To state the obvious, being a marketer in a healthcare organization today is tough. It takes tenacity and resourcefulness to get the work done. Days are filled with demands, deadlines, and little or no help on the horizon. Like other professions, marketers are participating in the “Great Resignation” and leaving for more promising horizons. It can seem to be an untenable situation, but there are effective solutions, and they may just lead to a more agile, effective marketing practice. Here’s what’s going on.
In a recent MarketHire survey of more than 25,000 marketers, nearly 48% said they were planning to leave their jobs. It’s not easy to fill their shoes. In the same survey 68% of business leaders said they have struggled to hire an in-house marketer.
But, despite tight budgets, some organizations understand that marketing is necessary, event essential to grow market share and buffer encroachment and competition. So, if you’re the professional in the marketing seat, how are you to build a reliable marketing practice while meeting deadlines and delivering substantive product?
One solution is to hire outside help. Respondents to that same MarketHire survey said they are outsourcing nearly half of all marketing responsibilities to freelancers. In addition:
- 80% said they had worked with a freelance marketer recently
- 63% reported working with at least one in the past six months
Korn Ferry, a national recruiting firms says that one of the trends in hiring is executives increasingly relying on contract employment to meet scaling workforce needs. It’s more flexible, easier to find the skills and talent necessary for the ecosystem, and perfect for an economically dynamic landscape.
It’s impossible to find good help – or is it?
We all know staffing shortages are projected to continue (if not worsen), and that makes finding most any skill set challenging. Marketing is not immune. When a daily “To-Do” list ranges from social media and web maintenance to branding and competitive analysis, finding capable, skilled help seems nearly impossible, or is it?
Believe it or not, there are a lot of highly skilled people out there, and their expertise is available for hire. As it stands today, fully 36% of the American workforce are freelancers – 59 million Americans1, and it’s a workforce that is growing three (3) times faster than the overall US workforce2. Hiring a contractor can bring with it speed, economy, and experience. According to Upwork, a platform of millions of freelancers, companies can:
- Hire a freelancer within 1-3 days compared to 20+ days with traditional staffing firms
- Save 30-50% on hiring costs, compared to the 80% markup by traditional staffing agencies)
There is no shortage of talent to fill the types of work you need. In 2020 hiring managers engaged freelancers for a wide variety of work3:
- 58% – writing
- 58% – creative/design
- 51% – web, mobile, and software development
- 46% – marketing
- 35% – IT/networking and database admin
- 33% – engineering
Contractors – A Compelling Solution
Just because the resource is out there, doesn’t mean you have the budget, or the approval, to go after them. But here is the compelling argument to get that contracting ability:
- Freelancers can be hired for only the amount of time you need them
- Contractors are usually highly-skilled, motivated, self-starters who are fast learners and assimilate quickly into a new team
- By nature, freelancers are agile and adaptable, comfortable in dynamic situations
- Planning is easier when staff is hired for specific timeframes and project length
We are part of that solution. We offer content generation, written by healthcare insiders, that expands your bandwidth and gets work done. Learn more
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