When it comes to hiring freelancers to work alongside in-house creative talent, there are mixed feelings. On one side, many agencies pride themselves on being able to complete projects completely in-house and fear losing clients to freelancers.
On the other hand, there are agencies who embrace contract talent and use them when they need specialized skills.
While there are mixed opinions about whether or not to use freelancers, this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Currently, 34% of the workforce is doing freelance work and that number is only expected to grow in the next ten years.
Even if your agency is not pro-freelancer right now, keep reading to discover four benefits of using freelancer that might change your mind in the future.
Specialized Skills and Experts
While there is something to be said for being able to complete entire projects within your in-house team, there might be occasions where you don’t have the skill sets to complete more complex or technical projects for your client.
When this happens, your client will have to go elsewhere to find people with these special skill sets, whether that means another agency or directly to a freelancer. Instead of losing out on business, you could hire a trusted freelancer to supplement your team for these types of projects.
Hiring Flexibility
Another advantage of using freelancers is that you can add them to your team when you need them, and end their contracts when the project is over or business slows down. Instead of hiring a full-time marketing professional to help on a large project, you can hire a freelance designer for the duration of the project.
If there is still work to be done, you can always keep them on contract for a longer period of time, but you won’t be stuck having to pay a full-time salary when the work is completed.
Distribute the Workload
Taking on a new client is always a big deal because you don’t know how demanding they will be or just exactly how much work needs to be done until you’ve started the project.
Hiring freelancers to work with your in-house team on large projects helps to distribute the workload evenly and prevents your current employees from being overworked. Not only will your team thank you,
Affordable
There are many costs associated with hiring full-time employees and you risk spending more money if the candidate doesn’t work out. Hiring marketers on a contract or temp-to-perm basis allows you experience the candidate’s skills first-hand and decide if they fit into your company culture.
Also, adding marketers on a contract-basis eliminates having to pay a large full-time salary, especially if you’re hiring people with more technical and in-demand skills that you won’t need every day.
While you might not be convinced that hiring freelancers to supplement your in-house talent is the right way to go, you do put your agency at risk for getting left behind and not having the new in-demand skills that your clients want.
You May Also Like
4 Myths About Hiring Freelance Designers Debunked
Marketing is experiencing a shift from a permanent workplace to a more flexible, contract environment. More than 55 million Americans have shifted to this elastic lifestyle and many growing companies, large businesses and marketing agencies are also jumping on the freelance bandwagon. Despite this growing trend, there’s still a large number of businesses that are Read More.
Considerations for Hiring Freelance Designers
It can be hard to get your company to stand out when we are constantly being inundated with advertisements and brand messages throughout our day-to-day lives. From billboards and posters on your daily commute to digital ads while you surf the web, advertising messages appear all around us. One way to break through the advertising Read More.
4 Common Mistakes When Hiring UX Designers (and How to Avoid Them)
Hiring a UX Designer is a difficult task, especially if you’ve never worked in the UX world before. Best practices are being established and changed every day, there’s the constant introduction of new devices and habits, and the industry is riddled with confusion around qualifications, titles, roles, and experience needed to perform the job. Before Read More.