Project work and ongoing marketing management is based on an hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours we estimate it will take us to complete required projects. Those are what we call professional fees.
Breakdown
Every invoice has three costs associated with it.
- The cost to manage the marketing work, meet with you, update you, etc. (Professional Fees)
- The cost to actually create the marketing asset (website, brochure, etc.) (Professional Fees)
- The third-party costs for assets (photography, stock images, web hosting, etc.) (Third-Party Expenses)
Marketing Management
Under an ongoing marketing management agreement, the cost to manage the marketing work (see #1 above) is covered under a minimum retainer. The minimum retainer is an allocation of hours which are applied to your account. When we go over the amount, we charge hourly based on the current hourly rate.
Third-Party Expenses
The client pays directly for any third-party costs and we aim to set up ownership of things like hosting and photos under your own account so that everything is in your control. Other marketing people mark up third-party costs, so there is an advantage to having third-party costs broken out and paid directly by the client.
Here are some examples of third-party Expenses
- Printing
- Videography
- Photography
- Stock photos, videos or music
- Software
- Custom development
- Translations
- Ad buys
Invoice Schedule
For one-time project based work, marketing plans (outsourced and DIY), 50% of the estimated budget is invoiced at project start, and the last 50% at the final project deliverable.
Marketing management engagements are billed at the end of the month based on time actually spent in addition to the minimum retainer.
