For all the freelancers out there — how do you determine pricing for your clients?

[robthetwin]

I charge a flat rate and also % of spend. It also depends on the type of business, e-commerce is more work and changes a lot so I charge more than a plummer. Anything around 1-3k I normally charge $250-$500 flat rate and 25-30% of monthly budget.

[ggildner]

We charge monthly retainers, which are usually custom quoted based upon campaign budget and complexity.

However, we have a package for small business clients (we usually classify those as under $5k in ad spend) with a standard flat monthly fee inclusive of all services (account management and analytics/reporting).

25% would be fair for a smaller account (maybe on the more expensive end). Larger accounts are typically charged at a much lower percentage than that.

[focusedddd]

We charge a $500 + 15% AdSpend, I would recommend an AdSpend minimum. Especially as you grow, small accounts usually have big headaches unfortunately as you will constantly be bothered by a business with a $3,000 budget, and almost never hear from clients with $25,000+ budgets.

[sergeysus]

For clients in the $1-3k ad spend I would suggest a flat fee plus a percentage. It gets the client used to the percentage on the bill and when they spend larger amount your commission will go up as well. Win-win for both of you.

[Joseph4855]

Flat monthly retainer, I don’t really do % of ad spend. Have found that prospects find that confusing and complex. Also measure the industry. Car detailers (avg cpc is $2) is gonna have a lot lower monthly retainer to allow them to be profitable than say roofers

[bkh_leung]

I charge a flat fee

$600 for anyone less than $1500/month ad spend

But I don’t pick up these type of clients as much any more

They’ll tend to nickel and dime you and be more anxious about if it’s working

[Salaciousavocados]

Do a % of revenue that you think you can generate.

% of ad spend makes you sound like a commodity because you put the focus on the service rather than the benefit.

Also there are a lot of big ticket sellers with low ad budgets. Ie. Construction.

If you charge by ad budget then you leave a ton of money on the table.

[tomhalejr]

Percent of adbuy is a great way to think about things, regardless of how you frame it.

For those budgets, you might have to set a minimum fee, because you still have the bare minimum engagement/consultation/reporting time as you do with any paying client.

25% for an initial $1K/month experiential adbuy is very reasonable, assuming you are helping in several other areas, just to get things up to date.

25% for a low maintenance client, over the course of time at $3K/M, might be too high. If you’re not putting in any more time with the client, you can still make more for the time you put in, while charging them a lower “percentage”.

If/when you get into $10K+/M variable budgets (eCommerce in particular), then you start to run into all kinds of problems with any set fees. Any kind of back end revenue based models are also extremely variable, to say the least. Fee as a percentage of adbuy is easy to plug and chug into the “value Formula”.

So regardless of what you charge, or how you frame it, percentage of adbuy is always a good metric to keep in mind.

[MattyAds]

I primarily work with venture backed startups. I choose an hourly rate model to avoid the unnecessary work that comes along with being an agency.

I am a consultant not trying to build an agency or outsource. I believe % of ad spend and retainers open me up to having to do a lot of nonsense that isn’t valuable to actually growing a business. Hope that helps.

[throwawaybpdnpd]

Depends on many factors…

Anywhere from 500$ to 5000$ a month, depending on budget and industry

[benbarren]

large clients retainer 28 hours monthly @ $120ph = $3360 per month (up to $50k media spend)

medium clients retainer 20 hours monthly @ $120ph = $2400 per month (up to $20k media spend)

small medium clients retainer 8 hours monthly @ $120 ph = $960 per month (under $10k monthly media spend)

small clients retainer 4 hours monthly @ $120 ph = $480 per month (under $3k monthly media spend)

small clients do end up taking a much higher percentage of time spent and headaches vs the medium to big clients as others here have mentioned.

[jasonking]

I agree a set number of hours per month with clients, sometimes factoring in an initial campaign setup, then calculate the fee according to my usual hourly rate. Number of hours depends on my estimation of the time required, bearing in mind their budget.

Clients can change this arrangement at any time (but rarely do) and either party can bow out at any time (but rarely happens).

My clients are all nonprofits and would not agree to a percentage. It’s been suggested to me a few times and I had to point out that It wouldn’t be ethical to charge for fundraising in that way.

I agree with what focusedddd said. My biggest spending clients (Red Cross for example) are by far the easiest to work for. Partly that’s a capacity issue, with larger organizations generally being more capable. Which is why I turn down clients with smaller budgets.

[Blanketsburg]

I only freelance part-time, and have just a handful of freelance clients at this time (as my regular job has been quite time-consuming over the last 3-4 months), but honestly I’d charge the same regardless.

I charge a simple hourly rate, and like to provide estimates to my clients for larger projects and regular maintenance. I previously was charging $100/hr for the last two years, but am now charging $150/hr.