There are plenty of benefits to employing freelancers when you’re still getting your business off the ground. They work on assignment, they have skill and expertise, are potentially more cost effective, and offer a degree of flexibility. But as your business grows, your marketing needs grow too, and eventually you’ll be spending all your time managing contractors with no time or energy left to focus on your business. And time is the most valuable thing we have. Especially as a business owner.
We spoke with a D.T. Moore, a phoenix digital marketing agency owner in Arizona about the pros and cons of both for this article.
“The difference between an army of freelancers vs working with a full-service agency may seem small on the surface but in reality, there’s a huge difference. It’s no contest, really. Both can get the job done for you but you have to ask yourself which one adds the most value beyond the raw skills and capabilities they bring to the table? Agencies provide a range of services that allows them to build long-term relationships where they aim to grow with you in a mutually beneficial manner. “
A brand agency is committed to building a long term relationship with you and is invested in your success. So, are you sick of wasting time managing freelancers? Do you know when it’s time to level up?
Keep reading to learn more about freelancers vs digital marketing agencies and find out which one is better.
The Time Cost of Independent Contractors
Freelancers are specialized in a specific area of marketing, which means they’re great at what they do! The downside is, you aren’t able to utilize them for a wide range of services. When you start to accumulate a team of contractors handling a variety of single tasks, you become the central hub– the point of communication.
For a small business with fewer needs, this can be manageable for a time; however, eventually this will lead to issues with flow and efficiency which can really drag down your business. Not only that, but while it can be a good thing contractors are task-oriented, they don’t bring value to your business with new ideas and long term goals.
As a business owner, you simply can’t afford to spend your time finding contractors, managing multiple projects, posting content, updating your website, and having timely correspondence with all your workers. Once you start juggling that many things, something important is bound to fall and you’ll not only have to pay the price, but you’ll be the only one left to clean up the mess.
Contractors Lack A Cohesive Message
As business owners, we all know that one of the key elements for success is a consistent message and brand. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get that kind of continuity with freelancers due their isolated efforts. To achieve that would require you to train and educate each contractor about your business and then quality check to make sure all their content echoed the same message and brand values. And since contractors work on a per assignment basis, this would be an endless effort of training and retraining in every department.
Strategy Is Essential For Success
It takes strategy to have a successful marketing campaign. That means research, careful planning, organization and thoughtful efforts. While an army of freelancers sounds like exactly what you need to roll something like that out, you’d be lacking in arms when it comes to collaboration, experience, and the nuances of digital marketing. It would be much more difficult to coordinate a bunch of contractors that don’t work on the same team.
Simply put, strategy is the kind of next level service you get when you work with a full service agency.
A Digital Marketing Agency Brings All This And More
Okay, so maybe this was a trick question to begin with. But again, like we said, there is definitely a time and place for working with freelancers. An agency brings so much more value to your business. They are invested in your success, more concerned with your happiness and growth of your business and have a wide variety of services to offer like graphic design services, SEO expertise, SEM, and website design. When you let an experienced digital marketing agency take the lead on your digital presence, you give yourself the ability to focus on growing your business insteading being the task manager.
Like Mr,. Moore said, it really is no contest.