How much do I charge?
The question that everyone in the service business, sooner or later, must face. “How much do you charge for these services?” the clients always ask, usually before they have any idea of what I do or don’t do. Of course I always answer the question. Even if I have no idea what the client wants or need, I can always provide a broad range of prices for various services.
I think no matter what I will always have trouble telling people how much my firm charges for my services. But I really don’t want to, and I am starting to come around to the necessity of declaring what I charge loudly and proudly, backed with the confidence that I am worth what I charge. And actually, that we are worth a whole lot more than that.
I suspect that it is the people who value themselves in this manner AND demand to be paid in accordance with the value they believe they bring to the table, that somehow always rise to the top. Well consider me cream then.
Social Media > PR
Social media is a new field and therefore the rules are still being codified now about things like best practices, purview, deliverables and accurate metrics and most importantly, pay scales. In the eyes of the general public and of marketing people in particular, social media is basically a cousin of public relations. Therefore, social media firms and consultants should be paid similarly to PR firms. In fact, I detect that many skeptical people (who happen to be in charge of the purse strings I might add) feel that because traditional PR has been around longer it is therefore more legitimate. And because of that, not only should social media work be put on the same scale as PR, but in fact, should cost less.
This is absolute rubbish.
Social media and public relations, though at face value do appear quite similar, are nothing alike. When you line up what great digital strategy firms do and what the typical PR firm does, there is no comparison in terms of value. The number one reason why this is so is TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE.
At the end of the day, I don’t believe in gaining experience, building relationships and learning tricks and tips, only to NOT share them with the people who need them most. It just never even occurs to me to even think to behave like this.
PR can be an extremely powerful tool for some firms. If you have the budget and you have absolutely zero interest in running your own engagement with your customers (sounds really unappealing when I put it like that huh?) then PR, yeah, sure, it works. I work all the time with super talented PR people who do fantastic work. They are great copywriters, they’ve got influence with the right people and they achieve what most clients, at least for now, want. Which is exposure. And good press. And to be listed in blogs and magazines and on TV.
Social Media Consulting is About Transfer of Knowledge
This is where the real value is in what I do.
Many PR firms I know charge around 5k a month. They manage and promote your brand using their network of journalists, publicists, promoters, celebrities. Some are even promoting your product to the new breed of influential voices like bloggers, tweeters and assorted social networkers. They help with your website, and your press kit and your signage and branding and yadda yadda yadda. And they get paid for all of those things as well, on top of their fee.
PR firms are happy to send you that bill, that fairly hefty bill, for months and years to come, knowing that whether you are three months down the road, or three years, you need them as much as you did when you first started. That is because, again, there is no transfer of knowledge.
It could be argued that further down the line you might even need them MORE then when you started. If your brand is successfully growing according to plan and more locations are opening, or more stores are picking up your line, than, hey, we’ll you can’t very well pull the plug on your PR right? Expect a call then informing you that rates are going up.And in a sense they’d even be right.
When a company makes the decision to take ownership of their digital marketing strategy, including their online advertising, their social media, their email marketing, their e-commerce, their social PR, they are signaling that they know that PR is no longer worth it. That the trend towards DIY in business is inevitable, and that beyond the most lofty of companies and brands, most businesses realize that their customers want THEM to own their digital presence. And their presence in general. They don’t want to speak through layers and filters of marketers and publicists. If a customer has something to say to a brand, they want to say it DIRECTLY to that brand.
OK, so here we are, nearly 800 words later. And I still haven’t told you exactly why Social Media Should Cost More Than PR, which is after all the title of the post. The reason social media should cost more, MUCH MORE, than PR is because the transfer of knowledge, if done properly and competently on both ends of the equation, means that businesses will be able to leverage their own fortunes, build their own brands WITHOUT the need for PR. How much money will be saved over the cost of two or three or five years.
It really is that simple. Instead of 15k over three months, I want 100k over three months. Because that is how much you are going to be able to make out of what I teach YOU how to do. At least. And yeah, I am that confident in this.
Image courtesy of Kdrzpnr on Flickr
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
When I saw the headline on O’Dwyer’s Twitter – 21st Century marketing tool – I thought, bah. I hate the term social media. Nothing social about a 30 year old guy sitting in mom and dad’s basement on the Internet all day.
By the time the link popped up, I had thought about it. As a former journalist who has written for Associated Press, 3 of the Rocky Mountain regions largest newspapers, the Albuquerque Journal, Denver Post and Arizona Republic, I’d like to edit a line in your article: “Social media (I prefer 21st Century marketing tools) and public relations are nothing alike.” Neither is advertising and 21st Century marketing tools.
Let’s use the Arizona Republic versus Facebook. On the Republic, a company like Dillard’s pays thousands upon thousands for a ONE TIME full page ad in a newspaper with a circulation of about 200,000. Let’s say 100,000 actually see your ad.
If they are interested in an item, they can’t tell if it is in stock near them. They can’t Twit or Facebook it to a friend. There’s no section for those who bought it to comment. The newspaper ad is PUSH marketing, Internet pull.
Just as in 1994 with websites that were nothing more than online billboards, 21st Century marketing tools are evolving rapidly in the second decade. Airlines, places like Amazon, and other businesses are realizing you can transact business on places like MySpace and YouTube (I was telling clients that in 2006), Facebook, even Twitter.
Now every public relations and advertising firm is offering “social media.” The people who didn’t know what they were doing in advertising, or public relations, were only in it “for the parties,” now are charging outrageous fees for not knowing what they’re doing on social media. After all, putting a Facebook page up is worth $500, right? So what if they don’t think about conducting business over it. It’s “social media;” we go to parties, we’re on Four Square, we’re social. That’s what they believe social media is with their iPhone and Droids attached at their fingertips. Besides, they have all the local television personalities as Twitter friends. They don’t know one assignment editor, but they understand public relations and now “social media.” RIGHT.
You wonder why the USA economy is depressed right now? It’s because companies are utilizing public relations, advertising firms, and hiring personnel, who truly don’t “get” that 21st Century marketing tools are designed to bring in $$$$. It’s not a billboard anymore. It is a cash cow maker.
Companies do more research on a purchase for something like a beauty salon chair than they do the companies or personnel they select to do their 21st Century marketing.
Richard Kelleher, M.B.A., C.M.S.
World’s first Marketing Sociologist
Ranked #1 public relations expert by “social media” site Linkedin 2008 and 2009
@PhoenixRichard
Richard,
Thanks for the awesome comment. You are so right about the push versus pull, and basically everything else. I kind of wish you had left me something to disagree with.
But you didn’t
Z
Richard – you’re awesome.
Zach – you’re right. BUT – there’s a key point. There needs to be some sort of sliding scale. So for example, a client grossing $100k and $100 million will need to pay different rates since they’ll need more or less resources. Either way, if you can increase profits by even 100%, you’re doing well. And I know from experience, an integrated campaign and strategy will help businesses and individuals do that.
But aside from increasing profit margins, the world and ethos of social media is helping businesses achieve their mission. Not every Businesses was started just to make money. If you ask any entrepreneur why they are in business, they will give an individual, personal answer. Over time, social media helps entrepreneurs (aka people) connect others with their core values. And that’s way more valuable than PR.
Jaki
Absolutely right. No one is saying that a client who clears 20k a month in net income should be paying half of that to their social business consultant. But the point is still there, you will increase your business and know how to KEEP doing so, with our services.
Z
The thing with social media is that you are trying to activate audience by giving them compelling social experiences, encouraging advocacy – by its very nature that is going to me more time consuming, and more rewarding. Public relations has entered a different paradigm, and there is no turning back.