How to Calculate Your Rate for a Content Marketing Deliverable
I hate giving quotes. Rates and time zones are my least favorite parts of freelancing. Yes, I somehow manage to mess up time zones WAY more than I would like to admit. But that’s another post.
When pitching to journalism outlets, the editor typically has a set rate for freelancers, usually based on the word. But in content marketing, you are often asked my least favorite question – What are your rates? This means that you ultimately have to give a rate quote, which is often a new experience for writers who have primarily written for publications. And it can be a bit terrifying because you don’t want to either over- or underprice yourself.
There are three ways to price a content marketing gig – by the hour, word and project. I almost always recommend project pricing because you can hide your hourly rate from your client, and you end up making more per hour because you will likely become quicker at the project in the future thus requiring less time. I really cannot think of situations where I would recommend the other two models, though I am sure that there are a few.
Everything I am writing here is because I have done it the wrong way and messed up quoting so badly that I would have made more money working at the fast food drive-through down the street, on many stories. My biggest mistake is underpricing. You can always go down, but if you go too low and your client agrees quickly, then you are stuck with a lower rate than you could have gotten.
The best strategy for getting the highest rate possible is to try to get your client to bite first. Ask them their budget or what they have paid for similar projects previously. This will help you avoid underpricing yourself as well as let you know right away if they are looking for a writer with much lower rates than yours. It’s also important to know your own negotiating style. I am a much better negotiator over email, so I try to never give quotes over the phone and always follow up over email.
Here are the three steps to determining your project rate for a content marketing gig:
- Determine the hourly rate you want to earn. This number is a secret; do not share it with your clients because most of them will be shocked. Your target hourly rate should be no less than $100 per hour. If you are working on a highly technical piece or something that requires subject matter expertise, then aim for a rate closer to $150. Remember, the client is not simply paying you to put words down on paper, but also for all of the experience and knowledge that you bring to the table. Think in terms of the value that you add to the client, not simply the time it takes.
- Determine how many hours the project will take you. If you are new to writing, then I promise you that this gets easier. I recommend tracking how long projects take you in reality so that you can compare your quotes with the real world and improve your estimating skills. I have found that how long something takes can vary wildly from project to project as well as from writer to writer. Each project is individual and should be estimated based on the specific factors for that project. It’s also essential to know what tasks you will be responsible for and what information/tasks your client will handle. Check out my post on 8 Things to Consider When Estimating How Long a Content Marketing Project Will Take for specific things to consider. Since one of the best ways to make more money is to reduce the time it takes you to complete a project, my post on how to write faster may give you some tips as well.
- Multiply your rate by the number of hours. This is your starting point for your rate quote. So if I estimate that a blog post should take me three hours from start to finish and my hourly rate for technical posts is $150, then my rate should be $450. If it’s a new project, you may want to increase your rate by 10 to 20 percent to add some padding, since many of the variables for your time estimate are unknown.
What are your best tips for quoting project rates? What have been your biggest mistakes? What process do you use?
Very useful as always. Thanks Jennifer! However, when I’ve quoted a by project rate, I justify the amount to the client by letting them know my hourly rate:/ How do I get around that? And what if I don’t mention it, but they ask? Thanks!
I’m glad it was helpful! I don’t think you need to justify your project rate or explain it. Just say that you calculate your project rate based on length, interviews required, amount of research, anticipated # of revisions and technicality of the topic. I have found that is enough of an explanation. I don’t share how I calculate it and if someone asks I simply say I use a project rate not an hourly. I make a joke and say that I do a lot of writing in my head while driving and I can’t figure out how to charge for that. They always laugh and move on. Does that help?
It does. Thanks so much!
Great story, especially that response for those who ask for your rate. That response really resonated with me. As I write as a journalist and copywriter, the rates (and industries) can be quite diverse.
Yeah, I hate the question what are your rates with no explanation about what they are looking for. I write about everything from general business blogs to highly technical whitepapers. My rates vary pretty dramatically between the two.
I love the joke about doing writing in your head while driving. I think I’ll come up with something similar. It’s true but also gives a nice explanation about why you won’t tell your hourly rate without really giving away your strategy.
I’m glad you found it helpful! I’ve probably said it at least 40 times and not a single client has given me push back when I explained it that way. And everyone laughs and most people can relate to it in some way with their own work habits.
Thanks so much for this blog post. I am getting ready to quote out my first white paper and this really helps me. I’ve got to go read your post about how to anticipate how much time it will take. I’ve only worked with publications before so I am not used to pricing out a project.
So glad it was helpful. Whitepapers are very tricky to price because there is a wide variety in what clients call whitepapers. Some are really just presenting information from research the company has done. While others are very thought leadership, which is creating a brand new point of view or concept or idea from the company. If you are doing the latter, it’s much more time consuming because there isn’t any existing documentation or research. Companies also care ALOT about whitepapers so the revision process can be challenging.
I would make sure you have a clear understanding of both the number of interviews, amount of research and how many people will be reviewing it. I would also add a 20 percent padding on white papers at least as well as make your target hourly rate a little higher than normal so you would probably want to aim for $125 or $150 at least.
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