Why independent designers and creative agencies should have a subscription offering, pronto
Subscription models are just a better model that supports resourcing, relationships, and revenue.
1/ Subscriptions build towards long term relationships, which are infinitely more valuable to both client and creative.
The creative gets to build on great work, with higher LTV per client.
The client gets to build on great relationships, reduce onboarding, and have better integrations with their teams and workflows.
2/ It supports iterative design — rather than a grand show-and-tell at the end of a big project, it creates the structure for quicker, iterative design cycles to test what’s working or what resonates.
3/ Subscriptions create more stability and visibility into revenue (or income) forecasts and resource allocation for designers and agencies. It can be tough managing the ebb and flow of fickle demand with seasonal big projects.
4/ It creates transparency in pricing, which is one of the biggest pain-points when hiring a designer or a creative agency. Quotes for say, a new brand, can go from $25K to $250K— a huge disparity in price (and yes, quality). Subscription tiers let clients get a budget estimate much quicker, and be able to scale up or down month-by-month, or quarter-by-quarter as desired.
5/ The subscription models works at all scales—for budget-friendly production houses to best-in-class creative directors. Design isn’t commoditized. The output is unique and differentiated depending on who you choose to work with. Subscription models are just a better model that supports resourcing, relationships, and revenue.
This goes beyond design! The same principles can be applied to other services like legal, engineering, consulting, growth marketing, public relations, etc. If you’d like to see or jam with me on sketches of how service subscriptions could look like, reach out!