Alternative to Craigslist and Google searches for Contractors?
Let’s face it, in a turbulent economy one of the first departments to meet the axe man is the Marketing Department of any Mid to Large Business. Historically, Marketing is viewed as pure overhead by many executives. Therefore, it’s no wonder that 53% of surveyed marketing executives plan to outsource their marketing, according to the Harvard Business Review. It’s still necessary to market and promote your business. Delivering creative messaging under pressure isn’t easy. For internal Marketing departments with budget battles, multiple stakeholders, talent manage, and resource constraints, it’s a wonder that projects get done at all sometimes. SEO, Social Media, creative messaging, branding, emails… it’s a lot of work. Finally when it comes time to pull the trigger and outsource your right brained resources where are you to turn?
The general trend has been to:
- Outsource to Managed Services. The business hires a 3rd Party firm to deliver their content.
- Business-Processing. Hiring a contracted company to fulfill and generate specific Marketing and Creative content.
- Freelances. This a a bit of the wild west. Hiring wild guns from your Uncle’s Cousin’s Sister In Law’s Best Friend’s Kid with a laptop, to finding people on Craigslist.
Thumbtack is a platform that helps take some of the guess work out of hiring a right-brained resource. They help connect qualified service professionals with businesses and individuals. While it may not be the perfect platform, because it doesn’t stop a bidding-war / race to the bottom on prices, it does provide a good platform for vetted professionals. It also helps eliminate the SPEC-WORK that plagues the creative industry. The Magic Graphics is a participant on Thumbtack. Find us here.