Why a stronger freelancer-agency relationship is critical for success

First there was the pandemic. Then the great resignation. And now possibly a global recession. It’s no surprise then that Verblio’s 2022 Digital Content Survey showed that 53% of marketing agencies rely on freelancers or content marketplaces to help them deliver projects for clients.

Agencies need flexible workforces to serve more clients and deliver more projects, but is “freelancers as a growth strategy” manageable at scale? Here are four things agencies need to keep an eye on when working with freelancers (and three tips for managing them).

While having a pool of hungry freelancers to work with sounds like the perfect setup, managing them efficiently is an ongoing challenge. Hiring a single freelancer for a single project or task is pretty simple. Still, as soon as you start leaning on freelancers regularly instead of hiring permanent full-time or part-time workers, the challenges stack up. Consider:

Sourcing the right people

The more a job requires a higher level of skill, smarts and finesse, the harder it is to find the right people. And while freelancer marketplaces are full of profiles with 5-star ratings and tons of reviews, that doesn’t guarantee they can deliver the results you (and your client) expect. 

Also, the freelancers you work with represent your agency. So keep in mind that if they make a wrong step or don’t deliver, you’re the one shouldering the blame.

Onboarding freelance talent 

When you need to kick off a project ASAP you can’t afford to waste precious time collecting signatures, getting legal advice or granting IT access to specific tools, internal docs and assets. Multiply this by 20, 30 or even 100 freelancers from different countries working on different projects which require different compliance documents, and each with their own currency and payment expectations, it’s no wonder onboarding is such a headache for agencies. 

Managing milestones and budget 

Your work isn't done even after your freelance talent is set up and working with you. You have to stay on top of communications with them to make sure they stay on top of their workload. And managing budget is also a huge problem. Your customers pay you to get the job done, so you have to keep a close eye on your freelancer budgets to make sure you’re turning a profit on their work.

Paying accurately and on time 

Speaking of payments, agency payroll is incredibly complicated since independent contractors might be working with you via a retainer agreement, hourly rate or even per-deliverable pricing.  And while you can always pay invoices manually as they come in, what happens when you’re working with dozens of freelancers each month, each with different terms and requesting payment in different currencies? You can easily lose 5-plus hours every week just sorting this out.

Tips for agencies to scale freelance work

If you’re planning for freelancers to be a big part of your agency’s growth in 2023 and beyond, here’s what you need to do to make sure they become your biggest asset and not a thorn in your agency’s side:

1. Have clear onboarding processes.

Start all project work off on the right foot with clearly documented onboarding processes. I recommend creating and using an internal checklist to ensure everything you need, from freelancers’ signatures on nondisclosure agreements and intellectual property protection to their tax info, background checks, and account access. Make sure everything is sorted out before projects kick-off.

2. Get a system in place for payments.

It might feel easy doing freelancer payments on the fly, but if you don’t have a system in place, things will get messy and fast. You want to avoid the endless back-and-forth emails to sort out payment schedules, methods and currencies and having to reply (albeit sensitively) when freelancers ask, “When am I going to get paid?”

If the team member in charge of payments suddenly leaves or is on vacation, all communications about cost, budget and changes in scope are hidden deep across email threads and private Slack channels. That frustrates your freelancers and makes it impossible for another team member to jump in and take over.

You must have a clear system in place for payment communications and payment processing, and share it with freelancers during the onboarding process so they know exactly when they need to send invoices, when they can expect to be paid and how they’ll be paid.

3. Be your freelancers’ favorite client.

If some freelancers consistently deliver good work and you love working with them, then make sure that you keep giving them work. You never know how many clients a freelancer is working with at any given time. So to keep your favorite freelancers close to you, make sure you have an overview of what their current client/project load is and your current project workload, so you can bring them in on other projects and keep them busy.

Another way to become your freelancers’ favorite client is to consider how much money they’ll earn from your project after the content marketplace takes its cut. Most marketplaces take anywhere from 5% to 20% of freelancers’ pay, so consider how you can reward them with gifts or other benefits.

In short? Just make sure you have a plan

Even though you can come up with some creative workarounds for managing 5 to 10 freelancers, as soon as you’re working with 20-plus freelancers, across the globe, on multiple projects, the workload (and stress) piles up. And it always happens much faster than you’d expect it to.
 
So just as you have plans in place to manage your in-house people and operations, make sure you have a plan for your freelancers, too.