The Mina Company

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Month-to-Month Marketing Retainer: Why Flexible Beats Flat

If you run a seasonal or cyclical business—home services, construction, wellness practices, anything with a busy season and a slow one—you’ve probably felt this exact frustration: paying the same flat marketing retainer in your slowest month as you do in your busiest one.

It doesn’t make sense. And yet it’s still how most agencies operate. A month-to-month marketing retainer fixes that, and it’s exactly the model we build our client relationships around.

The Mina Company team meeting around a table

The flat-retainer problem

Most marketing agencies build one package, lock you into a 6- or 12-month contract, and charge the same amount every single month—regardless of whether you’re slammed with business or in a natural lull. That means:

  • You’re overpaying during slow months for support you don’t need as much
  • You’re underinvested during your busiest months, right when the payoff would be biggest
  • You’re stuck either way, because the flat contract doesn’t flex even if your business obviously does

For a lot of small and medium-sized businesses, this mismatch—flat pricing against a business that isn’t flat at all—is the single biggest reason marketing spend feels like it’s not working.

What a month-to-month marketing retainer should actually mean

A real month-to-month marketing retainer isn’t just “no contract” as a marketing line—it should change how support flexes around you:

  • Turning support up during your in-demand season—launches, peak months, big pushes—when more marketing spend has the clearest payoff
  • Turning it back down during natural lows, without losing momentum, without a penalty, and without a conversation about “breaking contract”
  • A true month-to-month cadence, period. No long-term lock-in disguised as a “partnership commitment”

This isn’t just a nicer way to bill. It changes how your strategy actually gets built, because we’re planning with your seasonality in mind from day one—not bolting flexibility on as an afterthought once you push back on a contract.

Seasonal marketing agency vs. traditional agency: what to ask before you sign

If you’re evaluating a seasonal marketing agency (or any agency, honestly) and your business has any kind of seasonal rhythm, ask directly:

  • “Is this a true month-to-month marketing retainer, or a long-term contract with a flexible-sounding name?”
  • “What happens to my rate if I need to scale down for two months?”
  • “Am I locked into a fixed scope, or can this flex as my priorities shift?”
  • “Is there a penalty or fee for pausing or adjusting support?”

If the answer to any of those is uncomfortable, that’s worth knowing before you sign anything—not after your slow season hits.

How our month-to-month marketing retainer works

We build every engagement as a true month-to-month marketing retainer, and we size the team around you accordingly—sometimes that’s a lighter strategic hand guiding work you’re already doing in-house, sometimes it’s our full team stepping in to execute everything at once. Either way, it’s sized to your season, not a fixed number that made sense back in January.

Ready for a marketing retainer that actually moves with your business? Let’s talk about your season.

Curious what this looks like in practice? See how our Fractional CMO support works.

