{"id":86966,"date":"2021-09-18T13:56:52","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T18:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/?p=86966"},"modified":"2022-02-08T16:37:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T22:37:22","slug":"how-to-secure-longer-marketing-by-retainers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/blog\/marketing-agencies\/how-to-secure-longer-marketing-by-retainers\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Secure Longer Marketing Clients by Using Retainers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Freelancers and agencies fall into the one-time project trap all the time. They work with clients on smaller projects for a few weeks or a month, and then move on to the next client. This puts them in a perpetual sales cycle without a dollar of predictable income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome leads to a stressed founder and management team, who are all unsure of where their next paycheck will come from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is where your freelance business or agency is right now\u2014there is a solution. It\u2019s called retainer contracts and they\u2019re about to become your new best friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Retainer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A retainer contract is an agreement between client and company that you\u2019ll perform specific services for a set rate each month. For example, your content marketing agency could provide 8 articles per month, distribution, and splintered content for $13,500 a month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These contracts can either be on a month-to-month basis or go for an agreed-upon amount of time. For example, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, or even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With retainer contracts, you\u2019ll know how much revenue you\u2019re making from clients each month and (if you\u2019re smart enough to make multi-month contracts) how much you\u2019re making in the near future. For freelancers and agency owners, the predictability you\u2019re seeking comes from these retainer contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, how can you secure these retainers so you can shift out of perpetual sales mode?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Securing Retainers 101<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Retainers are intimidating. If you\u2019ve never asked clients to sign on to a retainer, it\u2019s easy to think they\u2019re going to say no. Of course, they\u2019d rather have their services a la carte\u2014right? Well, that\u2019s actually not the case at all. Clients are happy<\/em> to sign on to retainers they feel confident in. It helps them solve the problem they\u2019re currently facing (like a struggle with content marketing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few tips for securing retainer contracts so you can go into your next contract discussion with confidence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Offer Your Services in Varying Retainer Packages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To get out of the perpetual sales cycle of one-time projects, you can package your services into retainer contracts. Take out all of your one-time project packages and only allow your current and future clients to work with you in retainers. This can feel scary at first and like you\u2019re going to lose out on business, but a few months into only working with retainer clients and you\u2019ll never look back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your retainer packages could look like:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freelance Facebook Marketer<\/strong>: 6 months of Facebook Ads (included: strategy, ad creative, data and analytics, benchmark goals, consulting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEO Marketing Agency<\/strong>: 1 year of SEO services (included: 8x SEO articles per month, 4x SEO pillar posts per month, 50x backlinks per month).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freelance Email Marketer<\/strong>: 6 months of email marketing (included: 2x weekly newsletters, campaign and offer creation, 2x campaigns per month, data and analytics, benchmark goals, consulting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels like a big ask to get clients to sign up for a 6+ month contract, but the reality is you\u2019re helping them. <\/em>One month of email strategy isn\u2019t going to get the results they\u2019re hoping for. You need at least 6 months to retrain their list to be interested in their emails and to get the conversions they\u2019re hoping for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering your services in retainer packages gets your clients better results than if you\u2019re just offering one-time services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create a 6+ Month Retainer Package<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not ready to just offer retainers, then set up one retainer package to sell to your current and new clients. In this case, they can either choose from your one-time services or sign on to your retainer package that lasts for a minimum of 6 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, your one-time service could be 4x consulting calls regarding Facebook advertising. Your retainer contract could be 6 months of Facebook Ads. From the example above, you could include: strategy, ad creative, data and analytics, benchmark goals, consulting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or your content marketing agency could write 8 articles for clients as a one-time service. The retainer option would be 4x articles per month for 6 months, including distribution, data and analytics, and benchmark goals for traffic and conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients who are just looking for writing help, and have the bandwidth to handle the distribution on their own, will happily sign on for those 8 articles. But, clients who aren\u2019t seeing the traffic and conversions from their in-house content marketing strategy will see your retainer contract as the light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create at least one 6+ month retainer package as an option for your clients to choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explain How Your Strategy Works Best Within a Set Time Frame<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Time to put your marketing skills to work. Your clients need to know why<\/em> working with you for a longer period of time, and giving you more money, is worth it. Luckily, you\u2019re a marketer and you know how to present this information to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, you can let them know that you can write 8 articles for them but if they\u2019re not strategically distributing those articles\u2014it\u2019ll be tough to get the traffic and conversions they\u2019re looking for. Working with your agency will get them more traffic and conversions through your distribution strategy…which leads to more money in their pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll need as your selling points:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n