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Pricing Help -- Advice Appreciated

by Exire
15 replies
Hi all,

I was browsing through the forum the other day and came across this thread and it got my brain going.

For those of you who don't want to check the thread, the gist of it is this: the OP's friend started offering short video promotions to local businesses in his area. They ran about 2 minutes or so and were basically a commercial. He would then upload the video to YouTube, give it a good title/tags and charge $189/mo. for the service. Since the searches it would appear on in Google were local ones (i.e., "best crab shack in Podunk, Iowa" or whatever) he ranked easily. The clients were happy since they were getting what amounts to a targeted TV commercial for less than $200/mo. and all the guy had to do was a bit of backlinking to keep the videos ranked.

Apparently he was so successful with this that he ended up with about 45 clients and raised his prices to $225/mo. with no complaints.

Anyway, to the point of this post. I got to thinking that, while the above plan seems solid enough, wouldn't it be possible to offer more, charge something up front and then tack on a monthly fee also?

Here's what I came up with and what I'd like some advice on:

Setup Fee - $1,995

Includes:

* 45 - 90 second video shot on site (possibly up to a 2 - 3 minute video; I haven't decided)

* Local keyword research to find out what the client's customers are searching for

* Optimization of the video to rank for those searches (i.e., give it an appropriate title/tags, etc)

* Video distribution (i.e., through one of the video distribution sites that hit all the video sharing sites)

* YouTube Page for the client

* Video embedded on client's site for them

* 1 Edit Session (minor changes such as correcting spelling or changing the music; further or more extensive edits at $100/hour)

* DVD of the video

* Free month of whichever following monthly package they choose


Monthly Package 1:

Cost - $249/mo.

* Facebook Fan Page setup

* Twitter account setup

* Google Local listing creation and/or optimization

* Video hosting/maintenance (i.e., via Viddler or some other company)

* Video promotion (1 keyword; essentially amounts to building backlinks each month--i.e., what the OP's friend in the thread above was doing and getting $189 - $225/mo. for)

* Directory submissions for the client's website


Monthly Package 2:

Cost - $497/mo.

* Custom Facebook Fan Page setup (with opt-in, video and custom banner--there's a Warrior around here that does it for $67, so it's not exactly expensive but I'm sure it sounds impressive to the client)

* Twitter account setup with custom graphics (similar to the above; there are Warriors who provide this service relatively inexpensively but it's bound to make an impression on the client)

* Facebook Fans/Twitter Followers (i.e., X,XXX fans/followers in 3 - 6 months)

* Google/Yahoo!/Bing Local listing creation and/or optimization

* Upload of the video to their Google Local listing (and the other two if they allow it; I'm not really up to date on those services)

* Video hosting/maintenance (i.e., via Viddler or some other company)

* Video promotion (5 keywords)

* Directory submissions for the client's website (not sure to how many directories, but more than the $250/mo. package offers)

* Mobile website creation/hosting/maintenance including .mobi domain registration

* 1 Press Release, written and submitted


So that's it. What do my fellow Warriors think? Too expensive (up front or monthly) or am I providing too much for too little? Personally, I think the $250/mo. option is a little on the thin side, but I'm not sure what else to offer. I suppose I could add in articles each month (i.e., 5 articles written/distributed each month for the $250/mo. plan and 10 articles written/distributed for the $500/mo. plan). Maybe some more extensive SEO or something. What are your thoughts?

Personally, I believe I'm making a pretty good offer considering what most businesses pay for shotgun marketing like Yellow Pages ads, newspaper ads, coupon magazine advertising and so forth.

I'm curious to hear any comments though. Should I add more? Offer less? Switch things around somewhere in those lists? Any advice is welcome.

Thanks in advance!
#advice #appreciated #pricing #video
  • Profile picture of the author MilleronMarketing
    I would recommend not getting greedy.

    $189 per month (presumably per video) for a cost of mere time is nothing to sneeze at. $225 per month is even better.

    Suppose you get 10 clients. Or even 20. That's an easy two to four grand per month for minimal time and work.

