According to the Harvard Business Review, there are more than 800 digital talent platforms worldwide. Spurred by an ongoing talent shortage and an ever-growing number of freelancers, talent platforms are filling a need: helping companies—and the overworked employees within them— connect to the right freelancers to help get work done faster and more efficiently.
With so many talent platforms, there are going to be differences among them—the type of talent they attract, the industries and companies they serve, and their various features and benefits.
Wripple’s 2024 Team Up Report found that 92% of companies and 89% of freelancers were using talent marketplaces at least sometimes. Add to that the fact that 92% of companies and 82% of freelancers anticipate working together more in the future, and the need to select the right talent platform(s) becomes more important than ever.
Not everyone has time to review and evaluate even a fraction of the talent marketplaces, which is why we’re here to help you understand how to find the platform(s) that are the best match for you and how Wripple fits into the talent marketplace landscape.
The 4 T’s: What to Look for in a Talent Platform
There's no one-size-fits-all platform; the best talent marketplace platform for your company will be the one that aligns with your specific needs. For simplicity’s sake, let’s talk about platforms in terms of the four T’s: Talent, Technology, Transparency, and the Team.
No doubt the first thing you’ll need to consider are your TALENT requirements:
What roles do you need?
In what specific areas do you need expertise?
Are you looking for short-term or long-term?
Do you need a single freelancer or do you need to build a team of freelancers?
How experienced do they need to be?
Another key area is TECHNOLOGY. One of the biggest components is how the platform matches freelancers with hiring companies. Some are simply job boards where companies can post a project with specific requirements and request freelancers apply (think LinkedIn). This often means a lot of sifting through resumes to find the right candidates.
More advanced platforms use a matching algorithm where freelancers are matched to projects based on elements of their profiles. This can save a lot of time and make it much easier for hiring managers to see top candidates—as long as the matching criteria are in sync with how they need to hire.
Relatedly, think about what tasks you want to be able to do on the platform:
Do you simply need to search for freelancers that fit your needs?
Do you want to be able to schedule interviews?
Do you want support handling talent operations?
Do you need specific reporting?
Another component to consider is TRANSPARENCY. By this, we mean the ability to know going in what your expected costs are going to be. A platform might seem attractive at first, but hidden fees and back-office negotiations could negate any initial benefits. Understanding the platform's fee structure, including membership fees, project fees, and any additional transaction costs, is crucial before committing.
Lastly, there’s the TEAM, aka, the people who are helping ensure each hire is properly onboarded and that the project runs smoothly. For any platform, customer service is crucial, but when it comes to hiring, having a knowledgeable and responsive customer success team is non-negotiable, if you ask us.
The Wripple Difference Down to a T.
Let’s say Wripple has made your shortlist. You’re a marketing or agency leader and you need freelancers, fast. What makes Wripple different? How do we compare across the four T’s? To start, you need to look at how we began…
In 2019, three ex-Razorfish leaders started putting together the pieces that would form Wripple. These three industry innovators had decades of agency leadership experience and had seen first-hand the challenges of getting groundbreaking digital work done in a world that was still using old ways of working. They knew there had to be a better way to bring specialized teams to clients faster and at a lower cost.
Difference #1: Category Focus
Our first point of differentiation is that we’re founded and operated by agency veterans. We know the work and the processes behind the work, and we know the roles and skills it takes to get high-caliber marketing work done.
Wripple’s platform is built around projects specific to agencies and marketing teams. To those in this world, it will feel familiar and align with your team’s needs and processes.
If you’ve spent any time on the big-name talent marketplaces, you know they are not reliable, and finding quality, vetted talent is difficult, especially if you need a team of experts for a complex project. On Wripple, you’ll find only proven independent talent with the expertise you’d find at a top agency, consultancy, or leading in-house team. Our strict vetting process ensures you only find experienced marketing experts.
What’s more, Wripple Client Leads have all worked in the business and are here to support you along the way. At the end of the day, having a human touch, especially with category knowledge, as part of the process makes Wripple more effective.
Difference #2: The Talent Options to Meet Diverse Needs in One Platform
As proponents of building a holistic marketing workforce, we believe in providing marketing options to design the exact team needed at any given point in time. Wripple’s modern talent solutions are designed to offer the flexibility to thrive in the future of work.
Some talent platforms are just about finding individual freelancers. Some specialize in finding teams. The Wripple platform offers both options and much more.
For staffing, Wripple offers every role (50+ of them) you’d expect—marketing manager, art director, copywriter, developer—and some you might not expect. Need a DAM librarian? We got you. Looking for a director of creative technology? We’ve got those too. Want a QA expert? No problem.
Many platforms are only focused on finding talent, but Wripple also facilitates onboarding, briefing, and operations. You can even onboard talent you’ve sourced on your own and, when hired, Wripple takes care of operations. This makes it easy and fast and reduces the risks around engaging contractors.
