Could a design retainer help your business?
As a Marketing Manager, handling creative tasks requires balancing a variety of priorities at once.
Developing engaging content for social media. Maintaining consistent branding across campaigns. Creating high-quality visuals for email marketing. Meeting tight deadlines for time-sensitive projects.
The list can feel overwhelming.
That’s where retainers come in.
Keeping a design team or agency on retainer can alleviate some of the challenges marketers face trying to juggle different creative demands.
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Design retainers can provide consistent, on-demand access to skilled design resources. This helps to secure high-quality output, faster turnaround times, and a more predictable workflow for ongoing projects.
But is a design retainer right for you?
Let’s find out.
What is a Design Retainer?
A design retainer is a contractual agreement that secures a designer’s time for ongoing work and recurring support. This eliminates the need for separate quotes, proposals, or contracts for each project.
A retainer may run for a set period of time, or it may operate on a rolling monthly basis, with a fixed monthly cost.
Having a design team on retainer means guaranteed availability for your needs, as well as predictable costs (making planning your marketing budget more straightforward!).
The beauty of a retainer agreement is that it can be tailored to suit the requirements of your business. The design team will take time to understand what kind of design needs you may have on a regular basis.
Whether it’s designs for specific marketing campaigns, branding updates, or print assets, you will have the expertise of a designer on-hand. They can craft professional, high-quality visuals that align with your brand’s goals and messaging.
What’s Included in a Design Retainer?
Ever found yourself scrambling to find a designer at the last minute?
A design retainer eliminates that hassle by giving you priority access to creative support. A design retainer can include anything within the scope of a designer’s expertise.
What that support will cover is determined by the specific needs of your business and the agreement reached within the contract.
Design Time Allocation
One of the core components of a design retainer is the allocation of design hours.
The retainer agreement will specify how many hours of design work the business is entitled to each month, and whether this is a flexible or fixed amount.
This could range from a few hours for smaller businesses to a higher allocation for more design-intensive companies.
Project Management
Your design agency will typically provide project management services to oversee and prioritise tasks. Effective project management will mean that no detail is overlooked and that work is completed in the correct timeframe.
This will include:
- Assessing projects based on urgency and importance, and prioritising accordingly.
- Setting clear timelines so that you know exactly when to expect updates or final assets.
- Regular check-ins or reports to keep you informed on the status of ongoing projects, ensuring you’re always in the loop.
Ongoing Creative Support
A design retainer typically includes ongoing access to creative resources. This means the design team is available to address new requests, make revisions and provide support.
This kind of flexible support is ideal for businesses with a continuous stream of design tasks but no immediate need for large-scale design projects.
At Canny, these are the things we often see clients asking for as part of their design retainer:
- Social media graphics
- Newsletter designs
- Branding updates across digital and print assets
Brand Consistency and Maintenance
Having a design agency on retainer will help keep your brand’s visual identity consistent across all brand touchpoints.
As part of the agreement, the design team will work to make sure that every asset aligns with your brand guidelines, including colours, fonts, logos, and tone.
This ongoing attention to consistency is particularly valuable for businesses that need to maintain a unified presence across multiple platforms.
Why Choose a Design Retainer?
Design retainers provide a number of benefits for your business, across branding consistency, budgeting and time management.
Consistency Across Campaigns
In utilising a graphic design retainer agreement, you’re guaranteeing the availability of the design team to work on your campaigns and projects.
Using the same designer consistently for all of your design work helps to ensure you’re creating a consistent brand identity and presenting unified visuals across all of your different campaigns.
Reliable Access to Creative Support
Do you have an urgent project that needs design work? If you’ve got a graphic design retainer, you don’t need to worry.
No need to waste time trying to find a designer with last-minute availability. Your design team is just a phone call or email away, with time already blocked out to work on your projects.
Predictable Costs
Monthly retainer contracts allow for financial predictability. Month to month, you know exactly what you’ll be spending on design work.
These flat monthly rates help to simplify budgeting, allowing you to plan around your design spending and keep your key stakeholders (yes, we’re looking at you CFO!) happy.
Benefits of Long-Term Collaboration
Having a design retainer contract with a design agency allows you to build a relationship with them.
Because of the long-term nature of a design retainer, the agency can better understand the ins and outs of your brand.
That familiarity can lead to faster, better results, without the need for the paperwork and onboarding of bringing a new designer in every single time.