    It costs nothing to host on YouTube. What little upkeep is necessary consists mostly of time.

    In fact, I may start to offer this in my area.

    On the other hand, I am entirely in favor of offering backend deals and cross-sells to higher ticket services.

    My point is that the OP's model is basically pure profit with minimal effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Lianelli
    Exire,

    don't listen to people claiming you're charging to much or to low. What really counts is a) if the clients want to pay it, and b) if you're providing real value.

    It depends on how your sales process is going to be, but if you're going for a face-to-face consultation and then come back with a quote/proposal -- you can charge fees according to the financial situation of the business, the size of the business and how much value you can add.

    Some companies would really strive using these tactics. If you see that your clients are enjoying great results, you might even want to create a lead-generation system. The client pays a set fee for the setup, then a dollar amount per X number of leads that came from your services.

    -Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Exire
    Thanks for the replies, guys. Much appreciated.

    Gives me something to think about.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jimian
    I came across a restaurant video -- it was the entire site:

    Post 390 / Urban Tavern / Boston
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    OFFLINE Marketing Strategies For The OFFLINE Warrior
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
    You will get way more clients and make more if you start by offerring them the video promotion at 189 a month. Then after you sign up for that you will see they will ask about other services you offer just like a salespage online doesnt jam all the upsells and products they offer down your throat right away. Instead they say pull out your wallet and only pay me $97 for this cd, dvd, program etc, then after you enter in your details, they say how about getting this too, and then this too...

    Sign them up for the 189 month and after 15 days to 30 days come back and offer them some more services at a special etc.

    On 2 occasions I had a client that was on the fence with signing up with me, I then set them up with a facebook fan page and got them over 1,000 fans and they were sold. They took out there wallet and paid me $1,000+ each to do more work for them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan Alexander
      Originally Posted by rockstarinlife View Post

      ...I then set them up with a facebook fan page and got them over 1,000 fans and they were sold. They took out there wallet and paid me $1,000+ each to do more work for them.
      For those of you with experience with this...How do you get fans for a local business?

      Can you share any ideas? Example: Take a local groomers (I made a FB page for one of my firsts). If I want to get local people (in a small suburb--but obviously I can use the wider area as well) to like her page and become fans, what's the best way you guys suggest to do this?

      I can understand the "slow" and organic process of building a base by putting her fan page everywhere, offering incentives, etc, but what about the "getting a 1000 fans" quick build up? A local business would LOVE that many local fans so any thoughts?
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      • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
        Originally Posted by Exire View Post

        Mind if I ask what you charge for it? Or is it a freebie type deal that leads in to other services?

        Also, what kind of clients do you work for? If they'd be interested in something like what I'm talking about, what do you think they'd pay just for the video/YouTube option (along with optimization to get the video to rank, local keyword research and some backlinks to secure its position, etc)? Basically everything mentioned in the first post that has to do with video. The other services can, as you suggested previously, be upsells at a later point.
        I sometimes use the video as a bonus to get them to hire me for site or monthly web promotion. I have also used it to trade for testimonials I wanted for a new niche to get in. I have also charged just $100 for the video that took me 30 minutes to make, but they also paid me to set up their site and monthly web promotion. If you really want to save time you can get someone on fiverr to do it for $5.

        The clients I have are mortgage, realtors, restaurants, jewelry store, painters, attorneys, hair salons, art gallery and a few more.

        Originally Posted by Nathan Alexander View Post

        For those of you with experience with this...How do you get fans for a local business?

        Can you share any ideas? Example: Take a local groomers (I made a FB page for one of my firsts). If I want to get local people (in a small suburb--but obviously I can use the wider area as well) to like her page and become fans, what's the best way you guys suggest to do this?

        I can understand the "slow" and organic process of building a base by putting her fan page everywhere, offering incentives, etc, but what about the "getting a 1000 fans" quick build up? A local business would LOVE that many local fans so any thoughts?
        I get them fans using a super secret tactic, fiverr (lol). costs me $5 and they get around 200-1500 fans to their brand new facebook fanpage.

