How to Hire a Freelance Digital Marketer: Ultimate Guide

Finding the right professional can make a significant impact on your marketing efforts. In many cases, it’s more cost-effective to hire a freelance digital marketer.

But with so many freelancers available, how do you ensure you make the right choice?

We've hired our fair share of freelance marketers, so we'll guide you through the process of hiring one.

What Is a Freelance Digital Marketer?

A freelance digital marketer provides digital marketing services on a project basis or as an independent contractor instead of as a full-time employee for a company. They often work remotely and offer specialized skills in various aspects of digital marketing to businesses and individuals.

Freelance digital marketers perform similar tasks to their full-time counterparts but with some key differences. Here are some of the typical freelance digital marketing services:

• Marketing Strategy Development: Develop comprehensive digital marketing strategies tailored to their specific goals and target audience. This includes conducting market research, analyzing competitors, identifying target demographics, and determining the most effective channels for reaching the target audience.
• Campaign Planning and Execution: They create and execute digital marketing campaigns, including search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and other online advertising methods.
• Content Creation: Creating engaging and relevant content for various digital platforms, such as blog posts, website copy, social media updates, email newsletters, and video scripts.
• Analytics and Reporting: Monitoring and analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) is a crucial part of a freelance digital marketer's role. They use tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, conversion rates, and other metrics.

Reasons to Hire a Freelance Marketer

Hiring a freelance marketer allows businesses to optimize their marketing efforts, tackle short-term projects, and leverage the skills of experienced professionals without the commitment of a full-time hire. Here are some common reasons why businesses choose to hire a freelance marketer:

• High Workload: When the workload of your internal team exceeds its capacity, hiring a freelance marketer can help alleviate the burden. Freelancers can take on specific projects or tasks, allowing your team to focus on core responsibilities.
• Specialized Expertise: If your business requires a particular skill set, such as SEO, social media advertising, or content marketing, hiring a freelancer with expertise in that area can bring valuable knowledge and results.
• Short-Term Projects or Influx of Work: Freelancers can be a cost-effective solution to handle short-term projects or a temporary influx of work. Simply hire them for the duration of the project or until the workload returns to normal.
• Limited Staffing Budget: Freelance marketers offer flexibility and cost-effectiveness, allowing you to access marketing talent without incurring the expenses of a full-time hire.
• Access to a Larger Talent Pool: Tap into a global talent pool and a diverse range of skills, perspectives, and experiences. Choose from a wide range of freelancers with different backgrounds and expertise.
• Fresh Ideas and Perspectives: Freelancers work with multiple clients and industries, exposing them to different challenges and trends. As a result, they can bring fresh ideas, creativity, and unique perspectives to your marketing initiatives.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Whether you require a freelancer for a specific project, ongoing support, or occasional assistance, you can easily scale up or down as necessary.
• Faster Time to Market: If you need to launch a campaign quickly or expedite your marketing efforts, hiring a freelance marketer can help you accelerate your time to market.

What to Look for in a Freelance Digital Marketer

When looking for a freelance digital marketer, consider several key factors to ensure you hire the right professional for your needs. Here are some essential aspects to look for:

Skills

Evaluate the specific skills the freelancer has and match them with your requirements. Depending on your project needs, you may want expertise in the following:

• SEO
• Social Media Marketing
• Content Creation
• PPC Advertising
• Marketing Analytics
• Email Marketing
• Growth Marketing
• Brand Management

Characteristics

Along with specific hard skills, several qualities and characteristics make for a great freelance marketer. A few of the most important characteristics to seek out include:

• Adaptability
• Willingness to learn
• Positive attitude toward professional growth
• Excellent communication skills to ensure smooth collaboration
• Problem-solving and analytical skills to find creative solutions
• Attention to detail
• Professionalism and reliability

Qualifications

Formal qualifications may not always be necessary for a freelance marketer. Instead, assess their certifications and background of experience. Some helpful things to watch for include:

