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ENSURING THAT YOUR FREELANCE WRITER AND OTHER CONSULTANTS ARE SUCCESSFUL

Creative freelancers can be a tremendous asset to your company when used in the right ways, and can hit the ground running on just about any project – but you can really boost the process and put an extra spring in their step by swiftly integrating them into the team and providing helpful information. Here are eight strategies that can help you achieve maximum benefit from your creative consultants and freelance writing resources.

Secure management support. Make sure you have strong management support of the project professionals’ roles.

Keep your staff informed. Inform full-time employees of the nature and length of the freelancers’ projects. Your staff may also have unwarranted concerns about their own job security when they hear the words “creative freelancer”, so be sure to explain that the consultants are being brought on board to help lighten their workload and make EVERYONE more productive and successful.

Give them a quick tour. Assist consultants acclimate by introducing them to everyone on the team, and include administrative personnel. Be sure to explain your department’s day-to-day routines and a brief overview of policies and procedures too.

Foster a welcoming workspace. Ensure that their designated work areas are equipped with basic office supplies and computers with up-to-date software and access to relevant data. An hour spent with IT trying to get equipment running is an hour freelancers are not performing the work they were hired to do.

Clarify project details. On their first day, schedule a one-on-one meeting with freelancers to define the scope of the project(s), identify objectives and your expectations, set clear deadlines, and provide specific instructions on doing their job most effectively. Put these guidelines in writing, and go over any lingering questions the consultants may have during this meeting.

Keep them in the loop. Let freelancers review existing marketing materials and advertising, web and social media content and anything else that will help them to understand your company’s brand. Also include them in all relevant meetings and emails concerning their projects. Don’t forget to invite consultants to team-building activities and informal events, like afternoon coffee runs, too. Making them feel they are part of the team can go a long way to making them feel most comfortable in their new role, no matter how short term it will be, and produce the highest quality of work for you.

Promote open communication. Make sure you have a point person to answer any questions or address any concerns that may arise. If that person is busy, appoint secondary contacts who can address issues if the primary contact person is unavailable.

Review progress and check in with staffing firms. Conduct an assessment of your freelancers’ performance early on to ensure everything is going as planned. This will ensure that the project doesn’t go off track, and result in longer than necessary assignments and overall results that are less than they should be. If working with a staffing firm, provide updates to your staffing manager on the freelancers’ progress. This will help him or her ensure the consultants are available for as long as needed.

If you do these things, you’ll find your relationships with freelance writers along with other creatives will go more smoothly and ultimately lead to more success. And if you’d like to put these principles in to practice, you can always work with me as your professional web content freelance writer!

Jim H.

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