One of the biggest reasons that people “don’t make it” as a copywriter? Undercharging. (Or worse, charging by the word.) But on the flip side, you also have to be careful not to overshoot the market rate for your expertise. As you can already see, pricing your services is a delicate balance to master. And with no exact formula to tell us how to do it, calculating your rates can feel like an impossible task.
Luckily, Nicki and Kate are on hand to make it a whole lot easier! Listen in as they dig into the key factors you need to consider in your pricing, such as experience, location, rush time, meetings, and more. Plus, discover the types of questions you need to ask clients *before* pricing your services.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:10] Pricing copywriting services is more of an art than a science—there’s no exact formula that will work every time. Be wary of online tools and calculators for pricing as they are often unreliable and produce unrealistic figures (like the calculator that suggested Kate charge $13,800 for a homepage—good luck finding a client for that!)
[5:00] Every single client and project is different. As professionals, our strength lies in adapting to each project’s unique needs and tailoring solutions for our clients. Fixed pricing doesn’t allow us to be the partner that we should be for our clients.
[6:50] It’s important to understand the specifics before setting prices, especially since clients who aren’t copywriters may not know what questions to ask initially. Don’t feel pressured to provide a quote until you have a clear understanding of the project’s scope and requirements from the client’s perspective.
[12:10] Nicki and Kate discuss key factors to prioritize (and disregard) when establishing baseline prices and hourly rates, including project scope, rush time, previous pricing, and more.
[15:00] How do you know how long a project will take? Nicki and Kate discuss the importance of timing tasks like drafting emails accurately, and to consider factors such as revisions, client communication, and urgent project requests.
[17:37] Avoid providing a quote during a discovery call. Take into account all necessary elements before preparing and sending the quote to your client!
[22:44] There are a number of elements that you want to factor in as you’re coming up with your quote. Kate and Nicki encourage us to work at a rate we are happy with instead of comparing your rates to other copywriters.
[28:50] Nicki and Kate touch on some of the other ways people charge, including by the word and hourly work. As a copywriter, you want to avoid clients that are asking to pay by the word!
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“Part of what makes us valuable as professionals is that we go into each project fresh and build a solution for a client based on their individual needs and that individual project. So if we say, ‘This is the only thing we offer, and this is the only price for it,’ then we’re not being the partner that we should be for our clients and not offering them everything that they need in order to accomplish their goals.” – Nicki
“You can’t have templatized costs for things because it’s going to vary from client to client. And you can’t base your prices on what other people are quoting either. Sometimes in the group, our students will ask, ‘OK, guys, what are you guys quoting for this?’ And I completely understand that impulse because everybody wants to know, ‘Am I in the right area? Am I in the right ballpark?’ But it’s going to be so different from client to client and from project to project, and even the area that your client is based in.” – Nicki
“There are lots of questions you want to dig into before you even start working on the pricing. And bear in mind too that clients don’t know what to ask. They’re not professional copywriters. So the only thing they know to ask is, ‘Oh, are you a copywriter? Are you available? And how much does it cost?’ That’s the only thing they know how to ask. So instead of automatically going, ‘Oh, I have to figure out what to tell them my’, take a step back and you can say to them, ‘You know what, that’s a really great question, but I can’t really quote you a price until I have a better understanding of your project.'”
Related Links
- Why Most Advice About How to Price Your Services is Dead Wrong for You
- Copywriting is Only 1/3 Writing, Here’s Why That Affects How You Charge
- What Copywriters Charge for Content Writing
- When and How to Raise Your Copywriting Rates
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
