Content Pricing: My Clarification

What comes easy, won't last long. What lasts long, won't come easy. Hard work with focus pays.

I have given clarification on the content pricing earlier, and I am giving it again. If you are a PCWC participant, a client's content requirement is part of your project work, so the payment is nominally fixed as Re.1/- per word. This means to fulfill the promise of "earn your fee back." In the case of Associate Content Writers (that includes even myself) the pricing can be done independently. The market price per word is Rs.1/- to Rs.3/- in India, and for clients abroad it may go up to Rs.4/- per word.

For the last few years, as a trainer and associate, I have been charging Re.1/- per word, and from January 2021, I have made it Rs.1.30/- per word pricing is reasonable (not competitive) as my clients are start-ups and small businesses with little resources for online marketing. All the 1960 clients I have today are micro and small businesses only. My genuine request to my fellow ACWs is that, please adopt a professional pricing benchmark, and look at the client as a long-term association. Your work should speak for you and echo success, and the client's delight makes a huge difference.

When I started as a copywriter in 1993, my salary was Rs.2500/- pm and by 2019 as AGM my salary was Rs.1,20,000/- pm (including  office car and perks). There are two learnings to note. One, never compare your corporate pay packages with your professional content writing payments. Second, evolve a sustainable pricing model, by which your clients come back to you again and again for new works, and refer you to their network. 

Generally speaking, in India (including us) the customers are obsessed with pricing and bargaining. The same is with NRIs settled abroad. You cannot change the mindset, so you have to be smart enough to give a competitive price. Quality is still a euphoria for many of us. Even if you make loud claims of a high level of quality and creativity it doesn't seep-in with the majority of the Indian minds. So, make quality and creativity as your personal benchmarks, as they can never supersede the fixed pricing mindsets of customers. A successful content writer is one who is good at business English communication, and equally a powerful negotiator. 

I am in total appreciation of some Associates who have been tactfully, yet impactfully negotiating the pricing at Rs.3/- per word and beyond. So, first learn the tricks of the trade, get yourself ready for the content challenges, and then demand the right payment for your work. Don't just hit and run, become part of the client's mind and business. 

In addition to sight, a content writer should have insight. Understand your client's vision, competitor strategy, and end user / customer requirements. Once you deliver the content, and take the project to fruition, both you and your client should be delighted equally. This is what I expect from each PCWC learner and ACW. 

3-Tips to turn into a Successful Professional Content Writer. 

1) Professional Pricing: Your client may be a Start-up business or a 500 Cr Enterprise, your pricing for the work should should be consistently the same. This is what endears you to your clients, and makes them to come to you again and again. 

2) On-time Delivery: Ensure that your content delivery is as per the negotiated timelines. Never give silly pretexts that your dog is missing, you had to pick-up your daughter from school, and your grandmother is unwell and so you were at the doctor's clinic all evening. 

3) Most important, demand the payment in advance only. This sets the value for your content writing work, and brings in the level of professional seriousness. Some people will never understand the value of Content Writing, they still think it is copy & paste work, and mere data entry. Our Content Writing Modules and the Assignments that you showcase at your Blog are a slap on their face. Only the Content Writer knows what rigors and pains are experienced before the Content is delivered to the clients.  

SANJAY NANNAPARAJU