Pay less for top talent
Let’s start with the obvious: in-house employees are expensive. In fact, when you factor in everything, the total cost can be between 1.5 and 3x of an employee's salary.
Agencies, meanwhile, charge high retainers on long-term contracts. That’s because they owe rent, employ executives and have other overhead associated with large teams.
Freelancers are lean. They typically work from home or a co-working space. They rarely hire full-time employees. These lower costs result in lower prices for the end client.
Hire marketers with tons of experience
Senior marketers cost a pretty penny to employ full-time. In San Francisco, they will run you at least $120,000/year before taxes, benefits, and other costs. Hiring a freelancer allows you to work with a senior marketer part-time instead.
Agencies can’t afford to pay day-to-day campaign managers as much as in-house teams. It’s just a reality of the business model. Most agencies, therefore, rely on junior talent for execution.
Working with a freelance marketer allows you to select a senior person to execute on your go-to-market strategy.
Control who executes on your marketing strategy
Both in-house hires and freelancers allow you to select the person who executes on your marketing strategy day-to-day. This is extremely important. When you sign an agency contract, you are agreeing to work with that agency, not a particular marketer.
Align your goals with your marketer’s incentives
Unlike sales reps, most marketers do not have performance-based compensation plans. In-house teams can motivate through culture, promotions, and equity. For external teams, it’s important to consider incentives.
Agency campaign managers work on salary and are not materially impacted by a client who churns. Marketing freelancers, on the other hand, are self-employed. Every client is a significant chunk of their income and none of it is guaranteed. As a result, freelancers may be more willing to go the extra mile and to think long-term.
Hire elite marketing talent
With remote work on the rise, many of the best marketers in the world are choosing a more flexible lifestyle. When you choose to hire freelancers, you significantly expand your potential talent pool. Hiring the best people, regardless of location, allows you to build a truly elite marketing team.
At Growth Collective, we find and vet the top freelance marketers in every category. It’s our belief that a truly excellent marketer can change a company’s entire trajectory, so we’ve created a rigorous screening process to measure both hard and soft skills.
If you think hiring a marketing freelancer could be the right move for your business, schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced marketers!