3 Actionable Ways to Raise Your Design Rates

July 12, 2021

Over my 9+ years as a brand designer and strategist, I’ve been blessed to know and work with hundreds of other talented graphic, brand, and web designers. And do you know what the majority of these talented designers (just like you, sweet friend!) wrestle with the most? The age old question of how to raise your design rates.

You and I both know how much skill, talent, and time goes into the work you do as a designer. But it’s not always easy to feel like you have the freedom to increase your prices and fully charge your worth in a competitive industry—especially if you’re concerned that a potential client will just go find someone else who can do the job cheaper.

Keep this in mind, friend: raising your rates helps you earn more and helps you value your time, of course. But it ALSO elevates the design industry as a whole. When you charge more, you show newer designers what’s possible and what they can strive to accomplish, too. 

Friend, let me encourage you for just a moment. Raising your design rates and making a living doing the work you love is more attainable than you think. That said, raising your rates isn’t as easy as snapping your fingers. So today, I want to share a few actionable, immediately-implementable ways you can raise your rates (and book your dream clients at those new price points!).

3 actionable ways to raise your design rates

Before we dive in today, friend, let’s set some ground rules. If you’re going to increase your rates, you need to look at the motivation behind that change.

Did you discover you were pricing yourself too low for the level of service you offer? Have your financial needs changed, and now you need to charge more in order to provide for your family? Is there another reason as to why you feel your rates need to increase? Maybe it’s based on your level of continued experience and the strategy you include as a part of your process.

Whatever your ultimate motivation may be, I believe you have to be honest with yourself before chasing after new growth; you have to understand why you’re seeking those dollar bills.

While our most successful businesses will be profitable, they are not driven by profit alone. In order to build a truly successful business, I believe it must also be purposeful. And in order to craft this kind of business, it’s important to understand how profit fits into your big picture.

Hint: the goal here is to make more than just money!

Once you’ve identified why you want to earn more, we can look at how to practically raise your design rates.

Let’s dive on in, shall we?

1. USE A VALUE-BASED APPROACH

This means breaking up with charging a-la-carte style for each deliverable asset you create, or crafting packages based solely on an hourly rate. Instead, this approach asks you to charge based on the value of your work and its results—not just the cost of each hour of your time.

To get started with this approach, outline the benefits that someone can expect when they choose to work with you. Reminder: this does NOT just mean the design assets they’ll receive at the end of your work together! Ask yourself these questions: How will your clients be able to grow their business as a result of hiring you? How will a professionally designed brand enable them to reach their goals? What kind of emotional benefits can they expect in terms of how their brand looks and feels?

Outline and understand just how much work goes into what you deliver, as well as the return on investment your ideal clients will see from working with you. Once you have this fleshed out, then you can confidently speak to this value in your messaging. This helps eliminate that icky feeling of having to justify yourself on every sales call, because you know what your work is worth and what kind of results you’re able to guarantee your clients.

For example, I’m able to tell potential clients the results my past clients have seen after launching their custom brands. I can speak to the kinds of emotions they can expect, as well as the confidence and clarity they will feel in their business after we work together, based on my other clients’ experiences. This allows me to stand firmly by my rates; the results of my work prove their value.

2. CLEARLY COMMUNICATE WHAT GOES INTO YOUR EXPERIENCE

In order to help potential clients fully understand the value of your services, it’s incredibly important that they know exactly what they will receive for their investment.

You’ve already done part of this work by outlining the benefits of your services. Next, you’ll want to outline each and every detail of your client’s experience, even (and especially) the small ones. This will ultimately help you communicate both the tangible and intangible aspects of your services to potential clients.

Think about all the beautiful assets your clients can expect when they walk away from your work together; each of these needs to be a point of conversation when talking to potential clients. This helps them understand what to expect by hiring you, as well as why your rates are what they are.

By mapping out all the details of your work, you also give yourself an opportunity to see where you might be selling yourself short.

For example, one incredible designer inside my group coaching program once shared that she created custom illustrations for her clients… but she wasn’t charging extra for that, and she didn’t outline that custom work in her proposals! When she saw a way to include a custom illustration in her clients’ bespoke brands, she’d just do it. This meant that her clients were getting beautifully detailed illustrations as part of their experience, but they weren’t paying any more than they would have for a designer who did not offer this service.

We immediately looked at her numbers and found that she was leaving good money on the table by not listing this service in her design packages. By simply updating her packages to clearly include custom illustration, she was able to raise her rates and stand confidently behind them.

3. INFUSE YOUR APPROACH WITH A SOLID STRATEGY PROCESS

Here’s some hard truth, friend: being a “good designer” will only get you so far.

In order to confidently raise your design rates, you have to offer more than just beautiful design. While pretty design may be nice to look at, it doesn’t necessarily promise results for your clients, especially if the design is “trendy” and will go out of style sooner rather than later. This is why I believe strongly in pairing a strong brand strategy approach along with strong brand design. A design that is strategically crafted to fulfill your client’s needs is much more valuable than one that’s just easy on the eyes.

I personally spent years creating my own signature brand development process, one that infuses strategy alongside design. And now, I’m humbly able to share this process from start to finish with so many talented designers (just like you!) inside my 5-week course, the Brand Strategy School.

This strategic approach to design has helped me transform my business from blending-in and barely-making-it to thriving and crafting heartfelt brands that authentically convert for my clients!

Inside the Brand Strategy School, I’m teaching fellow designers everything I’ve learned in my almost-decade of work as a designer. Why? So you can stand out in a saturated industry, guide your clients through a proven strategy process, craft heartfelt brands that are designed to endure, and have a solid strategy process that gives you the confidence to raise your design rates.

HOW TO RAISE YOUR DESIGN RATES SO YOU CAN INCREASE INCOME WITHOUT MORE CLIENTS

Does the idea of diving into a full, 5-week course on my full brand strategy process feel a bit… overwhelming? No worries, sweet friend!

If quick, free, value-packed education is more your speed, then I’ve saved a seat just for you in my Netflix-style masterclass on how to triple your income without taking on more branding clients.

After tuning into this training, you’ll be able to:

  • Charge more for your services so you can experience consistent income without working crazy hours or taking on hundreds of clients
  • Kick imposter syndrome to the curb and position yourself as the expert your branding clients are searching for
  • Get out in front of your ideal clients without hustling to be seen online

I can’t wait to see you there!

JOIN ME FOR THIS FREE MASTERCLASS!

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My name is Bonnie – I’m a brand designer, strategist, and writer which all adds up to one eclectic conglomeration of qualities that enables me to serve you well! Past clients have dubbed me "the Joanna Gaines of brand design," and I've had more than a few call me a dream maker, a game changer, and a design wizard (my Harry Potter-loving heart didn't hate that one, let me tell you!). At the end of the day, I'm a big-hearted creative who will get teary-eyed as you share the heart behind your business; who will lose sleep over the perfect font pairings and color selections to bring your brand to life visually; and who will work tirelessly to empower, encourage, and equip you to share your work with the world intentionally. 

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