Building Your Dream Marketing Team

The Fantasy: Your marketing budget is packed to the brim with money to help build your dream marketing team. You hire nothing short of the best and life is good.

The Reality: Your staff is overworked, your budget's tight and you complete about half of the projects on your to-do list.

This reality is what many marketing mangers and small businesses face on a daily basis. Even so, you're still expected to consistently produce better results ? and the bar keeps on rising while you keep losing resources. It's situations like these that call for the outsourced consultants and freelancers of the world to help turn your fantasy marketing team into a reality.

What can you outsource?

You can outsource just about anything. With the layoffs and budget cuts that plague marketing departments and agencies, there are a ton of freelancers out there ready and willing to take on your projects. Everyone from designers, to copywriters, to project mangers can be brought in to help with any number of marketing communications tasks. Many times, you can find a team of freelancers that regularly work together. Look for freelancers by doing a Web search, browsing the yellow pages or by referrals from colleagues.

Wanted: good copywriting and design

If marketing communications were a building, copywriting and graphic design would be the support beams. Without these critical components, you really don't have a chance of communicating your message, making a sale or building your brand. Some of the best marketing communications pieces can come from a copywriter/design team, and most freelance copywriters and designers have a colleague they will refer to you.

A good copywriter/designer team should be able to understand your project quickly and get to work on it right away. In addition, they should be willing to work with you, your staff and any other creative partners you need involved in the project. However, don't assume that any freelancer will be able to effectively work with your staff - make sure they have the people skills to do so by interviewing them and checking their references. Often in the freelance industry, you can run across so called "hermits" that enjoy working by themselves and don't do well working with others. Not good if your project requires a lot of teamwork.

Thinking outside the box (or outside of your office)

One of the biggest benefits of working with a freelancer is getting their perspective on your projects. If they are a seasoned pro, they are used to giving advice to clients and should be more than happy to do so. Since you are so close with your industry and work with the same colleagues every day, your perspective can become skewed. Many "insiders" adopt their company's perspective rather than their customer's. A good freelancer can help you avoid this by asking questions and suggesting ideas that you might not have thought about.

No more drained resources

Your full-time employees generally have a full-time workload. Even if you have writers and designers on staff, adding more duties to their already overflowing to-do lists can cause burnout and make your department fall behind on important projects. Bringing in a freelancer can help even things out and give your staff some breathing room.

A dedicated worker whenever you need them and never when you don't

When you hire a full-time employee, it is a big investment. A salary, training, insurance and office supplies are all part of the costs. When you hire a freelancer you pay them only for the project and nothing else. It's like having a full-time professional on call 365 days a year.

You've made the decision, now it's time to hire

When hiring freelancers, don't just look for the best price and quickest turnaround times, look for someone that will be there for the long term and will become more of a partner to your company. Follow these steps and you should be on the right track to building your dream marketing team:

1. First, you need to find a freelancer. Some of the best work will come from referrals - ask colleagues and other creative partners for referrals. You can also do a Web search, browse the yellow pages and check with local business organizations such as the chamber of commerce.

2. Interview the freelancer and view samples of their work. This will help you determine if they do quality work, and if they will fit in with your company and projects.

3. Request references from previous clients. When checking the references, try and get a feel for their timeliness, teamwork and professionalism.

4. Develop a contract or a letter of agreement that details the scope of the project, due dates and payment terms. This will help keep everyone on the same page, and protect both you and the freelancer.

Most companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and keep their staff happy, while building their brand and increasing sales. Hiring a freelancer to help out with your marketing workload can help to accomplish this. You'll put your company on the right track to success and put you on the right track to having your dream marketing team. So what are you waiting for? Start building your dream marketing team with freelancers today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Greg Quigley is a professional business writer and owner of Q-Com Business Writing. He can be reached at 414-347-0660 or via his Web site at http://www.qcomnet.com

---

Leadership Quality Through Kindness

In days past, loyalty was a given. The worker in... Read More

Motivation - The Benefits of Spending Time with Your Team

Benefit 1 - You get to understand them betterAlmost everyone... Read More

Effective Team Building For Organizational Success

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common... Read More

Solitude Vs Teamwork!

Irrespective of any given situation, "Team Work Works!" It is... Read More

Team Building Seminars: Why New Teams Struggle

With over 25 years of research and experience, we have... Read More

Team Work

There's nothing that matches the power of teamwork to accomplish... Read More

Building Teams

Young minds are quite easy to shape. International Terrorist recruiters... Read More

Employee and Coworkers Gifts

Giving gifts to your co-workers or your employees can be... Read More

Building a Successful Team

Once you've set a goal for yourself as a leader... Read More

Building Successful Work Relationships--Playing In The Same Sandbox

Remember playing in your childhood sandbox? If you enjoyed being... Read More

4 Tips for Keeping a Team Motivated

Companies often have incentives for reps, but sometimes that isn't... Read More

Team Building requires one great dynamic for true Success - Mateship

A Successful Team is built around mateship, around respect for... Read More

Effective Brainstorming

Most managers simply herd some people in a room with... Read More

12 Tips and Reminders for Team Members To Enjoy Their Team Experiences More

12 Tips and Reminders for Team Members To Enjoy Their... Read More

Intercultural Team Building

Internal business structures have been radically transformed over the past... Read More

Top Ten Things About Team Building

People who lead the best teams realise early on that... Read More

How To Help A Sick Team Become Healthy

Team Building Question:A team is full of animosity, pretended interpersonal... Read More

Team Development in the Little Leagues

A grassy field, two nets, a soccer ball and some... Read More

Mastermind Team: Do You Have One?

The key to life is to be around the people... Read More

How Does Personal Development Help in Business?

Teams run most businesses and teams work best if each... Read More

Top 7 Ways to Motivate Your Team

1. Involve them. Many employees want to be involved in... Read More

How Leaders Unlock Potential in Teams

Leaders are faced with unlocking the potential in the people... Read More

If You Can?t See It, They Won?t Do It

Recently, while developing a customer service program, I asked my... Read More

How to Boost Morale In Your Organisation

Who keeps the wheels turning in your organisation? Who holds... Read More

Motivating Teams

Introduction:Working with teams, whether as leader of a single team... Read More

Effective Team Building Part 1 - Another Brick in the Wall!

The first in a series of articles giving a slightly... Read More

Team Communication Critical To Success

I'm often asked, "Why is my team always fighting fires... Read More

Leadership, Genuine, Meaningful and Productive

One of the best lessons I have learned is the... Read More

You are Excused from Training

Trainers, please picture this... You are presenting in a new... Read More

Virtual Team Work

At a time when many companies are scaling down their... Read More

The Magic and Mystery of Teams

As the world of manufacturing has become increasingly competitive, managers... Read More

Nine Ways to Contribute to Project Team Success

The world of work has changed. It used to be... Read More

Landscaping Business; Employee Relations

There are few industries or service type businesses, which are... Read More