Hey guys, what's up. Welcome to another weekly Facebook live. I'm Jen Buron. I'm the founder of generation PR, uh, we're based in Los Angeles, full service PR and sometimes social media marketing firm. Maybe I'll explain that one and why I said sometimes, and we are, or I am also the founder of the profitable PR pros community and the profitable PR pros, hub of resources online for public relations professionals to, oh, hi. There's people already on awesome to get their, their best, um, you know, skills honed and to run a profitable agency. Uh, oh my God. It just sat down. Okay. Frazzled morning took my boys. Both of them needed a double tooth extraction this morning. Just teeth are not the best in my side of the family. My husband's never really had any problems. My side braces for years, all kinds of crazy teeth issues.
And I think my boys kind of have my, unfortunately my side of the teeth issues. So that was a fun way to start the morning double tooth extraction. They were very good. Dumped them off at school, just walked in the door. So I'm a little bit frazzled. Um, but I appreciate that you guys are all here. I bet you, I know four of the people that are here right now, just because I've got my awesome regular people that show up, put in the work, um, participate. It's the best thing ever. Uh, so I, um, leave questions here. If you have 'em about anything, uh, we just kicked off our agency accelerator. The new cohort of people are coming through. We're recording all of the content live. It's so good. Um, subtle people who enrolled are like, well, if I can't make it live, what are I do?
And it's like, well, it's all being recorded and that's why you are joining now because you get, uh, to participate live. That's super weird. Look at that like a light thing. And do you guys see that, like a thing right here? Wait there, how weird, um, wonder where that's coming from? So, so weird. Um, anyway, such a good group. We had our very first call Monday. We're gonna be recording Mondays unless it's a holiday, in which case we'll do it Tuesdays, but, um, very, very excited about that program and our newest members. We had our biggest enroll ever. We had our most, honestly most enthusiastic members. And the cool thing about that is it breathes kind of new life into our existing members. And so, so many people are going through the program again and joining us for those live sessions. So the energy it's like pop in, which is awesome.
Oh, Ricky, Ricky's one of our new members. She said loved the first call. I kept looking up and I could see Ricky's face just like her, her profile picture, just this big smile ear to ear. And, um, I know she's been considering the program for a while and made that decision to join. And there's just something that feels really good about investing in your business, investing in yourself and being there and feeling energized by that. And Serena was there too. Same thing, just big smiles. And I can't tell you guys how much it means to me to look up hi Nelson and see that energy come through. Um, and Sally's been in our program for years and she joined again and said, loved the call too. And there's just something like, she's agreeing very energizing. What is happening? I feel like this is a weird, is it on the ceiling? Like I have a skylight, but that's never happened. Maybe it's that. I dunno. Anyway, maybe I can like center myself around it. Why, why? Um, clean the camera lens. Okay. Thank you to my expert camera.
Uh, my expert film.
Hold on, please. Hold. Sorry. Thank you. I'm glad you like my haircut. Let's see if that helps Cameron.
Oh my God. Look at you. Genius genius. Um, oh, thanks guys. I, it's hard to get in to see my hair cutter person. She's like really backed up. She's gonna color, but she doesn't do my color because it's literally just covering the roots anyway. Um, so it's hard to get in, so I'm like just hack it. So if I can't see you for four months, it'll just grow back. But it turns out I really like my hair short and I'm glad you guys do too. Um, thanks for that hot tip Tamin. Look at my lens. Perfectly clear. So anyway, um, we talk about all sorts of things related to running your business, being more profitable. My goal and the foundation of everything, of what we discuss is about making you more money in with less headache, less time, stress, energy, being intentional about the decisions you make in your business.
Um, and I stuff for me. Hi, welcome. So I, I was actually on my ride home from dropping the boys off at school, listening to our latest podcast episode. Yes. I listened to my own podcast. Um, there's things I catch the second time around, but I was interviewing the brand groupies and I was just listening to the question that I asked them about all, all of the services that they provide and they provide a lot of services. And to me it feels like that would feel very overwhelming and that I would feel scattered and in a million directions, but they've come up with a way to combine the things. Oh, awesome. Sally. Yeah, please listen. And anybody who listens to my podcast or feels so inclined, um, leave a review, leave a rating. It's super easy. It takes two seconds. It's called the pitching powerhouse podcast.
Um, it's on apple, iTunes, Spotify. Um, but it helps so much because then people find us and we have listeners all over the world. We don't have a huge audience, but they're, they come back week after week, which is really cool. So Sally, listen, and if you like the show, please go ahead and give us a rating. That would be so awesome. But I was chatting with them in that question I asked was like, don't you feel crazy just doing all these services. And they have come up with a way that their team works together with PR and social media and the two sides support each other and really leverage the results of the other, which is how we approach it in my agency too. But they're offer other services like copywriting and newsletters, and they see marketing as fully integrated and they have the team to support that.
I don't, I don't want that. I don't want to offer all of that. So I think it's important to have this discussion about what to include in your retainer. And it comes up in this group, uh, profitable PR posts, time and time again, people asking, what do you do? Do you charge da, da, da, da, and everybody's gonna have a different approach, but this is based kind of loosely on this thread that was asked. Let me just pull it up by French Checo and Chi. Um, she's um, people are asking about, uh, the, the budget. What are the services kind of like if you don't get the budget answered on the call, which happens, we have all these strategies for how to kind of nail that discovery call. But if you don't get your budget question in answered, sometimes it comes down to the actual services you're gonna provide and then shipping away at some things, if the budget doesn't align, there's always a number they're just being coy and they're not giving it to you.
