Retainer agreement

A contract where a client pays a recurring fee (usually monthly) for an ongoing, defined scope of work or availability, as opposed to a one-off, fixed-scope project.

Example

A client pays a $5,000 monthly retainer for a defined scope: 4 blog posts, 8 social posts, and monthly reporting — any request beyond that scope in a given month is either deferred to the next month or billed as an add-on.

Why it matters for agencies

Retainers are especially prone to gradual scope creep because the recurring relationship makes it socially harder to push back on "just one more thing this month" than it is on a one-off project. A clearly defined monthly scope, revisited at renewal, is what keeps a retainer from quietly expanding without a corresponding price increase.