ManyRequests is a client portal and client requests management software for creative services.
Are you fed up with one-off project-based work and would like to stabilize your cash flow through predictable recurring income streams?
If this is you, I've got your back because in this article, I'll explain in detail 6 unsaturated, less competitive recurring services to help you adopt or switch to a recurring revenue model.
I'll also arm you with tools and systems to manage recurring client relationships.
The Blueprint
First we'll explore the immense benefits of recurring services. Then we'll quickly switch gears as I give you the low-down on 6 recurring services you shouldn't sleep on come 2025.
Then a pat on the back and curtain call afterwards.
Let's go.
Why Recurring Services? The Benefits.
Battling uncertain cash flow and client churn for months on end isn't exactly fun. You spend a huge chunk of your resources on promotions shoring up your clientele because you're not sure if enough previous clients will patronize you again.
As a result, you're always on the hunt for new clients so you can make enough to pay your bills.
Well, 2025 is upon us. This hand-to-mouth drudgery has to end. It's time to do things differently — adopt a more sustainable model which guarantees steady flow of income — recurring services.
We'll discuss in detail profitable, unsaturated recurring services which you can offer and how you go begin.
But why are recurring services the way to go for creative agencies?
Consistent Cash Flow
With recurring services, you sleep easy knowing money will come in every month. This peace and certainty, one-off projects can't give you.
This means you can plan ahead and make forecasts long before the money comes.
Scale with Confidence
With predictable cash flow, you can offer more services and take on more clients with very little risk.
Client Retention
The longer clients stay with you, the more time you have to impress them. By solving their specific needs, you get to build stronger relationships. This naturally leads to higher retention rates.
Upselling Opportunities
The more clients remain with you, the easier it is to sell them additional services. They already know, like (hopefully) and trust you. And people (by extension, businesses) buy from who they know and trust?
Brand Value Growth
A recurring revenue model makes your agency attractive to investors and buyers. A steady predictable income drives the agency's value up.
So what are those profitable recurring services? Let's look at them.
6 Profitable Recurring Services for Creative Agencies 2025
Here are 6 unsaturated, less competitive recurring services you can offer in 2025.
- Design Retainers
In the design retainer model, a client pays you (a creative agency) a fixed fee to access a predefined number of design work each month.
In a nutshell, the client gets a consistent supply of expert designs; you get a constant stream of income. And the both of you get the opportunity to build a deep lasting relationship that can transcend work.
Design work could be graphic design, branding updates, marketing materials, social media assets, etc.
Let's look briefly at design retainer models.
Types of Design Retainer Models
Hourly Retainers
With this model, clients buy a set number of design hours (instead of design work) each month. It makes sense for clients whose project needs vary.
Deliverable-Based Retainers
You (the creative agency) supply a set number of designs (e.g., 10 social media graphics or 2 marketing brochures) within a set space of time. In other words, the focus is primarily on the product, not time.
Hybrid Retainers
Some clients don't like being boxed in and would want a taste of both worlds — hourly and deliverable-based models. They belong here.
So how do you set this whole thing up? What steps should you take?
Who are Your Ideal Retainer Clients?
Not every Tom, Dick and Harry in the design niche would be a good fit for the retainer model. Who should you go after?
Clients who...
- Need regular design work. Ideally, that would include e-commerce brands, marketing agencies, startups.
- Have ongoing long-term projects or consistent design needs.
- Prefer working with one agency over a long period and building a strong working relationship.
Now, reach out and pitch them your services.
What Sort of Design Retainer Services Do You Offer?
Is it…
- Landing page design or updates
- Monthly social media graphics
- Brand collateral updates
- Seasonal campaign designs
How many revisions are allowed?
1,10 or 100? Make it clear.
Are Your Retainer Packages Flexible Enough?
Tiered plans are very popular and for good reason — they work.
A practical example…
Starter Package (10 design hours/month or 5 deliverables).
Growth Package (25 design hours/month or 15 deliverables).
Premium Package (50 design hours/month plus priority support).
Is that Retainer Agreement Ready?
Draw up a detailed agreement to establish mutual understanding and protect your agency.
📌We have Retainer Agreement Templates available here
It should include the following...
- Scope of Work. Exact services included.
- Duration. Length of the contract. (Example, 6, or 12 months, 2 years)
- Payment Terms. Monthly, quarterly, or upfront payments.
- Unused Hours or Deliverables. Do unused hours roll over or expire?
