Free Brand Deal Tracker for Creators (Template + Guide)

A brand deal tracker is the system a creator runs after the brand says yes: one row per won deal, six columns (deal status, brand contact, deliverables, payment terms, usage rights, follow-up dates) and a weekly review. Use the template below so nothing drifts between yes and paid.

Why does a won deal still need a tracker?

The signature is the start, not the finish. Between agreeing and getting paid sit delivery dates, revision rounds, invoices and rights windows. Lose track of any of them and the money leaks quietly.

The leak is common. A survey reported by Business Insider found that 87% of creators had been paid late, paid the wrong amount, or not paid at all. However, most of that is not bad faith. It is a brand side with no system meeting a creator side with no system.

The window is long, too. In 2026, Digiday reports that influencer payment terms typically run 30 to 90 days after the work is done. A deal can live two to three months past delivery. If it exists only in your memory and a DM thread, the invoice date and the rights expiry both drift.

Therefore, a tracker fixes the drift with one rule: every deal gets a row, and the row gets a next date.

What should a brand deal tracker include?

Six columns carry the whole system. Everything else, however, is preference.

• Deal status. Won, Briefing, Delivering, Posted, Invoiced, Paid, Closed. One glance tells you what needs action today.
• Brand contact. A named person, their role, an email address and the channel they prefer. DM threads die quietly; an email address survives a staff change.
• Deliverables. Exact counts and formats: "1 Reel, 9:16, 30 to 45 seconds", not "content". Vague rows invite free work.
• Payment terms. The fee, the currency, the deposit split, the net terms, the invoice date and whether it is paid.
• Usage rights. Organic or paid, which platforms, how long, any exclusivity, and the expiry date. This column is future revenue.
• Follow-up dates. The next date this row needs you: draft due, invoice chase, renewal talk. One date, always visible.

For instance, here is the template with two deals and a renewal row filled in. Copy the structure, then make the rows yours.

The third row, notably, is the one most creators never write. Renewal quotes take minutes to draft because the work and the relationship already exist.

How do you set up the template in 15 minutes?

1. Copy the six columns. First, open any spreadsheet or notes tool and add the columns above. If you work across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia or Indonesia, add a currency column so SGD, MYR, THB, HKD, AUD and IDR rows never blur together.
2. Add one row per signed deal. Won deals only. Pitches, meanwhile, live in their own pipeline; the guide to pitching brands covers that stage and the follow-ups that come before a signature.
3. Fill the dates that drive the row. Delivery date, posting date, invoice date, payment due date, rights expiry: five dates per deal, entered once. Then the tracker runs itself.
4. Book a 15-minute weekly review. Same slot every week. Then sort by the next date, act on the top three rows, close anything finished. The review is the system; the sheet just holds the state.
5. Close rows deliberately. Finally, paid plus rights handled means the row moves to an archive tab. Keep the archive: it is your rate history and your repeat-brand record.

How do you track deliverables without scope creep?

The deliverables column is a mirror of the contract. Write exactly what was signed: counts, formats, lengths, platforms, revision rounds. For example, a skincare deal at S$1,800 might read: 1 Reel (9:16, 30 to 45 seconds), 3 Stories with link sticker, 30-day Spark Ads licence, two revision rounds included.

Then the fourth Story request arrives. With a specific row, however, the answer is easy: "Happy to add it. That is a new line at S$250." The tracker makes the boundary factual instead of awkward. With a row that says "content for launch", the same request becomes an hour of free work and a quiet resentment.

Specific rows also protect quality. You know which draft is due, for which platform, in which aspect ratio, before you open the editing app. If the underlying brief is thin, however, fix it first: the guide to briefing a UGC creator shows what a complete brief contains, and the same fields work in reverse when you check what you agreed to.

Which payment terms and usage rights belong in each row?

Specifically, the payment column has six facts: the fee, the currency, the deposit split, the net terms, the invoice date and whether it is paid. With a first-time brand, ask for a 50% deposit before work starts, and quote net 14 or net 30 after delivery. When a due date passes with no transfer, the tracker turns the chase into a scheduled task: one short email, invoice reattached, sent on a date you chose in advance. As a result, there is no drama and no month of assuming the brand will remember.

