When it comes to the financial side of our client/agency relationships, we have almost as many ways of billing our clients as we have clients. Once a budget has been decided upon, we can work out billing rates, fees, etc. to fit within it. The object is flexibility, as well as cash flow management for both parties.
Because servicing an account can be deceptively time consuming, Catapult Communications, Inc. offers clients the choice of being billed for service as it is incurred, or paying a fixed monthly retainer covering all non-production agency services, either advertising or public relations.
The advantage to being billed for services as they are incurred is that the client gets exactly what he pays for, and pays for exactly what he gets. The advantage to advertising and/or public relations retainers are, first, that there is a uniform agency fee each month, which facilitates budgeting; and, second, that while in some months services will be less than the retainer, most of the time the client gets more than his money's worth. For the client, this also means the freedom to contact the account executive as often as necessary, without worrying if "the meter is running."
Four basic types of charges are billed to the client:
1. Outside services, such as photography, printing and media placement are priced by the supplier. This cost is passed on to the client, except that if the supplier does not provide an agency commission, an additional 17.65% is billed to cover agency coordination.
2. In-house production services, such as design, illustration and copywriting are billed at a rate of $75 per hour. A flat rate is charged for veloxes, half-tones, transparencies and other production camera work, determined primarily by the size of the required piece.
3. Account service by agency principle is charged on an hourly basis at $75 per hour. It covers a multitude of services, from consultation to publicity coordination, phone work to legwork, troubleshooting to overseeing a photo shoot. Account services by an account coordinator are charged on an hourly basis at $40 per hour.
4. Clerical services such as addressing and processing correspondence, typing and proofing, etc. are charged at a rate of $30 per hour.
5. Media releases are charged by the piece with a minimum of $1.10 each using client-supplied envelopes and letterhead, up to $1.60 each using Catapult envelopes and letterhead. These prices include $.33 for postage, any additional postage will be billed at actual cost.
If you need more information please email us
with your questions or comments: info@catapultcom.com