• Google Ads certifications
• Google Analytics certifications
• HubSpot certifications
• Portfolio of clients in your industry/ with similar needs
• Case studies/ demonstration of previous results

Steps for Hiring a Freelance Digital Marketer

Determine Your Digital Marketing Needs

The first step is to determine your marketing needs. Figure out which areas of marketing you need a freelancer’s help with. A few questions to ask yourself include:

• What are the current marketing roles and responsibilities of my employees?
  • Growth Marketer Hiring Guide
  • PPC Specialist Hiring Guide
• Which areas of expertise are we lacking?
• What are our marketing goals for the next 30 days? 90 days? Year?
• Which marketing projects do we need help with?

Set Your Budget

After getting a good idea of your overall marketing needs, you must set a freelance digital marketing budget. If you plan to outsource most of your marketing needs to a freelancer, then you should allocate a larger percentage of your marketing budget. In general, it’s fair to spend around 5-10% of overall revenue on marketing.

Create a Job Description

Once you’ve nailed down what help you need and how much you can spend, it’s time to craft a job description. Create a detailed, yet easy-to-follow job description that outlines the core responsibilities, duration/timeline, expectations, and compensation.

Use the Top Freelance Marketer Sites

Next, it’s time to find potential freelance marketers! One of the best places to do this is on freelance marketing websites. Each website may work a bit differently, but they all aim to connect qualified freelance digital marketers with job openings.

A few of our favorite freelance marketing websites include:

• MarketerHire: The best for high-quality marketing talent
• Upwork: A well-known freelance website offers a large pool of freelance marketers
• Fiverr: One of the largest freelance job boards with many specialized marketers

Assess Candidates

Freelance websites make it easy to compare various freelancers. When evaluating potential candidates, consider:

• Relevant experience (with projects and companies like yours)
• Professionalism
• Cost
• Turnaround time
• Reputation (reviews are extremely helpful for this)

Prepare a Contract

If you’re hiring a freelance digital marketer on your own, then you should create a contract. This solidifies that both parties know and agree to a set of expectations. It can help protect you from legal trouble and keep your freelancer accountable.

Since freelance marketer websites already have terms of services and expectations, they help streamline the contract and agreement process.

Onboard Your New Freelance Digital Marketer

After officially agreeing to the job details and contract, it’s time to onboard your new freelance digital marketer!

• Meet to review the project and answer any questions
• Create logins for them and share the information
• Provide brand guide documents and information on current marketing
• Guide them toward the first tasks/activities
• Share daily, weekly, and monthly expectations
• Review data collection and management
• Set up a payment system (if applicable)

How Much Do Freelance Digital Marketers Charge?

Freelance digital marketers may charge anywhere from $50 to $200 per hour, although some may offer monthly retainers for a set amount of hours or work.

Hiring a freelancer provides the opportunity to save on overhead costs and keep your budget down. However, that doesn’t mean that every freelancer is inexpensive. When assessing how much freelance digital marketers charge, we must keep in mind that marketing job salaries and freelance rates vary greatly.

The top factors that influence the cost of hiring a freelance digital marketer include:

• Experience level
• Expertise (special certifications or qualifications)
• The parameters of the project
• The duration of the project
• Location of the freelancer

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a freelance digital marketer do?

Freelance digital marketers work as contractors to handle a wide variety of marketing responsibilities, including content creation, social media marketing, SEO, ads, website development, marketing strategy, and more.

Is hiring a freelance digital marketer worth it?

Yes, hiring a freelance digital marketer can be worth it if you need specific expertise, have an influx of marketing tasks, and choose the right freelancer for your company.

How much do freelance digital marketers charge?

On average, freelance digital marketers charge between $50 and $200 per hour for marketing services.

Where do I find a freelance digital marketer?

One of the best places to find a freelance digital marketer is on freelance marketing websites like Market Hire, Upwork, or Fiverr.

What skills should I look for in a freelance digital marketer?

Time management, attention to detail, creative problem-solving, and hunger to learn are some of the top skills to look for in a freelance digital marketer.