Last updated on June 14th, 2022

Service pricing strategies run alllll over the place. 

Let’s be honest… Pricing services can feel like riding an emotional Storm Mountain-style rollercoaster, complete with feeling a little sick-in-the-stomach along the way. 

 

 

BUT

You can turn the process of figuring out the perfect prices for your copywriting services into a soothe-the-senses Champs-Elysees stroll. 

This post lays out the service pricing strategies you can lean on, the mistakes to avoid and the art of raising your price. 

First…a story. 

We have a fave city hotel we frequent for our family staycations and my deep work retreats (more on that in another post.)

 

 

Over the last two years, we’ve stayed at the hotel pretty much every month. AND we’ve noticed the rates go up and down in line with the demand. 

Do we get advance notice about these? Nope. 

Is there a big “last-chance” sale? Uh-huh. 

The prices go up. 📈💸

That’s how the hotel industry works. 

Although you and I are not in the hotel industry, we CAN learn from their pricing strategies.

 

 

And this post will unveil solid, use-with-confidence strategies. 

However 

Before we get into pricing strategies, let’s talk about… 

 

The Most Common Pricing Struggle Service Providers Battle on a Daily Basis 

Raise your hand if you’ve ever posted “I have a client who wants [insert deliverable]. How much should I charge for it?” in a copywriter group? 

 

 

You’re not alone. Nearly every copywriter I know has done this at some point or the other. 

Honestly, it’s okay to get advice. 

What’s NOT okay is to take that advice as the gospel truth. 

Because there’s so much nuance and context when it comes to pricing. 

Case in point: Someone who’s starting out may feel $900 for a sales page is great and be thrilled with it! 

There’s the mid-range where copywriters charge anywhere from $2500-$5000 for sales pages. That’s great too!

A seasoned copywriter like yours truly charges anywhere from $7500-$10000 for a sales page. Guess what? That’s great too!! 

What do YOU do? 

Do you pick a number? Any number? 🔮🎱

THAT is the #1 struggle copywriters face. 

How do you pick a number? 

You use the… 

Thoughtful Service Pricing Strategy: A 3-Part Pricing Matrix for People-First, Profit-Focused Copywriters 

Service pricing strategies don’t have to be complex.

Here’s a super simple yet effective way for you to assess what to charge for your services. 

You can make this matrix on a plain sheet of paper, on a notepad, on a digital device… it doesn’t matter. 

What matters is you get clarity by the end of this exercise on what you should be charging for your services. 

Here are the 3 columns you need to start your matrix. 

Deliverables and Logistics

Pain Avoidance

Gain Acquisition

 

👉🏽 So, in the first column, you essentially write down EVERYTHING involved in a project. 

That means – calls, admin, research, and then, of course, writing, editing, and revisions. 

Next, you write down estimated or approx. times for each deliverable. For instance, if you know your project will involve 1x 60-minute call, 1x 60-minute offer optimization call, 3x 45-minute customer interviews, 1x 60-minute copy presentation call, that’s 225 minutes. Rounded up to 4 hours of calls alone. 

Repeat this exercise for all other deliverables. 

Add it up. 

That gives you an approximate number of hours you’d spend on the project. 

Multiply it by your INTERNAL hourly rate. 

The number you arrive at is your BASELINE rate. 

This is, however, NOT what you should be charging. 

We reach that price by filling out the other columns. 

👉🏽 In the second column, you write down how your client will avoid pain in their business. These could be tangible or intangible. 

Continuing with the sales page copy example, here’s what the pain avoidance column could look like. 

 

Deliverables and Logistics	Pain Avoidance	Gain Acquisition
1x 60-minute call,  1x 60-minute offer optimization call,  3x 45-minute customer interviews, Messaging recommendations Sales Page Copy 7x Email Sales Sequence 1x 60-minute copy presentation call 1x Launch Debrief Call	Writing their own copy
	Spending time wondering whether they have it right
	Wondering whether their launch failed because of their copy and strategy
	Feeling like an impostor because their copy doesn’t do them justice

 

👉🏽 Finally, fill out the gain acquisition column. This is what your clients will gain after they work with you. 

Keeping up with the example, here’s what that could look like. 

 

Deliverables and Logistics	Pain Avoidance	Gain Acquisition
1x 60-minute call,  1x 60-minute offer optimization call,  3x 45-minute customer interviews, Messaging recommendations Sales Page Copy 7x Email Sales Sequence 1x 60-minute copy presentation call 1x Launch Debrief Call	Writing their own copy	Peace of mind knowing their sales page is sorted.
	Spending time wondering whether they have it right	Confidence in their copy because it is based on research and written by a professional.
	Wondering whether their launch failed because of their copy and strategy
	Feeling like an impostor because their copy doesn’t do them justice

 

Okay, now that you know what your clients will gain and avoid in their business and life AND you have a baseline price, you can move on to the other pricing factors and come up with a price that feels perfect for you. 

Wanna get our eyes on your pricing? Need support in scaling a business that’s profitable and sustainable? Looking for a marketing strategy that attracts the right clients?

Apply to work 2:1 with us in Intentionally Profitable. 

 

Factors to Keep in Mind When Pricing your Services 

Service pricing strategies usually treat every service provider with the same paintbrush. That’s also the problem with using generic calculators. 