Um, but we had a client that came in and gave us a range. We came in within that range kind of on the lower end. And then she said, well, our budget wasn't approved. It's more like here. Um, very close, but not exactly. And I don't wanna come in and be like, sure, no problem. Let me just drop my rate. Even though we kind of are doing that. I come at it from the approach of well included in our rate, our awards submissions, which is kind of a newer thing for us, but I have a team member that really likes it. She's very good at it and we're including it. Um, and that reminds me, we are building out an awards database so that we know what awards for which industry submission requirements, um, deadlines, all of that because I mean, how many times are we trying to figure out?
And it's very hard. It's taken us a very long time and it's not quite ready yet, but that's a very important thing that you could be, uh, providing to clients. So I shaved off that service and I said, listen, we'll still give you the information and turn it over to you for submission. We're just not gonna do it for you. And then I can come in at your rate. Okay. Um, hi, Naisha Woohoo. You and your team rock. I think it is like such a great idea, but it it's a lot. Um, because we don't know all the industries, like I can give you 35 beauty in industry awards, but I don't know the other industries. And it's hard to kind of figure out without knowing there's no like, place to go to see all the awards possible. So we're trying to figure it out and then, and then we will, um, add to it and, you know, keep it updated.
It's, it's a huge undertaking, but, um, I think it's valuable. And for me it becomes another revenue stream as part of your retainer. And in the alternative for me, it was something I could easily shave without sacrificing a high level of service and not showing up on that call saying, oh, sure, our rates are just, you know, amorphous. And like, we'll just adjust it because it doesn't match your budget. We have to be able to say, um, that will come down to their budget, but we have to eliminate a service. Oh, Elaine, thank you of it. Oh yeah. Elaine. Oh, Elaine. Um, that's so awesome. If you wanna like also leave a little review, like what you like about it. That would be really super cool too, but thanks for the five star rating. I so appreciate it. And I'm glad you love the show.
Um, so anyway, this was discussed here and I just wanted to give some, uh, discussed on Facebook. And I said here, cuz I'm looking at Facebook, but I wanted to give some fun, thoughtful ways that you could be considering what you include when you're setting up your PR services and your retainers. I know it's really confusing to try to decide what is included. Um, maybe what should be a separate fee. I mean, can you even with this jacket, I love it so much. Maybe the shirt's not like the best shirt to be wearing with it. I just threw it on, but um, oh my God, I love this jacket so much. It's, it's so cute. I can't wait to wear it like all summer over, you know, dresses and whatnot. Anyway. Hi Nelson talking about my cute jacket. Um, thanks Natasha. We've had a lot of back and forths about this jacket.
Um, a little bit of a splurge came for the stream and stayed for the jacket. Thank you, Sally. Yeah, I love it so much. Um, it's so cute. Hey, oh, hi Jane. So anyway, getting back to, wow. There's a lot of people on this live. This is interesting to me. Um, more than we've ever really had on like just a regular live. Hopefully it's new people in our community that are joining. Um, but hi, welcome. I just noticed that how many people are here, but now I'm talking about a jacket. How lame, like, okay, moving on, let's get to the good stuff. So we listen to our clients' needs on the phone and we don't always, um, jacket and hair. Oh, thank you. Now you should, uh, we don't always just provide them what they're asking for because they don't always know. And it might always be something that you want to be doing yourself and your agency.
So I want you to consider what you offer in terms of, um, um, hi chiffon. She said it's all good. Love me some good fashion. Talk with BI this. I mean you gotta have the two. Oh, hi Tanya. Just, oh yay. Awesome. Um, just doing the agency accelerator. I'm so excited to do this. Yeah, you're gonna love it. Um, it's it's gonna be so good. This go around to the contents. It's really, really, really good and comprehensive. And I'm just so happy that you're here. Like you can't imagine all the energy thatm the new, you know, new members are breathing into our existing program. It's just every time it's like a little energy boost. So, um, anyway, what should you include in your retainer? Sometimes it depends on your niche and what you offer. Um, but, and also it can also depend on the it and their needs.
And also if you're representing people versus brands. So let me kind of explain that there's like a whole bunch of services we could be considering. So it could be, um, PR, which the way that we look at it is media out outreach. Okay. So digital print, less. So print TV. Um, if it is founder media outreach or we're promoting a person, it could be blog, uh, not blogs, uh, podcast outreach, trying to book people on podcasts, but keep in mind that is another service that can be like kind of carved out and be its own independent thing.
FYI, um, just shameless plug, but not so shameless. Our media contacts database has hundreds of podcast, uh, leads in their hundreds. So it's like probably one of the most built out areas of the database. So if you wanna offer podcast as pitching as a service, that's an add-on let's say to your kind of foundation retainer, that's something that you can monetize. Okay. Also influencer, um, seating. Oh, Kelly says it's awesome. Yeah, it, yeah, it's good. There's a lot. There's a lot in there. Thanks Kelly. Hi. Um, so you can set up one retainer, let's say with standard services included or differentiate out different retainer services, um, built in based on the level of client needs. And Natasha distracted me with this awesome comment, distracted meaning like shiny object, your media podcast database got a client of mine, a huge media deal. Um, Stephanie is asking, does the database come with the pitch lab?
If you pay in full for a year of the pitch lab, you get the media contacts database about I'm not mistaken, but we also sell it separately. And I made it extremely affordable because the goal here is to get everybody access to the media. I'm not Cision, we're not that big, but there are a lot of very responsive contacts. Yay. Awesome. Okay, cool. Um, you'll love it. But, um, there's a lot of really, really awesome contact in a database that, um, are responsive and open and friendly to PR and it's all peer curated. So people like Natasha are turning over her warm, friendly contacts to our database. So we have people that are willing and happy to hear from you. That's what the database like looks like. Um, uh, listen to Kelly. I have found that your database is better than ones I've paid thousands for that's because it is curated from our community saying these are the people who wanna hear from you and I've worked with them and they're responsive.
