Hiring a marketing freelancer can be an exciting step toward bringing fresh ideas and expertise into your organization. Whether it’s for a specific campaign or ongoing projects, engaging with external talent can give your team a boost and unlock creative potential. Knowing what to expect when you bring on a freelancer or a freelance team is essential to getting the most out of the partnership. If you’re new to hiring freelancers, or just want tips to make the process easier, read on!

Scoping: Defining the Project

Before diving into onboarding and the actual work, the most critical step in working with a marketing freelancer is scoping. A well-defined statement of work (SOW) sets clear expectations, ensuring both you and the freelancer are aligned on all aspects of the project, including the type of contract.  

What does scoping involve?

• Determining how well-defined your needs are: Establish whether you have specific deliverables in mind or need help that is less defined such as general consulting work or ongoing support like staff augmentation.  

• Choosing the right contract type: Based on the nature of your needs, select the most appropriate contract type, which is essential to avoid budget overruns and set the right expectations:
  
  
  • Fixed Scope / Fixed Fee: Ideal for clearly defined projects with a specific scope, like creating a marketing plan or designing a website. Define the exact deliverables you expect from the project and obtain a price for the completed project. By laying this out in detail, you will avoid unexpected costs and scope misalignment.
  • Time and Materials (T&M): Best for projects where the scope might evolve, such as ongoing marketing support or campaigns with multiple iterations. You pay the freelancer based on the hours worked and the resources used. This approach offers flexibility, but you need to manage the timeline and budget carefully to prevent overages.
  • Retainer: Great for long-term, ongoing needs like monthly content creation or social media management. With a retainer, you pay a set amount each month for a predetermined scope of work. This provides consistency and allows the freelancer to dedicate time to your account on a regular basis.
• Setting timelines: Determine how long the project will take and set specific start and end dates for the work. Any specific due dates for deliverables also need to be included. Freelancers often juggle multiple clients, so agreeing on deadlines upfront will help ensure smooth progress.  

• Clarifying expectations: Establish what success looks like. Does the project need a certain number of leads generated? A specific visual or creative style? Make these expectations clear so your freelancer knows the standard they are aiming for.

• Budgeting: Set a clear budget from the start, and make sure it aligns with the freelancer’s rates and the project scope. This avoids misunderstandings and ensures the project stays financially on track.

Scoping is the foundation of a successful project. The clearer and more detailed you are during this phase, the easier it will be for the freelancer to meet your expectations, and the fewer revisions or misunderstandings there will be down the road.

Onboarding: Setting the Stage for Success

The onboarding process ensures that both you and your freelancer start on the right foot. It's all about setting up a strong working relationship by sharing the right tools and resources and getting comfortable with the team. Onboarding a freelancer is usually more streamlined and focused than onboarding a full-time employee, but it should not be overlooked.  

What happens during onboarding?

• Kick-off meeting: This can be a virtual or in-person meeting where you and the freelancer align on high-level expectations for the project, timelines, payment, and preferred communication methods. This can also be a time to meet any team members they didn’t meet during the hiring process and get a feel for how the team works.

• Access to tools and resources: Make it easy for them to hit the ground running by providing the freelancer with access to all the tools or platforms they’ll need. This could be project management tools, collaboration software, or asset libraries.  

• Payment setup: No one wants confusion or delays when it comes to payment. As we know from the freelancers we’ve surveyed, income fluctuations are one of the downsides to being a freelancer, so when they aren’t paid on time—this can be a major hardship. If you didn’t connect before onboarding about worker classification, invoicing amount, frequency, payment method, and payment terms, now’s the time. Before any work is started, be sure all necessary paperwork is complete and has been provided to HR.

Check out our 2024 Team Up Report for important perspectives from freelancers and companies about onboarding, worker classification, and more.

Be sure to outline a process for addressing HR/Admin issues such as payment, technology, or building access. Identify who they should contact if they need help in these areas.

