A common freelancer problem is knowing what to charge for your services. Whether you’re a blogger, designer or speaker - what’s the right price?
Picture this. You’re a blogger. You’re doing a massive campaign for a well known brand and your friend is also working on it. You’re getting paid £500. You ask your friend how much she is getting paid and she’s secured a £1000 pay check from the same brand. You both have equal skills and capabilities, audience size, a similar portfolio and quality of work. So, why the difference? Or the more important question should be, what are some of the reasons one blogger priced herself at one price, and the other at another?
Talk to your peers
Think about it, the only way the theoretical character at the start of our article found out she was being paid differently was because of the conversation between the two people. Basing your charging price off what other people charge is a great shout. Whilst it’s good to match rates to the market price. To caveat, just because someone in the same industry is charging a certain rate, doesn’t mean you have to go with that exact ratee, take into consideration features that may be unique to you (e.g. reach, engagement, your USP, cost of equipment & materials).
Have that conversation. The only way freelance and creative communities are going to grow and see their members get paid the amount they deserve is by having these conversations.
Measure how much value the client is getting from you
You’re putting in all this work but what is the client going to get from it? A couple of likes on their Instagram page, or thousands of pounds worth of sales? If your work is providing your client with significant value and helping them to grow, and most importantly increase the income of their business, ensue your price is at the top end. Emphasise the value that you provide to the client whilst in negotiation.
Time Based Pricing
How much time is it taking you to complete work for the client? Think about how many hours it will take you to create a piece of work (including thinking of the idea, creating, editing/refining, presenting etc.) and ensure the amount you charge is an aggregate of this.
The only nag with this one is that if the scope of your project increases meaning you have to put more work, and subsequently more time into it, then your price is not reflective. To get around this you can look at the brief, estimate the time the project will take you, and then multiply the hours by your hourly rate, adding in a few extra hours for buffer just in case the time you have to spend working on it creeps up.
Consider How Much The Client Is Willing To Pay
It’s all good knowing your worth and having a certain price in mind, but if it’s way out of the clients budget, we’re back to square one.
As we’ve worked with both small start up clients with not a lot of money, and larger multinational companies with what seems to have a never ending pot of marketing budget, we know first-hand that it is good to research about how much the client is willing to spend. Simply, asking the question ‘Did you have a budget in mind that you were looking to spend?’ gives you a great indication as to how much you should charge and whether this piece of work is worth your time.
The hashtag #KnowYourWorth has never been more important
Fempire Finance