In today’s business climate, businesses of all sizes must be nimble and adaptable to succeed. Especially when it comes to digital marketing strategy and revenue growth. Many SMEs turn to digital marketing freelancers to help with specific projects or campaigns rather than hiring full-time employees. It seems this sort of gig-work might also be preferred in the United States. Statista, predicts that by 2027 more than 50% of the US labor force will be independent contractors.
Working with digital marketing freelancers has it’s benefits of course. This includes lower costs, the ability to scale teams up and down quickly, and access to a wider talent pool. Without a doubt, hiring good freelancers at the right price for your business comes with its challenges, and costly mistakes can be made.
This blog post will discuss some key considerations for you when hiring and onboarding digital marketing freelancers. And you’ll learn how to quickly hire the best digital marketers for your business without setting your business back.
Hiring a Marketing Professional: In-House vs. Freelancer
As a small business leader, you know that marketing is essential to your company’s success. But you may wonder whether hiring an in-house marketing professional or a freelancer is better. Both options have pros and cons, and the right choice for your business will depend on your specific needs and goals. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits and drawbacks of each option.
In-House Marketing Professional
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Can become a true asset to your team and develop a deep understanding of your products or services. |
Hiring an in-house marketing professional can be more expensive than working with a freelancer. |
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An in-house marketing professional is more likely to know your company’s tone and message. |
You may have to provide training on specific tools or software platforms. |
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You can provide ongoing feedback and direction to ensure that the work meets your expectations. |
There may be periods when there is less work for the marketing professional, leading to frustration or boredom. |
Freelancer Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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You can hire a freelancer for specific short-term projects, saving you money. |
There is less control over the work produced since freelancers work remotely. |
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Freelancers are often well-versed in multiple tools and software platforms, so you won’t need to provide training. |
Establishing trust and building relationships can be difficult when working with someone not part of your team. |
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A freelancer can bring a fresh perspective to your marketing efforts. |
The risk is that a freelancer will take on too many projects and be unable to meet your deadlines. |
Both in-house marketing professionals and freelancers have their own set of pros and cons. The right choice for your business will depend on your specific needs, budget, and goals. If you need someone fully invested in your company and who will become a true asset to your team, then an in-house marketing professional may be the right choice.
However, working with a freelancer may be the better option if you’re looking for someone who can provide fresh perspectives at a lower cost. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make!
Hiring a Marketing Professional: Agency vs. Freelancer
Whether to hire an agency or a freelancer for your marketing needs is a big question many small business leaders face. There are pros and cons to both, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for to make the best decision for your business.
Want to know more about Hiring a Freelancer? Click Here.
Working With a Marketing Agency
The biggest advantage of working with an agency is that they have access to lots of in-house knowledge to apply to your marketing campaigns. To capitalize on that knowledge, however, they must document their best practices and teach them to their newly hired marketing experts.
As an agency scales, its ability to deliver great work for all its clients is challenged and will likely diminish. Agencies are more about applying copy & paste campaigns adjusted for your company than truly diving in and developing strategy with you. Not every marketing agency is the same, but I am speaking to my experiences on both sides of client relationships.
Working With a Marketing Freelancer
When you work with a freelancer, you benefit from working with someone who is 100% focused on your project. Likely they do have any other clients, but a well-structured freelancer will set time in the schedule to give your project their undivided attention.
Freelancers are also generally more flexible than agencies. They’re often willing to work odd hours or weekends to accommodate your schedule. And if you’re not happy with their work, finding someone new is easier since you’re not locked into a long-term contract.
Where To Find Your Digital Marketing Freelancer
The first step to hiring the right digital marketing expert for your business is clearly defining your company or project needs. I’m often hired as a growth marketer purely because the client isn’t sure what they need help with.
That’s okay because I do specialize in building a marketing strategy. However, this is costly, and I can much more quickly help a company that already knows it’s target marketing and what type of marketing strategy will work best for them.
If you aren’t clear on what marketing strategy will work best for you, I encourage you to consider what has worked so far. If you’re just starting, research your industry and target audience to discover what type of marketing efforts drive success (hint: don’t rely entirely on paid ads).
Once you have a better idea of your marketing strategy and which marketing channels you should prioritize, you can focus on finding the marketer for the job. Ideally, you have a defined project need and scope to match the best freelancer.
Find the Marketing Platform That Has Marketers for Your Needs
Freelance platforms are a dime a dozen. Knowing which is right for you and your business is hard. Below I quickly review different marketing platforms and identify the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Upwork & Fiverr – Best for Small Scope and Quick Turnaround
Upwork and Fiverr are often where businesses start, but they’re also often unhappy with the experience. That’s because finding good freelancers on these platforms can be tough. Upwork is known for being very crowded, making it hard to stand out from the crowd. The best marketers are either already booked or invited to work on great gigs frequently, so you’ll have to spend some extra time finding them on these platforms.
