A successful content marketing strategy or campaign today requires a brand to virtually “be everywhere.” That means having a blog strategy, video marketing strategy and social media strategy on multiple platforms going on at once. All of which may require hiring a marketing freelancer.
When you think about it, it’s unsurmountable for one person to take on all of these different tasks alone. If you cannot delegate these tasks to your staff, or if you have no staff to delegate to, working with a specialist might be the best option to ensure your online presence is continuously performing well.
Freelancers who specialise in content creation and churn out the same content types every day are available online. You can outsource work to them merely by signing up on a freelance gig platform like AirTasker, Upwork, Fiverr or use LinkedIn’s search function and type in the sort of freelancer you’re looking to hire.
When you outsource content marketing tasks, you can focus on overseeing the growth of your business. Being able to slow down and see the big picture means you can strategically raise brand loyalty and online engagement.
Here are six steps you should take when hiring a marketing freelancer to ensure that the process runs smoothly, and that you get the results that you’re looking for.
1. Create a Budget for Outsourcing Content Marketing Work
Relative to other marketing types, content marketing is cost-effective because it works by driving traffic to free platforms and your blog. When you pay for advertising, you can usually expect a certain return on your investment.
The ROI potential of content marketing is virtually limitless. The more traffic you pull into your funnel, the more your content will make for you. Plus, content marketing is what gets you in front of Google search users in need of information relevant to your business, who could potentially benefit from your product or service and most importantly, sharing your valuable education.
According to 2018 research from Content Marketing Institute, the average business spends about 26% of its marketing budget on its content marketing strategy. However, the Fortune 500 companies spend around 40% of their marketing budget on content. On the other hand, struggling businesses spent only 14% of it on content strategy.
You now understand how critical it is to determine how much you can afford to spend on content marketing each month. Knowing this number will help you determine how much content you can outsource and how many freelancers you can hire to help create it. Once you have a figure in ming, you are ready to move onto the next step.
2. Set Your Content Marketing Goals and Determine How You’ll Track progress
Once you know your budget for outsourcing content marketing jobs to remote freelancers, you have the opportunity to hone in on your bottom line goals.
These should be measurable milestones that you want to achieve through your content marketing strategy. Rather than “increase brand loyalty,” for example, set a plan you can measure and track to attain, such as “reach 10,000 subscribers on my email list,” given you’re driving traffic to an opt-in through your content strategy.
In addition to this, plan how you’ll measure and track your progress along the way. For example, what metrics will you follow, and what tools like Google Analytics, email reporting or social media insights will you use to know what success looks like for your efforts and investment.
3. Determine Freelancer Workload and Assess Types of Freelancers Needed
One of the biggest advantages of outsourcing jobs in your content marketing workflow is that you can obtain better results from people who have more experience than you. If you plan to create some of the content still yourself while outsourcing to others, first consider what work you will do yourself and what you will delegate to others .
Next, list the rest of the work that needs doing on a month-to-month basis in your content marketing and what type of specialist you’ll need to invest in to do the work for you. Do you need a social media content creator? A graphic designer or a video editor? Perhaps a freelancer who can take on your email marketing campaigns?
No matter how big or small the gig, you’ll be able to find a remote worker available for the job. Consider posting your job or project on a job board website and asking candidates to contact you. Alternatively, as mentioned above, a network like LinkedIn or a freelancer website looks for specialists offering the services of precisely what you need.
4. Create Resources for Freelancers with Important Details
The better you explain your expectations to a freelancer, the better your prospective freelancer can meet them.
Creating a simplified onboarding process that familiarises a new remote worker with your brand and mission is a key component of outsourcing. Onboarding and resources could be as simple as an email that goes out to new freelancers to welcome and onboard them or a simple pre-recorded video using a free tool like Loom to meet, greet and explain your requirements.
For example, when outsourcing your blog posts to a freelance writer, create a guidelines resource for them that mentions things like the word count requirement and search engine optimisation (SEO) requirements like keyword and H2/H3 usage. It should also discuss writing style expectations so that your writer understands your content’s dos and don’ts.
Touch on who your brand is, who your audience is and the tone with which your brand approaches them. Formal or casual? Readability level grade 3, or more like year 10? Bubbly or smoothly to-the-point? How many sentences (on average) per paragraph? These are just some examples of questions you can answer based on the factors that matter to you.
When hiring a social media manager or content manager, the process is similar. Give new hires links to your content that is doing best. Present examples of other accounts that you think your business could aspire to be like. You can consider sending a report summary of your content data analytics history, and any other historical documentation that can help them learn about your brand, your expectations, and goals of working together.
5. Find and Vet Experienced Freelancers
The final stage is to enlist the help of capable freelancers. You’ll have to consider your budget, but also consider that freelancers who charge more for their time or per gig tend to produce higher-quality work. The most critical factor in vetting freelancers is their work samples, so look at their portfolio to see if their work reflects the level of quality or experience you’re looking for.
If you post a job position on a job board or your website to attract candidates who can take on your freelance work, make your expectations as straightforward as possible. It’s critical to mention any factors that might rule out individuals who aren’t a good fit. Having a detailed list of needs and expectations also aids in attracting higher-quality candidates while excluding those who demonstrate a lack of ability to follow instructions.
6. Measuring the ROI of Hiring a Marketing Freelancer
Always measure the return on investment (ROI) of your efforts by tracking expenses and online conversions from your outsourced content. You can find the content kinds or themes that have created the most traffic and conversion rates by analysing this data. Use this information to help you create more content rather than outsourcing it to get a better return on your investment.
Summary
In summary, hiring a marketing freelancer is relatively easy. However, it is critical to begin with a budget in mind because it will aid you in creating clear goals and determining how you will track your success. Furthermore, once you’ve decided what you’d like to outsource, you may look at the various possibilities for competent freelancers available globally or in your own neighbourhood to help you achieve your content goals.
It’s best to treat hiring a freelancer like hiring a new team member, and the more clearly you can convey what you want, the smoother the path will be for both of you. You’ve probably heard the phrase “you get what you pay for,” so it’s worth noting your prospective freelancer’s previous work and portfolio in the content area for which you’re looking for assistance.
Overall, if your freelance content marketing project isn’t well-measured, it won’t be well-managed. It’s critical to have a clear understanding of what success looks like in the investment you’re making.
All the best with your freelance journey and if you are ever looking for professionals in all areas of design, content writing, lead generation, web development or strategic support never hesitate to reach out to our team.
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