Many businesses hire freelance marketers rather than employing the services of a full-fledged marketing agency. Freelancers often charge less for their services, offer a more personalized experience and may specialize in a particular industry. Plus, hiring a freelancer is less of a commitment than taking on an employee, since it’s easy to terminate the arrangement as needed. Here’s how companies can make the most of freelance marketers.
Getting Started Immediately
It can take about two years before a new employee masters the ins and outs of their job, and the first several weeks are often spent completing onboarding processes. Hiring an employee involves recruiting, interviewing, doing background checks, filling out paperwork and providing training. Even after this rigorous process, almost 30% of job seekers have left a job within the first three months of getting started, leaving companies scrambling to find a replacement.
Hiring a freelancer takes the sting out of the early training period. Since a freelance marketer typically works on a temporary basis — and often just focuses on one project — they can usually get started right away, and they aren’t subject to the same legal requirements as a full-time employee.
For example, they don’t have to spend time filling out retirement account or insurance paperwork. Since they usually don’t have to complete HR training or meet all of their coworkers, they can simply jump in headfirst.
Tackling Large Projects
Sometimes, businesses have to complete large, temporary marketing projects that may require extra help for just a few days or weeks. Hiring a full-time employee would be impractical, since there would be nothing for them to do after the project is over. However, asking staff to stay late every night would be unfair and could cause burnout.
A great solution is to hire a freelance marketer for the duration of the job. Companies can sign a business contract for a specified time period, then extend it if the project ends up being longer than expected.
Bringing in Specific Expertise
Large marketing companies are efficient and professional. However, the employees at these firms often write about topics they aren’t well versed in, since they may have hundreds of clients in different industries. In some cases, employees have a short time window in which to write copy on a topic they only just learned about. This business model can lead to inaccuracies and shallow content.
In contrast, many freelance marketers specialize in one subject, such as writing about solar panels or garage doors. Although these may seem like niche topics, there are endless companies in these industries that need marketers. Throughout North America and Western Europe, there are 150 million people in the gig economy — so, no matter how narrow the scope, businesses can usually find freelancers who are experts on a given topic.
Picking Up Slack
Being shorthanded is stressful during the best of times, but it can be downright chaotic when a business is understaffed during a busy period. Employees may need to take time off to travel, recover from an illness or take care of family members. Or they might quit or be fired, leaving the company scrambling to pick up the pieces.
In the meantime, freelance marketers can fill critical hiring gaps, giving employers a chance to regroup. New hires often improve workplace diversity, especially if they come from varied educational and geographic backgrounds. Freelancers in other countries can work in different time zones so the company can effectively run around the clock.
Expanding the Candidate Pool
For businesses based in small towns, it can be hard to find qualified local employees. Online talent searches allow companies to expand the pool of potential new hires to every inch of the globe. Additionally, businesses can look for freelancers who may not see themselves living in one place for very long, but are nonetheless qualified to help with temporary projects in person.
Diverse freelance marketers often bring new ideas to the table and suggest changes that might improve productivity. This outside perspective can be immensely valuable for companies struggling with low staffing.
Staying Within the Budget
Large marketing companies can charge several hundred dollars an hour, which is outside the reach of many businesses. Some of them also have very high minimum project costs.
However, freelance marketers may charge as little as $15, especially on sites like Upwork or Freelancer. Some even offer their services for free as a way of building their portfolio, although it’s always a good idea to look for professionals who already have an established business.
A company may be able to hire several freelancers for the price of a single marketing agency. For small businesses just finding their footing, freelancers offer a more affordable way to conduct marketing campaigns.
Making Last-Minute Changes
Sometimes, businesses request last-minute editing or change their minds on what they initially wanted. Digital marketing agencies usually have tight schedules and deadlines — since they’re working with numerous clients — and can’t always accommodate these types of changes. Or, if they can, it may be several days or weeks before they can get to it.
Freelancers often have just one client at a time. As such, they’re usually able to handle late-stage edit requests such as changing formatting or adding extra content. Some may still charge extra fees for this, but in general, a freelancer’s schedule is much more flexible than a marketing agency’s.
Communicating One-on-One
Businesses that want frequent, direct communication with their marketing team should consider hiring freelancers. Although digital marketing agencies usually excel at communication, they may employ hundreds or even thousands of freelancers.
Several people — including a point of contact, writer and editor — usually collaborate on each piece, and businesses may only speak to the point of contact. That means it can take a while for a request to pass from the business to the writer, since it has to go through several people first.
A freelance marketer often handles every aspect of a project from start to finish. That makes it easier for businesses to communicate with them directly, whether by email, phone or even in person. Businesses can make detailed requests and receive quick feedback when working with a freelance marketer.
Maintaining Control of Assets
It usually isn’t on purpose, but insiders and third parties often lead to data breaches. In one study, 62.8% of insider cybersecurity issues arose due to negligence or carelessness, costing organizations an average of $307,111 per incident. Data breaches can be disastrous for certain industries — such as health care or banking — that deal with large volumes of sensitive client information.
Companies can give freelancers limited access to documents and computer systems. They may grant read-only privileges so freelancers can evaluate projects, suggest changes and give companies an idea of what working together would be like while maintaining cybersecurity.
After the project is complete, a business can revoke privileges and change passwords to prevent accidental or purposeful security breaches. This step is especially important for businesses working with multiple freelance marketers.
An Underutilized Resource
Freelance marketers offer several unique benefits over traditional marketing companies. Notably, freelancers allow for extra flexibility, filling in during staffing shortages, helping with large projects and bringing expertise to unique assignments. When looking for someone with marketing experience, companies should consider hiring a freelancer rather than going straight to a marketing company.
Devin Partida writes about topics concerning tech and the internet. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com.