What Tools Should You Use?
Design tools (industry-specific) such as Adobe suite of design tools to make designs. A project management tool to streamline your workflows and make things a lot easier. Use ManyRequests to assign and manage design tasks, track time and handle billing and payments.
You'll also need a place to store and share your designs. Google Drive, and Dropbox would serve.
For version control, use Airtable. .
Review Retainers Periodically
Quarterly, 6 months, yearly. Do what works for you. Assess whether clients' needs are being met and if the retainer package is profitable for your agency. Is there a need to add new services?
Build Your Portfolio and Market Your Brand
Once you’ve successfully onboarded a few clients, use case studies and Testimonials to promote your agency.
The second service…
- Paid Advertising
If you're all about the money, paid advertising could be the niche for you. It's hands down one of the most lucrative recurring services creative agencies can offer.
If you help businesses make money, you deserve to go home with a healthy piece of the pie. Fair enough.
Businesses have to reach their audience, increase brand visibility and ultimately convert leads into customers.
One very effective way to do so is through paid ads.
As an agency, your job is to set up, run and manage campaigns on behalf of your clients (businesses).Platforms abound — Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin.
You can focus and become an expert on one platform, or go all “Jacky” and do all of them.
Okay, let's set up shop…
Who's Your Target Audience?
It all starts with who you want to serve. Remember, you're just a fingerling starting out.
So choose a niche where you can actually thrive without getting swallowed up by sharks. Focusing on a niche makes you stand out. People prefer working with specialists anyway.
Ecommerce, healthcare, law, real estate. What's it going to be? They're all lucrative. Which suits you more? Where do your strengths lie?
Answer those questions and just get started. You can always expand later.
Next, choose the right ad platform. Some ad platforms are better suited to some niches than others.
For example, Google ads are great for brick and mortar (local) businesses while Facebook and Instagram ads are great for ecommerce.
Don't stop there, though. Make sure you understand your potential clients' needs? Else, you'll fall flat on your face. Creating buyer personas will point you in the right direction.
Will work with your bare hands? No, this high stakes game requires research, efficiency and accuracy. So what about tools?
Essential Tools and Software
To manage campaigns, Google Ads Manager and Meta Business Suite (and others) will get the job done.
To manage clients and communicate with them seamlessly, get ManyRequests.
You'll be analyzing data so you can optimize your campaigns. Set up Google Analytics.
You'll need a team, right?
Who's on Your Team?
Keep it small and focused at first. Expand as you grow and as the workload increases.
Alternatively, you can outsource from the outset working with specialized contractors.
Contractors or in-house staff, doesn't matter. Only two things do — getting your clients results and making bank.
Handled pricing yet?
Develop a Service Offering
Tiered packages work great. They can be deliverable-based or results-dependent.
Now, roll your sleeves, let's go get some clients.
Market Your Agency and Onboard Clients
This is the hardest part. Scale this mountain, you hit a home run.
How do we do this?
Content marketing is great. Build your content machine right away but know that it'll take a while to see results.
You need a few clients now to set the ball rolling and keep morale high. What do you do?
Outreach?
Yes, start knocking on doors. Tell friends and family about your new business. Cold call and email as many people as you can. Be ready for a boatload of rejections. Comes with the territory. Nothing to be ashamed of.
If you can spend on advertising, by all means do. You're an advertising agency after all. So take your own medicine and get well.
Retain Clients and Build Your Portfolio
Relationships are vital to service-based businesses. Treat everyone who gives you their business like gold and always be on the lookout for more.
Over time, you'll have a portfolio of projects so impressive, clients will begin seeking you out for more work. That's when you know you've “arrived”.
Okay, welcome back from dreamland, buddy. We've got more work to do. Usually, the hardest part is getting that first client.
Put all your energy into achieving that. Then watch the floodgates open.
Scale Your Agency
As your business begins to grow, start thinking about scaling. Get even better tools and smooth out your workflows. Those repetitive tasks costing you time? Eliminate them with automation.
If you need even more money, explore a pay-per-lead model or some sort of performance-based arrangement.
If all goes to plan, you'll line your pockets with so many greenbacks, you'd wish you had started earlier. Okay, that's an exaggeration straight out of a snake oil salesman’s playbook. Don't fall for it.
My point is you'll earn more through a pay-per-lead model if you put in the work.
We're good?
Okay, next service…
- Video Production and Editing
The way we consume content changed when the world went digital.
Most people now prefer video content to other forms.