How Does a Design Retainer Work?
We’ve explored some of the benefits of choosing a design retainer, but how does a retainer actually work?
Retainers can be customised to suit the specific needs of your business, and that all starts with a conversation.
The process is fairly similar to the design or branding process. But here’s a quick reminder:
Define Scope
Your chosen design agency will need to understand the specific deliverables and tasks that you require within the scope of the retainer.
This involves discussing the frequency of creative work, the types of assets needed, and any constraints or priorities.
By clearly defining the scope upfront, both parties can align expectations. This will mean that the retainer can cover everything from routine updates to larger creative initiatives.
Set Hours
After your design needs have been established, you and the design team will work together to determine how many hours of work you will require each month, or over the course of the retainer period.
For example, if your business needs regular updates to marketing materials or frequent social media content, you might agree on a set number of hours per month to cover these tasks.
It’s important to have a clear understanding of how these hours will be tracked and what happens if more hours are needed.
Setting the right number of hours means that both you and the design agency have a clear framework for what’s possible within the retainer, minimising the risk of unmet needs.
At this point, a contract will establish the parameters of the agreement between your business and the design agency. This will include the scope of the design work and the specified number of hours they will work on your projects.
Submit Requests
Once the retainer is in place, you’ll need a streamlined process for submitting design requests.
You will need to agree on specific submission methods, whether it’s through a project management tool, email, or an intake form.
At Canny, we use project management software called Productive that allows us to effectively track our projects and work seamlessly with our clients at each stage of the process, from initial submissions to revisions and approvals.
Establishing clear expectations for how to submit work requests upfront helps avoid confusion and will mean that projects are queued and handled in the correct order.
Approval and Delivery
Similarly to submitting requests, the approval and delivery processes should also be clearly defined. This includes specifying how feedback will be given and the timeline for approval.
You should also have an understanding of how files will be delivered to you. Be that through email, via a cloud-based platform, or a dedicated file-sharing system.
By formalising the approval and delivery processes, both the marketing team and the design agency can make sure that expectations are met and that work is completed efficiently.
Check-in, Monitor and Adjust
A retainer is an ongoing relationship between design agency and client, and as such, it will need regularly reviewing. As part of the process, you will have a standing regular meeting with your chosen design agency.
These regular check-ins allow you to discuss the status of any projects or design work and make sure that the retainer still aligns with the marketing needs of the business.
If your needs change, the retainer agreement can be adjusted accordingly to accommodate shifts in priorities, new creative demands, or adjustments to the number of hours required.
How Design Retainers Compare to Alternatives
Of course, a design retainer isn’t the only way to meet the design demands of a business.
So, how does a retainer stack up against the alternatives?
Let’s break down the key differences.
In-House Designers
In-house designers have the benefit of full-time availability. They are dedicated to the needs of your specific business, with a deep knowledge of the brand identity. It’s straightforward for them to communicate with the internal team and they won’t have any conflicting priorities.
However, it can be costly to hire a dedicated team member. The scalability is also limited compared to a retainer model. If your design needs fluctuate, you may end up with too many or too little designers – with the potential for inefficiency or burnout.
Combine your design retainer with a website retainer and SEO retainer to give you the full range of marketing services without having to increase your payroll costs.
Freelancers
If you need some occasional design work or you have one-off projects, freelancers can be a cost-effective choice.
But because the relationship with a freelancer is typically short-term, it’s harder for them to have an in-depth understanding of the brand and your brand consistency may suffer. You may experience delays in delivery due to limited availability.
Project-Based Agreements
Project-based agencies are ideal for large, specific design projects, offering high-quality work and expert-level skills. They typically come with a higher price tag, and onboarding processes can be time-consuming.
These agencies might also have limited availability for ongoing support. Meaning that if you need regular design work, you may have to go through a lengthy contracting process each time.
Design Retainers
A retainer means committing to a regular retainer fee. But this comes with the benefit of reliable, cost-effective access to design expertise.
A retainer allows you to build a strong relationship with a design agency. You can get to know – and trust – the designers working on your account, and they can develop a greater understanding of the needs of your brand. This ultimately helps to keep your design work consistent and your brand image unified.
Design Retainer Pricing
The price of a design retainer is ultimately determined by the level of design support you need. Design agencies will typically offer different retainer packages for different levels of service.
