Retainers are a great way to work with freelancers! I feel like the best work is done through strong human collaboration... a retainer helps you form an ongoing partnership with your chosen freelancer and the more you work together through the agreement, the stronger your working relationship gets, the better you collaborate and well... you get the rest!
I thought I'd share a little bit about how a retainer I have in place works. What the benefits are to everyone and show off some of the work we've done together!
First off, What is a freelance retainer?!
If you didn’t already know - a freelance retainer agreement is an ongoing contract between a freelancer and a client. The client pays a fixed monthly fee in exchange for a set amount of regular work. Unlike one-off project work, a retainer helps to create a long-term working relationship, your freelancer will gain a better understanding of your business and will, over time, deliver better work more effectively.
When I took the leap into full-time freelance in October 2025, the first thing I did was get back in touch with everyone I had worked with previously on a freelance basis. I hadn’t freelanced for 18 months while working in-house with a production company, so I was pleasantly surprised to get responses from several of my old clients hoping to work with me again!
One of those clients was my friends at Jigsaw EYC. Vanessa and her team specialise in supporting early years settings with training and bespoke consultancy to create the best environments for young children. Since I’d worked with them last, they’d also launched an exciting new software and support branch of the business called IMPACT.
Testimonial video produced for IMPACT
From working with them previously I knew they took their content seriously, Vanessa had grown a respectable following on social media, and they also liked to capture their events for posterity and promotion. None of this had changed, they still needed regular, quality content, and now they also wanted to create promotional material to help propel the early success of IMPACT.
An immediate requirement when I got in touch was to capture headshots and some lifestyle imagery of the growing team. So, we got it booked, did the shoot then sat down to discuss how a more continuous working relationship could work.
How to set up a retainer agreement with a freelancer
The best place to start is to identify what you NEED.
Don’t think, ‘We need 6 videos a month’. Think more along the lines of what you want to achieve with the content you create on a regular basis:
‘We need to engage with customers on social media’
‘We need to answer some FAQs to ease the load on customer services’
‘We need to raise awareness of a new service/offer’
‘We need to educate customers about our products’
Your business needs will be unique to you, and so will the retainer agreement you create together with your freelancer. You can have more than one need. But they will help decide the frequency and scale of work, balance this with your budget and then you can get creating!
(The boring bit!)
The important thing is to ensure everything is laid out in black and white on a contract that both sides agree on. Scope of work, communication expectations, availability - all of it agreed on a signed contract so there’s no awkward conversations later down the line!
Why create a retainer agreement Vs. project by project.
Setting up a freelance retainer forms a partnership that will allow your freelancer to become an extension of the team. Regular collaboration will give them a far greater understanding of your values / vision / mission (Whatever you wanna call it!) as well as your processes, strategy and creative preferences.
Compare this to onboarding and briefing someone project by project, you not only save time but create higher quality work together that’s brand aligned and ready to go faster and further!
You’ll have created a continuous working relationship with an industry professional, someone you can ask for advice or they will gladly offer it to lift your ideas and your business!
Additionally, knowing exactly how much you’re spending each month on content helps to keep budgets in check. You can even spread the cost of some bigger planned projects within the agreement!
So far, I’ve helped Vanessa and her team create everything from organic and paid social content to ads, photography, promotional films and event highlight films.
I love working with everyone at Jigsaw and IMPACT, truth is, we hit it off from day one years ago! But now we have a regular working relationship, I’m gaining a stronger understanding of what works for their brand and through regular visits, they’re getting more confident on camera and collaborative with creative ideas.
What to do next
If you’re considering a more consistent and collaborative approach to your content, photography or video, then get in touch to see how I can support you and your business.
