How much should I charge this huge company

[internetbrothers]

Hi
I am confused. I have been approached by a very big company for PPC advertisement, I have been asked to translate more than 200,000 keywords and advertise it. I do not know how much I should charge them. for small companies I have an Idea but this one is huge

any body can give me an Idea

thanks

[Quadrille]

Remember the Goose and the Golden Egg?

The big company is getting exactly the same as the small company; be wary of overcharging just because 'they can afford it' - they could be a long term partner ... or a once and never repeated opportunity.

[edited by: Quadrille at 1:15 pm (utc) on Sep. 1, 2008]

[internetbrothers]

Thanks I do not want to over charge them. I hate to over charge my customers . I simply do not know how much to charge them.

It is a lot of work .

[Staffa]

Maybe try this : imagine a lump sum for the big project proportionate to what you would charge for a smaller project. Then estimate as best as you can the number of hours that would be involved to do the job. Divide the lump sum by the number of hours and see if cost/hour is a value you want to work for.
Then adjust for any extra costs/expenses.

It's not perfect but it will give you an idea.

[seth_wilde]

I would look at a one time charge for setup and then a monthly percentage based upon spend.

[Waldo]

% of media.

Leave the lump sum out of it and go for a decent percent (8-15) is a good range. Get them to sign a contract that auto-renews for a year or so.

[tangor]

Define your work/time and apply reasonable fees. Bear in mind that larger accounts generally go for "lowest bid" while small accounts are turn key, one-time events. Compare long term relationships to single events. One should generally charge higher for the short term...which recognizes there might be no return business, and slightly less for long term which will be continuing.

In the end, charge what YOU consider fair for your work/effort. If you aren't doing that already might want to rethink! :)

[anand84]

Estimate the hours required and project the cost. Shouldn't this rule work for jobs of any magnitude?

[vincevincevince]

Don't forget that a big company will require more from you than a small one. You may have to travel to their offices to meet with them, sit in on their advertising review meetings, prepare one kind of report for accounting, another kind for sales and yet another for advertising and don't forget getting phone-calls from lots of different people all over the huge company.

So, if you charge them a scaled-up version of what you'd charge for a smaller contract, be sure to specify what you provide along with that in terms of face time, phone time and reporting.

Above all I recommend that you require them to appoint a single point of contact within the company - all instructions and questions for you must go through that person - and all reporting by you must be accepted only by that person. I can't emphasise this enough - without a contractually defined single point of contact, dealings with a huge company could skin you alive.