The guide
Care home marketing should be priced on what it produces, not on what it costs the agency to produce it. Retainers and results-based arrangements both work, and the honest evidence says retainer relationships tend to last longest, so neither model is the villain. What separates a good arrangement from an expensive one is accountability: whether the fee is tied to something your home genuinely cares about, and whether you can see it happening.
Updated July 2026
That is the short answer. This guide sets out what each model is, where each one fits, how to compare them fairly, and the questions to ask before anything is signed.
The models
There are four common models, and most real arrangements combine two of them.
Buys a defined scope of continuous work.
Covers a fixed deliverable such as a website or a film.
Charges a proportion of what you put into the platforms.
Ties some or all of the fee to an agreed outcome, usually qualified enquiries, booked show-rounds or move-ins.
Pure versions of any of these are rarer than the labels suggest. Filming a real family in a real home carries a genuine production cost, so a purely results-only arrangement is unusual in care. The realistic shape is a base that covers production and management, with a meaningful part of the commercial arrangement tied to the outcome.
Specifics on how that is structured are best walked through on a call, because the right split depends on the size of the home, the occupancy gap and how much film already exists.
The retainer
No. A retainer is simply a way of buying continuous attention, and the retention data is kinder to it than its reputation. In a 2026 analysis of agency client retention, retainer-based agencies recorded 18% annual client churn with an average client relationship of 56 months, against 42% churn and 24 months for project-based agencies, with performance-based agencies in between at 33% (Focus Digital, Average Marketing Agency Churn 2026 Report). Relationships built on ongoing work last longer, which matters in care, where trust is built slowly and a home's story deepens over years.
The risk in a retainer is not the model. It is what happens when the retainer quietly becomes a subscription to activity. Reports arrive, posts go out, the invoice clears, and nobody in the home can say whether any of it produced a family standing in reception. That is the failure worth guarding against, and it has a name in the data.
The gap
Delivery dissatisfaction was the top reason clients ended agency relationships in 2026 (Focus Digital, 2026), while agencies themselves ranked it seventh.
A well-built arrangement closes that gap on purpose.
Results-based
No, and any agency promising that it is has skipped the hard part.
The catch
If enquiries arrive by phone into a busy reception, get noted on paper, and are followed up by whoever is free, no pricing model can be fair to either side. Results pricing rewards homes that already track enquiries properly, and it exposes homes that do not. Fixing enquiry handling first often lifts occupancy on its own, before a single advert runs.
Results pricing also shifts risk onto the agency, and risk has a price. An arrangement with genuine outcome exposure will usually carry a higher upside for the agency when it works. That is the trade, and it is a reasonable one when both sides state it plainly.
Side by side
| Monthly retainer | Results-based arrangement | |
|---|---|---|
| You are paying for | Continuous defined work | An agreed outcome, usually enquiries or move-ins |
| Suits a home that | Needs ongoing marketing and content | Has a specific occupancy gap to close |
| Strongest at | Consistency, compounding, relationship depth | Alignment, clarity of purpose |
| Main risk | Activity without accountability | Vague outcome definitions and poor tracking |
| Needs from the home | Access, approvals, responsiveness | Reliable enquiry tracking and fast follow-up |
| Typical shape in care | Base plus production costs | Base plus outcome-linked element |
Both columns describe arrangements that work. The column that fills beds is the one where the home and the agency are measuring the same thing.
Timing
Expect early signals within weeks and a fair verdict at roughly one quarter. Enquiries and booked show-rounds can move within the first few weeks of a campaign going live, because advertising built on real film reaches families who are already carrying the decision quietly. We cover how advertising to families actually works in its own guide.
Move-ins lag behind, sometimes considerably, because a family will visit, go away, talk to a sibling and come back. Judging on move-ins alone at week six usually misreads a campaign that is working.
The stakes explain why homes want an answer sooner. UK care home occupancy averaged 88.7% in 2025 (Knight Frank, Care Homes Trading Performance Review 2025), so most homes are working on their last few beds rather than a half-empty building. Those final beds are the slowest and the most valuable, and they rarely move on a fortnight's evidence. For the wider picture on lifting occupancy, start with our occupancy guide.
Before you sign
Ask six questions, and judge the answers rather than the pricing label.
An agency that answers all six plainly is telling you how the arrangement will feel in month seven. An agency that answers none of them is asking you to buy activity. For more on this, read how to weigh up a care home marketing agency properly.
Value
The cheapest arrangement is rarely the best value, because value in care marketing sits in what gets made and what it produces. A low fee that covers scheduling and a monthly report gives your home nothing it can keep.
A larger arrangement that includes professional film of real residents and real families, made by people and never generated artificially, leaves the home with an asset that keeps working long after any campaign ends: something a family can watch at eleven at night and feel reassured by.
Compare on cost per qualified enquiry, on what you own at the end, and on whether the people doing the work understand what a family is actually deciding. Those three comparisons will separate two arrangements far better than the headline fee. This guide is the comparison; for the models themselves, see how much care home marketing costs.
Common questions
Both models work. A retainer buys continuous attention and suits homes that need ongoing marketing, and industry retention data shows retainer relationships last the longest. Results-based pricing ties part of the fee to an agreed outcome and suits homes with a specific occupancy gap to close. The model matters less than whether the arrangement makes the agency accountable for something the home actually cares about, such as qualified enquiries and move-ins.
It is an arrangement where some or all of the fee depends on an agreed outcome rather than on hours or activity. In care that usually means qualified enquiries, booked show-rounds or move-ins, measured against an agreed baseline over an agreed period. A pure results-only arrangement is rare, because production costs such as filming still have to be covered.
Expect early signals within weeks and a fair verdict at roughly one quarter. Enquiries and booked show-rounds can move within the first few weeks of a campaign going live. Move-ins lag, because families take time to visit, discuss and decide, so judging on move-ins alone before a full quarter usually misreads the picture.
Ask what specifically you are paying for, what counts as a qualified enquiry, how enquiries are tracked and reported, who owns the film and the advertising accounts if the arrangement ends, what the notice period is, and what happens if the agreed outcome is not reached. Clear answers to those six questions matter far more than which pricing label is on the contract.
Not usually. Value in care marketing comes from what is produced and what it produces, not from the fee alone. A low fee that buys only scheduling and reporting rarely fills beds, while a larger fee that includes professional film of real families and residents gives the home an asset it keeps. Compare arrangements on cost per qualified enquiry and on what you own afterwards.
Keep reading
The models behind the fees, and what each one buys.
How do I choose a care home marketing agency?What to look for, and what to ask, before you commit.
Heritage Care Partners versus other agenciesA fair comparison of the different ways care home marketing is sold.
