Spot overrun retainers early
See hours used against the retained allowance mid-month, not at the quarterly business review.
For digital marketing agencies
Project management software for digital marketing agencies that need retainers to stay profitable.
Tideflow connects SEO, paid media, content, and social work to real time tracking and billing rates, so you know which retainers are healthy and which ones are quietly losing money, before the quarterly review.
No credit card required
Retainer hour tracking
Live account margin
Retainer account view
Lumen Retail / SEO + paid retainer
Retainer hours used
38 of 30
SEO + paid retainer for a client billed at a fixed monthly fee
Account margin
19%
After hours quietly ran over the retained scope
Ready to invoice
GBP 6,240
Project work outside the retainer, approved this month
On-page SEO sprint — March
In progress / retainer hours
Paid search optimisation
In progress / retainer hours
Monthly performance report
To do / retainer hours
Why marketing agencies switch
A full retainer roster doesn't mean a profitable one.
Retainers feel safe because the revenue is predictable. But predictable revenue against unpredictable hours is exactly how an agency ends up busy and broke. Most tools track the tasks, not the math underneath them.
Separate retained from project work
Keep recurring scope and one-off campaigns from blending into one confusing number.
Make reporting effortless
Pull hours, deliverables, and budget status straight from the work, not from a separate spreadsheet.
Built for the retainer model
Made for SEO, paid media, content, and social teams.
Tideflow is designed for agencies running monthly retainers, campaign sprints, and project work across multiple marketing disciplines.
Run retainers and project work side by side
Recurring SEO, paid media, content, and social work sits alongside one-off projects in the same client view, so account leads see the full picture instead of juggling separate spreadsheets for retained vs project hours.
- Recurring monthly task templates
- Retainer hour budgets per client
- Project work tracked separately from retained scope
Track time across specialists without the spreadsheet
SEO leads, paid media managers, content writers, and designers all log time against the same client and campaign, so account leads can see where retainer hours are actually going.
- Task-based timers by specialist
- Billable and non-billable time by channel
- Manual entries for reporting and client calls
Know when a retainer has stopped being profitable
Set a retainer fee against a budgeted hour allowance, and watch margin shrink in real time as the team works, instead of discovering an account is underwater at the quarterly review.
- Fixed monthly fee vs hourly cost tracking
- Margin by client, campaign, and channel
- Early warning before a retainer goes underwater
Tideflow vs generic tools
Retainers need a tool that watches the budget, not just the to-do list.
ClickUp, Asana, and Monday can organize campaign tasks. Tideflow connects that work to retainer budgets, channel-level time tracking, and live account margin, so account leads stop finding out about overruns too late.
What marketing agencies need
Generic project tools
Tideflow
Retainer management
Retainer hours tracked loosely, reconciled at month end.
Live retainer hour usage against budget, visible to the team mid-month.
Campaign + channel tracking
Tasks live in one tool, time in another, reporting built by hand.
Tasks, time, and channel context together, so reporting pulls from real data.
Account profitability
Discovered at the quarterly business review, if at all.
Live margin per client and per retainer, visible while the account is still active.
Client reporting
Manually assembled from several exports.
Hours, deliverables, and budget status ready to share without a spreadsheet.
From channel hours to account health
Give every role a clear view of retainer health.
Specialists log time where the work happens. Account leads see budget burn before the client does. Owners see which retainers are quietly subsidising others.
Account leads see retainer hour usage and margin in one place.
Specialists log time by channel without leaving their task list.
Owners see which retainers are profitable and which are not.
Reporting pulls real hours and deliverables instead of a manual export.
Frequently asked questions
Digital marketing agency project management FAQs
Can Tideflow manage retainer clients separately from project work?
Yes. Retainer hour budgets are tracked against their own scope, while project work for the same client is tracked and billed separately, so the two never get blended together by accident.
How does Tideflow help when a retainer is going over budget?
Tideflow shows live hours used against the retainer allowance, so account leads see the overrun while there is still time to manage client expectations, not after the month closes.
Can different specialists track time at different rates?
Yes. SEO, paid media, content, and design roles can each have their own cost and billing rates, applied automatically as they log time against client work.
Is Tideflow good for agencies running both retainers and one-off campaigns?
Yes. Tideflow is built to handle recurring retained work and project-based campaigns in the same client workspace, with margin tracked separately for each.
Related reading
Keep exploring
Cost rate vs billing rate
The two numbers behind every margin calculation, explained.
Read moreTideflow vs Harvest + Asana
One workspace instead of two subscriptions for time and tasks.
Read moreTideflow for digital agencies
The broader agency view: clients, retainers, and team profitability.
Read moreRetainers that actually pay off
Run every retainer like you can see the margin, because you can.
Stop discovering an account went underwater at the quarterly review.