Your number
$9,500
Your rate card
- Day rate$1,150 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$150 per hour
- A strategy engagement$9,500 per project
- Monthly retainer$7,600 per month
What to charge for each thing (5)
- Brand audit$2,750 per audit
- Positioning and messaging$8,000 per project
- Content strategy (90 days)$5,500 per plan
- Workshop day$2,750 per day
- Monthly advisory$4,000 per month
US rates for brand or content strategists at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
- a strategy engagement$9,500
For a strategy engagement, the quote is $9,500.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Brand or content strategists at your level day at about $1,150 ($800 to $1,500 in New York and LA). Your income math lands under that, so the market number is the one to quote; the gap is a raise you are owed.
A strategy engagement runs $4,000 to $15,000 and takes about 50 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $7,500. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: a set scope, paid up front on the 1st. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.