When the economy is tight, one of the first areas often cut in a business is marketing. This presents a catch-22 situation for your organization because, though marketing is crucial to promoting your business, many non-marketing executives don’t always appreciate it’s value. And, without marketing, it’s challenging to get your services or products in front of those who need them—which is essential to growing revenue.
If you are in the same situation as many companies, you still need the work done, but you can’t afford to hire a full-time writer, graphic designer, branding consultant or otherwise. Maybe you don’t even need a full-time person, but instead, need help during specific times of the year or annual projects. There’s no need for your bottom line to suffer. While there’s no denying that having internal staff with a deep knowledge of your company and its goals might be preferable, it’s not always an option. In that instance, here are five reasons to consider hiring a freelancer or consultant:
- Freelancers bring a fresh perspective to your business. They can offer new solutions or strategies.
- You won’t get a “yes” person. Skilled consultants want to do their best work—their reputations depend on it. Ideally, they will share the benefit of their experience with you—whether you want to hear it or not.
- Expert consultants are available in every field, so you don’t have to worry about getting a person “up-to-speed” on your industry—only your company or organization.
- A freelancer will very likely fit nicely into your budget. Whatever the fee is, you are paying per project or per hour. Ethical consultants are not going to take advantage. They get paid to successfully complete projects; therefore, it’s not to their advantage to drag your project out. The faster they complete your job, the faster they can move on to their next one.
- It’s cost effective. Although you’ll pay a competitive rate for an experienced freelancer, you won’t be paying salary, benefits or overhead.
How are you dealing with tight budgets and heavy workloads? Do you use freelancers? If so, please share the benefits you’ve experienced. If not, what’s prevented you?
Photo courtesy of inlinguaManchester and Flickr.
