Often times people come to us for a myriad of marketing, website and design services. It makes it difficult to accurately quote for services when they are running the spectrum, so we initiated a Retainer Program where you can benefit from lower prices and get what you need when you need it.
What is a Creative Services Retainer?
A creative services retainer is an agreement we make together for me to hold blocks of time in my schedule for your project needs.
Basically, you are pre-ordering and reserving time in my schedule just for YOU. (It’s called a retainer cause you are “retaining” my time. )
Who is it for?
A retainer is the perfect solution for any business that doesn’t have quite enough work for an official employee but has ongoing projects. It can be especially useful if you have seasonal peaks in your year (like events) or have multiple creative projects occurring throughout the year.
Benefits of a retainer:
- you have me to handle those time-sucking routine tasks (like blogging)
- instant access to a reliable person for when those last-minute jobs come up
- fast turnaround time on repeat work like social media graphics or ads
- access to an expert to ask questions or help plan projects
- lower hourly rate
- less paperwork for you
- less back and forth communication frees up your time for all of the other zillion things you need to do for your business
- you get someone who really knows and cares about you and your business
Not every job is costed the same way – ie, our graphic design services are not as ‘expensive’ was our web upkeep services – however you may need both of those things over the course of our time together. Normally when we first start working with somebody, there is a heavier load on the time at the beginning, as we get to know each other, develop our systems, templates, whatever – over time retainer hours last longer as we work more efficiently for your business.
We have found that the easiest and most cost-effective way forward is for you to purchase a block of Retainer Hours, from which we deduct time as “units” based on the services performed.
Cost Comparison:
Our “normal” a la carte rates:
Graphic Design – $75/hour
Logo Design – from $250
Marketing plans/blogging = $80/hour
Website Management (updates) – $90/hr
Consultation/Training – $125/hr
Initial Consultation – FREE
Additional meetings – $60/hr
Creative Services Retainer:
20-Unit Block = $900
40-Unit Block = 1700
Graphic Design – 1 unit
Marketing plans/blogging = 1 unit
Website Management – 2 units
Consultation/Training – 2 units
Initial Meeting – 0 units
Onsite meetings – .5 units
So, for example, if you needed one hour of graphic design and one hour of website updates, it could cost you $165 at our a la carte pricing. Using the 20 Unit Retainer plan, it would equate to $135 – a savings for you and less invoicing work for me! win-win
We can set up retainer services on a monthly basis with electronic billing if you know how many hours you would like us to be available for you, or we can simply track the time and keep you posted of when we reach the 80% mark.
Please note, these services are not inclusive of our Website Maintenance and Support or our Website Design/Development Services. Those are very specific offerings which require dedicated time to perform effectively.
Website Maintenance and Support covers the month-to-month updates required on your website to ensure the site is backed up, secure and up-to-date with the latest security patches. It also covers email support for any questions or problems you are having with the website.
Website Design/Development Services covers the design or redesign of a new or existing website. These are provided on a quote basis, and is based on the needs and requirements of the website.
Communicating Change or Work Requests
We have tried many times to get people to use forms, but it never works! So, we are insisting people submit their requests via email so we have the conversation history to search through in our mail boxes. Please resist using text messaging to submit requests – those sometimes get lost in the ethers and it is very difficult to search for past info in them. When requesting work, it is imperative that you provide required-by dates, as we are very date-driven and want to deliver on time.
Initial Meeting
After payment, we should schedule an initial planning meeting so we can go over all that is required and any urgent deadlines. Our first meetings will be longer as we exchange information and set up our systems for file sharing etc. Over time it will get smoother and therefor require less time.