Meanwhile, the rights column earns renewals. Record the licence type (organic only, or paid ads), the platforms, the duration, any exclusivity, and the expiry date. Then watch that expiry. A Spark Ads licence that ends silently is renewal revenue that never gets quoted. Thirty days before expiry, the row's next date becomes a renewal conversation. Quote the extension while the brand is still using the work.

Also record the disclosure duty in the same row. In Singapore, the ASAS guide lists five types of sponsored content that require disclosure. A row that shows the licence but not the disclosure obligation invites a compliance miss on the busiest day of the campaign.

When should you follow up, invoice and close a deal?

So every row carries one next date, and most rows cycle through four kinds of follow-up:

• Delivery check-in. On the day the draft is due, not after. "Draft coming today" from you beats "any update?" from them.
• Invoice day. The contract states when invoicing starts. Send it that day. Waiting for the brand to remember is not a payment strategy.
• Payment chase. Net terms plus seven days, one short email, invoice reattached. Once, clearly, on a scheduled date.
• Renewal talk. Rights expiry minus 30 days. Quote the extension before the licence lapses, not after.

Finally, closing is a rule, not a feeling. When status reads Paid and the rights are expired or renewed, move the row to the archive. The active sheet stays short enough to read in one screen, and the archive keeps your rate history for the next negotiation.

What mistakes break a deal tracker?

• Mixing pitches and signed deals in one list. The noise hides the deadlines that have real money attached.
• Vague deliverables. "Content for launch" cannot be invoiced, defended or scoped. Counts and formats can.
• No rights expiry date. The renewal conversation never happens, and the licence simply ends.
• Terms that live only in DMs. Message search is not a contract. Instead, paste the agreed terms into the row the day they are agreed.
• Set and forget. A tracker reviewed monthly is a diary. Therefore, the weekly 15-minute review is what makes it a system.
• Hiding unpaid status. Know exactly who owes what, and since when. Ambiguity about your own money is the most expensive kind.

How does The Creator List workspace replace the spreadsheet?

The six columns describe a workflow: capture, brief, contract, delivery, sign-off. In short, that is a product, not a sheet.

The Creator List workspace runs deals already won. Then an accepted pitch becomes a brief. The project holds milestones, drafts, versioned comments and approvals, so delivery lives where the brief lives. Payments show what is due and what is ready, so the invoiced and paid columns stop being manual. Sign-off closes the loop the tracker tried to hold together with formulas.

Today, registration is open in early beta to creators and businesses. Profiles are reviewed before going live, and registration does not guarantee brand work. If that sounds like the version of this system you would rather not maintain by hand, join The Creator List early beta and run your won deals in the workspace built for them. If you would rather keep the sheet, this guide is enough; the guides hub holds the rest of the playbook.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a brand deal tracker?

A brand deal tracker is a sheet or workspace where a creator records every signed brand deal in one row: deal status, brand contact, deliverables, payment terms, usage rights and the next follow-up date. It turns scattered messages and email threads into one list you review weekly.

How do I keep track of brand deals for free?

Copy six columns into any spreadsheet: deal status, brand contact, deliverables, payment terms, usage rights and follow-up dates. Add one row per signed deal, fill the five dates that drive it (delivery, posting, invoice, payment due, rights expiry), then book a 15-minute weekly review. The method costs nothing and catches missed deadlines, unpaid invoices and expiring usage rights.

What columns should a brand deal spreadsheet have?

A workable brand deal spreadsheet has six columns: deal status, brand contact, deliverables, payment terms, usage rights and follow-up dates. Keep the rights expiry inside the usage rights column or as its own date, and move closed rows to an archive tab so the active sheet stays readable.

How do you track usage rights on brand deals?

First, record the licence type, the platforms it covers, the duration, any exclusivity and the expiry date in the rights column. Then set the renewal talk for 30 days before expiry. A licence that ends silently is renewal revenue that never gets quoted.

When should you invoice a brand?

Send the invoice on the delivery or posting date stated in the contract, not when it feels convenient. If the terms are net 30, chase once with the invoice reattached seven days after the due date. Record every date in the tracker so the chase is calm and scheduled.