        I dont sell it as a "hey im getting you fans that will do business with you". I let them know these are basically people that like to join or become a fan of anything and will probably never do business with you. But you never know who they know and it is huge credibility to have your local business showing it has hundreds of fans when your competitor has only 11 for the last year.
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  • Profile picture of the author seomoney
    It sounds like you are leaving hundreds of dollars each month on the table.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Wilhite
    I would definitely say don't do it cheap, because your time, the information that you are giving, and knowledge is worth it. My base rate starts at $500.
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  • Profile picture of the author Exire
    Originally Posted by jodib View Post

    After all.. A commercial would cost them at least 10 times more and a simple 20 second radio ad would cost a bomb too.
    That was my thinking also. Just the video alone uploaded to YouTube and well optimized to show for local keywords would be, I assume, of great value to most business owners since it's so targeted and can potentially be seen hundreds, if not thousands, of times per month by potential customers.

    Originally Posted by jodib

    I am busy doing some work for a client that pays a local radio station 4,000 pounds per month. Around $6,000. His website is not even on Page 3 of Google and he paid some silly amount to a web designer that told him he would get a Page 1 rank.
    Yes, other forms of media seem to be able to charge outrageous sums for what is essentially a gamble that the person you want to hear/see the ad will just happen to be listening/watching whenever the program director decides your ad should run. Print ads aren't much better--at least they're reasonably targeted--but the money involved for the 2 - 3 seconds of "advertising" you get when someone glances past your ad isn't what I would consider of good value for what's being charged.

    You would think that an internet video, which is basically a highly targeted on-demand commercial, would command at least a one-time up front fee equal to a month's worth of ad time (not to mention actual ad creation) for more traditional forms of media. I'm not sure exactly how high I could push the price on just the video/optimization angle alone though.

    I wouldn't really have any problem selling just the video services (e.g., shooting, editing, optimizing, uploading to YouTube and embedding on their site, along with providing a DVD) if the cost could justify it and the market is there. I mean, if a traditional commercial costs $3,000 to shoot (just a guess) and then you have to pay for advertising for each run on top of that I would think I could get at least $1,500 - $2,000 to shoot the video, optimize it for keywords we know their customers are using and getting it online and on their site. The other services could then be, as rockstarinlife suggests, upsells at a later point in time.

    Originally Posted by jodib

    Be honest, upfront and show the value of your service. (You are providing a lot!)
    Yes, I am. Possibly too much now that I think about it. The $6,000 for a radio ad that you mentioned is no small sum--particularly when the person buying it has no idea if those hearing it actually want the product/service and they don't know for certain that those who do want it are even listening when the ad runs. I don't care if a radio station has a million listeners. They can't guarantee that those listening want that product/service in the way that we can with a simple YouTube video optimized for keywords we know people are using to find what the client is selling, where they're selling it.

    And that $6,000 was just for the ad space, I would assume. That doesn't even factor in the cost of production to develop the ad in the first place or the time from starting the whole process to getting it on the air which would be a few weeks, if not months, I would guess.

    Originally Posted by jodib

    Don't do it on the cheap, because nobody else does and don't listen to others who say you should offer it on the cheap.

    Everyone tries their luck to bargain. My motto - you only get what you pay for.

    Best of luck in your endeavours and don't be afraid to charge..

    Regards

    Jodi
    Thanks for your comments, Jodi. I may have to reevaluate things even further now.

    Originally Posted by rockstarinlife

    You will get way more clients and make more if you start by offerring them the video promotion at 189 a month. Then after you sign up for that you will see they will ask about other services you offer just like a salespage online doesnt jam all the upsells and products they offer down your throat right away. Instead they say pull out your wallet and only pay me $97 for this cd, dvd, program etc, then after you enter in your details, they say how about getting this too, and then this too...

    Sign them up for the 189 month and after 15 days to 30 days come back and offer them some more services at a special etc.
    I do believe you're right. I was probably being a bit premature and front loading all of the services and left nothing for back end sales. I was trying to over deliver to provide excellent value for the price. However, seeing what most businesses pay for advertising that's just gambling with their money and hard to track results with I may just need to reposition the video offer alone and then upsell the other services after a month or so.