And you know, that's why it's good. It's not as vast, but it's like, we, we all need the same, you know, thousands of, you know, two or 3000 contacts. There's no need for like most of the time, local media stations and stuff that come with Cision and bigger, bigger ones. Um, uh, the database isn't overwhelming, like other services. Yeah. It's just, yeah, it's good. It's just like streamlined. Let's I like how Naisha put it. It's not overwhelming. It's very streamlined. And Melissa said, I joined a while ago, finally getting started excited it's and Naisha says, it's gold. You guys, I love the energy. This is so great, Melissa, you will love it. Love the database better than Cision. Oh my God guys. Ours is like under $300. Um, it, it doesn't have all the like bells and whistles, but honestly I've been paying so much precision for years and never used those bells and whistles that they offer.
And I find Cision to be so clunky. It's like anyway, um, so I love all this positive feedback. It's a tool we created so that people just getting started or established pros that are looking for more nuanced contacts, have a place to go to just cut to the chase. You know what I mean? So, um, just know that's available to you. There's a lot of podcasts in there, but that could be a separate service. Um, the core of kind of PR retainer services would include media list development, um, adding your database. Well, Melissa, Melissa, also, if it's within your budget, um, I believe that if you do a pay in full for a year, which is like $970 for the pitch lab, you end up getting two months free of the pitch lab, plus the database, which is another $300. So it's like a $500 savings plus, you know, all that added benefit of having access to that, just something to consider.
And if you decide to jump to that annual, we would like refund you what you pay. Well, it depends how long you've been in it, but we could take care of your last month in there and convert you over. Um, so PR to me in a little container would be media list development, creating a strategic press plan. And only, only, only after you are retained and have a contract, then they get their press plan. Um, maybe media training. These are things to consider. I'm not saying it has to be included, but just let's get it out there. What the services are. Okay. Um, creation of a media kit and message alignment. Okay. Again, I'm not saying this is covered. We will get there. Okay. Just services for you to think about, um, targeted and personalized pitch writing and outreach to a wide variety of outlets like print digital broadcast podcasts, this targeted personalized pitch writing is what the pitch lab is all about.
We also give you like pitch angles, pitch ideas, all of that. Yes, Sally, we are gonna get to that. I would say media training is separate as well, but these are the services that could fall under your retainer. Not automatically included. I'm just saying like, let's talk about these services and then I'll go through just like you're saying and point out the ones that to me would be, um, non-standard and kind of additional, um, any kind of copywriting that needs to be done in regard to a PR campaign. Sometimes clients bios are outdated or their boiler plate and Sally hires an expert and that's how I would do it too. Um, you know, we would give them some tips and pointers and maybe write their talking points. Um, we practice with them, but if it was like a really big media blitz, I hate the word blitz, but, um, and T a lot of TV, we would go to that level or like a very high profile CEO of a company.
We would go to that extent and hire an expert. Definitely. And that would be an additional service like Sally is saying, um, creation of press releases and targeted distribution. While I'm on that one, I will typically hire a copywriter for a press release, um, or someone on my team who also special specializes in copywriting. I never charge for the drafting of a press release. Never to me that is like part of the job we are doing them so infrequently these days, that if they need a press release here and there, I mean, one, one a year, one every six months, like who cares, but the distribution, obviously, if you're paying to distribute it, we, we build that back to the client and we'll give them options and say, this is like the level of distribution and how much that will cost. Um, usually it's around $500 and they're totally fine with it.
And I don't mark it up. I try not to mark things up because I, my whole approach here, and I'll, I'm gonna talk about it is nickel and diamond and feeling like you're providing service. Let me get to that because that's my head space at all times when I'm providing service to my clients is always like white glove premium experience, not like this and that nickel dime, you know, all of that. Anyway, you'll see, um, any sort of like ongoing media monitoring, answering media contacts, uh, callouts part of me being the liaison between your client and the media. So if something comes through their social channels, they can just bounce it over to us and we'll handle it. Um, typically we wanna be the ones only talking to the media because it starts to get confusing when the client's talking and then maybe you pitch separately.
So we will ask them to provide all of those leads to us, and we handle all of it. Um, any sort of updates on all outreach and responses. So maybe it's monthly reporting, maybe it's, you know, end of month reporting is definitely something that is included. If they require a more in depth report, that is a one off, it's not what you're doing for everyone. They have a specific way that they need you to provide the them, your reporting. We may charge extra for that because they're so time consuming. So if we have to go in and pull certain metrics, if we establish our KPIs with a client and they need metrics that are not standard to us, like we have to go in to their Google dashboard, or we have to provide something in a format that is, is non-standard. If that's what they want.
That to me slows us down. Like we talk about all the time getting in a flow state that is no flow state, just spending two days a month trying to do reporting for them. So we will tell them we can do that, but there's an additional charge. Um, I don't of ever saying to them, there's an additional charge, but in a situation like that, it's so taxing on the team. And it really slows us down when we're trying to do all of the other reporting for our clients. So we have to really push, push back on that. And most of the time clients will say, no problem. We, we understand it's, you know, we need it in this format for our meetings. So that's totally fine. Um, there's also paid media opportunities. So managing a budget, um, I'm not talking about paid social. I'm not talking about ads, paid media opportunities are, you know, when you pitch an editor and then the next thing, you know, like a salesperson reaches out, um, we used to be like, no, this is terrible.
We don't, we don't want any part of this, but our clients are seeing the value of this more recently and are willing to reach the right audiences. They're willing to pay and invest to reach the right audiences and have control over what that feature will look like. Um, and so we're getting budgets now to do that. And our budgets are anywhere between, let's say 20,000 and 50,000 a quarter. Um, and, uh, we will, we will manage that as an additional fee. So if they're, because what we're doing is we're negotiating, we are negotiating the fee, we're negotiating the package, we're gathering all of that information. So there is a, um, paid, I'm trying to think if I can sh tell you exactly. I just put it in a contract for a client. Let me just tell you exactly what we call it, um, brand. Okay.
