Freelancing a way forward for marketers during recession

News around the current global recession has increased the pressure on marketers to perform and make more sales. Amidst the shift, almost half of the marketing teams have used freelance teams or have plans to start soon. Hence, marketers are bringing in outside expertise for most non-core activities to pilot new initiatives and quickly scale their campaigns.

Moreover, digital freelancing marketplaces are catching up to traditional methods of outsourcing. Around 34% of companies are using digital marketplaces to find support, while only 12% more continue to look through traditional ways, said a new report by Hire Digital. The report also said that the need for freelance teams is steadily increasing with 59% of the correspondents saying that there’s been an increase in freelance services in the last five years.

Most believe that marketing teams can be remote

Surprisingly, 47% of the senior marketing correspondents believe that their teams can be fully remote. Despite the frequent collaborations required by the marketing field, teams are starting to adjust and work this setup to their advantage.  Meanwhile, 26% of the correspondents believe that up to half of their marketing staff may work remotely. Only 5% are uncertain or believe that none of the team should work remotely.

Senior marketers believe the lack of bandwidth or expertise is their biggest challenge. The report said that enterprises also struggle with long approval processes, whereas the pandemic-led shifts need them to be more agile than ever. According to the survey report, the teams’ top three biggest challenges to achieving marketing excellence are:

#1: Lack of bandwidth or expertise

Around 31% of the correspondents believe that lack of bandwidth or expertise is their biggest challenge in achieving their goals. As industries expand, more specific marketing roles are emerging. Thus, this is why freelance teams are starting to fill the high demand for certain marketing functions.

#2: Long approval processes

Around 19% of the correspondents think that long approval processes are the main blockers of their success.

It’s no surprise that there have been longer processes with the rapid shift of team structures in the past three years. With teams adapting to a remote or hybrid setup, there must be more delays of communication, which leads to delays in approvals.

#3: Rapidly changing market

Consumers’ needs and behavior have also rapidly changed in the past three years. The world experienced a hyper-accelerated digitalization to the point that customers now consume much more information and purchase more products online.

Marketing teams now have more consumer data from online transactions, which they can utilise for their growth. However, some teams may have had a hard time catching up with the changes.

Are teams agile enough to face these challenges?

Marketing teams require agility to deal with the ever-fleeting market shifts in the post-pandemic world and overall, 89% of the marketing organizations believe that their team is either quite agile or somewhat agile, but still has room for improvement.  Around, 51% of them believe their team is somewhat agile, 38% think they’re quite agile, and only 11% think their team isn’t agile at all.

What are key capabilities marketing teams are focusing on?

The marketing field has evolved along with the online economy. Thus, marketing teams’ focus have shifted over the years as well. Here are the main key capabilities that they believe achieve marketing excellence:

• Strategy and insights (29%)
• Customer experience and personalisation (24%)
• Analytics and ROI (20%)
• Creative and content (12%)
• Media and channel activation (9%)
• Product and pricing (6%)