The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Better at “creative” than “pro”?

We’re away at CFC. Follow the action as it happens with Twitter hash tag #CFConf.

CreativePro.com is an excellent resource where “creatives go to know.” They recently reviewed our Pricing Bundle: The Tools for Smart Pricing.

Many creative pros are better at the "creative" part than the "pro" part. For example, business aspects like deciding how to price your work are tricky. The outstanding Marketing Mentor is offering a Pricing 101 course that can help.

The bundle includes two hourly rate worksheets, two estimating worksheets, seven written articles, two audio interviews, and one webinar. The ground covered goes far beyond the relatively simple question of whether your pricing is appropriate. You'll also learn how to figure out the client’s budget, how to steer the money conversation in the direction you want it to go, and many more nuances of this potentially sticky topic. Read more.

Check out their business how-to section: http://www.creativepro.com/articles/class/how-to

See what's included in the Pricing Bundle.

Need an overhead & hourly wage worksheet?

We’re away at CFC. Follow the action as it happens with Twitter hash tag #CFConf.

Edward Flynn is a Portland-based digital artist, designer and man of many hats with 20+ years in the business of Graphic Arts. He created an overhead and hourly rate worksheet for us to share, and he’s written about why.

The recession hit my digital imaging and design business in a big way in the latter part of 2009, early 2010. But I decide to be proactive and search out as much info as possible to get it back on track. So I began rereading all my back issues of How magazine. This eventually led me to the articles, and then books, by Ilise Benun and Shel Perkins.

Their books have been invaluable in helping me to re-educate myself on being self-employed, re-focusing my marketing and generally making sure that 2011 is full of promise for my business.

Their teaching were of such help that it motivated me enough to lobby the local AIGA and insist that they run a seminar on how to make Designers better business people.

They of course said, "Hey that's a great idea! Make it happen!" To which they then gave me all the support i needed to organize several seminars on that topic.

As part of these seminars, I contacted another designer, Megan Clark, owner of Vancouver, WA graphic design firm Clark & Company, Inc., who just launched her newest endeavor, The Exceptional Creative, a website for entrepreneurial graphic designers that features a downloadable kit, packed with business templates created specifically for graphic designers.

Together we created an interactive worksheet which designers could use to calculate their Overhead Costs and the Hourly Wage which was to be used at these events.  The worksheet was such a hit with attendees and everyone we  showed it too,  that we decided it had to be shared with the person who we considered our business mentor, Ilise Benun.

It's the least we could do to repay all she's done for us.

Download the worksheet here.

This worksheet is also included in the Pricing Bundle: The Tools you Need for Smart Pricing. There are only a few more left at the special price of $99. See what’s included.

 

Don’t alienate customers with “money talk”

In my recent article for QRCA Views, I talked about the right time and manner to discuss money in a way that will build trust instead of alienate customers. Here’s an excerpt:

Conversations with new prospects usually begin very positively. They are interested in your services, and you are eager to learn about their projects. You ask a lot of questions to gather the objectives and other requisite information. The more you talk, the stronger the bond you forge and the better your chances of a successful project. None of this can happen without the back and forth of conversation.

These initial conversations, including and particularly “the money conversation,” set the foundation and build the trust necessary to ensure a solid business relationship. The money conversation, however, can be challenging.

Consultants and clients alike are not always comfortable talking money. What is the best way to broach the subject? Will you bring it up, or will they? Should you talk numbers before writing a proposal, or use the proposal to position and provide context for your price? Should you ask for the client’s budget, or simply provide a price for your level of service? And what if the client does not have a budget, or will not reveal it to you?

Read the rest here: How to Talk Price Without Alienating Customers.

Listen to the interview on this topic.

Want more guidance on money? Check out my new book, The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money.

Why you need to feel like an expert first

A client of mine recently lost a big project. It wasn’t because the price was too high – theirs was in fact on the low end. The company instead chose a firm that demonstrated knowledge of (and expertise in) their market. That’s what mattered most to them.

More and more of your clients are also choosing vendors who understand their market. (In fact, many of my clients tell me they choose me over other “consultants” because I am “an expert” when it comes to marketing creative services.)

So how do you position yourself as an expert to your target market? By providing “expert” content through your marketing. 

How do you provide “expert content”?  By thinking, writing, and speaking with an authoritative voice (a.k.a. thought leadership) on what you know the most about: your work. This should dictate the content in all of your marketing materials: newsletter, website, blog posts, articles, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts.

Every piece of content you put out should be strategically chosen to further your positioning as “expert” to your market. If you’re using any of these tools without an “expert-oriented” content strategy, you’re probably not making the authoritative impression that will build the trust that gets your firm chosen.

When your prospects see all of this expert content—that’s how they will know that you’re an “expert” – which also affects the perceived value of your services so you can charge more – but that’s a separate issue.

In order to create this “expert” content, you must first feel like an expert.
If you don’t “feel” like the expert, you can’t generate the expert content you need for thought leadership.

