Services How we work

The studio, in detail.

Four practices, one studio, and a small software arm for nonprofits. Below: how each practice works, what comes out of it, and what it costs to engage us.

How we work

Long-term partnerships, not project transactions.

Avenir works with a small number of clients at any given time. Most engagements are structured as monthly retainers that combine maintenance, strategic counsel, and ongoing project work.

The work that matters in communications and marketing rarely happens in a single delivery. A brand identity launches and then needs to be lived for two years before anyone knows whether it works. A website ships and then needs to be measured, adjusted, and maintained. We’re built for the second part — the part where the work is held over time.

Typical client size $5M–$100M revenue · $1M–$20M nonprofit budget

Typical engagement length 18 months+

Current roster 12 active clients

01 / 04 Practice

Communications & Brand Strategy

Most communications problems are messaging problems first, design problems second. We start by figuring out what an organization is actually trying to say — who it’s saying it to, what makes it different, and what tone of voice fits the people doing the work.

Then we build the systems that let that message hold across everything that comes next: brand identity, copy, content frameworks, internal playbooks.

What you get

01 Audience research & interviews
02 Messaging architecture
03 Brand positioning
04 Visual identity
05 Voice & tone guidelines
06 Editorial playbooks
07 Naming & nomenclature
08 Launch & rollout plan

Scope: 8–16 weeks
Typical fee: $25K–$75K
Inside retainer: Included in most

02 / 04 Practice

Digital Platforms

Websites, e-commerce platforms, and the ongoing maintenance that keeps them working. We design and build custom platforms — typically in WordPress with Breakdance, sometimes in headless setups, occasionally as fully custom applications when the work calls for it.

Most of our digital platform work sits inside a maintenance retainer after launch. The platform is the thing your audience actually touches; it has to be looked after.

What you get

01 Information architecture
02 Design & build
03 Content migration
04 Performance & accessibility
05 Launch & post-launch tuning
06 Maintenance & monitoring

Builds: 8–16 weeks · $35K–$120K
Maintenance: $750–$3,500 / month
Platforms: WordPress · Shopify · headless · custom

03 / 04 Practice

Growth & Engagement

The work that turns a platform and a message into an audience that shows up. Social strategy, paid advertising, email marketing, SEO, content programs, and reputation work — connected back to the strategy.

This practice almost always sits inside a retainer rather than as a standalone engagement, because growth work compounds. The third month of an email program performs differently than the first.

What you get

01 Channel strategy & calendar
02 Content production
03 Paid campaign management
04 Email program management
05 SEO & technical content
06 Monthly reporting & review

Retainers: $3,500–$15,000 / month
Cadence: Monthly, ongoing
Notice: 60 days, both directions

04 / 04 Practice

Automation & AI Operations

Custom tooling, workflow automation, and AI-augmented operations for marketing and communications teams. We don’t sell AI; we build specific tools that do specific jobs.

Some of the most useful work we’ve done in this practice is removing AI from places where it shouldn’t be, and adding it where it makes a real difference.

What you get

01 Process audit & opportunity map
02 Custom tool development
03 Workflow automation (n8n, Zapier, Make)
04 Model selection & evaluation
05 Ongoing tuning & monitoring

Custom builds: 4–12 weeks · $15K–$60K
Tuning: Included where applicable
Models: Claude · OpenAI · Gemini · open-source

Working with us

How an engagement starts.

Most engagements start with a 30-minute conversation about what you’re trying to build and what’s in the way. If we’re a fit, we follow up with a written proposal — typically within a week — that lays out scope, deliverables, timeline, and pricing.

If we’re not a fit, we’ll tell you, and we’ll usually have a recommendation for who would be. Retainer engagements have a 60-day notice period in both directions.