As shared earlier, there is a lot of nuance and context involved. Let’s look at the factors that’ll ensure your pricing is profit-focused but keeps people first. 

Leads 

One of the first things you need to consider is the number of leads you have in the pipeline. 

If you have more leads than you can handle, you can go ahead and quote a higher price than usual because well, you’re in demand. Like our city hotel and their room rates. Demand goes up and so do the rates.  

Positioning 

Next up is your positioning in the market. Are you positioned at the value-end like say, a Costco or Walmart or mid-tier, like Target, or are you straight up Whole Foods? 

While thinking about your positioning, please remember that while neither positioning is better than the others… with lower-priced offers, you do need volume to be able to meet revenue and profit goals. 

Having said that, sometimes, you can start with a certain market positioning and then, move up or down as you see fit. 

For instance, when we started, we were definitely at the lower end of the spectrum. 

AGAIN… Neither positioning is better than the other. 

They’re all great as long as they work for you and are aligned with who you are. 

Which segues nicely into our next factor… 

 

 

Value Alignment 

Your pricing strategies need to align with your personal and business value system.

We’ve said this often and it bears repeating. 

 

Values aren’t meant to live on a plaque on your office wall or a page on your website. 

They’re meant to be lived in the way you run your business. 

For instance, for us, right from the beginning of our business, financial stewardship has been a core value. We applied it to our pricing at allllll stages of business by not charging interest on payment plans. 

Food for thought: How can you structure your pricing to reflect your values? 🤔

A caveat on adding value: Adding more “value” to your services does NOT always mean throwing more things into the offer. 

Value can be your expertise, your experience, your skillset, your unique point of view, and your client relationship approach. Value can be many things. Not always does it mean more “stuff”. 

Season of Life and Business 

Finally and most importantly, look at your season of life AND business. Let’s unpack that. 

Season of life is reviewing what’s going on in your personal life because that has a direct impact on your business. Your personal life integrates and blends with business when you’re an entrepreneur. 

For instance, if you’re caring for an elderly parent or a young baby (or babies) or have a chronic health condition, your time and energy levels will look very different from someone who may not have those demands on their schedule.  

This means, you may not want a fully booked schedule or you may not want to be marketing all the time. You may want a couple of retainer clients that lend predictability to your revenue and schedule. 

Season of business, on the other hand, is reviewing what’s happening in your business. 

Are you in build mode? 💪🏽 Or growth mode? 🧠 Or sustain mode? 💭

Each mode requires a different approach to pricing. Let’s say, you’re just starting out and are in fierce “build” mode. You want to build a client portfolio, gather testimonials, and get at least a few clients on board. 

Your pricing will reflect that. 

Caveat: THIS does NOT mean you scrape the bottom of the barrel. Remember, that is why we did the whole pricing matrix exercise earlier. 

This just means you may have to adjust your pricing to be, say 5% above your baseline price rather than 50%. 

Okay, now that you know everything that goes into pricing… maaybe you’ve realized you’ve been undercharging all along. 

 

 

So let’s look at… how to raise your price. 

5 Strategies to Raise the Prices for Your Copywriting Services with Confidence and Courage

Raising prices can give even the most seasoned service provider pill-popping levels of anxiety. 

Having a strategy to lean on can help.

Here are 5 ways to switch up your prices without feeling like you’re going to burn your business to the ground. 

1. The “Last Chance” Line of Action 🏷️

Want to give your clients and prospects a heads up before you raise the price? 

Use the Last Chance line of action to share that prices will be going up and they can book in now. 

Fashion retailers do this all the time. If a certain style wouldn’t be coming back, it’s positioned as a Last Chance item. 

For you as a service provider, this move has two great results: One, your past clients know what you’d charge in the future. Two, you can book clients ahead of time and have a better handle on your capacity planning and revenue forecasting. 

2. The “First Time” Fiesta ​​🎉​

This is a great strategy IF you’re launching a service for the first time. You can announce the regular price and then, offer a “founders’ only” special. 

THIS is great if you’re looking to gather case studies for a service or get those first few clients in the door. 

This is also a confidence-boosting move because after you have your initial clients, you can raise the price without any anxiety since you’d already announced it would be the regular price. 

3. The Money-Making Makeover Move 🤩

Got a service you’re planning to revamp? Great opportunity to raise the price. 

We did this recently with our Rapid Rise Revenue Sessions. We revamped the offer, restructured and rebranded it to Profitably Yours…, and doubled the price.

4. The Big Event 🎪

You can make raising your prices into a big event using a combination of the strategies we’ve discussed above. 

So, you can combine a “last chance” with a “makeover” and have a launch for the new offer. 

You can do a countdown until your new pricing. Basically, you can turn raising your prices into a party!

OR you can…

5. “Just Do It” ✔️

That’s right. 

You don’t need to announce you’re raising the price, have a last chance special, or makeover your services. 

You can just raise your prices, like hotels and other retailers do and call it a day. 

Point being… like almost everything else in business, how you decide to price or raise your prices is totally up to YOU. 

You can take these strategies, mix them up, and turn them into a sales-boosting secret sauce for your business. 

OR you can decide to go all Gordon Ramsay and come up with a system that works for you. 

At the end of the day, pricing, like your personality, is unique. 

Lean on best practices but don’t hesitate to make them better. 

Want to work 2:1 with us on your pricing, positioning, packaging, and building a profitable business? Apply for Intentionally Profitable today!