For projects, Wripple offers two options to build freelance project teams. The first is by selecting projects from a catalog (35+ projects) and configuring the scope to your needs. Define deliverables, set the budget, and hire a full team. The other option is to build a custom scope from the ground up and curate the exact cross-discipline team required to deliver your final goal, whether that means hiring an individual freelancer or a curated team of freelancers to partner with your FTEs to address complex project needs.
Wripple also offers managed studios, which are bespoke solutions that flex with business needs and budgets. From sourcing and hiring to delivery of work, outsourcing allows the business to achieve focus, cost-efficiencies, and speed.
Lastly, Wripple is one of the few platforms where you have the option to work with micro agencies, specialist boutique agencies that serve as nimble partners to help you get priority project work done all under their Wripple MSA.
Difference #3: Technology Built for the Modern Marketing Workforce
Our advanced matching algorithm helps you find talent matched to your project in real time, who are ready and available to work. Also, a two-sided marketplace gives you the option of posting your job to the marketplace or keeping it selective and only inviting the talent who match your specific criteria.
Wripple clients love being able to shortlist top candidates, message, interview, hire, and contract all online. Seeing all your projects and budgets in one place helps you strategically manage your blended workforce.
Lastly, the platform allows you to build custom talent pools so you can quickly hire and rehire the best talent.
Difference #4: Full Transparency from the Start
Wripple was created with transparency as a key part of the strategy across our platform design and our pricing.
The platform design intentionally connects talent to clients, removing walls throughout the proposal and contracting process. Clients have full visibility to robust talent profiles to help make the most informed decisions.
As for price transparency, there is no black box. There are no hidden fees or subscription fees, and talent rates are always clearly listed upfront so clients will know exactly how much hiring a specific freelancer will cost and talent members will know how much a potential job will pay. As negotiations progress between client and talent, all numbers are updated throughout the process, leaving little room for miscommunication.
The Right Talent Right from the Start.
When Wripple began, there were already talent platforms out there—but even on platforms that specialized in marketing freelancers, finding quality marketing talent that was a good fit for the project—and quickly—was a challenge. If you had a complex project and needed an entire team, forget it.
In a nutshell, Wripple was designed to help marketers build fit-for-purpose teams to achieve greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility. This is more necessary than ever and getting the right talent on day one means you can feel confident your project will move forward and succeed.
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Team Impact
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To learn more about any or all of these solutions, contact your Wripple Client Lead, or request a demo.
According to the Harvard Business Review, there are more than 800 digital talent platforms worldwide. Spurred by an ongoing talent shortage and an ever-growing number of freelancers, talent platforms are filling a need: helping companies—and the overworked employees within them— connect to the right freelancers to help get work done faster and more efficiently.
With so many talent platforms, there are going to be differences among them—the type of talent they attract, the industries and companies they serve, and their various features and benefits.
Wripple’s 2024 Team Up Report found that 92% of companies and 89% of freelancers were using talent marketplaces at least sometimes. Add to that the fact that 92% of companies and 82% of freelancers anticipate working together more in the future, and the need to select the right talent platform(s) becomes more important than ever.
Not everyone has time to review and evaluate even a fraction of the talent marketplaces, which is why we’re here to help you understand how to find the platform(s) that are the best match for you and how Wripple fits into the talent marketplace landscape.
The 4 T’s: What to Look for in a Talent Platform
There's no one-size-fits-all platform; the best talent marketplace platform for your company will be the one that aligns with your specific needs. For simplicity’s sake, let’s talk about platforms in terms of the four T’s: Talent, Technology, Transparency, and the Team.
No doubt the first thing you’ll need to consider are your TALENT requirements:
What roles do you need?
In what specific areas do you need expertise?
Are you looking for short-term or long-term?
Do you need a single freelancer or do you need to build a team of freelancers?
How experienced do they need to be?
Another key area is TECHNOLOGY. One of the biggest components is how the platform matches freelancers with hiring companies. Some are simply job boards where companies can post a project with specific requirements and request freelancers apply (think LinkedIn). This often means a lot of sifting through resumes to find the right candidates.
More advanced platforms use a matching algorithm where freelancers are matched to projects based on elements of their profiles. This can save a lot of time and make it much easier for hiring managers to see top candidates—as long as the matching criteria are in sync with how they need to hire.
Relatedly, think about what tasks you want to be able to do on the platform:
Do you simply need to search for freelancers that fit your needs?
Do you want to be able to schedule interviews?
Do you want support handling talent operations?
Do you need specific reporting?
Another component to consider is TRANSPARENCY. By this, we mean the ability to know going in what your expected costs are going to be. A platform might seem attractive at first, but hidden fees and back-office negotiations could negate any initial benefits. Understanding the platform's fee structure, including membership fees, project fees, and any additional transaction costs, is crucial before committing.
