I’ve been wrestling with this for months now, and I finally decided to stop guessing and actually figure it out properly.
Here’s the problem: when I’m pitching to a US brand, they ask for my rates. I give them a number based on what I charged Russian clients, and I can see the confusion on their faces. Sometimes they think I’m overpriced. Sometimes it’s the opposite—they think I’m undervaluing myself because the rate seems too low compared to what they’ve paid other creators.
The thing is, the markets are just… different. Cost of living, brand budgets, creator supply—it all shapes what a “fair” rate actually looks like. But without real benchmarks from both sides, I’m basically throwing darts at a board.
I recently started collecting actual case studies and pricing data from both markets—not theoretical stuff, but real deals that actually closed. The patterns are starting to make sense now. Like, I discovered that US brands often budget 3-5x more per creator than their Russian equivalents, but that’s not because US creators are that much better. It’s because the brand’s revenue model is different, their margins are higher, and frankly, the market expects it.
What I wish I’d had earlier was a structured way to compare: What was the creator’s follower count? Engagement rate? Content niche? Campaign deliverables? Brand category? Then map that to the actual rate they charged. When you layer two markets’ worth of case studies on top of each other, patterns emerge.
I started doing this informally with a spreadsheet, but it’s tedious. I’m curious if there’s a better way—like, are there communities or resources where people actually share this kind of data openly? Or do most people in this space just negotiate case-by-case and never build that institutional knowledge?
What’s your process for setting rates when you’re working with clients in different markets? Do you adjust based on currency, or do you have a different methodology altogether?