A business wants coverage. They ask for a one-off project because committing to a monthly fee feels risky, and the agency knows that a one-off project will produce a burst of activity and then nothing.
Both sides are being sensible. They are just not talking about the same thing.
A worked example
Say an agency charges 2,500 a month on retainer, or 7,500 for a defined three month launch project.
Over a year, the retainer is 30,000. That buys continuous media relationships, a steady flow of story opportunities, someone who knows the business well enough to spot an angle, and availability when something happens unexpectedly.
The project is 7,500 and buys a concentrated effort around one moment. Well executed, it can produce more coverage in three months than a retainer does in six, because everything is focused on a single story.
Now run the year. The client who bought the project gets excellent results in the spring and nothing afterwards, because nobody is working on it. By October, when a journalist is writing about their sector, there is no relationship and no story ready.
The client on retainer had a quieter spring and appeared four times across the year, including twice in pieces that came about because the agency happened to be talking to the right person.
Neither is better, and they buy different things
A product launch, a funding announcement or an event suits a project. Building a reputation in a sector over time suits a retainer. Saying this plainly is more persuasive than defending the retainer model.
Publish what a retainer includes
Hours or activity, which services, how many meetings, what reporting and what falls outside. Retainers get a bad name when clients cannot tell what they are receiving, which is the problem in what PR retainers include and other pricing questions.
Explain the ramp-up honestly
Relationships and momentum take months. A client expecting results in week three on either model will be disappointed, and saying so at the outset prevents a cancelled retainer in month two.
Offer a starting project that can become a retainer
A defined piece of work that proves the relationship, with a stated route into ongoing work, converts cautious clients far better than a twelve month commitment.
Never promise coverage
Outcomes depend on editors and news cycles. Explaining what you do, and being honest that placement is never guaranteed, is what separates a serious agency from one that will disappoint.
Set minimum terms carefully
Three months is usually the minimum where anything meaningful can happen. Publishing a minimum, with the reason, is fairer than a rolling arrangement that gets cancelled before it works.
Explain what reporting looks like
Clients on a retainer are paying every month for work they mostly cannot see. Setting out what arrives and when, whether that is a monthly summary, a coverage report or a call, is what stops the relationship being judged on whether anything appeared in print that particular fortnight.
Urgent enquiries need managing
Businesses wanting coverage next week are covered in PR enquiries from businesses that want coverage next week.
Retained clients ask constant update questions
That is covered in agency retainer clients asking the same update questions, and the boundary on promises matches how financial advisors use chatbots to answer client questions.
Getting started
Publish both structures, what each includes and a worked comparison, then capture objectives and timelines at any hour. SpideyChat for agencies answers from your published pages, our plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.