Traditionally on Fiverr, you often have to wade through many low-quality options before you find something good. Of course, Fiverr is trying to change that perception by offering businesses the option to work with Fiverr account managers. With Fiverr Business, you’ll get access to verified and trusted talent to get moving quickly.
Looka, Penji & 99Designs – Best for Ongoing Graphic Design Needs
Looka, Penji & 99designs are great marketplaces specializing in graphic design, web design, and logo design. These are the place to go if you need someone to create a new logo or redesign your website. You can post a project and receive dozens of proposals from designers worldwide. Then, you can choose the proposal that you like best and award the project to that designer.
Mayple – Best for eCommerce Brands
Mayple is a great option for eCommerce brands looking for help with digital marketing. That’s because they specialize in helping eCommerce brands grow their businesses online. Mayple, like MarketerHire, vets experienced marketers extensively to make hiring as easy as possible for you. They can help you with everything from SEO to PPC to email marketing. I’m a vetted Mayple marketing expert, so my coverage of their platform comes from close experience.
Offer: Get $300 off your first month with Mayple.
MarketerHire – Best for Longer Term Projects With Vetted Digital Marketing Experts
MarketerHire is another great option for finding top talent. They have a large pool of better digital PR freelancers or marketers, which means you’re sure to find someone that’s a good fit for your project. And they’re leading the way as a marketing freelance platform with innovative features like their “MarketerMatch” tool, which helps you find the perfect freelancer for your needs. MarketerHire promises to get you up and running with a marketer within 48 hours of filling in the freelance help request.
Workello – Best for Large Scale DIY Content Marketing Efforts
Unlike others in this list, you’ll have to put in a bit more effort to hire freelance content writers with Workello. But the effort will be worth it. The folks over at Workello have created a hiring platform that will allow you to vet hundreds if not thousands of writers for your niche and need.
Once you’ve created a job description, you’ll work with a VA to post it across the internet job boards so you can ensure you get the best writer for you. Workello makes sifting through the applications easy, and you can hire as many writers as you need to crank up your content publishing velocity.
How to Successfully Onboard Your Digital Marketing Expert
Embrace a Culture of Documentation
Documentation will go a long way to rapidly onboard your new freelancer. Providing background on your target audience, personas, product usage, and content guidelines will with onboarding anyone new onto your team. Workello promotes this idea of enablement documentation, and I’m fully embracing it myself as I bring on help for my projects.
If they can dive into project and company documentation, they’ll be able to provide value to your company more quickly. (First 90 Days)
Your digital marketing expert will need access to information about your brand, target audience, and what you’ve done in the past. Putting this information down in writing will save time and help ensure everyone is on the same page.
Note: Want Some Knowledge Of Digital Marketing? Here are the 7 Best Online Digital Marketing Courses.
Set Up a Kick-Off Call To Discuss and Define the Scope of Work
Setting up a kick-off call is the best way to start onboarding your digital marketing expert. This will allow you to discuss and define the scope of work and ensure that both parties are on the same page from the beginning. During the call, discuss what exactly your digital marketing expert will be responsible for and what deliverables you expect.
A clear understanding of the work will help avoid misunderstandings or disagreements down the road. Once the scope of work is defined, your digital marketing expert can start delivering results that will help grow your business.
Provide Systems Access
Third, provide access to all the necessary tools up front. This includes things like your project management tools, website CMS, Google Analytics, social media accounts, email marketing platform, and any other software or tools used during their engagement.
Setting up access ahead of time will save time and frustration later. Nothing is worse than finding out that your marketer isn’t in the loop because of a lack of access.
If you’re worried about them causing damage, provide limited access so they can assess your marketing campaigns without messing things up.
Set Clear Deadlines for Tasks & Create 30/60/90 Day Goals
When onboarding your digital marketing expert, setting clear deadlines and creating achievable goals is important. The further you’re able to project your goals, the more likely you’ll create momentum on long-term goals versus constantly putting out fires. As such, look at outlining project goals as far as three months or 90-days in advance.
This clarity will help ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives. By documenting these tasks, projects, and deadlines, you’ll be able to track progress and keep everyone accountable. As your marketing talent begins to settle in, they’ll be able to contribute their knowledge and expertise to refine these goals further.
Make sure these tasks, projects, and deadlines are documented. This could be as simple as a Google Sheet or your favorite project management tool such as ClickUp, Asana, or Monday.
By setting a solid foundation from the outset, you’ll be well on your way to a successful digital marketing partnership.
Check-In Regularly and Provide Feedback
Finally, continue to check in and meet regularly. These meetings can be a chance to review progress, give feedback, and make necessary changes to scope or schedule. Checking in regularly will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the work is progressing as planned.