    Originally Posted by seomoney

    It sounds like you are leaving hundreds of dollars each month on the table.
    Going by your screen name I assume you're referring to SEO services? If not, what did you have in mind?

    Originally Posted by Mary Wilhite

    I would definitely say don't do it cheap, because your time, the information that you are giving, and knowledge is worth it. My base rate starts at $500.
    You're correct, of course. I was actually planning to outsource much of it so my time isn't tied into it other than some management here and there but, as you mention, the knowledge involved should be priced accordingly.

    Again, thanks for all of the comments. Keep them coming if anyone else has anything to add.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr Dan
    I must have missed that you were going to shoot the videos yourself. Then the ocst would be higher.

    I only use animoto or another similar service with some pics they either provide, or I snap real quick, or use royalty free images depending on the business. Only takes me about 30 minutes or actual work and I can provide them with an HD copy and upload it for them to youtube. They are happy with just that. Its my foot in the door service.
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    • Profile picture of the author Exire
      Originally Posted by rockstarinlife View Post

      I must have missed that you were going to shoot the videos yourself. Then the ocst would be higher.
      From what I understand you can outsource the video shoot to videographers for a few bucks. Definitely no more than $250/shoot. The shoots generally last for around 90 minutes and then they spend 30 minutes to an hour or so cutting the footage down into a 45 second to 3 minute video, so it's good money for them.

      It's nothing "professional" like with a whole camera crew, lighting, set directors and so on. Generally it's just the videographer or a videographer and an assistant using natural lighting that's available.

      TurnHere is probably the largest company doing something like this. They have a contract with Yelp to be their exclusive video provider for the businesses listed. I believe they also have a contract with one or two other major sites. TurnHere charges $1,484 for just the video shoot (about a 90 second video, if I recall) and the video file. Of course, they do that to discourage people from wanting just the video shoot and to instead go with their monthly plan which runs from $20/mo for a slide show video like you're talking about below up to $169/mo. for their most expensive plan. All plans are on a 12 month basis and if you don't pay, the video comes down and if you want it you have to pay them around $1,000 as you don't own the thing, they do.

      TurnHere also offers few services beyond simply shooting the video--another reason that I was over delivering. Basically, for $169/mo. you get your 90 second video (in two formats--web and TV), the video is distributed to video sharing sites, you get a "custom" video player to embed into your site (which you probably have to do yourself), a DVD (which is $50 if you're not paying at least $49/mo) and a couple of other very minor things which essentially cost TurnHere nothing once the first month is payed. From then on you're being charged $169/mo. just for them to host the video. They don't do any keyword research, optimization, backlinking or anything else to help the video rank. They pretty much just take your money and, well, screw you over from what I can tell.

      I'm hoping to be able to use all of that to my advantage though and position myself as not only an alternative to TurnHere (and a couple of other big companies that do the same thing) but as the only reasonable alternative aside from a professional commercial production. Aside from the fact that TurnHere takes their $2,000 fee in $169/mo. payments rather than up front, as I'd like to do, I really don't see why someone would choose them over what I'm thinking of offering.

      I only use animoto or another similar service with some pics they either provide, or I snap real quick, or use royalty free images depending on the business. Only takes me about 30 minutes or actual work and I can provide them with an HD copy and upload it for them to youtube. They are happy with just that. Its my foot in the door service.
      Mind if I ask what you charge for it? Or is it a freebie type deal that leads in to other services?

      Also, what kind of clients do you work for? If they'd be interested in something like what I'm talking about, what do you think they'd pay just for the video/YouTube option (along with optimization to get the video to rank, local keyword research and some backlinks to secure its position, etc)? Basically everything mentioned in the first post that has to do with video. The other services can, as you suggested previously, be upsells at a later point.
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      • Profile picture of the author seomoney
        Exire

        Yes I am talking about SEO.
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        • Profile picture of the author Exire
          Originally Posted by seomoney View Post

          Exire

          Yes I am talking about SEO.
          Gotcha. Just wanted to be sure.

          Thanks for the reply.
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