Pain points and happy surprises
Working with freelance talent of course poses challenges, but also brings with it a great deal of benefits.
Our manager respondents, for example, say their main pain points revolve around communication – and a lack thereof – and integrating freelance content creators into their in-house teams. While this contradicts a previous conclusion – that managers are predominantly focused on outcome over input – communication will always have an effect on outcome.
“Communication is a huge factor in the success of any team, but it’s especially important in a blended workforce where team members may never actually work face to face,” reads the Entrepreneur article linked above. “[But] freelancers aren’t the only ones who lack communication skills - improvement is needed on both ends.
Among virtual employees, 69% said the kind of communication that could keep them engaged in their work is lacking. What’s more, 55% said their boss communicated almost exclusively by email.”
Overall, however, managers are happy with both their content marketing productions, ranking it a 3.8 of 5, and team structure (4 of 5), with managers solely working with freelancers reporting the highest levels of satisfaction (4.3 of 5) – especially regarding quality of work delivered, as they find managing in-house teams more time-consuming.
Managers working with freelancers reported the highest levels of satisfaction
Freelancers value communication with their clients as a very important factor
On the downside, a lack of responsiveness or interest, and hard-to-find industry expertise rank among the biggest pain points for managerial respondents. Once found, then, organisations must take steps to retain their freelance talent, fostering long-term relationships that are beneficial and sensible to both parties.
“It can be hard to find good talent. There are a lot of freelancers out there, many of which do not deliver good-quality work. If you find a good one, you have to keep them,” says Arron, a content marketing lead from the UK.
These relationships can take time to develop, but in the end lead to fruitful partnerships that deliver the benefits of a full-time employee. If these partnerships develop, managers say, it is time well spent.
It can be time-consuming. The reason I use freelancers in combination with an in-house team is to get certain types of content done quickly and with low effort,” says Julie van der Weele, Director of Brand and Communications at Foleon. “If it takes more time and effort to get content done with a freelancer than it would take to do it myself, then I'm unhappy,” she says.
Content marketing freelancers also face challenges when it comes to time, with 54% saying that managing multiple clients is very time-consuming – ranking it as their biggest area of concern. Additionally, a lack of stability – stemming from either too much or too little work – is always on freelancers’ radar.
“My biggest pain points include ensuring predictable growth and financial stability, saying no to interesting projects when I don't have the capacity, and avoiding toxic clients,” says Mia Comic.
“Toxic clients,” according to our freelance respondents, are those that are unprepared, lacking clear vision or direction for their projects. Of course, stalled or delayed payments only add to the trouble. Managers would do well, then, to take steps toward developing strategies, processes, and calendars that provide freelance talent with the information they need to schedule and plan their workloads.
“Nebulous briefs that evolve and change as the project progresses are also a pain point. So is having to do way more work than originally contracted and not being compensated for that extra work,” says Shayne, a freelance content creator.
There are several upsides to working with multiple clients, with 40% of freelancers citing personal development and 30% reporting professional relationship-building as the most positive surprises of working with multiple clients.