At Canny, our retainer packages range from £2,160 to £5,120 per month, offering flexible options based on your needs:
- 24 hours/month – £2,160
- 40 hours/month – £3,400
- 64 hours/month – £5,120
Pricing will vary from agency to agency.
A basic design package, focused on ongoing tasks like social media templates and promotional materials, will be more affordable.
A premium package, with larger design projects, campaign work, and advanced creative direction, will naturally come at a higher cost but provide a greater level of strategic support.
While signing a retainer may seem like a significant investment, it often proves more cost-effective than hiring an in-house designer or paying per project.
For comparison, an experienced full-time designer can cost upwards of £30,000 – £40,000 per year, not including benefits and software.
With a retainer, you get expert design support without the overhead costs or unpredictability of per-project pricing.
Is a Design Retainer Right for You?
Deciding whether a design retainer is the right choice for your business requires a clear understanding of your specific design needs, available in-house resources, and long-term goals.
Take a look at your day-to-day marketing activities. Do you frequently need design support for tasks like social media graphics, email campaigns, newsletters, or print materials?
If you have regular design tasks that require attention, a retainer can provide the ongoing support needed to keep your brand’s creative assets consistent and professional.
One of the key benefits of a design retainer is the ability to maintain cohesive branding across all touchpoints.
If consistent messaging and visual identity are crucial to your business, having a design team on retainer can help make sure that every asset aligns with your brand guidelines. This consistency is important for building brand recognition, trust, and a unified image across all platforms.
In fast-paced marketing environments, you may need quick design turnarounds for urgent campaigns, limited-time promotions, or last-minute updates.
If your business regularly runs time-sensitive projects that require immediate design work, having a designer on retainer means you’re not scrambling to find someone at the last minute.
With a retainer, you can secure priority access to your design team, who are already familiar with your brand and current projects.
Building a Strong Relationship with Your Designer
Building a strong relationship with your designer is essential to getting the most out of your design retainer. Keep an open line of communication with your design agency and take the time to share your brand’s vision.
What message are you trying to convey with your design materials?
By having detailed conversations about your goals, you enable the design team to create a cohesive brand image that aligns with your vision.
Remember:
You know your brand inside and out, and they’re the experts in design. Trust their expertise, listen to their advice, and provide constructive feedback as needed.
One of the benefits of a retainer is its flexibility to evolve with your business. Have your business and design needs grown? Have regular check-ins to help manage expectations of what’s achievable within your current contract and make adjustments where necessary.
Overcoming Misconceptions About Design Retainers
If you haven’t used a design retainer before, you might have some preconceived notions about who they’re suitable for or how they work.
Let’s address some of the misconceptions.
“Retainers are only for large businesses”
At Canny, we tailor packages to suit all sizes of business, from small companies to big brands and everything in between.
Different design agencies will offer different levels of support with a range of pricing – it’s just about finding the one that works for you.
“They’re expensive”
Whilst signing a monthly retainer contract may seem like a pricey addition to your outgoings, the long-term value outweighs the upfront costs.
Retainer pricing offers predictability. Rather than forking out lump sums for individual projects (that you may or may not have budgeted for!), a retainer means that you have reliable access to design support at a cost that you’ve already accounted for.
The longer you can commit for, the better your deal is likely to be. If you sign a lengthier contract – for example, 12 or 24 months – agencies will often offer discounted rates.
“Retainers Lock You Into Long-Term Contracts”
Many agencies offer contracts of different lengths, with different amounts of flexibility. You can find one that suits your needs.
Should you find you need more or less time as part of your retainer, they can typically be scaled up or down as needed.
Keep the lines of communication open with your design agency and you’ll be able to adjust the contract should your needs change.
Design Retainers: What Marketers Need to Know
Managing creative demands can feel like an overwhelming balancing act. If you don’t have the capacity or skills to manage design tasks in-house, a design retainer could be a great choice for your business.
Design retainers offer businesses predictable, cost-effective, ongoing access to creative support.
At Canny, we aim to develop a deep understanding of the businesses who use our retainers. We take the time to assess their brand identity and design needs, so that we can act as an extension of their own team.
Whether you’re handling recurring tasks like social media graphics, email campaigns, or maintaining brand consistency, a design retainer can help streamline workflows and ensure high-quality, cohesive designs across all platforms.
If you’re facing the challenge of managing a steady flow of creative demands, a design retainer might just be the strategic solution that helps elevate your marketing efforts.
