I (Alex) hate the word retainer. Every time I hear it, alarms bells go off in my head. Maybe I've just had bad past experiences.
They always start strong. You're the new, exciting client, and plenty of time is invested in your account. But as time goes on, you aren't the new shiny thing anymore. It's like when Buzz Lightyear shows up, and you're Woody - just sitting there looking at Andy's name on the bottom of your shoe.
The biggest problem with retainers is that often they're designed to require a lot of up-front work. Once it's all set up though, all you usually get is a little check in every now and then and some tweaks here and there to make sure everything is running smoothly.
This design means that if you make any massive changes 4 or 5 months in, because you're still paying the same amount each month, often, it just doesn't happen. There's always another shiny new account to be focusing on, which unfortunately is no longer you.
That's why the way we run our retainers is much more like a part-time employee. Every month, you buy a set amount of time for us to sit at your "desk" and do work for you. And, as time goes on and we become more efficient at what we do, we can produce MORE content for you, not less!
We don't bunk off home early because we ticked all the boxes. We nail it, quicker than we did at the beginning, and get to work on the next project, increasing the output.
So, when you're weighing up the difference between a short one-off project with us, or taking on a Dedicated Content Team for your business, don't think of it as a retainer, think of it as a hire.
To find out more, get in touch! Email us at [email protected] today.
