Q. I just created a corporate slogan for a marketing agency, and they love it. The trick now is to determine how to bill for such an important thing. We had no firm arrangement up-front. This was part of several projects I was working on simultaneously. Re: the other projects, I’ll pretty much adhere to an hours-put-in formula (for writing a direct mail letter and some other collateral). How the hell do I bill for something that will be part of their very identity as an organization?
A. I hate to say it, but NEVER, ever, put yourself in a position where you’re negotiating a fee AFTER you’ve done the work. You lose a ton of leverage that way. I know you said this was part of a larger body of work, but you should know that a tagline/slogan should never be lumped in with a bunch of other work. It’s a very specific kind of project, and it demands some focused attention and a more than average fee.
I get $750-1500 for a tagline. I could be wrong about this, but it sounds like you got lucky on this one, in that it doesn’t appear that you spent TONS of time on it. But, I’d ask for $500 at this point.