Freelancers help businesses beat the recession

During this economic downturn many large businesses are turning to freelancers to get the edge over their competition. Right now marketing is at its most important however many people are feeling the purse strings tighten as overheads are reduced. The danger for some is that a reduction in marketing spend may mean future business becomes compromised and a downward spiral may occur. For others they’ve found the answer – it’s to get more value from their suppliers by switching to from agencies to freelance businesses.

Generally freelance businesses have far lower operating costs so it’s likely a lot of those currently using agencies for their marketing communications could get the same service they are getting now for around half the cost.

The question is do freelance businesses offer a service comparable with agencies; the answer is yes many do.

It’s important not to generalise freelance businesses; like agencies they come in many forms. It is indeed fair to say that many are orientated to the cheaper end of the market and simply not suitable for large businesses. However many freelance businesses, like Cookies & Java, offer the services of professionals who cut their teeth in agencies but without such high overheads, and thus can offer agency standard service in a higher value package.

In fact it gets better than that; many freelancers can offer more dedication and focus than they could in an agency environment. Fewer distractions, more freedom, greater control all leads to higher quality, more focused work for the customer.

Where freelancers previously fell down was offering a pool of collective resources outside of their specialisation but global communications has changed that meaning most freelance businesses can sub-contract or suggest the services of others.

The only problem businesses may face is sourcing a desirable freelance business that isn’t already fully booked with work.

At Cookies & Java we’ve been very busy recently, we’ve had our heads down working flat out for the majority of this year and the workload doesn’t look to be easing until summer. From what we’re hearing that’s the case for similar freelance businesses all over the globe. It looks like those thinking of switching need to do so soon to guarantee availability.

When you consider that the market is getting tougher for agencies and their high operating costs are soaring the pressure is certainly on to take advantage now while the option is available. Some may find their current agency must raise its prices or worse still suddenly cease trading alogether.

Switching is one thing – finding a freelance business you want to work with is another.

Larger organisations are going to find it tougher to source freelance businesses that can offer the level of service they require. While the lower end of the industry is saturated with freelancers actively promoting themselves the higher end is relatively silent, particularly outside of professions such as Web design who cannot easily create their own promotional Web sites. These businesses often rely on word of mouth marketing and can require some thorough digging to unearth.

Of course if you’re reading this blog you’ve hopefully already found one!

So really the clock is ticking, if you have realised the benefits of switching from your agency to a high quality freelance business like Cookies & Java then you need to act fast to beat the impending bun fight.