What is a retainer agreement with FINALLY?

Marketing retainers can seem like an intimidating prospect and a big commitment if you’re not sure what to expect, or how a retainer works. But, in reality, a marketing retainer with FINALLY means you get an entire marketing department, working day-in-day-out to ensure that your business is reaching its goals and delivering for its customers.

In this guide I will take you through how a marketing retainer works here at FINALLY, and remember our team is always on hand to have a chat if you still have a few questions.

Let’s start with the basics...

What is a retainer agreement with FINALLY?

A marketing retainer agreement is an agreement between ourselves and our clients to work across a variety of different marketing channels, projects and campaigns over a set period of time (this is normally for one year), for a predetermined monthly fee.

We work with you to develop your business goals and put together a strategy to help you achieve them. For example, in the year after a website launch we’ll provide new content, SEO updates and landing pages for your sales campaign, all of which will contribute to the success of your website. 

We start with listening, learning and getting clarity

First things first we get to know your business. What makes your business great, and how we can communicate that to your audience. 

We do this with our discovery days, which are a series of workshops that we run with you and your team that help us to understand your business. More importantly, they help you to dive into and flesh out your goals, identify your customer in detail, and understand the competitive landscape of your industry. The workshops are designed to get clarity on your products and services, your target market, and how to beat your competition to win more business. 

Getting the wheels in motion

Now that we have got to know each other better, we can put together a detailed plan for achieving your business goals. This strategy will be based on the work we completed in the discovery day workshops and is made up of regular, monthly tasks as well as projects and campaigns. 

All of our proposed activities will be presented to you in an activity plan that breaks down month-by-month the work we will be doing, and allows you to see a complete overview of your retainer in one place.

The ground has been laid, what next?

We get started! The great thing about beginning a retainer with FINALLY is that you now have an entire team working towards your goals and thinking on your behalf. FINALLY has web development, design, video, digital marketing and content teams at your disposal and once the activity plan, goals and KPIs have been agreed upon our foot is firmly on the pedal.

You will have an account manager who will be your day-to-day contact and the person in charge of your project, owning everything from your strategy to your budget and deadlines and keeping you in the loop every step of the way. Every month you will receive marketing reports that provide an overview of FINALLY’s marketing activity – including its successes and areas that need improving – and every quarter your account manager will run a retainer review meeting with you and your wider team to make sure that everything is on track and your questions are answered.

What will my retainer fee be?

There is no one-size-fits-all price for a retainer as every company we work with is different. In general we base our retainer fee on how much time is required to achieve the goals set in the discovery day. Our retainers start at £3000 per month, and increase depending on the business goals and service requirements. The great thing about our retainers however, is that you’ll never need to worry about spiralling costs as our monthly fee remains consistent throughout the length of your contract.

Related: How much does a website cost?

What is not included in my retainer?

Our retainers are pretty inclusive but there are a few things you may need that are not included:

• Paid advertising spend to online platforms such as Google, LinkedIn and Facebook.
• Library images.
• Library music.
• Technical design such as CAD drawings and 3D work.

What are the benefits of a retainer over pay-as-you-go project work?

90% of our work at FINALLY is retainer-based, although we do work on separate projects. The single most important benefit of a retainer is that we become partners, an extension of your business. This means we work to an agreed plan, and are proactive rather than just reacting to client requirements. Ask our existing clients, they will tell you that we are always thinking on their behalf, because their success means just as much to us.

Retainers make budgeting easier for you and resourcing better for us, so that we always allocate the number of team members and expertise needed to deliver projects on time and to the highest standard.

Get in touch with the FINALLY team to have a chat about how a marketing retainer can work for you.