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Ep. 8 is out now: Raising Girls and a Business 🩷 I started The Mina Company while I was pregnant with my youngest, and in those early days I planned client meetings around feeding schedules. Seven and a half years later, my girls are 11 and 7, and the business has grown up right alongside them. In this episode, I’m answering questions my team pulled about motherhood and running a company. I talk about what changed when the baby years ended, how I show up for two kids at very different stages, how being a working mom shaped Mina’s culture, and the leadership lessons I’ve learned from raising two strong girls. That includes the one in this clip: today’s best might look different than tomorrow’s, and that’s okay. If you’re building a business with your kids watching, this one’s for you. Listen wherever you listen to podcasts! #ConversationsInTheDark #RaisingGirls #WorkingMom #MomsInBusiness #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounder #Motherhood #Leadership #SmallBusinessPodcast
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Ep. 8 is out now: Raising Girls and a Business 🩷 I started The Mina Company while I was pregnant with my youngest, and in those early days I planned client meetings around feeding schedules. Seven and a half years later, my girls are 11 and 7, and the business has grown up right alongside them. In this episode, I’m answering questions my team pulled about motherhood and running a company. I talk about what changed when the baby years ended, how I show up for two kids at very different stages, how being a working mom shaped Mina’s culture, and the leadership lessons I’ve learned from raising two strong girls. That includes the one in this clip: today’s best might look different than tomorrow’s, and that’s okay. If you’re building a business with your kids watching, this one’s for you. Listen wherever you listen to podcasts! #ConversationsInTheDark #RaisingGirls #WorkingMom #MomsInBusiness #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounder #Motherhood #Leadership #SmallBusinessPodcast
2 days ago
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1/5
Are you a home builder looking for a marketing team who can make the most of your busy season? You’re not alone. This is the time of year most builders reach out to us. Custom homes are a long, high-trust sale. Buyers want to see your work, get a feel for how you build, and trust you before they ever pick up the phone. At The Mina Company, we help custom home builders and service-based contractors turn thoughtful design, quality work, and local reputation into a powerful marketing presence. That’s what’s behind these numbers. SEO that keeps builders on page one month after month. Websites and ads that turn searches into real inquiries. Social that shows off the craftsmanship before the first call. We do this for residential and commercial builders, here in Colorado and across the country. And we only partner with one builder per area. You’ll never share a strategy with the competitor across town. Ready to see what this could look like for your business? DM us or visit theminacompany.com #TheMinaCompany #HomeBuilderMarketing #CustomHomeBuilder #ConstructionMarketing #SEOforBuilders #BuilderMarketing #ContractorMarketing #NoCoSmallBusiness #FortCollinsMarketing #NorthernColorado
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Follow
Are you a home builder looking for a marketing team who can make the most of your busy season? You’re not alone. This is the time of year most builders reach out to us. Custom homes are a long, high-trust sale. Buyers want to see your work, get a feel for how you build, and trust you before they ever pick up the phone. At The Mina Company, we help custom home builders and service-based contractors turn thoughtful design, quality work, and local reputation into a powerful marketing presence. That’s what’s behind these numbers. SEO that keeps builders on page one month after month. Websites and ads that turn searches into real inquiries. Social that shows off the craftsmanship before the first call. We do this for residential and commercial builders, here in Colorado and across the country. And we only partner with one builder per area. You’ll never share a strategy with the competitor across town. Ready to see what this could look like for your business? DM us or visit theminacompany.com #TheMinaCompany #HomeBuilderMarketing #CustomHomeBuilder #ConstructionMarketing #SEOforBuilders #BuilderMarketing #ContractorMarketing #NoCoSmallBusiness #FortCollinsMarketing #NorthernColorado
4 days ago
View on Instagram |
2/5
Some seasons, the smartest spend is less. We've tested the alternative across every industry we work in. More ads, more SEO, more effort poured into the slow months. The season stayed slow anyway. Demand has its own rhythm, and no budget is big enough to argue with it. So we don't ask our clients to keep pouring money into a season that won't pay it back. We'd rather protect your budget for the stretches where it actually moves the needle, and ease off when it doesn't. Some of our clients pause entirely when things are quiet, and we pick right back up when their busy season returns. Your marketing should work with your calendar, not against it. Want a partner who'll tell you when to spend less? DM us or visit theminacompany.com
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Follow
Some seasons, the smartest spend is less. We've tested the alternative across every industry we work in. More ads, more SEO, more effort poured into the slow months. The season stayed slow anyway. Demand has its own rhythm, and no budget is big enough to argue with it. So we don't ask our clients to keep pouring money into a season that won't pay it back. We'd rather protect your budget for the stretches where it actually moves the needle, and ease off when it doesn't. Some of our clients pause entirely when things are quiet, and we pick right back up when their busy season returns. Your marketing should work with your calendar, not against it. Want a partner who'll tell you when to spend less? DM us or visit theminacompany.com
1 week ago
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3/5
Ep. 7 is out now: Creating the Vision & Mission 🧭 In the hallway between Erica’s bedroom and her daughters’ rooms hangs Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” quote, rewritten for women. The credit belongs to the woman in the arena, the one who dares greatly. It’s become the quote her whole life runs on, and it’s what pushed her to take a hard look at The Mina Company’s vision, mission, and purpose for the first time in years. In this episode, Erica breaks down the difference between the three, shares the new versions she wrote for Mina (including the line with a little bite: “even when it costs us”), and explains how she turned them into real, day-to-day decisions her team makes. She also shares a simple place to start your own: notice what you’re jealous of when you see it out in the wild. Listen here ericavandersande.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts #ConversationsInTheDark #VisionAndMission #BusinessValues #DaringGreatly #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounder #Entrepreneurship #Motherhood #SmallBusinessPodcast
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Ep. 7 is out now: Creating the Vision & Mission 🧭 In the hallway between Erica’s bedroom and her daughters’ rooms hangs Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” quote, rewritten for women. The credit belongs to the woman in the arena, the one who dares greatly. It’s become the quote her whole life runs on, and it’s what pushed her to take a hard look at The Mina Company’s vision, mission, and purpose for the first time in years. In this episode, Erica breaks down the difference between the three, shares the new versions she wrote for Mina (including the line with a little bite: “even when it costs us”), and explains how she turned them into real, day-to-day decisions her team makes. She also shares a simple place to start your own: notice what you’re jealous of when you see it out in the wild. Listen here ericavandersande.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts #ConversationsInTheDark #VisionAndMission #BusinessValues #DaringGreatly #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounder #Entrepreneurship #Motherhood #SmallBusinessPodcast
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
4/5
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
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Follow
Most agencies are built to grow the invoice. More services, more add-ons, more reasons to keep you spending. It's just how the model usually works. We wrote our purpose around the opposite instinct: to always act in our clients' best interest, even when it costs us. That line only means something if we live it in the moments where doing right by you and making more money pull in different directions. So that's the standard we hold every decision to. When those two things conflict, you win. Not because it's the easy call, but because it's the one we'd want made if it were our own business on the line. It's a slower way to grow. It's also the only way to build an agency people actually trust.
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
5/5
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