Create a high quality invoice now!
Make an Invoice NowA marketing consultant invoice records the total time and cost that was spent assisting a startup, small business, service provider, or other entity with their digital and non-digital marketing and branding efforts. Marketing consultants can work on their own as independent consultants or for a marketing agency. Being consultants, their services are typically only called upon when a business requires their service instead of being regularly employed by a single firm.
Table of Contents
- What is a Marketing Consultant?
- Charging for Marketing Consulting
- Marketing Consultant Salary & Hourly Rate
What is a Marketing Consultant?
A marketing consultant is an expert in developing marketing strategies for businesses; they understand how to motivate customers and have a myriad of tools they can employ to analyze opportunities within the companies they are hired to consult. They can assist companies with both traditional and digital (online) marketing and advertising, although some choose to focus on one of the two to perfect their craft.
Charging for Marketing Consulting
Marketing consulting services are usually priced on an hourly ($/hr) basis. Surprisingly, coming up with an hourly rate is a relatively simple matter, as can be seen below.
Step 1 – Yearly salary
Those looking to act as a consultant as either a part-time or full-time gig should make a well-reasoned determination as to the yearly salary they would like to earn. Unlike working for a firm or other salaried position, the cost of things like health and dental insurance, transportation, and company-related software and subscriptions will fall onto the consultant’s shoulders. For those just starting out, a yearly salary below the desired may be necessary in order to attract and maintain clients, who can be put off by exceptionally high rates. For this example, imagine a starting salary of $50,000, which is a little over $9,000 greater than the average entry-level marketing consultant salary of $40,719, according to PayScale.
Step 2 – Hours worked in a year
Next, the total work hours in a year has to be calculated/estimated. If the consultant is planning on working every week of the year (very unlikely) with forty (40) hour work weeks, the total number of hours would be 2,080 (52 X 40). However, it would be irrational to assume there will be no vacation days, or a simple day off from work. Additionally, being consultants that aren’t employed by a single company, having work lined up for every day of the year is exceedingly difficult. For some, 1,800 yearly hours is ideal, for others, it may be 1,500. For part-timers, even lower, and so on. For this example, we’ll use 1,800 hours as an example, as it accounts for ample time between clients, or extended vacation time.
Step 3 – Use the formula
The Marketing Insider Group uses the following formula to determine an hourly rate ($/hr) marketers can use for their services; it is as follows:
[Yearly Salary ÷ Yearly Number of Hours] = Hourly Rate ($/hr)
Taking the previous numbers into consideration, the hourly rate charged would be: [$50,000 ÷ 1,800] ~ $27.78/hr. Consultants should expect this number to change based upon their experience and the difficulty of the work they are tasked with, but for gathering a starting figure, this method should provide as more than adequate.