How to Power your Content Marketing Campaigns With Freelancers

Putting together a large and successful content marketing strategy feels pretty daunting when you’re a small marketing team. With all of the planning, writing, and promotion that go along with a stellar strategy, you might feel like it’s just too much for your team to handle. That is why many consider outsourcing all or parts of their content marketing strategy and fulfilment, but an agency isn't the only option.

With the right group of expert freelancers in place to support your full-time staff, a lean marketing team can achieve an impressive, high-performing content marketing campaign. You do not need to hire more staff or contract with an agency to make it work--you can remain in control of your strategic planning and partner with skilled freelancers instead.

What Content Marketing Roles Should You Outsource?

Content marketing campaigns are often complex, with many different aspects that need to be completed in order to pull off a successful, profitable campaign. From landing page copywriting to email marketing and social media content, there are a lot of elements that have to come together.

Here are some examples of content marketing roles and jobs you might hire freelance talent for, to fill the gaps on your marketing team:

Content Strategist

You may need a freelance content strategist on your team to:

• Create a content marketing strategy
• Audit an existing strategy
• Help you understand how content can fit into your marketing campaigns

Copywriter

You may need a freelance copywriter on your team to:

• Write your core website content
• Write blog posts and articles
• Write email campaigns

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Social Media Team

You may need a freelance social media manager and a social media content writer on your team to:

• Manage your social media profiles & campaigns
• Source influencers
• Write your social media posts
• Create a social media strategy & research your audience

Photographer

You may need a freelance photographer on your team to:

• Take photos of your products or projects
• Photograph your team and/or office

Videographer

You may need a freelance videographer on your team to:

• Create a video plan/strategy
• Make videos such as product explainer videos, testimonial videos, how-to videos, etc.

Outsourcing vs. Hiring: The Cost Breakdown

Not quite convinced that you can (and should) use freelancers for any or all of the above roles? Let's take a quick look at what it costs to hire a full-time employee, according to payscale.com.

• Content Marketing Manager: $59,750
• Social Media Manager: $49,340
• SEO Manager: $66,340

You can see how adding these roles to your team would be incredibly costly. Instead, choosing to outsource these jobs on a per project basis will save you thousands of dollars. Hiring freelancers gives you the flexibility to spend your budget when and where it makes the most sense. Keep more control over your budget by only buying the skills you need, when you need them.

Bonus Tip:

Have a really specific project that requires more unique skills? Instead of searching for that needle-in-a-haystack freelancer, use Fiverr’s Post Request function to let the freelancers who qualify find and apply for your job.

Working With Freelancers on Your Content Marketing Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide

Haven’t worked with a freelancer before, or just want some helpful tips on how to work successfully with freelancers? Read on.

Step One: Determine Your Project Budget and Timeline.

I know you’re excited to just dive in and get this thing going, but hold up for a minute. Defining your budget and timeline before trying to hire freelancers for your content marketing will be extremely helpful in the long run. 

If you’ve never hired a freelancer before and aren’t sure what the average cost is, go ahead and take a quick look at Fiverr’s marketplace to get a general idea. There are two options here: the regular marketplace or Fiverr Pro. Use Fiverr Pro to select only from hand-picked experts.

Now that you have a better idea of freelancer costs, set your informed budget and the date you need your project by. These are key factors in which freelancer you’ll hire for the job. 

Bonus Tips:

• Determine your KPIs for this specific project and your long-term strategy. What overall goals do you want to achieve? In what specific ways should this marketing project benefit your business or brand? What will determine if this project is a success?
• When determining your budget, remember to include your administrative costs as well as the time it will take your team to find and work with freelancers.

Step Two: Document Your Content Marketing Strategy.

Before you look at available freelancers, you'll want to define your strategy with as many details as possible. Doing this step first ensures you’ve thought through your content strategy's overall needs so you won’t miss anything or risk hiring the wrong freelancer.

Detailing out your strategy is invaluable as your project progresses. This is how you communicate your expectations to the freelancers you choose to work with. Without enough detail, your freelancers will struggle to meet your needs, and the finished product may not match your expectations and your general vision.

Here are a few examples of details you'll want to include:

1. Personas: Who is your audience and what are their needs? If the freelancers you choose don't know who your audience is, they won't be able to deliver the targeted content you're hoping for.
2. Tone and Voice: Based on the personas you created and your brand standards, clearly communicate the voice, tone, and overall messaging you're aiming for. What words will and will not resonate with your audience?
3. Your Overall Vision: Want your freelancers to deliver the content you've defined in your strategy? Tell them what that is. What do you hope to accomplish with this content?
4. Examples You Like: Examples are a huge help for freelancers. Whether it's content you want to emulate or just content you think is cool, let your freelancers know about it. They can get a great sense of what you want based off examples you like.
5. Timeline, Cadence: You've already defined what your final deadline is, and you need to give that information to your freelancers, letting them know this is a hard deadline, not a soft one. But go further - set a clear expectation for content cadence. For example, you expect your marketing project to end at the end of August, but you don't want all your freelance writer to submit all their blog posts in the last week of August, you want them at a steady pace throughout the length of your engagement, so let them know how often you expect them to submit their work and inform the whole team of your publication schedule.
6. Milestones: Your marketing strategy should have milestones--monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Share these milestones with your whole marketing team and make sure everybody is fully aware of their responsibilities towards these key points in the timeline.
7. A Channel Plan: Establish where you will be creating content, and what channels you'll publish and distribute your content through. Audit all of your existing online channels (blog, resource center, social media channels, email, PR pushes, etc.) and once you have audited, specify for each channel:

Content types you will publish there:

• The objective of content that lives on that channel
• Who you want to reach on that channel and any audience insight
• How the channels overall structure, frequency, tone, or desired actions differ on that channel than the other.  For example, content on your social channel may be more "snackable" and short form aimed at clicks and impressions. Meanwhile, content on your blog may be long-form and aimed at organic performance. Highlight the key differences between all of your channels goals and formats.

Bonus Tip:

Let your freelancer know the required outcome of the project. Do you hope to boost social media engagement by 2%? Or is the goal to increase customer acquisition by 5%? Perhaps your goal is to increase email conversion rates to 2.5%. Whatever your expectation and associated measurable goal, communicate that to your freelancer.

Step Three: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.

The best way to make sure your project is completed to your specifications is to be a stellar communicator. To set your project up for success, here are a few ways improve your communication with freelancers:

• Use tools to your advantage, such as a project management tool, a communication tool such as Slack, or other tech tools.
• Keep a running, up-to-date list of tasks & projects to delegate to your freelance team. Try to plan ahead monthly or semi-monthly.
• Establish a system within your own team for reviews, edits, and revisions.

Bonus Tips:

• Your freelancer will have designated how many revisions you get with your project. Make sure you take note of this.
• To keep yourself very organized, you could set up a folder in your inbox for Fiverr emails. That way, you can keep all your freelance team emails in one focused spot.

In Conclusion

Your small marketing team really can run big, successful content marketing campaigns. Using freelancers to supply the skills that your team might be short on is the best way to accomplish successful marketing campaigns without putting an unnecessary drain on your resources. Professional freelance talent is invaluable.

To make your project a success, follow these three steps:

1. Determine your project budget and timeline.
2. Document your content marketing strategy.
3. Communicate readily and clearly.