So this is brand partner. This is actually something that we're charging per quarter for, um, a client to do one collaboration per quarter. And what we're doing is finding the relevant partner, discussing what the CA campaign could look like. And then our client was like, just pass it on to, to manage that. And since it's not a media contact, it's actually another brand. We were fine with that. We're also working on a brand ambassador project, and that is a one time fee. What we're doing is we're trying to find almost like a celebrity spokesperson, but an ambassador. And we're finding targets. We are, um, creating a list that we're identifying. We're choosing the top five, we're coordinating outreach to secure the rates from those top five. And then we're gonna have a discussion and pass it on and give a recommendation of our top choice.
And then the client's gonna take over from there for negotiations and the contract, and we're charging $7,500 as a one time fee for that. Um, the brand partnerships was 2,500 a quarter. This is for an existing client. Okay. This is an existing client. These are add-on services. We came to them to extend our contract by another year. Um, we shifted focus from product launches to an always on approach. So we're promoting the company itself, plus their existing products on an ongoing basis. And in addition to our contract, we already have our foundation. We added enough or $4,500 a month for this kind of always on approach. Um, and, and they just signed for a year. I got it yesterday. So I'm like, yay. Which is why it's on my desktop, cuz I just, we just ironed it out. So, um, those are things that we have now said, okay, this is very cumbersome.
And the, the value is there to the client. So let's, you know, know charge additional for it. Um, paid media opportunities to, we are managing, um, that budget for them. Crystal says, OMG, Jen, that's brilliant. Oh good. Yeah. I mean, let, listen again. I'm gonna get into this about not nickel and diamond. Um, yeah, of course. Oh my gosh. Oh, always congrats. Thanks. Oh yeah. This is such a good, oh my God. It's our favorite client. Well, they're all our favorites just like children. Right. Um, but they are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful client. Just an absolute delight to work with. And I we're thrilled. I mean, we're so, so excited. So anyway, I'm, Sethy says so great. Yeah. I we're excited. They're they're fantastic. Um, so, and that, that add on service and the additional monthly, we just locked in another like 50% increase in our monthly retainer for that client for a year.
So it's like, this is why. Okay. Here's a reason. And why this is so important is that the goal of our agency accelerator is consistent, predictable, recurring retainer revenue. And it's all about serving and supporting your existing clients so that they stay right. So that when the contract is up, they stick around and they're happy to continue working with you and they see the value in what you've done and now they want more, what else can we do together? That's the agency accelerator. That's what I'm, that's why we talk all about service and why that piece is so important and how to seamlessly onboard and all that. So this is part of scale. It's taking what you've already done for that client. We presented new opportunities to them. This is how we did it. Okay. We had our December, we said, let's get on the phone in December and talk about your priorities in the new year.
What are your priorities? And we went through and they mentioned a bunch of stuff and we took notes and we said, we can get back to you with a scope of work for these priorities. And so we then came back to them and we set it all out, knowing that so that they would know, yeah, Chevon says scaling is key. That's the scale pillar in the agency accelerator. You'll love it. Um, but we came back to them and we said, okay, here's everything we talked about, which of these are your priorities? And they wanted everything. Except the last piece was like copywriting. They were like, you know what, key messaging and copywriting isn't, we're, we're pretty good. And they are pretty good. They're like, let's not focus on that right now. So then we went back and we ironed out the rate and responsibilities, what are we doing?
And what are we passing off to their team? And they're really happy with taking over once we had vetted and got it all ready for them. That's how we did it. We got in early before the new year and we said, how can we prioritize your priorities? Or like, how can we support your priorities in the new year? What do you want? And wanted brand partnerships. They wanted us to be pitching the whole line at all times. They wanted us to be working with some celebrity as a brand ambassador. So that's how we priced it out. And it, they were like, yes, great. And they signed for a year, which is like, it's the best thing ever anyway. So that's how we did it. Um, but uh, you know, other internal oppor or pardon of me, external opportunities that may arise, that's something, you know, you wanna be, um, on top of and providing as a service, I would never limit my email contact to a client.
I have seen people say, we, you know, you can email me three. Like what, you know, talk to me three times a month or whatever. Like that is just, I hate that so much. It's like when I talk to my attorney, who's helping us with my son's school. I can hear my husband talking so fast because he knows they're gonna bill us for that time. Like trying to get it in under like 10 minutes, you know? Um, um, Nelson says sound like you turn them upside down and emptied their wallet. Yay. Well, the key here is that this client is very well funded and they're, they're great. I mean, you know, they're willing to invest and they have the money to do so, so yay. Um, anyway, I never want a client to feel like they're, you know, on the clock talking to me, we are there to support them. We're there to serve them. So we email back and forth. I want them to hear from us. So I would never limit that. And that's included. Yeah. Yes. Amen. To well funded clients. Hi,
Come here. Hi little girl. She got a
New Highness. Oh, she's under the desk already. Um, and then of course, meetings with the clients. Um, I try not to do it more than BI month bimonthly, but, um, we, or biweekly, I never know it's every other week, two a month, max. I always try to do one a month, but in the beginning you kind of have to do two if they want it and then, and then shift over to a monthly. Um, so there's that. And then end of month reporting, obviously we mention that included other than, um, if it's a comprehensive, like one off thing that they need every month and nobody else is getting that that's not included, it's just too cumbersome, but you know, bring it up to them and say, we can get to this level of reporting and data. It's usually data driven, which is like really nitty gritty.
If they, that it's extra, you know, cuz it's not standard. And then influencer seating and also celebrity seating. Let's just call it that, that is a service that the way that we look at it is it's under our PR team. So our PR team would be the one reaching out and, and we used to do it organically through our media outreach. We would just do influencer seating through that. But now that we're managing a budget for celebrities and influencers, so we'll have a paid budget, we charge for that. So they'll give us the budget for, or the quarter and it's up to us to find the right targets to optimize, to figure it out. So that's an additional fee. Um, and that would be a monthly fee to manage the quarterly budget. We're still working every month. So we're trying to optimize, let's say a $30,000 or like at this spent 50,000 for the quarter to optimize for that.
