BY DENIS HILLER,
Silicon Valley Publicist An enthusiastic reader of this blog recently sent me the following message:
"Hi Denis,
I have a question, and I thought maybe you could answer it because you always have those insightful blogs that are very helpful to someone new to the industry. My question is being new to the industry how do you charge your clients? I'm not sure if that make sense so I will try to explain it. I am doing some freelance work for an author and I know I probably need to charge him for my services as far as writing press releases, coming up with a marketing plan...but I am unsure of the going rates in the industry or what someone new to the industry should be charging? Can you please give me some insight?
Thanks,"
Great question! Be sure to read the comments section below this post as I'm sure that many of this blog's brilliant readers will add their 2 cents about pricing PR services.
There are main 3 factors to consider when pricing your services:
1) Overhead
- what are your/your firm's expenses? Do you rent an office? Do you pay an accountant? Do you spend money on marketing your services, etc. Be sure to work those expenses in your pricing.
2)
Market Value - How much are people in the industry(s) you serve to able and willing to pay for your services?
3) Scope of the Project
-Is the project long-term or short-term? How much time is the client expecting from you on a weekly basis?
After taking those 3 factors in to consideration, I created with a very simply way to price my services earlier this year. I charge each client $5,000/month typically signing a 3-6 month contract to begin with. The reason for the 3-6 month contract is because I do not believe it is possible to fully measure a PR person's effectiveness and impact in less than 90 days. I charge a monthly fee because the work load changes from week to week. When there's a big press announcement (or the need for damage control), I will work 20+ hours per client. When it's a quieter week, I may scale back to 5 or 10 hours for that same client.
How do others price their PR services? Feel free to post in the comments section how much you charge for your PR services and why.