It doesn’t always start as a big problem.
Your team has a few freelancers, maybe an in-house marketing lead and you get through the seasonal campaigns and membership drives. When a new project comes up, you reach out to someone. It gets done. More or less.
But over time, those quick fixes add up.
Deadlines slip. Deliverables overlap. You find yourself re-explaining your brand to a new writer or designer every month. Campaigns feel disconnected. Your team spends more time coordinating than creating.
Costs start to build too—rush charges, one-off project fees and new scopes for every request. What once felt flexible begins to chip away at your budget without delivering long-term value.
And the big-picture strategy, the one that was supposed to drive long-term growth? That keeps getting pushed off.
“When marketing is handled one project at a time, you lose continuity,”
Kelsey Tweedly, Vice President of Business Integration at CMA.
“Every task becomes a reset,” she says. “That slows down results and makes it harder to build something sustainable.”
An agency retainer can quietly—but significantly—help.
A retainer isn’t just about outsourcing work, Tweedly says. It’s about establishing a working rhythm with a dedicated team who already understands your goals, your brand and your audience.
Here’s how.
Less Time Explaining, More Time Creating
Every time you bring in a new vendor or freelancer for a single job, there’s a ramp-up:
- What’s the tone of voice?
- Do you have brand guidelines?
- Who’s the target audience?
- Who approves this?
- How is this campaign different from the last?
“You’re spending valuable time re-explaining your organization,” Tweedly says. “But with a retainer, you build a more lasting relationship where the agency gets to really know you, your brand, style, voice and tone. Even your painpoints, products and solutions. That allows us to focus on the actual work, not the backstory.”
When the same team is working with you month after month, they get it. They know the tone you want in a newsletter. They understand how to position your offerings without over-explaining. There’s no need to be brought up to speed every time something new is on the horizon.
Your retainer marketing agency already knows.
Faster Turnarounds When It Matters Most
When a deadline moves up—or a last-minute opportunity pops up—there’s no time to start from scratch.
With a retainer, your agency isn’t waiting for a discovery meeting to begin. They’re already in the loop. They know what’s approved, what’s in motion and where support is needed.
“With retainers, we’re able to respond quickly because we’re already operating inside the client’s world,” Tweedly says. “That agility makes a big difference—especially when things don’t go according to plan.”
Speed doesn’t mean rushing, she adds. It means having the infrastructure in place to deliver quality work without delay.
More Strategic Continuity (Not Just a Series of Deliverables)
In a project-based environment, your agency is often asked to complete a task without questioning the context.
“A lot of times, the work gets done, but it’s disconnected,” Tweedly says. “You might have a great-looking email, but it doesn’t tie into your overall strategy. You miss the bigger opportunity.”
Retainer relationships shift that dynamic.
Your agency is involved not only in the execution but also in the strategic planning and ideation methods. They help connect campaigns, apply learnings and ensure each piece supports the larger mission.
“We’re not just doers. We’re advisors,” Tweedly says. “Retainers allow us to participate earlier and contribute more strategically and with purpose.”
That ongoing involvement also creates space for more consistent performance tracking. With shared context and regular collaboration, your agency can present unified reporting that highlights what’s working, where to adjust and how to improve outcomes.
More Predictable Spending, Fewer Financial Surprises
Project-based work often comes with unpredictable costs—rush fees, added scopes and new contracts for each request. These line-item fluctuations make it harder for CFOs and finance teams to accurately forecast spending or align marketing with broader financial planning.
“With a retainer, clients know exactly what to expect each month,” Tweedly says. “There’s no scrambling for extra budget or explaining unexpected costs to leadership. It’s steady and manageable.”
That stability isn’t just about convenience. It supports better business planning. A consistent monthly fee allows for cleaner forecasting, smoother approvals and greater visibility into where marketing dollars are going and what they’re producing.
It also helps internal teams stay focused on long-term outcomes instead of short-term cost control. With budget clarity comes the confidence to invest time and attention where it matters most.
Better Cost Efficiency
There’s a misconception that retainers cost more. But when you look closely, the value equation often flips.
“When you work project by project, you’re paying a premium for time,” Tweedly says. “Retainers are more efficient. There’s less duplication, fewer errors and more time spent doing, not onboarding.”
With each passing month, the agency becomes faster and more effective. That translates to better output and better use of your budget.
You Get a Full Team
If you’ve ever thought, “We’ll just hire someone,” you’re not alone. But most organizations don’t need just one thing. They need content, design, SEO, email, strategy and more.
The person who can do it all, and do it well? That’s a unicorn. And they rarely apply.
“No one person can do all of that well,” Tweedly says. “With a retainer, you get a team of specialists who already know how to work together.”
It’s a broader capability, without the cost and complexity of building a larger internal team.
More Flexibility
Business priorities change. A product launch might push social content to the top of the list. A last-minute sponsorship could take over the calendar. A website issue might suddenly require a larger update.
Retainers are built to flex with those changes.
“We have clients who might need content support one month, event planning the next month and an expanded social media campaign the month after that,” Tweedly says. “If we’re on a retainer, we’ve already established a cadence, so we can shift without renegotiating or losing time.”
And those months when less work is required? Those hours don’t go to waste. They’re banked, reallocated or used to plan for busier times ahead.
Cumulative Results
Great marketing rarely comes from one isolated campaign. It’s the product of ongoing refinement, continuous insight and shared understanding.
“With a retainer, we’re not just aiming for quick wins,” Tweedly says. “We’re building something far more sustainable and measurable.”
Over time, that consistency translates to stronger strategy, clearer messaging and better results across the board.
What Can Happen Without a Retainer?
Going without a retainer can often be more expensive than expected. Deadlines slip. Teams spend more time reacting than planning. Even the most well-intentioned campaigns feel disjointed.
Budgeting becomes unpredictable. Costs fluctuate from month to month, depending on who is available and what is urgent.
And most critically, strategy takes a back seat.
The focus shifts to getting things out the door, rather than building a bigger strategic picture.
“Retainers bring structure to a system that can feel chaotic,” Tweedly says. “They give your team room to think and space to grow.”
Is a Marketing Retainer the Right Fit for You?
Have you asked questions like how to tell if your marketing team is at capacity, how to keep marketing consistent with freelancers or what the alternatives are to hiring a full team?
Maybe you’re wondering why managing multiple vendors takes so much time, or when to choose a retainer over project-based support.
These questions often signal the challenges of ad hoc marketing.
When your setup isn’t keeping pace with your goals, a more integrated approach might be the answer.
“Retainers aren’t about doing more. They’re about doing the right work, more consistently, with the right support,” Tweedly says.
Curious if a retainer model could work for your team? We’re happy to talk it through—no pitch, just perspective.