A software company launches a product and hires an agency for eight weeks. The coverage is decent, the launch goes well, and the agency moves on.
Four months later a journalist who covered the launch writes a piece about the sector and quotes a competitor. The relationship was built and then abandoned, and somebody else is now in it.
Why PR behaves differently from other marketing
Coverage is not bought. It comes from relationships, timing and a journalist trusting that you will be useful again. All three of those are cumulative, and a project starts from zero and ends before anything compounds.
Where a project genuinely fits
A funding round, a product launch, an award entry, a crisis, a report with real data. Something with a beginning and an end that would not benefit from continuity.
Where a project is a mistake
Ongoing visibility, thought leadership, sector commentary and anything where being available to journalists matters more than a single announcement.
Where a retainer fits
Businesses with a continuous stream of things worth saying, a spokesperson available at short notice, and the patience for coverage to build over quarters.
Where a retainer is wasted
Where there is genuinely no news, no spokesperson and no appetite to comment. An agency taking that retainer is selling activity rather than outcomes.
The honest test to apply
What happens in month four. If the answer is nothing much, a project is the right recommendation and saying so wins the client back later.
Explain what a retainer buys that a project cannot
Standing relationships, reactive commentary opportunities, and being the person a journalist calls when a story breaks in your sector.
Explain what a project buys that a retainer does not
Focus, a defined deliverable and a bounded cost. Clients who have been burned by open ended retainers value this enormously.
Offer a project as an entry point
A launch or a defined piece of work, with an honest conversation afterwards about whether continuing makes sense. This converts far better than a twelve month proposal.
Set the minimum term honestly
Where coverage genuinely takes months, say so and set a term that reflects it. A three month retainer that everybody knows is too short helps nobody.
Price the reactive capability separately if needed
Being available for comment at short notice is a real commitment, and it is the part of a retainer clients value most once they have used it.
Be clear about what a quiet month looks like
Retainer clients panic in a month with no coverage. Explaining the rhythm in advance prevents a cancellation in month three.
Handle the launch deadlines properly
Fixed dates change everything about a project, which is the pressure described in launch timeline enquiries from brands with a date.
Keep the structure clear at proposal stage
The full comparison belongs in the proposal, as set out in retainer versus project questions from new PR clients.
Recognise the parallel in adjacent advisory work
The same decision appears in retainer versus ad hoc support questions.
Qualify the enquiry properly
An assistant that asks what the news actually is, whether there is anything after it, whether a spokesperson is available and what the budget is can recommend a structure rather than defaulting to a retainer. One properly captured enquiry is worth calculating, as in the value of one captured enquiry. See pricing, run the numbers on the chatbot ROI calculator, and the sector view sits under marketing agencies.