Why You Should Hire a Freelance Marketing Manager (2023)
Freelancers are taking the working world by storm, especially as many traditional ways of working are being challenged and updated. With this is mind, this post will reveal why you should hire a freelance marketing manager in 2023.
More and more people are swapping the 9-5 for a more flexible mode of work where they can hone in on their skills and work with a range of clients.
In fact, Freelance UK report that 34% of the UK’s freelancers made the switch at the start of the pandemic. This suggests that the uncertain income of being a freelancer was overshadowed by the uncertainty of the job market plus, amongst other things, the added benefit of continued remote work.
An increase of people going freelance benefits businesses too. For example, freelance marketing managers are often hired to work on certain specific projects or campaigns, to give expert advice or fill in between hiring.
Below are some reasons why you should be adding more freelancers to your marketing team. To make this post even more informed, I interviewed Nadine Heir who is the founder of Write Wiser. Included are some of her expert tips as someone who has both freelanced and hired freelancers for content creation.
Let’s dive in.
They will save you money
Full-time employees can be expensive. Especially when you take into account sick pay, holiday pay and employee perks. Plus the hiring process in itself is expensive and time-consuming. For example, according to Indeed.com, recruitment agency fees can cost around £3,000 per new employee.
Having long-term employees can be beneficial in many ways. However, if your business needs short-term help for a specific marketing project or is just starting up and has little funds, employing freelancers is the most cost-effective way to go.
They will save you time
There is often no need to train a freelancer. They already come with lots of knowledge and experience, and will only charge you for the hours they work and not their own learning. Plus, once you find a good network of freelancers that understand your company’s needs and branding it will be easy getting them onboard for certain projects.
You pay for their experience and expertise
Freelancers are often experienced in a particular field, have developed a particular style and have built a portfolio to complement this. Nadine Heir expresses,
“Many people go freelance after realising that their highly specialised skillset is helpful to companies for a finite amount of time. For this reason, you can sometimes find a professional who's perfectly suited to solve your current pain point as a freelancer.”
Within marketing, you may be searching for someone to help you with your general marketing strategy or you may be looking for particular expertise in copywriting, SEO or social media for example. Whatever you need, the right person for the job will be out there somewhere.
They Offer Greater Flexibility
You can reduce the risk of finding the right talent by hiring freelancers for shorter time frames. This way you can test the relationship and see if it will benefit your company to keep the freelancer on for longer-term projects. However, Nadine warns,
“Remember, they're evaluating you too throughout this process to see if you're a long-term fit for them as a client!”.
Hiring a freelancer is also beneficial if you are a small business that can’t afford to commit to long-term employees to help you with your marketing just yet.
Hiring freelancers in different time zones can also be beneficial if, for example, your company requires marketing outside of business hours. You can also hire a freelancer for very short-term work: for example, one-off audit consultations.
They Provide a Wider Access to Talent
When it comes to hiring a freelancer, you are not limited to searching in the country or city that your company is based. Platforms like Upwork allow easier access to talent and you can search for freelancers across the globe.
A study shows that,
“Almost 90% of business leaders reported talent platforms would be somewhat or very important to their organization's future competitive advantage.”
Hiring freelancers from a range of countries and backgrounds is a great way to increase diversity and access a larger range of expertise, specialisations and points of view. Having a diverse group of people to choose from also increases your chance of finding people who are really passionate about the work they will do with your company.
They Provide a Fresh Perspective
As outsiders to your business who have worked for multiple companies, freelancers can provide a new perspective on campaigns, help speed-up innovation and even provide a competitive advantage as they keep up with the latest trends and have a diverse experience. Nadine continues that,
“Experienced freelancers can be an excellent source of education for you as a company owner or entrepreneur. Due to the nature of their work, they will have contact with many more tools, apps, and people that you can tap into. Need a new content planning software? Your freelancer will be able to recommend the best they've used. Looking to hire a graphic designer for your new sales collateral? Your freelancer will have the right contacts.”
They Provide a High Quality of Work
It can be argued that you will receive a better quality of work from freelancers as their reputation is on the line. They work hard to build relationships with clients and gain testimonials for their website.
Whilst it is important to have a consistent internal marketing team that knows the ins and outs of your strategy. Hiring a freelancer has many great benefits that can improve the way you view your marketing strategy and keep up with your competition.
Looking for a freelance marketing manager?
With over 3 years of experience in marketing, I can help you boost your marketing strategy.