How to invoice your first brand deal (without an accountant)

Your first brand deal is exciting — and slightly terrifying. There's the email back-and-forth, the deliverable spec, the contract (or maybe there isn't one), and eventually the moment when you realise nobody ever told you how to actually send the invoice. Here's the part nobody writes down.

Step 1 — get the billing contact, not the marketing contact

The person who DM'd you about the deal is rarely the person who will cut the check. Before you send anything, ask: 'Who handles billing on your side, and what's the best email to reach them on?' Get the name. Most brands won't volunteer this until you ask. Once you have it, address the invoice to that exact person and CC the marketing contact.

Step 2 — line items that don't make the AP team frown

Brand AP teams approve invoices faster when line items look like every other invoice they receive. Three pragmatic building blocks:

• Deliverable name — exactly as it appears in your contract or proposal. 'Sponsored reel (3× IG vertical, 30 days whitelisted)' is better than 'the reel thing.'

• Quantity + unit price. Showing your rate as a unit price feels more professional than a single lump sum, even if the math is identical.

• Net terms. Don't assume 'net 30' is universal — write the due date on the line item.

Step 3 — the invoice subject line and email body

Most AP tools bury generic email subjects. Yours should be searchable in three months when the brand needs to find it:

Suggested email subject: Invoice INV-0421 — [Brand name] · [Product line] · due May 14

In the email body, keep it short. Three lines is plenty: thank them for the work, repeat the total + due date, attach the invoice. Anything else is a chance for them to reply with a question — and questions delay payment.

Step 4 — send it, then stop thinking about it

Set a reminder on your calendar for one day past the due date. If the invoice is unpaid on that day, that's when Artisan Invoice's auto-reminders pay for themselves — you'll get a friendly nudge in your inbox without doing anything.