Retainer Services with Maker and Made
DATE: JULY 22ND 2024
TIME: 8 MINUTE READ
SUBJECT: OUR SERVICES
Ever wonder how some brands just seem to have it all together all the time? Maybe they’re the same size as your company, but they just really know what they’re doing when it comes to their identity, packaging, marketing strategy, content, and just generally everywhere they show up online. You’re left wondering “how do they make this all happen with the same 12 hours a day that I have???”
Their secret sauce? Probably a creative agency! And most likely a monthly design and marketing retainer. So today, we’re talking retainers and spilling the beans on how brands like yours are hiring full teams of people to handle their marketing and design without having to bear the burden of creating one for themselves. We’ll talk through what a retainer is, the services that are included, how the process works on a monthly basis, and why it’s the best decision for your brand if you already have a marketing budget.
What is a Retainer?
A retainer is like having your very own creative team on speed dial. Instead of hiring a marketing director, graphic designer, or website team, you can instead hire agencies for blocks of their time on a monthly basis. When you get into contracts like this, it allows you the freedom to spend that time in whatever area of your business makes sense. Maybe first you need to focus on your general strategy, but then you’ll also have access to photographers, website specialists, social media managers, packaging designers, and more. The idea is that it’s your one-stop shop for everything you need to succeed (and grow!) (and get serious!!).
With a retainer, you have consistent support, priority service, and what hopefully turns into a long-lasting partnership with a team of creatives that understand your brand deeply, uniquely position your marketing strategy, and tailor their offerings to your unique needs. When our retainer clients succeed, so do we, so we’re in it for the long haul — just like you.
SERVICES INCLUDED ON RETAINER
The beauty of a retainer is that it’s typically inclusive to everything offered at that agency at the time of signing your contract. What that means for our team is that you’ll have unlimited access to all the services we offer, including:
Brand Development: Ongoing brand strategy, Identity updates
Website Design + Squarespace Development: New website, Website refreshes, Regular updates, New features, Site maintenance
Packaging + Print Design: Packaging development, Graphic design, Continuous support for new products and campaigns
Photography + Content Creation: Studio photography, Content creation
Social Media Strategy + Management: Strategy, Content creation, Account Management, Community Engagement, Analytics Reporting
Email Automations + Lead Generation Management: Lead generation, Landing pages, Email automation
Murals + Environmental Design: Interior murals, Exterior murals, Custom wallpapers, Wayfinding signage, Surface designs
“Our clients have the luxury of reclaiming their time so they can stop working IN their business and be able to work ON their business.”
Our Process
Most business owners we encounter have some form of what we like to call “designer trauma” — meaning that at some point in their careers they’ve had a really terrible experience with either a freelance designer, marketing firm, advertising agency, or other support service. Unfortunately, this is all too common in our industry, and people take advantage of their clients not being comfortable or confident in the realm of marketing and design.
We’ve spent a long time (five or so years together) honing our process to include key checkpoints, constant communication, and monthly reporting so that our clients receive only the highest level of support and genuine care for their brands and businesses.
01. Initial Consultation
Understanding your business, the people you serve, how you measure your success, and the goals you have.
Of course we’re going to start with getting to know our clients — usually initiated by a request via our website contact form. We’ll schedule a time to meet and sit down together (in-person or virtually) to discuss where they are currently in their business. After we’ve talked through the whole story, we’ll start to discuss their vision for the future and all the steps we’ll need to take to get there.
02. Customized Plan
Tailoring a retainer package that meets your monthly budget and fits your business like a glove.
We prepare a customized project proposal that outlines the full scope of the monthly budget, complete with timeline expectations showing how the relationship will progress and when our clients can expect to see the first versions of their new projects. We really break it down, showing the week-by-week progression of the first priority projects so that we all start off with exactly the same expectations.
03. Monthly Retainer Meetings
Regularly scheduled meetings to discuss progress, new opportunities, and additional project requests.
We’re real big on communication, so we’ll have a regularly recurring meeting scheduled monthly with each of our clients to discuss the previous month’s deliverables, retainer usage and budget, and the next priorities that are on our list to tackle on their behalf. These monthly meetings ensure that we’re all on the same page and on track to tackle new opportunities.
04. Monthly Reporting
Updates to priority timelines, Deliverable summaries, Retainer Usage, and Analytics Reporting
Most importantly for communication, we make sure to send a holistic monthly update of how the last month of our client’s contract has gone, complete with comprehensive reports of how we used their time, what we accomplished, and what’s next on the agenda for the rest of the quarter. If we are running any kind of social media accounts or ad pages, our clients also receive customized reporting on a monthly basis.
Why choose a Retainer?
You might be thinking “I like what I have going on, I’m fine”, and that may be true! But when you onboard and work alongside an agency like ours, your life becomes simpler in whatever way you would like it to be. Our clients have the luxury of reclaiming their time so they can stop working IN their business and be able to work ON their business. Here are a few other ways we think that retainers are exactly the right answer:
Ensure a cohesive brand message and aesthetic across all platforms, not just the one you have time for.
No more ‘starting from scratch’ on every project. You have an entire team, complete with project managers, creative directors, designers, and strategists. All you need is the idea, we can do the rest!
Predictable monthly billing keeps your budget in check and costs far less than piecemeal freelancers who require a lot of communication time and management.
Priority service in the workflow keeps your projects at the top of the stack, which means you never have to wait 2 or 3 weeks to see the first version of anything.
Rest easy knowing you have an entire team at your disposable without the cost of individual employee training, retention, benefits, equipment, software, etc. We’ve got you covered!
Frequently Asked Questions
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If you need ongoing creative support or marketing strategy and want a partner that’s deeply invested in your success, a retainer might be right for you.
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We’re flexible! Let us know what you need and we can always bring in one of our talented vendors to collaborate with us on a monthly basis.
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Absolutely. Our retainers have a minimum contract length of 3 months, but after that, we’re around on a month-to-month basis to adapt to your needs in whatever way necessary.
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Billing is super straightforward and predictable. You’ll receive an automated invoice on the start-day of your retainer contract each month that you can either pay online, mail a check, or strap some cash to your pigeon and send it our way.
We're flexible on hours if we end up using too little or too much one month and need to even out the next. If you find yourself needing more hours than allotted, we have a retainer-based, discounted hourly rate for any unexpected larger projects with tight timelines.
HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?
Millie would love to answer them. Get on her schedule for a quick call!
Getting Started
Ready for that first consult meeting where we talk through what you’re currently doing and your vision for the future? It’s free, and we promise we’re not scary!
Once you reach out, you’ll get an email back from Millie, our communicator-extraordinaire, who will schedule with you at a time that’s most convenient. From there, we’ll craft that custom proposal we talked about above and you can decide if it’s the right decision for your business.
You really can’t lose, and that’s the way we love it.
Being on retainer with Maker + Made is like having a dedicated creative team at your fingertips. You get consistent support, priority service, and a partnership that grows with your business. Whether it’s ongoing brand development, regular website updates, continuous packaging and print design, or comprehensive social media management, our retainer packages ensure your brand always shines. We’re here to streamline communication, manage projects efficiently, and keep costs predictable, all while delivering top-notch creative solutions.
