From One-Off Deals to Retainer Clients

The most stressful part of a creator business isn't the work. It's the gaps between work. Finishing a campaign and immediately wondering where the next one is coming from. Starting every month from zero.

Retainer relationships solve this. Instead of a one-off deal, a brand commits to a set number of deliverables per month at an agreed rate, usually for three to six months. You get predictable income. They get consistent content without re-briefing a new creator every campaign.

Most creators wait for brands to offer this. That's backwards. Brands rarely think to offer a retainer structure unprompted. The creator who gets one is almost always the one who proposed it.

Which brands to approach

A retainer pitch makes sense after one successful paid campaign with a brand. You've proven your work is good and easy to work with. They know what they're getting. That's the right moment.

The brands most likely to say yes: ones running ads continuously rather than campaign-by-campaign, ones in categories that need constant fresh content (supplements, skincare, food and beverage, apps), and ones where you got feedback that the content performed well.

Cold retainer pitches rarely land. A retainer is a commitment, and brands need some trust in a creator before they'll commit to three months of invoices.

How to structure the pitch

Keep it simple. One email, after a successful campaign wraps. Something like:

Short, no pressure, clear what you're offering. If they're interested, send a one-page proposal with two or three package options.

What to charge on retainer

Retainer rates are typically 10 to 20% lower per deliverable than your standard rate. That's the trade-off: you give a small discount, they give you volume and predictability.

Example: if your standard rate for a single video is $500, a retainer for four videos per month might be priced at $1,800 ($450 each) rather than $2,000. The discount reflects the certainty of the work, not the value of your content.

• Starter retainer: 2 videos per month. Good for brands testing consistent content. Easier yes for the brand.
• Standard retainer: 4 videos per month. Enough to cover most ad creative needs. Most common structure.
• High-volume retainer: 8 or more videos per month. Usually for brands running performance marketing at scale. Treat this like a part-time engagement and price it accordingly.

What to include in the agreement

A retainer agreement needs a few things that a one-off deal doesn't: a clear start and end date (three or six months is standard), a rollover or kill clause if the brand wants to exit early, what happens to unused deliverables in a given month, and whether usage rights are included or billed separately.

Usage rights on retainer are worth thinking about carefully. If the brand is running paid ads with your content every month, the usage rights value adds up. Some creators include 30-day usage per piece in the retainer rate and charge separately for anything beyond that.

How many retainer clients is the right number

Two to three retainer clients covers most creators' income goals and leaves room for one-off projects. More than that and you start to lose creative flexibility, which is one of the reasons most people chose this path in the first place.

The goal isn't to fill every hour with retainer work. It's to build a stable enough base that you can say no to bad one-off deals and yes to good ones.