Innovation & data-driven digital marketing.
According to research from IBISWorld, there will be more than 5,500 digital advertising agencies in the US by the end of 2021.
The benefits of a digital marketing agency are easy to see. A team of experts offer a range of services to help their clients achieve their overall business goals via the latest targeted strategies and best practices. In most cases, there are two ways to employ an agency—through a project contract or a retainer contract. We break down the benefits and drawbacks of both below.
Understanding Contracts: Retainer Contracts vs. Project Work
Retainer and contract work offer two different types of relationships. In a project-based contract, the marketing agency works on a specific project for a set time at a fixed price. With a retainer contract, the two businesses enter a partnership. The marketing agency works with the business to achieve business goals over the long term for a regular monthly fee.
Most businesses have short-term goals AND long-term goals. As such, a retainer contract is significantly more valuable because it can help achieve both objectives with a dynamic and comprehensive strategy.
Why Choose a Retainer?
At 10x digital, we prefer to work with our clients over the long term. After all, you won’t see overnight results for any type of digital marketing tactic—it takes time, testing, effort and resources to find the best approach and see an ROI.
Why are retainer contracts so beneficial for our clients? There are multiple reasons; we’ve listed the top five below.
1. Retainer Contracts Work Holistically
When we sit down with our clients for the first time, we ask the big questions:
What do you want to accomplish with your digital presence?
What are your specific business goals?
Who is your target audience?
What does success look like in the short term and the long term?
Armed with this information, we create our client marketing plans on a month-to-month and yearly basis. These plans empower us to work for our clients on short-term projects that serve the specific goals of their business, as well as achieve long-term goals. We don’t want to work with clients for just a few months because we know that’s not how you drive holistic growth.
We also offer clients access to their own customized data dashboard. This measures our efforts and shows results in real-time. It also gives us (both 10x and the client) data-backed proof of success or evidence to pivot.
Retainers mean every project and task work together to drive the right results.
2. Retainer Contracts Extend Your Team
An agency is a team of pros. When you work with one, you’re getting multiple new partners with specific skill sets. For example, our team offers expertise in:
- Content marketing;
- SEO;
- PPC;
- Web development;
- Public relations;
- Social media marketing;
- And more! (We’re constantly expanding).
What does this mean for your business? You have access to a range of knowledge at a fraction of the cost of employing these experts in-house.
The right agency (and retainer) allows you to pinpoint problems and find solutions specific to your business goals. Best of all, you’ll be able to ask questions on just about anything—not just your current projects.
3. Retainer Contracts Keep Expenses Predictable
With a retainer contract, you’ll know what your agency will cost every month—very helpful for budgeting. As you’ll be working on a long-term basis, many retained agencies will allow you to adjust your fee. At 10x digital, we pride ourselves on working with our clients to shift costs based on changing client budgets and project scope.
We always ensure that our retained clients receive the best value for their investment because we’ve entered a long-term relationship with them.
4. Retainer Contracts Boost Accountability
A retainer contract is a two-way relationship—your retained marketing agency is continually working to maximize your ROI and keep you (their client) happy. For instance, we always strive to give our clients the best results, which could mean shifting methods depending on metrics, data and outcomes. We A/B test every client campaign and choose the latest strategies based on industry best practices.
You’ll see all current projects, efforts and results in your data dashboard, plus have complete transparency with your account manager. Unlike in-house staff, you’ll understand where every dollar of your investment goes and track the results of each effort. (That’s the type of accountability and ROI that the C-Suite loves!)
5. Retainer Contracts Reduce Recruitment Time
Many businesses, CMOs or managers don’t realize that retainer contracts save time. Onboarding a new employee can require significant investment and resources. Alternatively, working with multiple agencies or vendors on a project-by-project basis costs you weeks of valuable time as they get up to speed.
A retained agency offers a partnership that becomes increasingly valuable as your relationship evolves. They’ll know about the context of your brand and won’t pitch irrelevant strategies because they know your audience, goals and most importantly, what works.
Leverage Retainer Contracts to Maximize Your Digital Presence
No matter the contract, the 10x digital team will go above and beyond to ensure our clients’ needs are met. For more information or to discuss how we can help your business, contact us today.