how to track brand deals and payments

a brand deal tracker has a row per deal: brand, contact, deliverables, deadline, fee, usage rights, exclusivity, pay-by date and status. here's how to run one.

updated October 30, 2026 · 11 min read · amelo

a brand deal tracker is a list with one row per deal and a column for every date and amount. each row holds the brand, your contact, the deliverables, the deadline, the fee, usage rights, exclusivity, the pay-by date and the status. you fill in a row the day a brand says yes and update it whenever something moves. once a week you check which payments are due.

deals usually lose you money in two places. a payment date passes and nobody notices, or a brand keeps using a video months after the rights ran out. a tracker catches both, because every date sits in a column you look at every week.

say you run a skincare account on Instagram and TikTok, and this month you have three deals: a sunscreen brand that also wants your video for its ads, a cleansing balm and a local nail studio. the account and the brands are made up. every example below uses them.

the short version

give every deal its own row the day the brand agrees, before you film anything.
write down two dates for money: when the content is due and when you get paid.
keep the brief, the approvals and the contact person next to the deal.
if a payment is late, send a short reminder 3 days after the pay-by date and another one after 7.

what to record for each brand deal

ten fields cover almost every deal.

brand and contact

write the brand name and the name of the person you talk to, with the way you reach them: email, DM or an agency manager. sometimes a brand hands you over to someone else after the contract is signed. when that happens, add the new name instead of deleting the old one.

deliverables

list exactly what you owe, with the format and the platform: "1 reel on Instagram, 2 stories with a link, reel cross-posted to TikTok". vague deliverables like "some content" lead to arguments later about whether the job is done.

add the details that change the work too. if the brief asks for the product in the first 3 seconds, a link in bio for a week or a specific hashtag, put it here.

deadline and approval date

the deadline is the day the content has to go live. many brands also want to see a draft first, so there's often a second date: the day you send it for approval.

for the cleansing balm deal, the reel goes live on Friday, November 13, and the draft is due to the brand on Tuesday the 10th. that gives you the shoot day too. you film on the weekend before, because you need time to edit and room for one round of changes. the weekly content plan guide explains how to keep shoot days and post days apart.

fee and pay-by date

write the fee with its currency, and whether it's before or after tax if the contract says so. then turn terms like "net 30" into a real pay-by date.

"net 30" means the brand pays within 30 days, usually counted from your invoice. if you invoice on November 13, the pay-by date is December 13. writing the date itself saves you from counting days every time you check the list.

if the deal includes free product instead of money, or on top of it, note that too. it's easy to forget later which deals actually paid.

usage rights

usage rights say how the brand can use your content and for how long. for example, the brand can repost the reel on its own account, or run it as a paid ad for 3 months.

turn "3 months" into an end date. the sunscreen brand gets the reel for paid ads until February 6. after that date, any ad using your face is outside the deal, and you can ask for a fee to extend. this is the part of a UGC deal that's easiest to lose track of, because the ad runs on the brand's account and you never see it in your own feed.

exclusivity

exclusivity means you agree not to work with competitors for a while. write the category and the end date: "no other sunscreen brands until December 31".

if a second sunscreen brand writes to you in December, you check one row and you know the answer.

status

five values are usually enough: agreed, filming, approval, live, paid. a deal that's live but not paid is the one to watch.

a simple brand deal tracker template

make a sheet in Google Sheets, Excel or Numbers with these columns, one row per deal:

brand. the company name, like "Halo Sun".
contact. a name and how to reach them, like "Dana at Halo Sun, email".
deliverables. formats and platforms, like "1 reel IG + TikTok, 2 stories".
draft due. the date the brand wants to see the content, if they review it.
live by. the deadline for posting.
fee. the amount with currency.
pay by. the real date the money is due.
usage rights until. the date the brand's rights end.
exclusivity. the category and end date.
status. agreed, filming, approval, live or paid.

here's how the three made-up deals look in it:

Halo Sun. 1 reel on Instagram and TikTok, 2 stories, plus the raw video for ads. draft due November 3, live by November 6. $400, pay by December 6. paid ads until February 6. no other sunscreen brands until December 31. status: live.
Mossy cleansing balm. 1 reel. draft due November 10, live by November 13. $250, pay by December 13. reposts only, no ads. no exclusivity. status: filming.
Studio Nine nail studio. 1 post and a tag. live by November 20. $150, pay by November 30. no rights beyond the post itself. no exclusivity. status: agreed.

sort the sheet by pay-by date. the payments due soonest end up at the top, and so does anything overdue.

keep briefs and approvals with the deal

the brief is the brand's description of what they want: the message, the shots, what not to show, the hashtags and the approval steps. it usually arrives as an email, a PDF or a long DM. a month later you'll need it again, to check whether the brand asked for a voiceover or just on-screen text, or which claims about the product you're not allowed to make.

paste the brief into the deal's notes or attach the file next to the row. do the same with every approval. if Dana writes "looks good, go ahead", copy that line with the date into the same place. if the brand later says they never approved the cut, you have the message and the day.