Yeah. Yeah. But we'll manage it for the quarter, but I charge a monthly fee. So we'll say what's your quarterly and we can cuz it we're working on it the whole time. So in that I know, I guess that's a little confusing, but in that instance, because it is an ongoing thing we're doing monthly goes on top of the retainer. Um, and like I said, it used to be included. I used to just view it as an extension of PR. Um, yes. Sally is asking how do you mark up the influencers? Okay, please hold. So, um, now that we are managing a budget, we charge because it's a lot more involved, you know, managing contracts back and forth deliverables. Oh my God. Deliverables like this is crazy because we did, uh, um, what is happening? Okay. We did a $30,000 campaign. Thank God. The client was the one that wanted this influencer.
They were like, we like her, she has YouTube. Let's, let's go with her. And we had a whole list of deliverables and we had a creative meeting with the team. And one of the things that's very important are before and after images, before, you know, using the product. And then after a certain amount of time, that is essential to the, the power of the partnership is showing that. So we had this meeting and we were so excited and it was great. And we were paying her $30,000 and it was a nightmare to say the least like we have revised our process because we had to create guidelines around before and after, after this happened, we thought it was very obvious, same lighting. We gave her like same lighting, da, da, da. Now we have to approve it. So what she did is she took a screen grab from a YouTube video. She had shot years earlier. And since then she's had filler and Botox and lips and probably a nose thinning procedure. I don't know, it's a different person.
And then she's using our client's product and she's like before and after. And we're like, first of all, it's a video screen grab. So she's like, like talking. So obviously not before and after as a result of this product, that client was like, what? This is more damaging than it is good. Like this is bad. We have to tell her not to, to do this. And then we opted for some creative shots and flat lays. And one of the shots was the product sitting on a bed of dried baby's breath. You guys know that baby's breath, horrible filler flower, that when it dries, it turns brown and dusty. So here you're looking at a skincare rejuvenating device sitting on a dusty old bed of dead flowers. And like, why do I need to pay $30,000 for that creative? We were like, we, what is happening?
This is absolutely insane. So we had to salvage this, this partnership, but it was a huge learning lesson that we have to see everything guidelines. We thought crystal, we really thought she said creating guidelines, absolutely negotiating deliverables, overseeing the quality. We thought we were doing that. And it was like shocking to us that this is what they turned over. Like, look what we did. Isn't it great. And we're like, are they for real? Like, this is ho I was like, my 10 year old could take more compelling images than this. It was bad. So that's a lot of work to manage all of that oversee it ensure like crystal set guidelines, deliverables on, you know, uh, quality of work and all of that. So we do charge for that. And Sally says, can you say how you mark up the influencers? There's kind of two ways to go about it.
Um, if you want to establish an MSA, which is a master service agreement where you are operating on behalf of your client, you're entering into contracts on behalf of the client, there's a markup. So you can charge for the service, let's say 4,000 a month or 5,500 a month or 20, whatever it is for the service of influencer partnerships. And then for the paid piece of it, if you wanna foot the bill, you can mark it up for, uh, it's almost like a media buying fee on top of it. So it's an agency fee and it's totally standard. Um, the problem is that you are footing the bill to it's expensive. You're footing the bill to the influencer and getting reimbursed by the client plus your margin. So it's a little risky, that's one way to do it. You can also tell the client, we, you know, we charge X management fee plus agency fee, cuz it's like a media buy.
It's like an ad spend almost. And when you do ad, when you do media buying, you're gonna like a 10%, 20% of their budget. So you can do that if you want. Um, it's less clean, uh, it's less clean when you have to kind of, um, tell them every time like the influencer wants eight K and I need 20%. So, you know, then you have to bill back that, that other, that other bit, you know, like another $1,600 on top of it. And the client's seeing that. And you're just like, it's a little dicey if you just manage the budget and you're getting a percentage on it. Um, Rick, it can be anywhere from five to 25%, 20, five's extremely high. I'd say the standard's probably around 10. Um, and we have done that, but it got really dicey because it's a cashflow issue when we did a, um, an MSA.
The reason we did it is because thing running through the client's legal department was slowing us down total bottleneck. So we had to just get something in place with a client and then have everything run through us so that we knew the guidelines. We knew everything. We didn't get bottleneck from legal, from a, the dollar publicly traded company. It just wasn't, it was like a complete nightmare. So we had to do it that way, but I also then was paying the influencers and then it's a cash flow issue. It's scary too. Like very scary Shahan is saying, um, yes, I work with tons of influencers and it's all about checking in and keeping up with them all the time, especially for collateral. And we do an agency fee that we take out of what we pay them for their work. Exactly. And chiffon, you can charge the client also, uh, um, the management for you like crystal saying what, uh, is the range we would charge for this service.
So like I said, it depends what your retainer is, but let's say, um, if we have a $15,000 retainer, I would charge probably four to 5,000, probably 4,500 a month like to manage. If that plus I don't always char for that. I don't always charge again. It's for me, the nickel and dime aspect of it. But when I'm floating the bill, you better believe I'm getting my 20%. If they're gonna pay the influencer directly. I don't, I don't care as much to me it's like a nickel and DME type thing. But when we had to do an MSA master service agreement with the client, and then we put everything through us, I was floating sometimes 30, $40,000 a month to pay. I mean, that's a cashflow issue, huge cashflow issue. So that was scary. Um, I have a call coming up, actually. I don't think I have to be on that call cuz my team's gonna handle it.
