go from performance ads to big brand deals as a creator

Performance ads are a great way to get started as a creator because you get briefs, you make content, and you get paid; it’s all straightforward. But if you've ever wondered what it looks like on the other side, where brands are reaching out, deals are longer, and the work feels more like a real partnership, that's a different game entirely.

That jump comes from building the right habits early, knowing what brands are actually looking for, and understanding that everything you're doing right now is laying the groundwork for what comes next.

What do bigger brands look for in a UGC creator?

It was not about followers in performance ads, and it still isn’t about followers in bigger partnerships. When brands start looking at bigger, longer partnerships, they're asking different questions.

• Does this creator post consistently?
• Do their followers actually engage or just scroll past?
• Have they worked with brands in a way that felt natural and not forced?

They're also looking at something called EMV, Earned Media Value, which is how they measure the real-world impact of creator content beyond just views. You don't need to calculate it perfectly, but knowing it exists and having a rough sense of your own numbers makes you sound like someone who gets the business side of this, and that matters.

Four content formats that brands look for in UGC creators

Four content formats keep coming up when brands talk about what actually drives results:

reviews, tutorials, shopping hauls, and gift guides.

These aren't trendy formats that are going to disappear next month; they're the ones that have proven ROI behind them, and brands know it. If you're only making one type of content right now, that's worth paying attention to. The creators who get picked for bigger deals usually have a portfolio that shows range because it’s a sign they can tell a product story in more than one way.

Do brands only work with creators in their category?

Sephora ran a holiday campaign and hired travel creators, productivity creators, and DIY creators alongside their usual beauty crowd. They wanted to reach people who weren't already in their world.

Brands with bigger budgets are often more open to unexpected creator partnerships than smaller ones. They've already got their core audience covered, so what they want is to reach into new ones. That means a lifestyle creator can land a tech deal or a travel creator can land a beauty deal.

How do the best UGC creators structure their content?

There's a reason some creator content feels like an ad, and some feels like a recommendation from a friend. The difference is almost always in the video structure.

The ones that feel like a recommendation start with a person and their world - their plans, their problem, their everyday moment - and then the product shows up as part of that world.

Brands know this works, and they're looking for creators who get it without being told. If you can make the product feel like it belongs in your story rather than interrupting it, you're already ahead of most creators pitching for the same deals.

How do creators prepare for bigger brand deals?

The gap between performance ads and bigger brand deals is smaller than you think, but it doesn't close on its own. Here's what to start doing now:

• Show up consistently: it does not mean every day, but regularly enough that a brand scrolling your profile sees someone reliable
• Focus on engagement over views: comments, saves, and shares tell a brand that people actually care about what you post
• Diversify your content: reviews, tutorials, hauls, gift guides. Pick one you haven't tried and make it
• Track your numbers: after every campaign, write down your views, engagement rate, and any results you got for the brand. A note on your phone works fine for now

In a nutshell

Every creator who's ever landed a big, long-term brand deal had a ‘before’. A time when they were taking smaller briefs, figuring out their style, and wondering if any of it was going somewhere. You might be in your ‘before phase’ right now and that's a good place to be in because you still have time to build the right habits before the bigger opportunities show up.

Here's a report by CreatorIQ about How YouTubeCreators DrivePowerful Results for Retailers if you want to learn more. And yes, they might be talking about YouTube but there are some things that you can translate to other platforms.

Good luck! 💪

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