How much do you charge for content marketing services?

As part of your market research you would have an understanding of the value to your prospects... so base your price on that.

So, I do content creation, and would say that Animal is dead on. I will take this a step further...

There is only basically 2 types of content. There is Content that is created with the idea that ROI will be delivered. and then there is Content that is created in an effort to "Brand".

Two very different types of content, two very different expectations, and two very different values when looking at it from the clients perspective.

2 Quick examples 1) a piece of content that compares 3 products or services, with clearly one being better than the other 2 and click here for more information ( ROI based content ) and #2 some more in lines with 8 things you can do to prep your car for winter - which would be a more "Branding" piece with little to no expectations of ROI - ( other than maybe retention - but that's a whole other post )

I have various "Packages" to include what I call "Seasonal" 4 pieces of content yearly - usually Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter - and these all tend to be more on the retention Branding side.

Then we provide the once monthly - this falls more into the ROI category specials and deals and special events etc - by percentage this looks like a newsletter type piece

We then get into the weekly type of Content and this is clearly ROI based content. Reviews, Comparisons, Direct Sales etc.

We also deal with multiple times per week content and this is where most of the Mixed ROI and Brand content comes into play. It actually plays out to be more on the branding side - give give give, and then maybe once a week the ROI based piece of content is placed in there.

So to more directly answer your question... believe it or not, the VALUE is actually in the Branding content vs the ROI driven content. Its very easy to prove, when you turn off the Branding content and only run the ROI based Content - over a not so long period of time, the effectiveness of ROI based content loses traction.

Add back in the Branding content with no expectations of ROI, and drip the ROI based content in context to the Brand based content and the ROI goes through the roof. Give give give and then sell.

To give you a real clear indication of price... The seasonal package I charge $4000 for the year.. yes $1000 4 times a year. The intent of the Content is to keep the Brand in the clients mind, and to retain their business.

I am sure you have Insurance of some type or another and if you look back in your e-mailbox you will find this type of content on a seasonal basis. On the scale of Mom and Pop on the left end of the spectrum to Giant Corps on the right, this content falls on client targets for YOU from middle spectrum to Full right spectrum.

Monthly, which is ad laiden with a sprinkle of brand fluff aka a newsletter or monthly flyer I get far less per - somewhere in the $500 a month $6000 for the year category. This tends to fall in the mid to left portion of spectrum.

Weekly is all about "your ideal Client" because your "Ideal" dictates where in the spectrum you will be targeting and how much you can charge. We are talking a minimum of 52 pieces of content - and its time consuming, and the level of planning takes a real spike here, and the balance of what's its worth to YOU vs what its worth to the client I find to be a struggle. MY ideal customer tends to fall left of center on the spectrum of Client worth if that helps in explaining anything.

Then we get into the Daily type clients... I have just started with a few of these since last year. have 2 clients on 300 pieces of content per year and these work out to about $100 per piece or $30,000 for the year. The expectations are critical in this, and we make very clear that ROI is to be checked over a month, vs on the daily. We are doing pretty good with this, don't think we have reached are max stride yet, but overall doing very well for our clients, and in turn for ourselves.

We offer the same type of services for Social Creatives at the weekly and Daily level and do really well with these. This is again very planning intensive - but easily falls into a flow once the client and our team have laid out some clear ROI based objectives I would say we average about $200 per creative - but overall that ranges from Video, to Graphic and also text based content - but across the board from My perspective this is generally where the money is at given my target left of mid spectrum ideal client base.

Hope that Helps!