Mistakes Businesses Make When Hiring Marketing Freelancers
Whether it’s to help with a specific project or to supplement your in-house team, working with freelancers can be a great way to get the marketing support you need without breaking the bank. However, there are a few common mistakes I see small business leaders and solopreneurs make when hiring marketing freelancers, costing them a great deal of time and money.
Mistake #1: Not Defining the Scope of Work Upfront
When hiring a digital marketer, it’s important to understand the work that needs to be done clearly. Often, businesses will bring on a digital marketer without fully defining the scope of work—and then they’re disappointed when the freelancer doesn’t deliver results.
To avoid this mistake, take the time to sit down with your team and clearly define what you need from a digital marketer. Do you need help with social media? Email marketing? Search engine optimization (SEO)? Web development? Once you clearly understand your needs, you can start looking for freelancers specializing in those areas.
Before you search for a digital marketer, you must know what you’re looking for. What kind of campaigns do you want to run? What platforms will you be using? What’s your budget? By having a solid plan in place from the outset, you’ll be able to more easily find a freelancer who is a good fit for your needs.
Mistake #2: Not Checking Portfolio or References
Like any other job candidate, you should always check references before hiring a digital marketer. Unfortunately, many businesses make the mistake of skipping this critical step—which can come back to bite them later.
When you’re checking references, pay close attention to two things: first, whether the freelancer was able to deliver results, and second, whether they were easy to work with. You want to make sure you’re hiring someone who has a proven track record of success and is also pleasant to work with—after all, you’ll be working closely with this person (or team) on an ongoing basis.
If you have a website, must check it out: HARO Link Building: How To Grow Domain Authority
Mistake #3: Trying to Save Money
One of the most common mistakes businesses make when hiring digital marketers is trying to save money by hiring somebody who doesn’t have much experience. In theory, it makes sense—why pay more when you can get someone just starting out? The problem is that these inexperienced freelancers often lack the skills and knowledge necessary to deliver results.
Mistake #4: Not Doing a Test or Trial Period
It’s important to remember that even if a freelancer comes highly recommended or has a great portfolio, there’s no guarantee they’ll be a good fit for your business. The best way to find out is to give them a test assignment or have them work on a project for a set period of time (typically two weeks) on a trial basis.
This period will allow you to see how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, whether they’re a good cultural fit for your company and whether they can contribute to your business model. It’s also important to provide feedback so they know what you expect and can adjust accordingly.
Mistake #5: Not Setting Clear Guidelines on Hours
Just because someone is working remotely doesn’t mean they’re available 24/7. Most freelancers have other clients and commitments, so it’s important to set clear expectations upfront about the number of hours you expect them to work each week and when those hours should be completed. Setting limitations on hours also prevents you from getting an invoice you weren’t anticipating.
Mistake #6: Not Providing Access to Tools Needed by the Marketer
For freelance marketers to do their job effectively, they need access to certain tools and resources. For example, if you want them to help with your social media marketing, they’ll need access to your social media accounts. They’ll need access to your email list if you want them to help with email marketing. And so on. Make sure you have everything they need before starting work so they can hit the ground running and avoid unnecessary delays.
By avoiding some of these common mistakes up front, you’ll set up the best marketers you can find to quickly get on to the work of growing business for you.
FAQs About Hiring Digital Marketing Freelancers
What does a digital marketing freelancer do?
A digital marketing freelancer can help you with various marketing tasks, from creating and managing social media campaigns to developing and executing SEO strategies. In short, a digital marketing freelancer can help you with all aspects of your online marketing.
Where can I find digital marketing experts?
There are a few different ways to find digital marketing freelancers. You can post a job on a freelancing platform like Upwork or Fiverr or reach out to marketing platforms that vet freelancers for you to see if they have the right match for you.
Also read: The 8 Best Freelance Marketing Platforms to Make a Living
How much does it cost to hire a digital marketer?
The cost of hiring a digital marketer depends on their skills and experience and the project’s scope. For example, if you just need someone to manage your social media accounts, you might be able to find someone for less than $500 per month. However, if you need someone to develop and execute an SEO strategy, you could be looking at a monthly fee of $2,000 or more.
How much should I pay a digital marketer?
When setting your budget for a digital marketing freelancer, be sure to factor in the cost of any tools or software they need to do their job (such as an SEO tool). You should also consider the value of their time – although it’s important to get a good deal, you don’t want to lowball your digital marketer and end up with subpar work.
A good rule of thumb is to set your budget at least 20% higher than what you would be willing to accept. This will give you some room to negotiate while still ensuring that you get quality work.
Preparation Goes a Long Way to Onboard Freelancers Successfully
Finding and hiring the right digital marketing freelancer can be difficult. But with the right process in place, it’s definitely doable. I hope my tips have given you a good starting point to find and onboard your next digital marketing expert. If you need help putting these steps into action or would like us to manage your freelance team for you, don’t hesitate to reach out. I am happy to help!
