Competition is fierce in the tech B2B market, and to stand out your promotional content has got to be special.
It doesn’t matter what your objective is – launching a new product, improving brand awareness, establishing thought leadership, ensuring customer loyalty – success depends on distributing truly innovative collateral that will grab the attention of your audience and not let go.
In many cases, in-house resource is scarce, so achieving this level of excellence depends on having the right partner.
At Isoline, we often find businesses weighing up two options – hiring a freelancer or partnering with a marketing agency. Both options come with their distinct advantages and challenges, but the right choice for you will depend on your company’s unique circumstances and long and short-term objectives.
We want you to be able to make the right choice for your tech B2B company, so we’ve compared what you’ll get from agencies and freelancers in four key areas upon which decisions are made.
Let’s jump in!
1. Cost Efficiency
Agencies: Investment for sustained growth
Although you’ll usually run into higher upfront costs, agencies provide value through end-to-end marketing propositions that are designed to deliver long-term results.
Onboarding a marketing agency can feel like a big step initially, but agencies are skilled at integrating various elements – such as strategy development, content creation, SEO distribution, and reporting – into one coherent plan.
Not only that, but agencies can scale with your business as your needs evolve, offering flexibility that freelancers will struggle to match over time.
Freelancer: Lower upfront costs
Freelancers tend to be cheaper than agencies. Fewer overhead costs – no office space, minimal administrative expenses, etc. – mean they can offer lower rates. This is of course appealing for companies with limited budgets or specific project-based needs.
However, it’s essential to recognise that cost savings on individual projects could be offset if you need to hire multiple freelancers to cover different areas of expertise. And coordinating multiple freelancers may also increase your internal workload, complicating delivery timelines and bookkeeping processes.
Which is right for you?
If you’re looking for a cost-efficient way to complete just a few specific tasks, each with a fairly small scope, hiring a freelancer may be the way to go. But, if you’re investing in your business’s future, an agency’s higher upfront cost will be justified by the expertise, scalability, and holistic support they offer.
That is, if you hire the right agency.
2. Scope of services
Agency: Holistic offering
A marketing agency will typically offer a wide range of services under one roof. From content strategy and creation to design, implementation, and analytics, agencies have a team of experts that can handle every element of your marketing campaign.
This “one-stop-shop” model allows agencies to deliver fully developed marketing solutions. And internal alignment within agency departments ensures that your campaigns are cohesive and sync up with your overall business strategy without your having to intervene.
Freelancer: Specialised expertise
On the other hand, freelancers are, for the most part, experts in just one specific marketing discipline – each will have their own niche, bringing great skill to the table in something like copywriting, SEO, or paid advertising. Although limited in scope, this can be very valuable for B2Bs that are only looking to outsource expertise in one area.
However, if you require a full-spectrum marketing approach, it’s highly unlikely that a freelancer will have the bandwidth or skillset to meet each of your diverse needs. You might, for example, hire a freelancer to write a whitepaper, but, without an in-house design or digital engagement team, you’ll need to work with others for graphic design and distribution strategies.
Which is Right for You?
If your business has a single, short-term need that matches a freelancer’s area of expertise, working with a freelancer can be both efficient and cost-effective. However, if you’re after comprehensive marketing support, a full-service agency is going to be a better fit.
3. Project management
Agency: Dedicated teams, defined roles, and proven workflows
Marketing agencies have client services professionals, planning systems, and quality control processes that ensure your deadlines are met and your campaigns are delivered to brief. At Isoline, for example, we’ll assign you a dedicated team that will manage your deliverables and timelines, put your collateral through multiple rounds of checks, and collaborate with you to enhance and scale up your strategy.
With an agency, you’re not reliant on a single individual. Should one team member be unavailable, others can step in to keep your campaign running smoothly. This eliminates the risk associated with relying on one freelancer who may have limited availability or become unavailable at a crucial time due to an unforeseen change in circumstances.
Freelancer: Direct comms
Working with a freelancer means speaking straight to the person who’s executing the work, which can lead to fast turnarounds. For smaller tasks or quick projects, this direct contact can make the process smooth and efficient.
However, freelancers typically juggle multiple clients, which can, in some instances, lead to delays or inconsistencies in project management. As freelancers typically work solo, they may also not have the capacity to handle urgent requests or scale up quickly if your project grows in scope. And, should a freelancer struggle with a particular brief, they do not have a support network to assist them with the creation process and double and triple check the work before it goes to client.
Which is Right for You?
If you take comfort in briefing a single individual directly and your project scope is small, a freelancer could be the right choice. Should you want structured project management, accountability, and the ability to scale quickly, however, then allying with an agency will be the best route to meeting and surpassing your goals.
4. Long-term strategy and brand consistency
Agency: Reliable future planning
Agencies excel in building long-term, coherent marketing strategies. With access to various tools, industry insights and knowledge of trends, and a team of specialists all singing from the same hymn sheet, you can bank on an agency to provide deliverables that align with one another and ongoing support that evolves with your business.
An agency’s team-based approach and strategic expertise ensure not only that your current campaigns sync with your objectives, but that future work is planned and optimised to expand your growth potential. The result is a marketing strategy that’s capable of delivering sustainable results over time.
Freelancer: Project-based focus
Freelancers generally work with their clients on a project-to-project basis, making them well-suited to one-off tasks like writing a blog post or designing a brochure. While this style of work can be useful when you have an immediate need that must be met, it lacks any of the strategic oversight required for long-term marketing success.
Additionally, if you’re outsourcing various elements of a campaign to different freelancers, maintaining brand consistency can be challenging. Each person may have their own unique approach to your messaging, design, or tone of voice.
Which is Right for You?
If you’re looking for a solution to immediate, specific needs, freelancers you’ll get quick and effective results from engaging a freelancer. However, if you want to develop a strategy, strengthen branding consistency, and enhance your scaling potential, you should turn to an agency.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the choice between a freelancer and a marketing agency depends on your business’s goals – your project scope and your long-term vision.
While freelancers are great in terms of cost-effective, specialised solutions for quick turnaround tasks, agencies deliver holistic, scalable, strategic support.
If you’re looking for new and exciting ways to enhance and expand your marketing efforts, get in touch via hello@isolinecomms.com. We’d love to hear from you!