For example, 82% of consumers who receive video content from brands say they like that content and 81% of people would like to receive Interactive Video content from brands.
Also, 44% of people prefer to learn about a product or service by watching a short video. Compare this to ebooks or manuals (16%), infographics (15%), text-based articles (13%), sales calls (6%) or webinars/presentations/pitches (5%).
This is understandable. Videos are much easier to consume and offer some level of interactivity. Videos are one among the most engaging content forms.
The growth of YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. has all but sent this into overdrive.
Businesses have since jumped in the fray making video creation and marketing an integral part of their strategy.
They use videos to tell brand stories and showcase their products and services.
Through video tutorials, testimonials, and live content, they get to engage with existing customers. Videos are used in social media wars between brands.
High-quality videos are to businesses what bullets are to soldiers. They need a steady supply of them to stay competitive.
What does this mean for you?
An opportunity to tap into the ever-growing demand for high-quality videos, offering video production and editing as a recurring service.
As a video production and editing agency, you can offer…
Corporate Video Support
Businesses often communicate internally through videos. They also use them in training sessions and events. You can make this your specialty or add it to your catalogue at least.
Live Streaming and Webinar Editing
Webinars or live videos aren't going out of fashion soon. Businesses often need these video recordings edited for future use. That's where you come in. Offer to handle the whole process on a subscription basis.
Post-Production Services
Can you take raw footage and turn it into a professional-grade video? If you can, make this territory your own. This should be a no-brainer if you understand editing, sound design, color correction, and motion graphics.
Social Media Video Content
Help clients win their social media wars by selling them match grade bullets (high-quality videos) — long-form videos, YouTube shorts, Instagram reels. Don't forget TikTok too. You're literally spoilt for choice really.
Monthly Video Packages
You can instead offer all these video types (depending the client’s needs) as a monthly package. Offer a set number of videos per month.
Content Strategy and Consultation
Making a video is only half the battle. Distributing and marketing it properly presents its own challenge. You have to understand trends, audience targeting, and how to maximize ROI. This is better handled by experts in the field. Are you one? Then sell this service as a subscription.
Before you take the plunge, get acquainted with video trends heading into 2025. Here are a few...
Short-Form is Still King
Most companies already use short-form videos in marketing and this should be music in your ears.
Shorts and reels will still dominate in 2025. Adapt accordingly.
Personalized Videos are Becoming Popular
Audience-specific content will get even more popular heading into 2025. Do your research before you fire up that video editing software.
AI, AR and VR Will Be There Too
AI will help you automate mundane tasks so you can focus more on creative work.
Pay more attention to immersive content by utilizing Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. 360-degree videos are likely to gain popularity too.
Pricing Structure
Make your services attractive to clients.
Tiered Packages
Tiered packages are the most common plans used and are based on video complexity and volume.
Flexible Deliverables
You can let clients decide the type of videos they need every month — social media, promotional videos, product launches, etc.
Now, get some clients through the door.
Marketing and Promotion
Reach out to potential clients and tell them about your service. Offer them free trials then tell them about your subscription packages. Continue building relationships.
Don't hide. Show up at local events or workshops and join the conversation. Contribute genuinely and when the opportunity comes to strut your stuff, grab it with both hands.
Do you know any influencer that may be interested in giving you a shout? Pitch them.
Do you have money lying around somewhere? Run targeted ads on Google and Facebook.
Now that you have a few clients in, use testimonials, case studies, and reviews to build trust, credibility and of course, get more clients through the door.
What about long-term strategies? It may take 6 months to start seeing results but niche content marketing will surely reward you.
Let's keep it moving…
- Strategy and Consulting Services
Strategy and consulting services have become indispensable for businesses in today's extremely competitive terrain.
The global strategy market value jumped to $101.75 billion in 2024 from $44.68 billion in 2022.
If there's any piece of information that can give businesses a competitive advantage over their rival, they'll gladly pay for it.
That explains the lucrative nature of this service
As an agency, you'll help clients align their marketing, branding, and operational goals and other business objectives.
As a strategist and consultant, you'll be giving actionable advice and steps to solve clients' needs.
Since strategies take time to take hold, be ready to be in this for the long haul. The fact that it's a long-term service makes it highly profitable and in demand.
What exactly will you be doing?
Strategy and Consulting Services
Brand Strategy
You'll work with clients to position and differentiate their business from a sea of others. This will ensure their brand stands out and speaks to the right audience with the right message.
