How We Work

It’s not exciting; but, it’s important we get the money conversation on the table.

With our 10 years of experience (and growing) working in the marketing world, we have seen just about every project, scope, need, want and idea that could be requested. Having seen shifts in the market and how companies bill; we have billed by the hour, by the project, by the month, by the week and we finally found the best option that works for everyone in the creative process.

Project & Budget Assessment

A successful project always starts with collaboration.  So, why not start out your project collaborating on the scope and budget.  Our goal is to maximize your budget and our hours to provide amazing products and services for your business.  Yes, this process takes time; but, it sets up a foundation for success.  We know that the most successful projects are those that are created through a partnership style approach and not just an “arm’s length” vendor relationship.

Now, you are probably asking how much this costs?  Good question…nothing.  In order for a project to be top notch and delivered in a timely fashion, we all need to be on the same page.  This assessment is the first step to the ultimate success of your project.

Fit, Fun, Fame, Fortune

This is our biggest determining factor when working with our partners (clients, contractors, networking relationships, etc.)  We have proposed this to other businesses (even clients) and they have found that it changes their business dramatically.  In order for a partnership relationship to work, all four of these needs must be met.

Fit – Do we work well together and see a long term relationship growing?
Fun – Come on, you know that you don’t want a relationship to be pure drudgery.
Fame – Let’s work together to boost each others businesses in a creative way.
Fortune – Let’s both make some awesome money in the process.

So What?

So, what does this mean for you?  Once the assessment is created and we know the Four F’s are met, we will create an estimate that reflects the number of hours we believe the project should take.  Once the estimate is agreed upon by both parties, a Master Service Agreement is signed detailing the project, number of hours and billable rate once the project hours are met.  We know that all creative marketing projects are fluid and that the scope of work can change.  So, instead of fighting this, we just account for changes or project additions based on our hourly rate.  We manage all our projects and communications through an online project management application called Teamwork and we track all our hours in the application for your viewing pleasure.  We invoice the first and third Fridays of the month on a Net 15 basis and gladly provide all the time sheets from Teamwork.  Our time tracking details all the work that was completed for your project and the hours associated with the tasks that were completed for the invoice period.

Below is a simple outline of the process:

Project & Budget Assessment > Estimate (Based on assessment) > Master Service Agreement > Teamwork Project Management > Weekly Project Updates > Bi-monthly Billing (With time sheets) > Project Completion (Yay!)

What happens if I use all the hours for my project?

Great question.  We move to our hourly rate of $150.00/hour billable to the nearest half hour.  Again, we track every single hour, as best we can, so you know exactly where the project is in the process.  We invoice the first and third Fridays of the month on a Net 15 basis.

Weekly Communications

Each week you will receive an update on your project through Teamwork.  What’s really cool about Teamwork is that if you are a super detailed person you can actually monitor all the progress of your project inside of your project account on a day-to-day basis (you may not see work taking place everyday since we have many projects working at once; but, you will see on-going progress on a regular basis).

What if I need you for more than just a set project?

Another great question!  We work with a number of clients on a retainer basis.  Yes, this a great way to keep your marketing engine running at full speed after a project is completed.

We made this really simple.  Our minimum monthly hour allotment for services is five hours.  The hourly rate is the same $120.00/hour as with project work.  The retainer agreement is for a minimum of 3 months and is retainer payment is invoiced on the first Friday of the month.  You can utilize the retainer hours for services such as website updating, graphic design, content writing, content strategy, marketing / business consultation, business concept / idea creation, etc.

You’re not my Brother’s Cousin’s Uncle

Yes, we know we are not the cheapest in town and we also know we are not a large agency charging large agency prices.  We have come to realize that we like having a roof over our families heads and that we enjoy the flexibility of being creative by not having to worry about pinching pennies on every project.  This is why we don’t take on “free” work for “exposure.”  We, like you, are a business and we are in the business of providing an exceptional service at a price that affords us the opportunity to continue to grow our business and our client’s businesses.