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More to know about A Willing Participant, Inc.

Assembled for Boys & Girls Club of Chicago

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FASTFACTS

With A Willing Participant, you get...

The right skills to succeed

Experts in multiple methods

Transparency on timelines, process and billings

Streamlined approach

Process that immerses, produces and refines

WE'RE A FULL SERVICE AGENCY...

But these are the skills we offer that might be particularly great for you

  • Direct mail expertise: strategy, writing, design, testing, analysis (and award-winning, too)

  • Email marketing: strategy, writing and design, analysis

  • Social media: strategy, writing and design to drive awareness and participation (like donations around a particular event or time)

  • Marketing materials: write and design elements for consistent use (Powerpoint, stationery, flyers, brochures, signage, etc.)

  • Content development: blog content and PR as needed to promote interest in your brand and events

ANALYSIS and REPORTING

You're never in the dark with what's going on with your projects. Here are just a few of the basics we offer from day one:

Social Media Dashboard

Weekly Status Reports

Monthly Hour Reconciliation Report

Google Analytics

Email Campaign Reports

PRICING EXAMPLE

We'll work whichever way works best for you, but here's an idea that our clients seem to like most

We have found that many clients like the “monthly bucket” approach to billing because  it gives them a predetermined number of agency hours to pull from in any given month. This flexible approach is at a set hourly rate of $150, across the entire team, without being locked into a use-it-or-lose-it style of retainer. 

 

EXAMPLE

 

Let’s say you have a target of 40 hours a month with us. If you only had a handful of social media images/posts to do one month and we put 16 hours against it, you’d only be billed for those 16 hours at the end of the month. Hours left over “go away” without penalty; the next month starts again at 40 hours. 

 

What if you go over in a particular month? It happens, but you’ll know about it sooner than not as we keep you up to date on hours with weekly reports so you can plan accordingly. 

 

If you’d rather keep your ceiling of X hours each month regardless and we’re getting close? We let the a project flow into the the next month and cap our work at the agreed upon hours for the month. 

 

Typically what happens, though, is the clients working under this arrangement have us reconcile as we go and bill accordingly. And because we’re tracking weekly, we can see if we are on target. 

 

Here’s an example snapshot of a current client under this arrangement. You’ll see that they have gone over at times throughout the year, but have also been at or under in a few months as well. 

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ADVANTAGE

 

With this set up,  you’re not tied into doing only the projects you have lined up right now. For example, if one month requires 4 emails, that works. If you have just a postcard and social media content in a month, that works, too. 

 

Basically, whatever creative projects and executions you need are covered under your monthly bucket of hours that are reserved for you. You never have to worry if we are available, and you're not penalized when you don't use us. And each project is tracked on our end with its specific job number so you can see what’s going where. 

 

Your hours cover new creative writing and design, strategic planning, revisions, reporting, etc. Best of all, you have the flexibility to fit in other one-offs and projects that come up from time to time. 

 

This is, of course, a start, and you’re under no obligation to use all of your hours at any time. But this way you can plan out the rest of your 2021 budget expenses and have a good handle on just how much work that could cover for the year. 

 

WHAT ABOUT BIG PROJECTS?

 

Let’s say you have a need for some larger scope projects—like a testimonial video or a new website. If it looks like that would be the only focus in the timeframe, we’d use the hours we’ve agreed upon. But if the scope is beyond that, or risks putting off other projects you need done, we’d quote these larger projects separately so you can see how that may impact your budget for the year. We’ve found this makes it easier for clients to track costs as well as plan for other projects. 

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?

You will notice we
are not an agency
in the typical sense

Instead, A Willing Participant is a “virtual workshop” made up of full-time staff that is supplemented with with the right experts, at the right time. 

 

These are not anonymous guns for hire or sourced from a creative temp agency…you are not going to get “whoever was available” on a project…and we don’t load up on teammates who don’t have a direct role in creating great work for you…

 

We are also all remote, so we’re even more of a “virtual agency” in the sense that we don’t have a set office location. This isn’t new to us—we have operated this way efficiently and successfully since 2014. 

 

This is a group of people I've personally worked with for 20+ years. They have been handpicked because I know they can deliver exactly what you need. It also helps keep costs low. So you get the full attention of an agency at a more affordable rate.

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