That's the best just this client specifically Shon. I would like to connect if we could about influencers. I would like to know more. That's wonderful. Um, awesome. Love the connections. Okay. So those are like the services let's say there's also you guys, it could be SEO paper per click copywriting, web development, um, you know, graphic design, social media, all of those things could be included too, but I would really caution you against doing too much because you will feel insane. Okay. You will feel insane. This discussion is mostly about things that fall under traditionally under a PR umbrella and what you include and what you charged extra for. Okay. So let's talk about the real deal of figuring out whether to include services. This is my approach and I hope you take this approach too, because when you approach it like this, where you wanna be seen as a premium, full service, a agency where you're not Lin diamond, your clients, you will attract better clients. You want your clients to see you as a worthwhile investment. And to know that you are going to take care of them and have their back. I don't wanna be the spirit airlines of PR.
I'm not gonna charge you extra, carry your see case or charge you extra. If you wanna sit next to your child, I hate that experience with a passion. I, I will never be the spirit airlines of the service industry. No. So think of the customer that maybe would fly that airline versus somebody. Yeah. Somebody who's gonna pay full fair and you know, know that that means that their bag gets checked and they don't have to worry about all those other extra little, little nuisances. Right. So think of it like that because you are gonna know attract a better client. Um, and I also want you to think about Is like I'm screaming at spirit airline. Yeah. I mean guys, spirit out. This is just miss my kids to say that's trash now. I don't mean to like bash, but I have had horrible experiences, bags, people screaming at them at the counter. Um, Yes. Tamin is saying, have you ever had a client set up or give you access to a spend account to manage, um, the buys without having to float the expenses? Um, it's not that we have access to an account it's that we have a budget range and we can, um, have them build directly from the influencer. Do you see what I'm saying? So like they'll tell us we have 50 GS for a quarter. Um,
Uh, and Nelson is saying that is for sure. I include recording and editing clients, radio and TV and a reviews as well as getting links and PDFs to all stories that I arranged at no extra charge. No chef's kiss premium. That is white glove. Right? Let me give you an example. Um, this is I, my team like thought this was a good example. So I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna put it out there. I'd like to give full service premium retainer rate. Then if there are things they want or need take the cost down from there. Absolutely. It's a really good bargaining place to be in. If you come in and their rate's like, oh, it's just a little high shave, shave, shave. As long as it doesn't compromise the level of results you're gonna get. Those are like little add-ons and little wonderful. That's like getting, uh, a cloth napkin with your beverage on jet blue versus getting a, you know, paper napkin.
That's like fine. Who cares? You know? Yes, a cloth. Napkin's a little fancier, but it's not gonna, it's not gonna compromise your level of service. Right? So here's an example of something. It's like how I want my clients. Yes. It's our job to tell them what they need. And I hope you do that also on your sales calls you get on and you're just like, this is your goal, you know, um, free drinks that we're paying for a glass of water. Yes. Love it. Um, service, service service. So, um, I want you to consider how you would wanna be true, read it if you were in their position and how big of an impact something can be, even if it doesn't cost you that much. So here's an example. Um, I bought a Gucci handbag at an auction house online for not like essentially 90% off retail, because well, for one thing, it was like a secondhand bag through an auction site, but it was basically brand new, perfect condition and was a new design.
Like it came out last year, but it was missing a shoulder strap, even though you could carry it with the handles and it was missing the dust bag. And I have a feeling that's why it went for, you know, 10% of the retail fee was because it was like missing these key pieces. So I reached out to Gucci, um, and I said that I would love to buy the replacements strap and a dust bag. And I was totally willing to pay. I looked online everywhere. They were going for like two or $300. And I was like, you know what? I'd rather go straight through them and get one that matches perfectly and I'll pay for it. Like no problem, cuz I got such a good deal on the bag. And after some back and forth, they, and we had the bag and that it was genuine.
And all of that, they, as a courtesy said, we will send you a, a replacement free of charge. And to me that is like a Gucci experience. That's a premium experience that is wow. And you feel taken care of, right? They take care of their customers. They make sure that feel like you're valued, that if you invest in a Gucci bag and something happens, they're gonna back it up with their level of service. That's commensurate with the fee you paid for this bag. I mean, I didn't know that I paid like, you know, 90% off, but it's a, it's a genuine bag. And I was willing to pay for a, a replacement and they offered me a free strap and it finally came in the mail. So, um, you don't want your clients to ever feel like they aren't being taken care of or they aren't having their needs addressed by your agency with an approach that will serve what they need from you.
If this is something that is in your wheelhouse that you can do for them, build it into your fee and look like the premium option rather than charging additional service fees. So I have had, I've had social media firms build their clients for their Hootsuite or whatever, or SPR social. What if that is a tool you need to do your job that goes into your retain that goes into your fee. The client should never have to see that that's something don't ever charge your clients for your database. Never. You would never be like, oh, well, $300 a month for my database. No they're hiring you because you have database. So, so build that into your prices. Um, yeah. And Stephanie saying something from my selling days under promise over deliver Clinique retail school was very big on customer service. I love that. That's a great training that you can take into every experience, you know, ever. Um, and Crystal's saying, yes, don't show your expenses ever. We would never be like, oh, copywriting X dollars or whatever. The only thing we would ever show is if we build out like I have, I have a significant dollar amount of beauty devices sitting in my living room ready to go out to a certain A-list celebrity, five figures worth of beauty devices. And I am buying boxes and ribbon and all of that. And I'm just gonna write the expenses reimbursement of, um, oh, hi James. Um, the database that I just mentioned
Cision oh no. I was talking about sprout social for managing social or um, or hoot suite, but the databases would be like, Cision our muck rack proudly. And we have our own database that is like 300 bucks. Um, and it's, it's very good. I, I talked about that earlier, but um, if I'm go, so I am gonna build a client back for these B you know, boxes and actually it's a very odd size box and it had to come freight and I paid $300 for 25 boxes, which is insane to me, but the client was like, I get it. It had to look beautiful, cuz it's going somewhere. That has to be special. So I will build them back, but I'm not gonna add a markup for that piece of it. I don't care. Like they need to be taken care of. They are paying plenty.