Lastly, there’s the TEAM, aka, the people who are helping ensure each hire is properly onboarded and that the project runs smoothly. For any platform, customer service is crucial, but when it comes to hiring, having a knowledgeable and responsive customer success team is non-negotiable, if you ask us.
The Wripple Difference Down to a T.
Let’s say Wripple has made your shortlist. You’re a marketing or agency leader and you need freelancers, fast. What makes Wripple different? How do we compare across the four T’s? To start, you need to look at how we began…
In 2019, three ex-Razorfish leaders started putting together the pieces that would form Wripple. These three industry innovators had decades of agency leadership experience and had seen first-hand the challenges of getting groundbreaking digital work done in a world that was still using old ways of working. They knew there had to be a better way to bring specialized teams to clients faster and at a lower cost.
Difference #1: Category Focus
Our first point of differentiation is that we’re founded and operated by agency veterans. We know the work and the processes behind the work, and we know the roles and skills it takes to get high-caliber marketing work done.
Wripple’s platform is built around projects specific to agencies and marketing teams. To those in this world, it will feel familiar and align with your team’s needs and processes.
If you’ve spent any time on the big-name talent marketplaces, you know they are not reliable, and finding quality, vetted talent is difficult, especially if you need a team of experts for a complex project. On Wripple, you’ll find only proven independent talent with the expertise you’d find at a top agency, consultancy, or leading in-house team. Our strict vetting process ensures you only find experienced marketing experts.
What’s more, Wripple Client Leads have all worked in the business and are here to support you along the way. At the end of the day, having a human touch, especially with category knowledge, as part of the process makes Wripple more effective.
Difference #2: The Talent Options to Meet Diverse Needs in One Platform
As proponents of building a holistic marketing workforce, we believe in providing marketing options to design the exact team needed at any given point in time. Wripple’s modern talent solutions are designed to offer the flexibility to thrive in the future of work.
Some talent platforms are just about finding individual freelancers. Some specialize in finding teams. The Wripple platform offers both options and much more.
For staffing, Wripple offers every role (50+ of them) you’d expect—marketing manager, art director, copywriter, developer—and some you might not expect. Need a DAM librarian? We got you. Looking for a director of creative technology? We’ve got those too. Want a QA expert? No problem.
Many platforms are only focused on finding talent, but Wripple also facilitates onboarding, briefing, and operations. You can even onboard talent you’ve sourced on your own and, when hired, Wripple takes care of operations. This makes it easy and fast and reduces the risks around engaging contractors.
For projects, Wripple offers two options to build freelance project teams. The first is by selecting projects from a catalog (35+ projects) and configuring the scope to your needs. Define deliverables, set the budget, and hire a full team. The other option is to build a custom scope from the ground up and curate the exact cross-discipline team required to deliver your final goal, whether that means hiring an individual freelancer or a curated team of freelancers to partner with your FTEs to address complex project needs.
Wripple also offers managed studios, which are bespoke solutions that flex with business needs and budgets. From sourcing and hiring to delivery of work, outsourcing allows the business to achieve focus, cost-efficiencies, and speed.
Lastly, Wripple is one of the few platforms where you have the option to work with micro agencies, specialist boutique agencies that serve as nimble partners to help you get priority project work done all under their Wripple MSA.
Difference #3: Technology Built for the Modern Marketing Workforce
Our advanced matching algorithm helps you find talent matched to your project in real time, who are ready and available to work. Also, a two-sided marketplace gives you the option of posting your job to the marketplace or keeping it selective and only inviting the talent who match your specific criteria.
Wripple clients love being able to shortlist top candidates, message, interview, hire, and contract all online. Seeing all your projects and budgets in one place helps you strategically manage your blended workforce.
Lastly, the platform allows you to build custom talent pools so you can quickly hire and rehire the best talent.
Difference #4: Full Transparency from the Start
Wripple was created with transparency as a key part of the strategy across our platform design and our pricing.
The platform design intentionally connects talent to clients, removing walls throughout the proposal and contracting process. Clients have full visibility to robust talent profiles to help make the most informed decisions.
As for price transparency, there is no black box. There are no hidden fees or subscription fees, and talent rates are always clearly listed upfront so clients will know exactly how much hiring a specific freelancer will cost and talent members will know how much a potential job will pay. As negotiations progress between client and talent, all numbers are updated throughout the process, leaving little room for miscommunication.
The Right Talent Right from the Start.
When Wripple began, there were already talent platforms out there—but even on platforms that specialized in marketing freelancers, finding quality marketing talent that was a good fit for the project—and quickly—was a challenge. If you had a complex project and needed an entire team, forget it.
In a nutshell, Wripple was designed to help marketers build fit-for-purpose teams to achieve greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility. This is more necessary than ever and getting the right talent on day one means you can feel confident your project will move forward and succeed.
Companies
Ready to start managing your freelancers as an ongoing strategic part of your organization’s holistic workforce? Schedule a demo today.
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