You can have the best marketing strategy, a solid marketing plan, and a comprehensive budget, but how do you get it all done? There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything on your business, especially your marketing. This is the life of a tourism entrepreneur. Fortunately, our internet world has given us all kinds of options, and when it comes to staffing, there are a countless number of options. No longer is an in- house, full-time staff member the preferred choice for the employee. Freelance marketing help is a great option for tourism companies.
Working with remote staffers and freelancers are a great resource to maximize overhead flexibility, try out a resource first before you hire him/her long term or build your marketing capabilities.
How to Get Started With Freelance Marketing Help
The first step, decide where you need help the most. Chances are, there are several areas where you need assistance, especially when it comes to marketing.
The best way to find that answer? Ask yourself these 4 questions:
- What are the most important tasks I need to do to move the business forward?
- What are the tasks I’m doing that stop me from performing in question number one?
- What tasks am I doing or my staff is doing that slow us down due to limited skill, resources, or priority?
- Are there opportunity projects you would love to do but you can’t get to them because of limited know-how, or energy?
When you ask yourself these questions, new ideas and thinking come to light, and quickly you realize that working on everything is stopping you from working on the big things that matter the most. Typically tourism businesses end up having tasks such as content calendar building, social media, Google ads, Facebook ads, email marketing, website optimization, and SEO. All of these tasks could lead to growth, however, they require a time investment, and your time may be better suited to run all other aspects of your business.
Remote or freelance marketing staff or project managers can be a great solution to manage your marketing tasks. Before you jump right in and hire them, consider these common mistakes :
1. Take the time like you would hiring someone in-person – Schedule a video interview, ask questions, access their fit within your organization. Even though they may not physically work in your office – assess whether they have the passion, interest in your purpose, your business, and your industry. A rule of thumb is to hire someone that is generally interested in what you do, because they will be passionate about delivering on it.
2. Do not hire the cheapest hourly freelancer – This is probably the biggest mistake you can make. Online worksites make it very easy to be captivated with hiring someone with the most affordable rates because of the standard of living differences between countries. The key is to find the right balance. Often hourly rates are set low to get references and experience on these sites first, then rates tend to increase. Look at several factors beyond just the rates – Their skills, passion, quality of reviews, fit, and style with how they work and could work with you.
3. Give feedback and answer questions quickly. –A freelancer is working independently, thus, you need to be available to answer questions so they can do the work you need. Establish a ways of working together up front. Sometimes freelancers become ‘out of sight and out of mind’ to the hiring manager – so staying available and having regular phone calls will make your relationship much easier and more efficient.
6 Great Options to hire remote staff and freelancers:
- Need help with content, social media, or video? Reach out to your Travel Massive Community in your area and hire how bloggers, content creators, and videographers who can help you on various projects.You can also consider posting on the marketplace job posting for a specific role.
- Upwork is a great option to post a free ad for marketing freelancers and small business projects. However, be beware that you need to look at reviews and quality instead of focusing on the lowest hourly rate. We have used Freelancers through Upwork many times, and many we’ve continued to use for years.
- Freelancer – is a great way to find marketing freelancers. There are a lot of high quality candidates on this site. I like the payment process here as it keeps your payment on hold until the work is completed and you are happy with it. Freelance also claims that 95% of their customers rehire freelancers on their site.
- Hire a student/person building new marketing skills – GenM is an option to hire a student looking for real business experience and get references. For a small cost, you can hire an apprentice for three months, 10 hours per week in exchange for training and coaching them on skills and a reference at the end of your time working together. If you are looking for someone with tremendous skills, this isn’t the option for you. This website is also a great option to try someone before you hire too. If you are interested in GenM, use our $25 Discount coupon to sign up and utilize your apprentice.
- Fiverr – Fiverr is the largest freelance marketplace for small businesses. The idea is the hourly rate is just $5 (to start) then you buy different packages/add-ons depending on what you are looking for. Most freelancers here are using it to get some experience and their foot in the door, so costs are lower, but you pay a 20% fee with Fiverr on top. Be sure to look at reviews to verify their work, but this is better for short term projects, in my opinion.
- If you work with us at Travel Life Media, Troy and I, work with our clients then hire vetted freelance and remote staff that we trust who work with us on all kinds of projects. Essentially, we work as a part or full service to bring marketing strategy and projects to completion including branding, social media, pricing, promotions, SEO, and the sky is the limit.
Working with freelancers is an excellent option for the tourism industry. please feel free to reach out with questions on how to make remote marketers work for you.
