UGC Community #88

UGC tactics that defined 2025 (and made you money)

January 02, 2026

In partnership with

📧 UGC Community #88 | Jan 1, 2025

2025 was the year UGC stopped being a "side hustle" and became a legitimate industry. We reviewed hundreds of portfolios, dissected thousands of cold emails, and helped you navigate the shift from "gig worker" to "business owner."

If you missed any issues this year, don’t worry. We’ve curated the absolute best, highest-impact tactics from the last 12 months into one "Greatest Hits" masterclass.

Here is the blueprint that won 2025.

LOOKING FOR UGC JOBS?

Get the 90-day roadmap to a $10k/month newsletter

Creators and founders like you are being told to “build a personal brand” to generate revenue but…

1/ You can be shadowbanned overnight
2/ Only 10% of your followers see your posts

Meanwhile, you can write 1 email that books dozens of sales calls and sells high-ticket ($1,000+ digital products).

After working with 50+ entrepreneurs doing $1M/yr+ with newsletters, we made a 5-day email course on building a profitable newsletter that sells ads, products, and services.

Normally $97, it’s 100% free for 24H.

[THE DEEP DIVE] The 2025 UGC Playbook: 3 Steps to 6-Figures

We covered a lot of ground this year, but the creators who crossed the $10k/month mark all mastered three specific skills: Finding the work, pricing the work, and saving the deal.

Here are the top three strategies of the year:

1. The "Reverse-Engineer" Lead Generation (From Issue #82) Stop cold pitching brands that might not even have a budget. In 2025, smart creators stopped guessing and started stalking.

  • The Strategy: Go to TikTok or Instagram and search #UGCcreator. Click on the profiles of creators who are crushing it. Look at their tagged posts.

  • Why it works: If a creator tags a brand in a high-quality ad, that brand is a "warm lead." They already know what UGC is, and they have a budget to pay for it. Pitch them.

2. The 3-Tier Proposal (From Issue #85) The biggest mistake of 2025 was sending a single price (e.g., "$250 per video"). That gives the brand a "Yes or No" choice. You want to give them a "Which one?" choice.

  • The Tester (Low Risk): 1 Video. No raw footage. Standard delivery.

  • The Growth (Sweet Spot): 3 Videos + Usage Rights. Price this to be a "no-brainer" upgrade from the Tester.

  • The Scale (The Anchor): 5 Videos + Whitelisting + Raw Footage. Price this high to make the "Growth" package look like a steal.

3. The "Scope Pivot" Negotiation (From Issue #86) When a brand said, "You're too expensive," amateurs lowered their price. Pros lowered the scope.

  • The Golden Rule: Never lower the price for the same amount of work.

  • The Script: "I understand the budget constraints. We can get closer to that number by removing the raw footage and reducing usage rights from 6 months to 3 months. Does that work?"

  • The Result: You save the deal without destroying your hourly rate or your integrity.

Welcome to the Dream Economy

$100,00. One amazing Creator. Post a video about your business (or business idea!) and enter for a chance to win a year with all your expenses covered.

We want to empower people to work for themselves. To live out their true passion.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For full Official Rules, visit daretodream.stan.store/officialrules.

[PRO TIP OF THE WEEK]

The "Snooze" Button Hack The #1 reason creators lost money in 2025 was a lack of follow-ups. You don't need a fancy CRM. When you send a pitch, immediately hit the "Snooze" button on that sent email for 4 days.

  • If they reply, the snooze cancels.

  • If they don't, the email pops back into your inbox as a reminder to send Follow-Up #1.

  • Stat: 80% of sales happen after the 5th touchpoint. Use the snooze to ensure you never ghost yourself.

The Creator Suite

The Future of Shopping? AI + Actual Humans.

AI has changed how consumers shop, but people still drive decisions. Levanta’s research shows affiliate and creator content continues to influence conversions, plus it now shapes the product recommendations AI delivers. Affiliate marketing isn’t being replaced by AI, it’s being amplified.