Marketing Strategy Optimization
You'll help clients come up with strategies (long-term and short), campaigns, audience targeting as well as campaign channels.
Business Growth Consulting
You'll also advise clients on how best to scale their business with minimum risk.
Trend Analysis
Help clients respond and adapt to changes in the industry. For example, consumer behavior, technological advances, and industry-specific trends.
You might want to have the following points at the back of your mind as you go into the field...
Key Points About Strategy and Consulting
Know Your Client
No two clients are the same. So personalize your approach. For this to happen, you must have a solid understanding of your client — business goals, challenges, and target audience.
Offer Data-Backed Recommendation
Make sure your advice and recommendations are rooted in data. That way, its effectiveness can be measured. Clients will trust you if you can show them (using data) that your solutions work.
Ongoing Support
Consulting is a long-term process. You get to stay with the client for a long time carrying out regular strategy reviews and updates to ensure clients stay on track and adapt to new changes and challenges as they come up.
Work Collaboratively with Clients
As an agency, you're a partner to your clients. Your job is to help them achieve their business goals and objectives.
So have their best interests at heart.
Organize Regular Workshops and Planning Sessions
Communication is extremely important in service-based business. These sessions will help you understand what your client needs and adjust your strategies if necessary.
Carry Your Clients Along
Don't keep your clients in the dark. Inform them via detailed reports and roadmaps of your plans and strategies.
Performance Monitoring
Consulting is all about results. Track KPIs and measure outcomes. They're more likely to continue with you if they see the impact of your work.
Next to price packages…
Pricing Structure
Hour-Based Retainer
Sell a number of hours for flexibility and short-term engagements.
Project-Based Retainers
Bundle specific deliverables like business plans, market research, or strategy roadmaps together and offer them as monthly, quarterly or yearly subscriptions.
Hybrid Packages
Offer this package for businesses who would prefer a mix of both worlds.
Straight to marketing…
Marketing and Promotions
To the marketing strategies we've already discussed, add thought leadership.
Publish whitepapers, and insights on platforms like LinkedIn or industry publications to show you know your stuff. Clients in this niche work with brands who really know what they're doing.
Next one…
- Analytics and Performance Reporting
Analytics used to take the backseat — an afterthought. But now we live in a data-driven world, it has since become the driver.
Businesses can only ignore it at their own risk. And if you're good at it, you'll make bank.
As an analyst, you'll help clients gain a clear understanding of how their investments deliver measurable results.
They can now make data-driven decisions off of this feedback, adjust their strategy accordingly and improve campaigns.
What exactly will you be doing as an analyst? On most days — gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to measure the effectiveness of campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and guide future strategies.
By offering analytics and performance reporting as a recurring service, you won't only be helping clients, you'll also be guaranteed steady cash flow.
A win-win.
Let's look more deeply at what you'll be doing...
Tracking Key Metrics
Depending on the industry, you'll be keeping an eye on KPIs such as website traffic, engagement metrics, conversion rates, ad spend ROI, and subscriber count.
Regular Reports
You'll be studying trends, generating insights, presenting them periodically (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and making recommendations. .
Custom Dashboards
Dashboards are something you must get used to. You'll be using them to convey your thoughts and insights about client campaigns and projects.
Performance Audits
Clients may request that you analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing campaigns to identify ways to optimize them.
Competitor Analysis
The world of business is a cutthroat environment. Brands with the best insights often have an edge over others. Your job is to give them that edge.
How do you set things up?
Setting Up an Analytics and Reporting Service
I don't want this article to be repetitive and boring. For implementation, the points I made in the design retainers section also apply here. You just have to tweak them.
Let's talk about price structure…
Price Packages for an Analytics Agency
Tiered Packages
Offer basic, intermediate, and Premium plans with different services baked in — real-time monitoring, monthly dashboards, in-depth analysis.
Pay-Per-Report
Charge clients per detailed report on a recurring basis.
Retainer Models
Have clients pay flat recurring fees for ongoing analytics support, performance tracking, and consultation.
Custom Pricing
Big boys pay big bucks. I mean enterprise clients with unique data needs. So reserve a seat for them at the table and offer them tailored solutions.
Next, how do you get the word out?
Marketing and Promotions
The strategies we discussed above will also work here — outreach, networking, testimonials, case studies, ads and of course, content marketing.
Add to that free audits to demonstrate value and attract leads.