Oh hi James problem. Um, so you know, I will get reimbursed on those expenses. I won't tease it out and be like, ribbon was this much. And tissue paper was this much and packing material. I will just put, you know, creation of, uh, reimbursement for, um, materials, for creation of, um, press kits to a or celebrity gifting to this person. So, um, that's uh, not anything I would mark up. You wanna be the premium option, which means you absorb all of those expenses that it takes for you to run your business into your retainer fees. And the client does not need to see any of that. That is setting you up to be a spirit airlines model, cuz you know, it costs $40 to put your luggage overhead. They will charge you to stick your luggage in an overhead bin. They will charge you to sit next to your fr your friends or family.
They will charge you for more leg room. I don't want wanna be that option I'm we're premium and clients that you attract when your premium are premium clients. Okay. So, um, the other thing I put here is if you have to hire someone to fulfill those needs, like certain needs like copywriting or um, graphic design, stuff like that. If you can do it without charging them, additionally for that piece, like think about it. If you work with a client and you do press kit development and you have to do graphic design, that's usually a one time thing. Or like once every six months, it's not a huge expense. Can you build that in? Like we, um, we just did a, like a mini, like three pager, two the media and we had a, a media part or a PR agency partner that works on the client with us in Australia.
It's my recommendation, somebody in our community, somebody I know through agency accelerator, she's amazing. Her team designed something for hi dairy. Um, her team designed something for the client, but it was very, very like for Australia. It was very comprehensive, a lot of stuff that the us market wouldn't need. Um, she didn't charge for that. I said to them, can I charge you to just take it and shave it down and change some of the wording and the spelling of things to make it more for the us market. And she was like, no problem. And just took care of it for me. Um, mostly cuz I referred the client to her, but she didn charge the client for that in the first place. And I wouldn't either something as simple as that, a copywriter I will pay for that. So I'm never um, yes, crystal.
Oh crystal we're you're my people. She says I pay a graphic designer, $30 an hour and it's working great happy clients get graphic design intern does canvas stuff. Great. Great. I love it. They're just my team. Yes. Do not nickel and dime your clients for these extra things. Take care of them. What do you need? We got your back. Okay. So even if you have to spend more for that, and it's not a standard thing, try to absorb it, try to factor that in when you're charging your so that you can just cover that expense. Okay. And a huge part of this also, I just brought this up is part of your mindset. It's the way you frame your services to clients. It, it starts with building the confidence and believing that you are the best option for, for your client's needs so that when you put it out there, like this is what we charge.
Of course this is what we charge, you know, cuz we're freaking awesome. And we're gonna get, we're gonna get it done for you. So the clients will be like, oh great. You know, great. I will tell you guys also, um, probably you 95% of the time my invoices go out and the only line item is our retainer fee. There's no, you know, if our clients are shipping, press kits or sample send outs, why would I, I don't, I don't have an expense for that. Um, you know, it's typically retainer fee and there's no additional like nickel and dime type stuff that goes into that. Um, so you know, couriers and all of that, like PR firms of Y year would charge for copy. Our old contract was like 25 census page and I'm like, seriously, I buy paper at Costco, like toners expensive. But I think a PR firm should have a printer that works and have toner, like build that into your expense, into your fee.
Like it's crazy to me. Clients don't wanna pay for that. So, um, if the approach you can take here is full service, we're gonna get your, you know, we're gonna take care of you. You will attract more premium clients and you can decide then also this is part of agency accelerator. It's what we're gonna talk about next week. And our second week of content is about understanding how, you know, setting a target revenue goal and understanding how to price your services. And that means knowing what this actually costs you to provide these services from your team and your resources and your databases. Oh my God. Yes. Stephanie. She said my first agency, 20 years ago, charged for faxes, like insane and, and people paid it and it was expected. That's how law firms are too. Every time we make copies, it was like a dollar 25, a page.
I hate, I hate that. I hate that so much. Like I'm a sauce person. When I go to a restaurant, I want a VAT of dressing. Okay. I need salad as a vehicle by which to deliver the dressing and the sauce into my mouth. Okay. I don't wanna be charged extra for that. I just don't give me if I'm going to Benny HANA. I want a bucket of that. Ginger dressing on that salad. I will pay extra for a second salad because that's what I'm there. Fine. But if you gimme a bucket of sauce, like don't, I mean, I get it. Maybe tell me in advance, but I don't wanna go somewhere and realize like this costs extra and swapping that out costs extra, extra, extra, extra, just build it into the price. And if it's like adding chicken or shrimp or something like that, yes.
You pay extra for that. But swapping out chicken for an avocado, kind of a wash. Don't charge me for that. Um, oh yay. Um, I'm deciding today. I am. Yes. Crystal. Listen. The way you're talking to me already, you are premium your premium. So I love it. I'm so glad that you are here. I love this topic. I love talking about retainers and money and being able to provide the best service possible and be as profitable as possible. And I'm telling you when you sometimes charge for less or for fewer things, when you charge for fewer things, meaning I'm not gonna line item. Every single thing it costs for me to do X, Y, Z for you, you are actually gonna make more money because the clients you attract are gonna be a lot better and the retainers you're charging are gonna be higher. So that's how we do it.
Um, and I have an editor's retraction. I have to, I have to print a retraction. Claudia. Everyone knows Claudia's my mom, my mom watches every live. She, she watched alive where I was talking about my mom. I think it was last week or two weeks ago. And I said something about where she said, teachers teach to the smartest person in the room. She is a teacher, was a teacher, always a teacher. Um, and you know, taught many, many years ago. She has a master's in elementary education and reading improvement. Um, and she said, I did not say that. She said I would never leave a student behind. We would never teach to only the smartest. And she said, I had a professor in college who told me that and said, I'm teaching to the smartest one in the room. And if you can't keep up, I'm not gonna slow down for you.
