Onboarding
Bringing new content marketing talent into an organization poses a perennial challenge for managers and freelancers alike. There is much to cover, brand identity, tone of voice, and content strategy – including calendars and schedules – chief among them.
To effectively hit the ground running requires a “complete process during which employers and freelancers can set expectations and exchange information before working together,” according to an Entrepreneur article on the subject. “Business owners who assume that freelancers understand their unique needs force those freelancers to make assumptions of their own, many of which might not be accurate. Gathering the necessary data to make the most of a freelancer’s work might seem inconvenient now, but the better the foundation, the better the results.”
Our findings yield similar results, with managers responding that onboarding calls (73%), briefings for future assignments (67%), and tone of voice documents (65%) are of utmost importance for freelancers who are starting work for a new client. They also prefer remote working, with in-person meetings only happening in 27% of all new onboardings.
Freelancers, meanwhile, are essentially on the same page, with some slight yet striking differences. Briefings for future assignments, 75% say are most important when beginning work, as well as tone of voice documents (71%). Third, a content schedule, which enables freelancers to better manage their time and build their own schedules around those of their clients, is also key to establishing a foundation for a successful partnership, according to 57% of freelance respondents.
Lower on the list from freelance responses, however, is an onboarding call – the top answer among managers. Only 56% of freelancers, however, say that they find onboarding calls important. This is a notable discrepancy that brings the efficacy of these calls into question. If freelancers themselves do not place high importance on them, who are they for?
Managers would do well to ask themselves this question before scheduling onboarding meetings. Doing so might save time and better enable organizations and their freelancers to start working quickly and efficiently together.
“I like to work asynchronously,” says freelance copywriter Rebecca. “So I always favour emails, Zoom videos and Google Doc briefs over an onboarding call, as I’ve never had an onboarding call that was worthwhile. I like to know the competitors, keywords we’ll be targeting, examples of content the client likes and doesn’t like, and title and topic ideas – unless it’s my job to research and outline, as well.”
of freelancers find onboarding calls important
of managers find onboarding calls important
Overlap occurs when it comes to briefings for future assignments, with both managers and freelancers advocating their importance. But what makes an effective briefing? One with enough information regarding target audience and project details, our respondents say, as well as clear expectations regarding goals and timelines.
“All guidelines in a briefing should be easy to follow and contain all the relevant links and other necessary information,” says Natasha, a content marketing manager from Germany. “To be successful, a good brief can be picked up by anyone, because it contains everything that's needed. Always write a brief as if you're speaking to a novice who doesn't know anything about your brand.”