A marketing retainer creates a long-term partnership between your brand and a creative agency that provides set deliverables on an ongoing basis. Although there are many
, one of the biggest is that the agency will develop a deep understanding of your brand and its guidelines. In fact, agencies help enforce those guidelines across the content they create! Having a creative partner with this understanding is invaluable, both from a content perspective and a branding one.
Think about it. If you opt against hiring a creative agency on retainer and choose to work with a variety of creative partners or freelancers, instead, you’ll need to teach the partners about your brand over and over again. If you don’t, there’s a chance that they’ll create something that doesn’t line up with your brand mission, values or messaging.
By taking the time to develop a strong partnership with a single agency, you can build a foundation of understanding that comes with numerous benefits:
• Brand consistency:
Perhaps the biggest benefit of having a creative partner that understands your brand well is their ability to create content that’s always in line with your brand strategy. While most companies can easily incorporate your logos and color schemes, voice and tone are sometimes harder to get right if they aren’t familiar with your guidelines. This is a big problem if you’re trying to
stay on brand. With a partner who’s taken the time to get to know you, their creations will fit seamlessly with the others on your platforms.
• Less hassle:
Developing a long-term relationship with a company that understands your brand also saves you time, money and headaches. If a creative partner delivers a piece of content that doesn’t quite fit, you might have to
pay extra
to have it edited or redone. Even if you don’t incur an extra charge, you might miss an important marketing deadline or have to scramble to make it work. It’s much easier to trust an agency to deliver exactly what you need, when you need it.
• Faster turnarounds:
There’s a learning curve that comes with understanding and adopting a brand’s style, and that can delay the creation of content. If you’re using a new creative partner every time, you might be faced with longer turnaround times as a result. Instead, a creative partner that already knows your style will be more likely to deliver content faster, because they won’t need to do the prep work every time.
• Higher-quality content:
Working with a partner that has taken the time to learn about your brand often results in higher-quality content all around. This partner is in line with your style, messaging, goals and overall marketing vision, so it’s much easier to generate content that fits seamlessly with all those things.
In the same way your brand needs to establish trust with your customers, it’s also important to establish trust with your creative partners. Hiring an agency on retainer sets up a trusting, long-term relationship from the start and ensures your marketing campaigns deliver the best results.
Is your brand in need of a creative partner? Spin Creative can help.
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About Us
Spin Creative is a video production company and creative agency helping marketers create winning video and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate targeted audiences. Spin is headquartered in Seattle with offices in San Francisco and London, serving brands around the globe.