And she said, I quickly moved out of that guy's class cuz he was a jerk. So she goes, I don't want your audience to think that I'm a jerk. So Claudia, this is my official retraction. You're a wonderful teacher. You're a great teacher to a, our, our kids and uh, Ryan who needs help with his reading. You're a wonderful, booma that's what they call her Buma Claudia. And, um, you guys, my mom's awesome and very, very patient. And so of course she would never leave. She that's not what she said. I got a little twisted on that. So printing an official retraction, Elaine. Hi. Um, sorry, maybe you answered this for these retainer services. Do you have a document you send to a potential client or is it unwritten? And this is all part of the initial sales call. Um, this would be Elaine a proposal.
So let's say we get on the call. We talk about their needs. What they're interested in. I would ask if they have a budget, sometimes you'll get the budget. Sometimes you will not get the budget. Sometimes it will be more than you expect. Sometimes it will be less than you expect. And then you can sort of decide and discuss. Um, and you can tell the client, this is what's included. These other as you're looking for are actually an additional fee. Um, but, uh, they're an additional fee, but, um, you can kind of shave that out if they don't have the budget for it, but you can put all of that. Hi angel. Um, you can put all of that in your proposal. So when you send the proposal to them, you can show what is included and for what fee and for what period of time.
So Elena hope that helps, um, because the proposal is what they're gonna agree to. That becomes the contract. It's the services for the fee, sort of the, like, what am I getting for? What am I getting? Um, and Sally, my mom hasn't taught in almost 47 years, but she does have a master's degree in elementary education reading improvement. And I'm sure that she would be happy to chat with you. She's she's awesome. Super smart. I can find a way to connect you guys give her, her your email. Um, and crystal says, I let them know. I can make a nice package deal for them with the extra services. Yeah. And it's included like a bundle. This would always also come up to and all goes in the package proposal. Yeah. And then the proposal read to, or let's say they don't like the fee, then you can shave off some stuff.
That's kind of non-essential again, the cloth napkin for the paper napkin. Your service is still gonna be excellent. It's just the little, the little fine details that maybe, you know, you can't include and they'll get that. And you know, I always tell clients, I can't tease out services that are gonna compromise the results we get for you. I just can't do it. I'm not gonna not pitch you when there's an opportunity, cuz you're not paying for it. And it's harder to manage that, to know who does what and what we can mention this one, but we can't mention this one, even though it's totally relevant. It's like, no, when you're part of our agency, you're part of the, the family and we take care of our family. Like we're an extension of your team. And if there's a great opportunity for you, you better believe we're gonna tell you about it.
So, and Nelson says, you're a mom rocks. See that Claudia Nelson says that you rock. So, um, well that's what I have for you guys. Um, I have a cool webinar. I'm a link out to free from crickets to crushing it that can help, um, provide wow worthy results for your clients. And it's a free training. We're trying to help you double your media placement. Sally says, this is so helpful. You're so welcome. Um, anybody else have anything else they wanna chat about? I love all the members that are here the whole time. This is so great. You guys, I, it makes me really happy that we share information that is useful to you. Um, as long as you keep showing up. So will I, so anybody have anything else that they wanna chat about? I'm here. Um, yay. Oh, you're awesome. Elaine. I Elaine, we're here for you. Okay. So just know that when you are, when you're available, we're, we're here to support you. Okay.
Um, yeah. I've really appreciated your being a part of our community. Um, anybody else? This is great. You guys, thank you so much. Do you know that all of your hearts and your comments and all these thumbs up helps more people see this? So this is good, you know, algorithms and all that nonsense. But anyway, Ricky says very helpful solid takeaways from our very happy, smiling wonder full new member of our agency accelerator. Thank you for saying that and look at all those hearts. And also if you're so inclined, like Elaine just did, please leave a review of the podcast profitable. What is it called? No, uh, pitching powerhouse. Thanks so much. So excited to find you and join in your agency accelerator plus and joining pitch add to, oh, it's so good. You'll love it. It's so good. If there's anything you can pay for in your agency, that is the most total non brainer investment you can make.
Well, I know agency accelerator somewhat of an investment. Um, so you'll get to there, but the pitch lab it's $97 a month and the amount of stuff we give you in there is the, I just did the execution plan or my team did. I just reviewed it, approved it, but they did. Uh, it's Natasha. You're gonna flip. Okay. What is it? It is. Do I have it up? Oh, I think I closed it out. I think it was 57 pages of content, um, from editorial calendars, uh, pitch ideas, short lead, long lead holiday. Like everything you can think of, use it in your, uh, your proposals. Use it in your strategies, give it to your team members and say, here's what you should be focused on. Work our clients into these angles. So good. We do all of the thinking for you. $97 a month.
It is. Oh, crystal. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. Oh, that's right. You were in and you and you bounced. Don't worry. We'll all. We'll always be here for you. We'll have you. Um, and uh, crystal said, as I can sense my prices going up. No good. I love it. Make more money. Do work. You love be very profitable. That's my goal for you. So yeah, I mean the pitch lab, we designed it to be an absolute no-brainer. My husband is like insistent that we do not ever raise the price. He said, you need to support a community that can what you are offering to them because they need it. Don't raise your price and price yourself out of the market that needs you the most. So when I tell you, this is the biggest, no brainer expense, that's the pitch lab. Um, if you're interested, I linked out to that, that webinar and it actually does lead to, um, if you want to join the pitch lab and you can come in for a month and leave, it's like, and check it out. You know, if you don't like it, just ask us and we'll give you your money back. So, um, anyway, thanks for being here. Go out. Be premium. Don't be spirit airlines, be Gucci, and I will see you guys next week. Bye.
