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How would you charge for public relations services?

Posted by Joseph Thornley on March 5th, 2009, 2 Comments

We received an email from a new public relations practitioner asking how he should charge for his services. I’d like to share his email and my response.

The question:

I’m an up and coming media/PR consultant.  I was in the media industry for 13 years and now I’m looking to develop my own consulting business.  …

Recently, I acquired my first client.  I’ll be paid on a per project basis. The client wants me to work on a social networking website campaign I suggested.  Basically, I’ll be putting together this small business’ Facebook and Twitter pages.  I’m trying to figure out how much I can charge this business.  Should I go with a per hour rate?  If so, how much?  Or a flat rate? If so, how much?  I’m also trying to determine how long it will take to build traffic and interest to these social networking pages.  I’m guessing it’ll take 4 to 5 months for any substantial growth.  This company is looking at this campaign as a new way to attract interest to its website/store.
I’d appreciate any thoughts as to how much I can charge.

My answer:

What you charge depends on the overhead you must carry (your needs), the value to the client (what you should charge), the budget of the client (what you may only be able to charge.) Bottom line, I’d start by asking for a fee equal to what I think the project will be worth the the client based on anticipated results. Then, if they cannot afford this, you can decide whether to negotiate an acceptable fee.

Your thoughts:

How would you answer this question? What’s the right way to charge for public relations services?

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2 Responses to “How would you charge for public relations services?”

  1. Carol Levine APR FCPRS

    March 12th, 2009 » 11:31

    I have always lived by the concept of “a quality hour worked, is a quality hour billed”. That said, public relations practitioners, like other professional advisors, chartered accountant and lawyers for example, need to look at a number of factors in determining pricing. In addition to overhead you would want to consider the market conditions (the current downturn has made clients even more sensitive to cost); competition (how many other consultants do what you do?)If the service you offer is seen as a commodity and not a premium value service, then you will need to get a handle on what your competitors would charge. Be competitive. A sole practitioner will likely be able to execute the work at a lower cost than an organization with greater resources and infrastructure. At the end of the day what you have to sell is your time and expertise – even if you agree to a project fee, or retainer, you need to measure thia against the time you put in as well as the ingenuity of your counselling abilities. Another consideration is to break down the types of services you will be providing. Although you have many years of experience, your pricing should reflect the various tasks you will perform (not charging the client the same rate for administrative and project supervision as you would for strategic counsel). Typically a larger agency would have a number of staff levels involved in a project.

  2. Rick Spence

    March 21st, 2009 » 18:25

    But in thse days of social media pioneering and experimentation, how can you possibly deterine what the value of the finished project will be for the client?
    And if you base your fee on some portion of that estimated value, what is your defence if results do not meet expectations?