- Branding Agency
A branding agency enhances the identity of a business and helps it connect more effectively with its audience.
As a branding agency, you ensure a brand's voice, values, personality, and visual identity stand out from that of its competitors and resonate with customers. Emotional attachment is vital. Customers who are linked emotionally to businesses are more loyal to them. Businesses achieve this through branding.
Branding builds trust and credibility, and helps businesses to stand out especially in saturated niches.
The stronger a brand is, the more powerful its marketing campaigns.
What services can you offer as a branding agency?
Core Services of a Branding Agency
Brand Identity Design
Make sure the client's visual elements (logos, typography and color palettes) reflect the brand’s personality.
Brand Messaging
Help the client develop her unique voice and tone along with taglines, mission statements, and brand stories.
These will help them connect with audiences more easily.
Rebranding Services
Resurrect old, dying or underperforming brands by repositioning them and reworking their image to improve how they're perceived by consumers.
Brand Strategy
Carry out research to identify the best audience segments for a brand and the competitors.
Then use your findings to find gaps in the market and optimize a brand's purpose, mission, and positioning.
Pricing Structure
Hour-based, project-based and hybrid retainers will work here.
Marketing and Promotions
Most (if not all) of what we've already discussed will apply here.
Hopefully, you now have your agency up and running. And more and more clients are giving you their business,
Now’s the time to hone that engine even more so that it runs smoothly with more power. Let's look at it next…
How Creative Agencies Can Automate and Scale Using ManyRequests
Okay, your creative agency is up and running now. The floodgates have finally opened, bringing you high-value clients in their boatloads.
You find yourself now juggling multiple recurring services and clients.
How do you keep both clients and team members happy?
Let me rephrase. How do you make sure that client projects are delivered on time and team members don't crumble under back-breaking workload?
That's where ManyRequests comes in.
ManyRequests is an all-in-one client management platform made specifically for creative agencies.
Its powerful tools help agencies streamline their operations and scale their brand.
Let's look at how it does that...
Centralized Client Portal
Inside ManyRequests' white-labeled client portal, you can manage all client communications, requests, and deliverables in one place.
This means clients have 24/7 access to their project status, files, and updates. They can see how it's coming along. They can also send messages and leave comments inside the same portal.
This eliminates the drudgery of communicating through email.
With administrative bottlenecks out of the way, the agency can focus on onboarding more clients seamlessly and delivering real value.
Automating Client Requests and Workflows
You can use ManyRequests to automate workflows for recurring tasks such as content approvals, project setups, or design revisions.
Clients can submit requests directly through the portal which automatically triggers predefined workflows.
With all these manual tasks now automated, you can take on more work without sacrificing quality.
Team Collaboration and Task Assignment
You get to assign tasks to team members and track progress. Integration with Slack makes for smooth communication. This keeps the standard of service delivery at a high level.
Subscription Management
You can offer recurring services and sleep well at night because ManyRequests simplifies subscription management.
It integrates billing and payment processing, making it easy for clients to subscribe to services, manage invoices, and set up automatic payments directly within the platform.
Automated billing means you save time on financial management while cash comes in when it should, thereby eliminating delays.
Instead of disturbing clients all day, you can focus your efforts on growing your agency instead.
Customized Client Experience
You can dress ManyRequests in your agency's full regalia — client portal which reflects and represents your brand. Branded client portal, onboarding documents, etc.
This builds trust and waters the ground for long-term relationships with clients to thrive.
Bottom Line...
Whether you're just starting out with only a client under your belt or you're a veteran with 1000, ManyRequests gives you all you need to build and scale your agency where recurring revenue is commonplace.
Now, you can use ManyRequests for free for 14 days. Get your team members to take it for a drive and push it to the limit.
Click here to start using it for free now.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the key benefits of recurring services for creative agencies?
Predictable income, scalability, up-selling opportunities, stronger client relationships.
What types of services can creative agencies offer on a recurring basis that aren't overly competitive?
Design retainers, video production and editing, advertising, strategy and consulting, branding, analytics, etc.
How do you retain clients for recurring services?
Delivering great results, consistent communication, relationship building.
Let's wrap it up now.
Conclusion
Thank you for coming this far with me. Believe me, it means a lot to me.
So what next now?
Pick a service (one that best matches your strengths) and just go from there.
Remember ManyRequests is all yours for 14 complete days for free. No questions asked. Not even a credit card info.
Click here to get it.
Okay, thank you and see you on the next one. Bye.