This is why I’m trying to redefine the term “expert.” Listen to this clip from a recent Marketing Group session where I try to explain the new definition. (New Marketing Groups start the week of March 14, by the way. Details here…)

Do you struggle with this too? Tell us in the comments…

A simple formula for pricing

Here’s how Luke Mysse, Founder of CROSSGRAIN and speaker at this year’s Creative Freelancer Conference, comes up with prices. He shared this in his week-long series (about a nightmare project he was involved in) on the CFC blog.

My effective hourly rate is based on a simple equation of Expenses (including my salary) + Profit (every hourly rate should include it) divided by the number hours I want to work each month. Mine happens to be about 20 hours a week billable.

The above equation gives me my hourly rate. From there I figure out my job costs: __ hours X my rate + Job Costs (anything outsourced) = Basement price (meaning I can’t go any lower than this price without losing money). Once I have that basement price I price the project out based on the value of what I’m doing which could change depending on client, project type, my mood (ha).

See Luke’s latest post, Lesson 2: One Point of Contact.

If you want to get down and dirty with money, check out my new book, The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money. (There’s a free sample chapter.)

How does this compare to your pricing?

Pricing: What you need to know

To accurately price a creative project, there are some facts you need to know. These are facts about your own work, and facts about your client and the project. Here are the basics:
 
About you
You need to know:

• Your hourly rate
• How long the project is likely to take (based on past experience)
• Your overhead and mark up.
• What the competition is charging (tricky to find out but worth trying).

About them
You need to ask:

• Your client’s budget range.
• The value of the project to your client. (Takes some conversation to get this info).
• Most important factors to your client.

If you want to learn how to find these things out – join me for the first in the Creative Professional’s Guide to Money Webcast Series, this Thursday, February 10th.
 
And if you sign up for the entire 3-part series, you’ll receive the Creative Professional’s Money eCalendar as a thank you. It will sync with your iCal, Google calendar, etc to remind you when to pay estimated taxes and other important financial deadlines.
 
Details & sign up here.
 

Do you position your price first?

If someone asks you for a price, should you simply give it to them? More and more I’m saying no.

It’s important to position your price, before giving your price. This is one of the best ways to avoid sticker shock—and to actually help you get the job!

(In my freebie webinar tomorrow, I’m going to tell the story of Dave, who failed to position his price, and paid the price for it!)

In my latest Quick Tip, I talk about the interview I did with Mona Patel of Motivate Design. Mona describes how she positions her price and identifies her value to each client -- to the point where price isn't an issue -- because the value she provides is higher.

Read the Quick Tip, or listen to Mona’s clip here.

No-charge webinar about money this Thurs!

You have probably heard me talk about my new book, The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money (available for pre-order here). What you probably don’t know, is that there’s a webcast series to go along with it…
 
The webcast series will teach creatives—whether full-time freelancers, agency owners, moonlighters or aspiring entrepreneurs—the basics about the financial side of a creative business.
 
In the first of four in the series, I’ll be taking one main point from each chapter, and breaking it down for listeners. Join me. It’s free!
 
Creative Professional’s Guide to Money – Introduction
Jan 13th at 4 PM Eastern (online)
 
Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/996983736

Are you a visual planner?

If you know you need a plan for 2011, but get scared at the prospect of elaborate spreadsheets—I’ve got some good news. 

Plans aren’t necessarily inside lengthy documents or Excel spreadsheets. In fact, plans come in many different forms!

My clients at ImageThink are visual thinkers. This is the beginning of their plan for  2011.
 
 

Just before the holidays, we had an in-person marketing plan consultation, and this is what they created in the meeting.

ImageThink’s business more than doubled in 2010, and now with this plan to get them started for 2011, big things are surely on the horizon.

Are big things on your horizon? They can be – if you have a plan. Use whatever format works best for you. 

If you want a ready-made marketing plan, check out the 2011 Marketing Plan + Calendar, and if you need help, sign up for my free mentoring session.

Here’s to a strong 2011 + we need your help

Since I was snowbound yesterday, I spent the day looking closely at my numbers for 2010 and thinking about how I want to grow Marketing Mentor in 2011. Through that process, I came up with this worksheet, which addresses 4 areas of growth:

 

1. Balancing your client roster
2. Getting more of your favorite projects
3. Getting more of the most lucrative projects
4. Making more money 

We need your help. We can’t for the life of us come up with a title for the worksheet. We are too close to it. So if you have 10 minutes today, please download this worksheet, do it, and let us know your suggestions for a title. Thanks! 

There will be a winner: The best title gets a free copy of my new book (coming shortly!), The Creative Professionals Guide to Money.

Reminder: With 2011 around the corner, if you need help creating a pipeline-filling new year, don’t forget about the 2011 Marketing Plan + Calendar Bundle which includes the eCalendar that syncs with your Outlook, iCal, Google Cal and more…