Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Yasmine Yasmine Khosrowshahi, Founder & CEO of BlueTickSocial. As an experienced agency founder, she shared valuable insights into the agency’s pricing strategies, client relationships, and the delicate balance of delivering value while maintaining profitability.
BlueTickSocial is a women-led Digital Marketing Agency that has made its mark by helping brands strengthen their digital presence and find their authentic voice online. What sets Yasmine apart is her dedication to maintaining a hands-on approach with clients, despite her agency’s growth. She believes in the power of personal connections and continues to be directly involved in client relationships, ensuring that each partnership starts with a strong foundation of trust and understanding.
Finding the right pricing model
Yasmine’s agency employs a hybrid approach to pricing, combining both hourly rates and fixed project fees. “We work with different size businesses, so we have to be flexible,” she explains. For one-time projects like website builds, they offer fixed rates, while ongoing services such as consulting and social media management are structured around hourly rates with set retainers.
The agency offers various retainer packages – 30, 50, and 70 hours – allowing clients to choose based on their needs and budget. For smaller businesses that might not be ready for full retainers, they’ve developed an à la carte menu of services, including content creation and blog work, priced at a few hundred dollars per item.
“We position ourselves as an extension of your social media company,” Yasmine notes, emphasizing their commitment to becoming true partners in their clients’ growth journeys.
What’s particularly interesting about Yasmine’s approach is how her pricing strategy has matured over time. In the early years, she would review and adjust prices every couple of months, testing different packages and services as they refined their ideal customer profile. Now, with more experience and confidence in their offerings, their pricing has stabilized, remaining unchanged for nearly a year.
The Price Sensitivity Challenge
When discussing price sensitivity across different services, Yasmine identifies several challenging areas. Organic social media management, despite requiring significant effort, often faces resistance because “it doesn’t show proof of conversion analytics the way clients look for,” she explains. Website builds present another challenge, as clients frequently compare agency rates with freelancer platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.
“That’s absolutely true that you can find cheaper options,” Yasmine acknowledges, “but you lose a lot of the creative aspect, the marketing team that thinks about the psychology behind what the users might want when they come to the website.”
Industry-Agnostic Approach
Unlike many agencies that choose to specialize, Yasmine’s firm maintains an industry-agnostic approach, working with clients across various sectors including food and beverage, law, tech, startups, nonprofits, cannabis, and med spas. This diversity, she believes, provides valuable learning opportunities and helps them continue adapting and customizing their services.
Managing Client Expectations
One of the most significant challenges Yasmine faces is managing expectations around pricing, particularly with smaller businesses.
“You either get small businesses that are like, ‘I know it’s really expensive, but I’m new and I can’t afford this,’ or you get the ones that are like, ‘I’m just a small business, why do I have to be paying this much?’” she shares.
This challenge often stems from varying levels of marketing knowledge among business owners. Larger clients typically understand the investment required, while smaller businesses might need more education about the value and complexity of professional marketing services.
Building Long-Term Relationships
Yasmine’s approach to client relationships is refreshingly human-centered. The agency maintains special consideration for their earliest clients, who helped establish their reputation and brought referrals. These “grandfathered” clients retain their original pricing as a gesture of appreciation. For other long-term clients, price adjustments are handled on a case-by-case basis.
“If it’s a client where it’s not that big of a deal to do what we’re doing at the price we’re doing, we’ll keep it,” she explains. “And if it is, then we will ask for an increase and go through the conversation with them.”
Perhaps most importantly, Yasmine emphasizes the role of personal connection in client relationships. “One of the biggest reasons people choose to initiate with us comes down to the relationship between me and the person I speak to,” she reveals. This focus on relationship-building has become a key differentiator for her agency.
Looking to the Future
While many agency consultants suggest niching down to specific industries, Yasmine remains committed to their diverse client base. She believes this variety enables continual learning and growth. The agency has also experimented with digital products, offering items like editorial calendars and website templates, though these currently play a minor role in their business model.
Some takeaways for agency leaders
- Develop a hybrid pricing model that can accommodate different business sizes and project types. Consider both retainer-based and à la carte options to make your services accessible to a broader market.
- Invest time in educating clients about the real value of your services. Be prepared to explain why professional agency work commands higher rates than freelancer platforms.
- Consider limiting monthly client intake to maintain quality and create a sense of urgency. Yasmine’s four-client maximum per month strategy helps maintain service quality while driving decisions.
- Focus on building strong personal connections with clients. These relationships often become the deciding factor in client acquisition and retention.
- While regular price reviews are important in the early stages, aim to stabilize pricing once you’ve found your market fit. This creates consistency and predictability for both your agency and clients.
- Consider maintaining special pricing for early supporters and high-value clients who bring referrals. This can help build a strong referral network and maintain long-term relationships.
- Be prepared to invest time in educating smaller clients about marketing costs and value. This education process is crucial for managing expectations and building long-term partnerships.
By maintaining flexibility in their pricing models while staying true to their value proposition, BlueTickSocial has built a sustainable business model that serves clients across various industries and size categories. Yasmine’s insights offer valuable lessons for both established agencies and those just starting their journey in the digital marketing landscape.
