As a self-employed PR consultant, I want to give my clients the services they need in the most efficient and effective way. I am always happy to work with my clients on the basis which suits them and their business best and I’m often asked whether this means a retainer or project fee is most appropriate?
If pushed, I’d say most of my client relationships over the years have been on retainer (where the client pays a set monthly fee to use my services on a fairly unlimited basis). But that doesn’t necessarily mean this is right for every client.
I thought it might be useful to set out some pros and cons of the retainer and project basis below. What do you think works best for you?
Retainer pros
- The relationship with your PR consultant/agency is ongoing which enables everyone to get to know each other and for the consultant to get to understand the business. For law firms, this will involve developing an understanding of each practice area, how you help your clients and the sectors in which they operate.
- There is no deadline, so your PR consultant can take their time to build relationships with journalists on your behalf and look out for relevant opportunities rather than being driven by an end date.
- Your PR consultant or agency will be on “stand by”, looking out for comment opportunities throughout h the course of the month and can react quickly at short notice when an opportunity does appear without the need to negotiate a contract. This tends to work well where the client is not really doing anything spectacularly interesting and is instead mainly looking for regular expert comment opportunities which is typically the case for most law firms and other professional service firms.
- A client can secure coverage with longer-lead times without having to worry about time on the project running out.
- Retainer arrangements can be highly flexible so that everyone involved can react to changing circumstances if necessary.
- Your PR consultant has time to take a strategic approach, feeding into your long-term goals and putting in place and actioning plans to help you reach them.
- Having a flat monthly fee gives more a client more certainty about spend and enables budgets to be set accurately.
- Retainers tend to work best when the client is not really doing anything spectacularly interesting and is instead mainly looking for regular expert comment opportunities (which is typically the case for most legal and other professional service firms).
- If you are in this for the long haul, then a retainer is likely to offer better value as your PR consultant gets to know the entirety of your business and is invested in its success as a valued member of your team.
Project pros
- The client pays a finite amount for finite work, so costs are limited.
- Where budgets are tight, this may be a good way to buy limited services initially, try out a PR consultant and see if they are right for you and demonstrate the value of such investment internally.
- Works well for clients who have have irregular activities, need crisis management or are launching a specific project which is tightly defined. For law firms this could be the opening of a new office, the launch of new practice area, a key lateral hire. a research-based campaign, an award or legal directory submission.
- PR activity can be highly focused and outcomes can be specifically defined and measured.
- If highly targeted, project PR can add value and get results fast.
- Specific projects may benefit from a niche approach, enabling businesses to use the best specialist and try out different personnel.
Retainer cons
- If the parameters of the retainer are not carefully set out in the agreement, expectations on both sides can be distorted. For example, if the amount of work being given to the PR consultant is radically different to that expected at the outset.
- You may not be able to accurately predict how much PR support you will need so the fee agreed may not provide the value you were hoping for. This can be overcome by sensible arrangements to “bank” unused hours or bring forward hours for subsequent months.
- It’s an ongoing cost which may need to be justified internally as budgets are squeezed in the current economic circumstances.
Project cons
- If time is of the essence, then there may not be time to develop a close working relationship with the client.
- There is less incentive for the PR consultant to think about the client’s long-term goals when they are focused on a specific project.
- Short-notice PR opportunities may be missed if they are outside the terms of the project.
- When the project ends, all the investment in building relationships with journalists is at risk of being lost.
- If working on a project basis, it is less easy to react to breaking news or ad hoc opportunities.
It’s worth saying that retainers and projects are not mutually exclusive and can co-exist where needed!
Need some help with PR? Feel free to drop me an email to arrange a 30 minute complimentary call or take a look at some of the packages I offer law firms, accountancy practices and other b2b businesses.