Anand Srinivasan
The past year has seen massive changes in the way we live and work – drastically effecting business everywhere in terms of their eCommerce marketing services.
According to IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by five years. Whilst proactive businesses have found creative ways to gain a foothold in the eCommerce marketplace, it has been hard for many to keep up.
The eCommerce marketplace is huge, with freelancers being amongst the rising trend of workers. When there’s a chance to get a slice of a global pie valued at over $4.2 trillion – with the pie only getting larger by the second – you want to stay ahead of the crowd.
In 2020, sales in eCommerce businesses grew by over 30% – permanent employees who chose (or were forced) to work remotely due to the pandemic, became the gateway for freelancers. They opened the door to a broader acceptance of flexible working arrangements – which has, in turn, encouraged employers’ openness to engaging freelancers in their business.
Freelancers are just as effective at being integrated into business operations as remote employees, and also bring highly specialized skills to the mix at very attractive rates – with no additional overhead.
Freelancers are also of particular value to eCommerce merchants – many of whom are solopreneurs, or small businesses – who simply can’t afford to hire full-time specialists or agencies. SMB owners want relief from the pressures of having to wear multiple hats to oversee everything from marketing to customer support to order processing – all while sitting in the CEO chair.
Scaling Your Ecommerce Marketing Plan
Most business owners reach a “pivot point”: they recognize that to remain competitive they need to establish a strong online presence. That means hiring the right talent.
That’s where freelancers come in.
As a business, there is a lot freelancers have to offer. They can fill in the gaps, allowing the owner (you) to focus on running the business and strategizing for growth in other areas.
More importantly, they bring the specialized expertise that is crucial for online business success – and that many business owners simply don’t have in-house.
How Freelancing Works
Freelance specialists are wise investments that pay off in affordable and creative problem-solving in the short term, and business growth in the long run.
Neither you nor the freelancer is necessarily locked into a contract or specified hours of work. There’s no guesswork: tasks are assigned on an as-needed basis, and both parties are clear on project scope and deadlines. Speaking of projects, there are plenty of handy project portfolio templates for you to manage your portfolio successfully.
Freelancers bring expertise and a fresh set of eyes to a unique set of business challenges – which is exactly what a business like yourself should be looking for.
Businesses aren’t just looking for eCommerce marketing services, they’re also looking for reasonable rates and upfront assurances about results.
A few tips:
- Freelancers should make potential employers aware of the automation software they’ll use to boost productivity.
- If the business’s budget is restricted, a freelancer should include a variable component in their fee.
- They should offer a specific KPI (like “I will increase repeat purchases“, or “I will increase average-order-value“) as their selling proposition. This makes it easy for you to measure the freelancer’s impact on your business.
Dive In
The Freelancers Union of America predicts that Web Designers and SEO specialists will be the top two in-demand jobs in 2021 – so this is a perfect time to dive into the eCommerce freelance pool.
Your options will be determined by the skillset needed. So – what are you looking for?
eCommerce businesses (especially those who want to go international) tend to want to boost traffic, increase conversions, and gain more market share. A skilled freelancer has expertise in one or more eCommerce marketing services that can help them reach those goals.
The Top Two:
SEO Specialist
Web traffic is eCommerce gold – and SEO is fundamental to driving it.
Hiring talented SEO content writers is key to improving your ranking on search engine results pages. Few SMBs have the expertise in-house, so relying on freelancers who can evaluate their current ranking, optimize the written content and focus on keywords can give much better results.
Website Design
Getting visitors to a site is just the first step: the second is converting visitors into buyers.
Talented website designers and web developers can help businesses understand how customers are interacting with your site, update product pages, and build new mobile channels to boost traffic and increase repeat users.
A few other key eCommerce players:
Digital Marketing Strategist
When traffic is low, a digital marketing specialist can help businesses gather consumer information and determine target markets – then strategize to increase traffic, raise brand awareness, and ensure that products are tailored to meet consumer demands.
No matter what type of business you are running, a skilled digital marketer will use this data to increase the ROI. Many e-commerce businesses hire them to level up their conversion rate optimization.
They can also oversee specific tasks like the generation of weekly or monthly promotions via email templates, handling PPC advertising, following up on leads, and more.
Social Media Manager
Many businesses recognize the potential in social media for driving traffic – but they’ve hesitated to get into it, they’re not happy with what they’ve got, or they simply don’t have time to maintain it. A social media specialist can get them on the right track.
User Experience Designer
The interactions between a brand’s website or apps and its customers constitute the user experience. It’s fundamental for eCommerce success – so UX specialists who can optimize those services are highly valued.
Storefront Developer
There are a number of storefront platform options. They allow businesses to build an online store, then manage its operation and growth.
Having a specialist set up shop for you is, for any business, a huge time/money/effort saver – and a gateway to market your eCommerce store.
Whatever their area of expertise in eCommerce marketing services, your company’s market value will only increase as eCommerce becomes a pressing priority in the virtual eCommerce world.
Businesses are learning to adapt and reinvent themselves – in times like these, a quick solution, like hiring freelance talent, might just be the answer.
Add a freelancer to your toolkit. Take advantage of quality online marketplaces like Twine, which specialise in outsourcing talent and ensuring success for your business. The sooner you look for specialised talent, the more likely you’ll be to find good freelancing fits.
Freelancers aren’t just shaping the global economy: they’ve almost become its backbone. They now make up close to 35% of the world’s workforce.
Don’t worry – there’s plenty of pie to go around, both now and for the foreseeable future.
Grab a slice.
Looking to hire? Our marketplace of over 410,000 freelancers have the skills and expertise needed to skyrocket your business. From designers to developers, marketers to videographers – we have the freelancer for you.
Stuart Logan
Wondershare
Michelle Payne
