If you have decided a fixed monthly retainer does not fit, you have more options than most brands realise. Here they are with honest trade-offs, not a sales pitch for one.
1. In-house hire
Bring the work inside. You get dedicated focus and full control, and you carry the salary and the hiring risk. Best for brands with steady spend and a clear playbook. The limit is that you are betting on one or two people's experience, and paid social now spans media buying, creative, production and tracking, which is a lot for one hire.
2. Freelance media buyer
A single specialist on a flexible arrangement. Cheaper than an agency and more flexible than a hire, but you get one person's capacity and skill set, usually strong on media buying and weak on creative production, which is where the leverage now is. Good for smaller accounts or a specific gap.
3. Project-based engagement
Hire an agency or specialist for a defined project: a launch, a new market, a creative sprint. No ongoing commitment. Useful for one-off needs, less so for the continuous testing and iteration that scaling paid social requires.
4. Performance-based agency
An agency whose fee is tied to the results it creates rather than a fixed monthly amount. You get a full team and production capacity, and the agency only earns when you do, which aligns incentives in a way a retainer never can. The trade-off is that when results are strong the performance fee can exceed a retainer, which is the point: you pay more precisely because you made more. This is the model we operate at Curve, and it is why we only take partners we believe we can genuinely scale.
How to choose
- Small or early: a freelancer or lean in-house hire usually fits best.
- One-off need: project-based.
- Scaling and want aligned risk: a performance-based agency.
- Steady spend and want full control: in-house, ideally paired with external creative production.
Whatever you choose, the question that matters most is incentive: does this partner earn the same whether or not you grow? For a deeper look at that specific comparison, see performance model vs retainer agency.