5 UNKNOWN BENEFITS OF INCREASING YOUR PRICES
There are many obvious reasons for increasing your prices as a social media manager: you make more money, need less clients and therefore have more freedom to enjoy your life.
Which is why most of us start a business in the first place.
But what about the unknown benefits of increasing your prices? The things that people don’t think about?
The biggest hurdle social media managers have to overcome when pricing their services is fear.
You're afraid of judgement from your peers, family or friends.
You're worried no one will ever sign up again if you dare charge more.
You get scared that if people pay you more you won't deliver the results they want.
You have your imposter saying things like "who do you think you are charging that much?!".
Ultimately, you feel like you're not good enough to be charging that amount.
Let me tell you something, you are enough.
You were enough the day you were born and you're enough now.
On the other side of your fears, are obvious benefits of increasing your prices. Things like:
Needing to work with less clients to achieve your income goal
Having more time to spend with your family, to zoom your besties or to binge the latest Netflix series
Having an overflow of money that allows you to save for a trip, invest in support for your business or just buy the posh prosecco instead of the supermarket own brand (although I must say, Aldi's prosecco is one of my faves!)
Having more confidence in yourself because people are paying you fairly for the value you deliver
And then there are the unknown benefits people don’t talk about. Let’s look at each of them in detail.
You repel the time wasters and people who don’t value you
Despite how big social media marketing has become over the past few years, there are still many, many people who don’t appreciate how valuable it is and who still see it as just posting a few pictures on Instagram or sitting on Facebook all day.
When you offer your services at a low price, you’re kinda helping these people prove their point. Surely if social media was as valuable as they say it is, the prices would be higher?
And when you are charging low, you’re inviting the people who don’t really get it, don’t value it or understand it to get in touch with you.
Because although they don’t get it - and their 16 year old daughter is currently doing a great job for free - they hear everyone talk about how you need to be on social media to make more money. So they think they’ll give you a go.
What happens then is this:
They don’t give you everything you need to do your job well (because they don’t understand the importance)
They micromanage or call you at 11pm because they don’t respect your boundaries - and hey, they’re paying you aren’t they?
They do their own thing on their profiles, messing up your carefully curated grid (because again, they don’t get social media)
They complain when they don’t immediately get results and see an ROI within the first month (ditto above brackets)
This is a hell of a lot of stress for you for not much money, isn’t it?
Now let me be clear, this isn’t always the case. And this doesn't mean it’s your job to convince people how valuable social media is.
It’s your job to raise your prices and repel the people who aren’t going to value you or the work you’re doing.
Which leads us on nicely to benefit number two.
You attract better quality clients
The higher your prices, the more likely you are to attract a client who respects you, values you and allows you to get on with your job because they trust you.
A question for you: Who would you trust more to get you results - someone charging £100 a platform or someone charging £600 a platform?
When you charge more, you filter out the clients who don’t understand socials (as discussed) and welcome in the clients who do understand the importance of social media but either don’t have time to do it or don’t understand how to do it.
They’re more likely to let you get on with things and to provide you with all the things you need to do well. When you invest a lot of money into something, you’re fully committed to achieving results. And for you to achieve results for them, they have to give you what you need.
It’s also more likely that this type of client knows what they want. When they have a clear vision, it’s a lot easier for you to get results, which makes for a very happy client and referrals all round!
And on the subject of results…
You get better results for your clients
As a recovered under-charger, I can tell you that when I was working for clients who were paying me peanuts (which I take full responsibility for), I had a lot less motivation to put the effort in.
Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? When you feel under appreciated, you don’t want to make an effort.
It’s the same as being in a relationship. If your partner doesn't appreciate the things you do for them, you don’t feel like doing nice things for them.
So when you’re not getting paid a lot for the work you’re doing, you’ll feel resentful and won’t want to go all in, meaning you won’t get the best possible results.
Whereas, when you increase your prices to reflect the value of the services you offer, you feel valued by your client. You feel appreciated, respected and you build a better relationship with that client. That relationship means that you want to do everything you can to get them the best results possible. You want to go above and beyond.
It becomes easier for you to do your job because you’re feeling motivated and excited to blow your client away with what you can achieve for them. And the better the results you get, the more likely they are to refer you. Suddenly you’re growing your business on autopilot!
You stand out as an expert in your field
When you charge more money, you show the world you’re confident in what you do and the results you can deliver. This confidence helps you stand out from the crowd and positions you as a leader or expert in your field.
Another question for you - If you were to hire a Pricing Coach, for example, and they were charging low prices, would you believe that they could help you charge higher prices? Likewise, if you were to hire a social media manager and they were charging a low rate, would you expect them to get you the best results?
It’s easy to get stuck in the belief that people always want the cheapest option but that’s rarely the case. People want the option that’s going to get them the best results.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “you get what you pay for”.
When you price higher, you’re communicating to the world that you are worthy of your rates, you are someone who can get results and you absolutely know what you’re doing. You’re an expert and you should be hired.
You empower others to charge more
This is possibly my favourite unknown benefit of increasing your prices.
When you charge low for your services, you make it acceptable for others to charge low too.
I recently had a question recently from someone in my Instagram community: The market is full of people offering services for very low prices - should I be charging low too?
For my full answer, read this blog post.
It’s so common, especially as women, to low ball ourselves and with so many new social media managers being told to look at their competitors prices to get an idea of what to charge, it’s no wonder so many SMMs are undercharging.
Here’s the thing, when you find the courage to increase your prices and charge what you deserve, you empower others to do the same. You empower your peers to increase their prices too and soon, we could have all social media managers around the world being paid fairly for their services (I live in hope!).
So don’t just raise your rates for you, raise them to set an example to those around you.
Raise them to make it acceptable to be paid fairly.
Raise them to show others that you deserve to be valued for your work.
Raise them to reflect the value you deliver to your clients.
Raise them because you now know that keeping them low doesn’t serve anyone.
To recap, the 5 unknown benefits of increasing your prices as a social media manager are:
You repel the time wasters and people who don’t value you
You attract better quality clients
You get better results for your clients
You stand out as an expert in your field
You empower others to charge more