Marketing pricing for clients in an agency/enterprise organization

Pricing can be a sensitive topic for clients, but one effective approach is to create a rate card. What’s a rate card? Simply put, it’s a detailed list of services you provide, along with explanations and the estimated hours required to complete each one. This method is more flexible than setting fixed prices for individual services, as you can adjust your hourly rate over time. It also simplifies calculations, eliminating the need to price each service line separately.

When developing a rate card for marketing services—whether it’s for creative projects, email campaigns, or other deliverables—ensure it’s comprehensive and clearly understood by both your internal team and external stakeholders. Alignment on terminology and expectations is crucial for maintaining a smooth working relationship.

It’s equally important to clarify that the rate card applies solely to marketing services. In larger organizations, multiple departments may collaborate on projects for the same client, each with its own associated costs—such as customer care or administrative tasks. Your rate card should explicitly cover marketing services only, leaving other departments to define their own costs. Sharing these rate cards internally ensures everyone has a clear understanding of the scope and responsibilities.

Finally, assign someone to oversee pricing and manage client-facing contracts. This person’s role would include consolidating rate cards across departments and developing comprehensive scopes of work for each client project. While marketing teams could handle these conversations, it’s often more efficient to have a dedicated liaison managing pricing discussions, allowing the marketing team to focus on delivering high-quality work.