You delivered on time. The files were good. The brand said "amazing, thank you!" and then nothing, for two weeks, while the invoice sat there. You have rewritten the follow-up in your head six times and sent none of them.
The fix is to stop composing and start following a schedule. Ghosting is rarely a decision not to pay you; it is an invoice that fell below someone's line of sight. A fixed cadence, with each message slightly firmer and sent to a slightly higher address, gets it back above the line without you having to guess the tone every time.
Before day 0: make sure you have a deal, not a conversation
This playbook assumes four things exist in writing: the deliverables, the agreed price, a due date, and terms that say usage rights transfer on payment. If any of those is missing, the follow-ups still work, but your leverage on day 14 is weaker. If you are reading this before the next deal, fix that first: put the price and terms on a record the brand accepts, and invoice at delivery, not later.
Day 0: deliver and invoice in the same message
The invoice goes out with the files, referencing the deal and the due date. Net-7 or net-14 is normal for UGC. The due date is the clock everything below runs on.
Day 3 past due: the nudge
Short, friendly, and assuming the best. One line referencing the invoice number and due date, one line asking for a status. Sent to the same person you delivered to.
Hi Jordan, just floating invoice #0042 back to the top of your inbox, it was due on the 12th. Could you let me know where it sits on your side? Happy to resend the files or the invoice if either got lost. Thanks!
Most silences end here. If this one does not, do not send a second version of the same message. Move up.
Day 7 past due: escalate the address, not the tone
The person you delivered to is not always the person who pays. On day 7, forward the original invoice to the brand's accounts-payable address if you have one, and copy the original contact's manager or the general partnerships address if you do not. Keep the tone neutral; you are routing, not accusing.
Hi both, forwarding invoice #0042 for the two UGC videos delivered on the 9th, due on the 12th. Jordan, I think this may need to go to whoever handles payments on your side; could you point me to them or loop them in? Thanks.
Two things happen when you do this. The invoice lands with someone whose job is paying invoices, and the original contact realizes their silence is now visible to a colleague. That combination clears most of the remaining cases.
Day 14 past due: the formal notice
Now you write to the record. Restate the deal, the delivery date, the amount, and the due date, and say plainly what the terms mean: the content is not licensed until it is paid for, and if it is currently in use you will need it taken down until payment clears. Give a specific date, seven days out, by which you will treat the license as withdrawn.
Subject: Invoice #0042, formal notice, unpaid 14 days
Hi Jordan and team, invoice #0042 for two UGC videos, delivered on the 9th and due on the 12th, remains unpaid. Per the terms we agreed on the deal page, usage rights transfer on payment, so the videos are currently unlicensed. I would rather resolve this than escalate: if payment is sent by the 26th we are square and the license stands. If not, I will withdraw the license on the 27th and ask for any use of the content to stop. Payment details are on the invoice link below.
This is the message that gets paid. It is not angry; it is specific, and it names a consequence you can actually deliver.
Your leverage is the license, not the threat. A brand that has posted your video on its own account, or is running it as an ad, has a real problem if the content is unlicensed. That is why "rights transfer on payment" belongs in every deal, and why the day-14 message works.
Day 30: withdraw the license and act on it
If the deadline passes, do what you said. Send a short note confirming the license is withdrawn. If the content is live on the brand's accounts or in its ads, send a takedown request to the platform; a DMCA notice is a normal, proportionate tool for content you own being used without a license. If the amount is worth it to you, small-claims court is the next step, and the written record you built over the last thirty days is the whole case.
The four messages, side by side
| Day | To | Tone | One job | |---|---|---|---| | 3 | Your contact | Friendly | Get the invoice back on their screen | | 7 | Accounts payable + manager | Neutral | Route it to whoever pays | | 14 | The record | Formal | Name the consequence and the date | | 30 | The record, then the platform | Final | Withdraw the license and act |
What not to do
Do not send five friendly nudges in a row; they teach the brand that nothing happens. Do not post publicly before the private path is exhausted; it ends the payment and the relationship at once. Do not deliver the next round of content for a brand that has not paid for the last one. And do not let the amount decide whether you chase; the schedule costs four short emails either way.
How this runs on Plug Pro
On a Plug Pro deal, the schedule is mostly already there. Delivery and the invoice go out from the deal page, the pay page tells you whether the brand has opened it, and the license certificate states that rights transfer on payment, so the day-14 message quotes terms the brand already accepted. The follow-up reminders on the deal keep the cadence honest when your mood would not. See what a license certificate proves for the leverage half of this.