a few things in a brief are worth checking before you film:

how many rounds of changes are included. ask for a number, for example one or two rounds. without one, edits can go on for weeks.
when the brand has to reply. if they take five days to review, your live date may slip, and that's not on you.
whether the script needs approval. if it does, send the script before the shoot, so changes happen before you film. the reel script template has a format brands can read quickly.
how the ad label works. platforms have their own paid partnership label, and many countries have rules about marking ads. check both before posting.

what to do when a brand pays late

a late payment is often an invoice that got forgotten or stuck in someone's inbox. a short, friendly reminder usually sorts it out. send it on a schedule, so you don't sit and wait for the money.

check the pay-by date first

before you write anything, check the contract or the email where you agreed on payment. maybe the brand pays 30 days after the post goes live, and you counted from the day you signed. if you never agreed on a date, agree on one now.

also check that the invoice actually went out, to the right email, with the details the brand asked for. if the brand asked for a purchase order number and it's missing from the invoice, the payment can sit in someone's queue.

when to follow up

a simple schedule keeps it polite and keeps it moving:

on the pay-by date, check whether the money has arrived.
3 days later, send a short reminder to your contact.
7 days after the pay-by date, send a second reminder and attach the invoice again.
after 14 days, ask your contact who handles payments and write to that person or team directly.
after 30 days, read what your contract says about late payment.

for Studio Nine, the pay-by date is November 30. if nothing has arrived, the first reminder goes out on December 3 and the second on December 7.

polite reminder wording

keep it short, name the deal, the amount and the date, and offer to resend anything they need:

hi Dana, a quick reminder about the payment for the Halo Sun reel: $400, due December 6. the reel and both stories are live. happy to send the invoice again if that helps. thanks!

for the second reminder, add the invoice and ask a direct question:

hi Dana, following up on the $400 payment for the Halo Sun reel, due December 6. I've attached the invoice again. could you let me know when it's scheduled?

skip the apologies and the long explanations. you did the work, and asking when you'll be paid is a normal part of the deal.

make the next deal pay on time

a lot of late-payment trouble starts before the deal does. agree on a pay-by date in writing, ideally in the contract or the email that confirms the fee. for a new brand or a bigger deal, you can ask for part of the fee up front.

send your invoice the day the content goes live. the sooner it arrives, the sooner the brand's 30 days start counting.

contracts, taxes and local rules

this guide covers how to keep track of deals. rules about contracts, ad labels, invoices and taxes on creator income differ from country to country. check the rules where you live, and ask an accountant or a lawyer when a deal is big or a contract has terms you don't understand.

how to do it in amelo

in amelo, brand deals live in the "brands & deals" section of your profile. each deal has a brand, a fee, a deadline, the deliverables and a field for the brief. you can add a pay-by date, a usage rights end date and an exclusivity end date with its category.

tap "deal task → to plan" and the deal becomes a task in your week, with the post day on the deal's deadline. the shoot day starts on the same day, so move it earlier in the task editor. its checklist gets a "paid partnership label or #ad" step before posting.
deal tasks can have the status "brand review" while the brand looks at your draft.
each deal shows where it stands: in progress, awaiting payment once all its tasks are posted, overdue after the pay-by date, or paid. the top of the section adds up what's awaiting payment, what's overdue and what you received this month, or your progress toward a monthly income target if you set one.
with a pay-by date set and an account, amelo reminds you at 11:00 that day and again 3 and 7 days later, unless you mark the deal paid first. it also reminds you 7 days before usage rights end, so you can offer the brand an extension.
for a deal awaiting payment or overdue, "payment reminder" drafts a short message with the brand, plus the amount and the pay-by date if you filled them in, and an offer to send your invoice. you copy it or share it and send it yourself. amelo doesn't make invoices or message brands.
if a deal task's post day falls inside another brand's exclusivity in the same category (or one with no category set), the task editor shows a warning so you can check for a clash.
"read the brief" has the AI go through a pasted brief and suggest deliverables as tasks with dates, things worth a second look and questions to ask the brand. check what it suggests against the contract yourself. it needs an account and counts as 1 AI message, and right now you get 4 a week.

amelo isn't on the App Store yet, and you can already install the iPhone version for free through TestFlight.

try it on iPhone

FAQ

should you track brand deals in a spreadsheet or an app

a spreadsheet works well when you have a few deals a month and check it every week. it won't remind you about a payment date, though, so you need a weekly habit of opening it.

an app makes sense once deals overlap, or when you want payment reminders on your phone without setting them up by hand.

what should a brand deal tracker include

brand, deliverables, deadline, fee, pay-by date and status. the full list is in the template above.

how long should you wait before chasing a brand payment

3 days after the pay-by date, then again at 7.

what if the brand never agreed on a payment date

agree on one now, in writing. reply to the last email with something like "just confirming the fee will be paid by [date]". a date the brand has confirmed is much easier to follow up on than "soon".

where to start

open your messages and find every brand you've worked with or talked to in the last three months. give each one a row with the fee, the deadline and the pay-by date, even for deals that are already finished. you'll see right away which payments are still out, and that's the first reminder to send.