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Project Briefing: Where the Real Work Begins

This may be done alongside onboarding or this may be a separate discussion, depending on the stakeholders involved and how quickly you’re moving. During the briefing, you’ll dive deeper into the details of the project. Be prepared to share relevant documents, past campaigns, brand guidelines, and any insights about your target audience or objectives.  

In Wripple’s 2024 Team Up Report, 63% of freelancers reported that the project briefing process was lacking in some way—either unorganized or lacking in thoroughness and standards. When you craft the project brief, focus on being clear and detailed.  

What’s included in a project brief?

• Project scope and objectives: Pulling from your SOW, outline the key deliverables, specific goals, and what success looks like for the project. Whether it’s developing a full marketing campaign, a website refresh, or content creation, clarity here is crucial.  

• Target audience and messaging: Share details about your target audience, market insights, and any relevant messaging guidelines. The more context you can provide, the more likely the freelancer will produce work that resonates with your audience.

• Creative direction and tone: If the project requires a creative component, be sure to share any existing brand guidelines, tone of voice preferences, or design elements. Offering visual or written examples can help the freelancer understand your vision.  

• Deadlines and milestones: Ideally, you agreed on the project timeline, including key milestones or deadlines when scoping, but it’s important to reiterate those in the brief. This ensures everyone is on the same page about when deliverables are due and how progress will be tracked. Because freelancers may not be involved in your day-to-day operations or long-term planning, their timelines are more transactional. It’s important to note that extensions or changes can disrupt other commitments freelancers may have, making strict adherence to deadlines more critical.  

• Final formats: Ensure you both agree on the format and type of deliverables you’ll receive. Will they be providing editable files, final PDFs, or raw designs? Clarify this early on to avoid surprises.  

• Revisions and feedback: Be clear about the number of revisions included in the project fee. Freelancers usually offer 1-2 rounds of revisions, but this can vary. If you anticipate needing more, discuss the terms upfront to avoid scope creep.

A well-crafted project brief is one of the most important elements in ensuring a freelancer delivers work that aligns with your vision. Take the time to be specific and ask the freelancer for feedback to confirm mutual understanding.

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The Project: Staying in Sync

Effective communication is the backbone of any successful project. Freelancers may not be as available as you’re used to with full-time employees, so it’s important to establish communication expectations from the outset.  

Key considerations:

• Preferred communication channels: Some freelancers prefer to use email for all correspondence, while others might suggest using communication tools like Slack or Teams or project management tools like Asana or Trello to keep everything organized. Agree on the best method to suit both of your working styles.  

• Response times: Freelancers typically balance multiple clients, so setting clear expectations for response times is crucial. Will they provide updates daily or weekly? What’s the expected turnaround time for emails or questions?

• Check-ins and status updates: Regular check-ins—whether weekly or bi-weekly—are helpful to ensure the project stays on track and that both parties feel confident with the progress being made.

46% of companies surveyed in our 2024 Wripple Team Up Report said providing clear guidance and support in resolving work-related issues could improve how freelancers integrate into their teams.

Be prompt with feedback. Freelancers rely on your timely input to deliver the best results within agreed timelines. If there’s a delay in feedback, this can extend the overall project completion date.

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Offboarding: Wrapping Up Smoothly

As your project nears completion, the focus will shift to final touches, ensuring deliverables meet your expectations, and closing out the engagement.  

What happens during offboarding?

• Final review and approval: Once the freelancer submits the final deliverable, you’ll review it, provide any last-minute feedback, and approve it. Make sure you’ve given all necessary feedback throughout the process to avoid any last-minute surprises.

• Handover of files: At project completion, ensure you receive all agreed-on files, so you have everything you need for future use.

• Wrap-up meeting: A final meeting can be useful to discuss what worked well, any areas for improvement, and future opportunities to collaborate.

If the project went well, keep the freelancer in your network! Building long-term relationships with trusted freelancers can lead to faster onboarding and better results on future projects.

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Freelancers Add Flexibility and Expertise to Your Team

Working with a marketing freelancer is a great way to add specialized expertise to your team while keeping things flexible. By understanding what to expect—and fostering an open line of communication—you can get the most out of your freelance engagements and take your marketing efforts to the next level.