Bringing in a freelancer to your business can be a daunting process. Especially if you’re running a small startup where every penny counts towards your bottom line.
A misaligned relationship with a freelancer can cause you a headache or, at worst, damage your business profits and reputation.
That’s a dramatic example but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility when working with external freelancers.
Thankfully I’m here to help with 4 handy tips for getting the most out of your external freelancers.
My top 4 tips for a productive relationship
Agree key performance indicators (KPIs) before the freelancer starts work
Before work can begin you need to sit down with your freelancer and determine what success looks like. This could be anything from increased revenue or site traffic to achieving a specific ROAS or Cost Per Lead. The freelancer needs to know what they’re working towards and trying to achieve for you.
When agreeing on KPIs it is important to only select a few. 2-3 max. Anymore can lead to the project loosing direction as your freelancer tries to focus on too many things at once.
A clear set of KPIs helps your freelancer make better decisions for you as they’re always looking at their KPIs for strategic guidance.
Work on the KPIs with your freelancer. Especially if they’re a subject matter expert in an area you’re not familiar with. All KPIs should be achievable otherwise they lose their purpose.
Agreeing a clear goal is an important first step in building a healthy and lasting relationship with your freelancer.
Make sure your freelancers send over an itemised Scope of Work
Agreeing on goals and KPIs is one thing but creating a plan to achieve them is another. As a business owner you should want to see the specific tasks and project work your freelancer will be doing to help you achieve your agreed goals.
This is where a Scope of Work comes in. It will itemise the work your freelancer is doing and gives you a roadmap to success for your project.
It will also tells you in detail what your freelancer is doing for you. That way you can both be very clear on their roles, responsibilities, deliverables and timeline. Clarity at this stage is extremely important for managing expectations.
Clarify whether your freelancer is providing strategic guidance, hands on activation or both
Although this should be covered in your initial chat and in the Scope of Work it’s very important to clarify this. There’s nothing worse than onboarding a freelancer and hoping they’re going to be in the trenches with you, writing content and publishing pages only to find that their support is limited, providing you with strategic insights.
Likewise, you may need an external, top-level view of your business from a seasoned professional only to find out the person you’ve hired is an expert copywriter but they don’t have the experience necessary to provide you with meaningful strategic guidance.
This may seem like a no-brainer but I’ve seen this mis-alignment enough times in the past that it’s worth calling out in its own section.
Make sure you’re aligned with your freelancer.
Set regular check ins and stick to them
Regular check-ins are essential and sticking to an agreed calendar should be a given. The frequency of checks ins will be determined by the type of working being done (PPC campaigns will likely need more check ins than an SEO project, for example) but where things can come undone is when communication and ad-hoc requests becomes constant.
Freelancers can’t work for you if they’re spending all their time on calls with you. Also many digital marketing activities, especially around SEO, won’t change dramatically in the short term so constant updating can be counter intuitive.
The best approach here is to agree to weekly or twice weekly catchups and then, outside of emergencies, allow your freelancer to do their work for you.
Ready to hire your first freelancer?
This article should now give you the tools you need to hire your first freelancer so you can discuss their roles and responsibilities with confidence. Freelancers are an essential part of the 21st century workforce and finding good freelancers can transform your business. If you’re interested in working with a digital marketing freelancer you can fill out the form here for a friendly chat.