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What to charge as a freelance marketer

by Elena Base
4 replies
Hi all,

I've recently left a marketing agency to go freelance to pursue content marketing for small businesses. I have a couple of clients but I don't currently have a consistent plan for charging new clients and I wanted to get some feedback.

Essentially my plan is:

• Initial consultation 5 - 30 min Skype chat. (Free).
• From here I put together a written proposal for all the marketing work I plan to do relevant to that company and why. I'd charge $1500 for this. Next, they can sign up to work with me for three months, if they do that, they don't have to pay the $1,500. If not they can pay and we part ways.
• From here the client can either sign up for a minimum 3 month session at a cost of $3000 - $5000 a month for complete content management e.g. video content, gifs, memes, blog writing, backlinks, ppc, SEO etc. This cost would be for my services only.

My question is twofold:

1) Do these prices seem too high for someone starting out?

2) How much do you think I should recommend the client put aside to spend exclusively on paid promotion? Obviously it's very much horses for courses, but I was thinking of recommending small business put $1000 - $2000 aside per month.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
#charge #freelance #marketer
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    1) Do these prices seem too high for someone starting out?
    That depends on how much "content management" you do.

    Another important point to consider is the number of freelancers who will work for pennies. You have a lot of really cheap competition.

    A couple years ago I posted for a simple video creation. One guy said it would cost minimum $250. The guy who got the job produced an excellent video for $25.

    Brent
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by Elena Base View Post

    Hi all,

    I've recently left a marketing agency to go freelance to pursue content marketing for small businesses. I have a couple of clients but I don't currently have a consistent plan for charging new clients and I wanted to get some feedback.

    Essentially my plan is:

    • Initial consultation 5 - 30 min Skype chat. (Free).
    • From here I put together a written proposal for all the marketing work I plan to do relevant to that company and why. I'd charge $1500 for this. Next, they can sign up to work with me for three months, if they do that, they don't have to pay the $1,500. If not they can pay and we part ways.
    • From here the client can either sign up for a minimum 3 month session at a cost of $3000 - $5000 a month for complete content management e.g. video content, gifs, memes, blog writing, backlinks, ppc, SEO etc. This cost would be for my services only.

    My question is twofold:

    1) Do these prices seem too high for someone starting out?

    2) How much do you think I should recommend the client put aside to spend exclusively on paid promotion? Obviously it's very much horses for courses, but I was thinking of recommending small business put $1000 - $2000 aside per month.

    Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    I'm a little confused here. The way I'm reading it, you want small businesses to commit $1500 for a proposal on what you would do for them after a 5-30 minute chat? I don't care if you are starting out or not, that's just plain nuts.

    Then you want to charge $3k-$5k plus expenses for actually doing the work?

    That part is going depend a lot on how you define small business. If it's a mom and pop pizza shop that's barely getting by, $4k-$7k (combined) for promotion is going to be a tough sell. If it's a legal practice where one new client will more than cover the cost of hiring you, you'll have a much easier time - at least in terms of fees.

    As for the recommendation for a promotion budget, that should be part of your proposal, not a blanket figure you got on a forum.

    If you have to ask questions like this, you may not be ready to go out on your own.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve L
    Originally Posted by Elena Base View Post

    Hi all,

    I've recently left a marketing agency to go freelance to pursue content marketing for small businesses. I have a couple of clients but I don't currently have a consistent plan for charging new clients and I wanted to get some feedback.

    Essentially my plan is:

    • Initial consultation 5 - 30 min Skype chat. (Free).
    • From here I put together a written proposal for all the marketing work I plan to do relevant to that company and why. I'd charge $1500 for this. Next, they can sign up to work with me for three months, if they do that, they don't have to pay the $1,500. If not they can pay and we part ways.
    • From here the client can either sign up for a minimum 3 month session at a cost of $3000 - $5000 a month for complete content management e.g. video content, gifs, memes, blog writing, backlinks, ppc, SEO etc. This cost would be for my services only.

    My question is twofold:

    1) Do these prices seem too high for someone starting out?

    2) How much do you think I should recommend the client put aside to spend exclusively on paid promotion? Obviously it's very much horses for courses, but I was thinking of recommending small business put $1000 - $2000 aside per month.

    Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    I highly recommend checking out "Double Your Freelance Rate" by Brennan Dunn. Some of the best pricing advice I've read for freelancers.
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  • Profile picture of the author animal44
    Originally Posted by Elena Base View Post

    1) Do these prices seem too high for someone starting out?
    I don't think it matters that you're starting out. What matters is the results you can get and what history of getting results you have. If you can show results (as an employee and for your existing customers), and the fee is well covered by the results, then you can charge whatever... I'd suggest you aim for 5x ROI minimum.
    Originally Posted by Elena Base View Post

    2) How much do you think I should recommend the client put aside to spend exclusively on paid promotion? Obviously it's very much horses for courses, but I was thinking of recommending small business put $1000 - $2000 aside per month.
    Surely your own experience would tell you that...?
    It would be different for each business...
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