Finding great marketing talent is harder than ever. The best marketers are already booked, and the ones who are available can be hit or miss. Even when someone looks promising, it can be difficult to know whether they will actually deliver or just look good on paper. That is why so many businesses hire freelancers. They fill critical skill gaps quickly, bring in specialized expertise, and offer flexibility without the commitment of a full-time hire. But hiring a marketing freelancer is not as simple as posting a job and waiting for the right person to appear.
Over the years, we have hired dozens of freelancers across nearly every marketing discipline—from PPC and design to web development and analytics.
Here is what we have learned about how to find the right person, where to look, and how to build a relationship that actually works.
Step 1: Decide if You Really Need to Hire Someone
Before you start looking, take a step back. When companies hire full-time employees, they spend weeks defining the role, the skills that matter most, and the goals tied to that position. Larger organizations might go through a headcount allocation process, which forces the business leader to define (and lobby for) the role they are hiring. Although arduous, the full-time hire process helps businesses better identify the skillsets they need to move the business forward. When it comes to hiring freelancers, most businesses skip these steps entirely.
They hire too quickly or for the wrong reason and end up disappointed.
Start by asking: What problem are we actually trying to solve? Is this a one-time project or an ongoing need? What would success look like 30 days from now? If you cannot answer those questions clearly, it might be too early to hire.
Step 2: Write a Clear and Specific Job Description
Generic job posts attract generic freelancers. Be clear about what you need, what tools the freelancer should know, and how success will be measured. A vague post like “need help with marketing” will bring in hundreds of unqualified applicants.
Try something like: “We need a marketing freelancer to manage our Facebook and Instagram ads, track ROI in Google Analytics, and deliver weekly performance reports.” That level of detail attracts professionals who know what they are doing and helps you filter out everyone else.
Sometimes, the hiring manager will have an idea of the specific platforms, tools or technologies they need assistance with. In those cases, list them as part of your role description. If you don’t know what specific platforms to use, it’s OK to ask freelancers to make recommendations based on the desired outcome you outline in your job description. We’ve learned quite a bit about new technologies as we’ve interviewed freelancers. It’s a great way to broaden your team’s skillset and knowledge base.
Step 3: Know Where to Look
There are more online platforms than ever for finding marketing freelancers. We have highlighted the platforms that our team has used
- Upwork – Best for longer-term freelance relationships or complex projects where you need to vet skills.
- MarketerHire – Focused entirely on vetted marketing talent. You can find specialists in PPC, content, and strategy who are pre-screened for quality.
- Fiverr – Great for quick, task-based work like design, video animation, or small ad projects. We haven’t had great success here for more complicated task types or copywriting.
- OnlineJobs.ph – A strong resource for overseas marketing talent, especially for ongoing digital or technical support.
- FlexJobs – Offers vetted remote freelancers and tends to attract serious, experienced candidates.
- We Work Remotely – One of the most popular boards for digital marketing, SEO, and creative roles.
- Kivo – There are a number of virtual assistant and near shore/offshore hiring agencies. Some of them are very good…especially if you prefer a “done for you” approach to hiring offshore talent. Kivo is a company we have used successfully for sourcing pre-vetted marketing freelancers. Make sure to review how they handle matching, as some services limit your ability to select or interview candidates.
- Slack Groups – Slack marketing communities are an underrated and underutilized resource when it comes to hiring. Many of them have channels dedicated to job/career posts. Even without a dedicated channel for jobs, the word-of-mouth networking in the channels is excellent. A few of our favorites are:
- Measure Slack – Analytics and Digital Marketing Measurement
- Top of the Funnel – Content Marketing and SEO
- The SEO Community – Obviously SEO, but lots of other smart digital marketers in there as well.
- White-label subscription services – These services operate on a flat monthly fee and give you access to a rotating team of vetted designers, writers, or marketers who function as an extension of your in-house team. They’re great when you need predictable output without managing multiple freelancers. We use Deskteam 360 for most of our web development work and they are fantastic.
A common mistake we see is underestimating the true cost of hiring through online platforms. Most freelance marketplaces charge a percentage fee on top of the hourly rate or project total. For example, Upwork and Fiverr both take a cut from either the freelancer or the client (sometimes both), which means your effective rate can be 10–20% higher than what you initially budgeted. It is worth factoring those platform fees into your overall budget before you post a job. Otherwise, you risk hiring too cheaply or running out of funds midway through a project.
Step 4: Treat Freelancers Like Part of the Team
When we hire freelancers, we treat the process just like we would for a full-time teammate. That means structured interviews, clear expectations, and real work, not hypothetical test questions. Once we identify a few promising candidates, we often assign each person a small, paid project that mirrors the type of work they would be doing if they joined the team.
Sometimes we give the same assignment to multiple freelancers to see how each approaches the task. This tells us more about their communication, reliability, and problem-solving than any interview ever could.
After a few successful projects, the best freelancers move into our preferred group, people we know we can trust with client-facing work. From there, our top performers become part of our inner circle. These are the people we bring into larger projects, give more autonomy, and work with long-term as part of the Tobie team.
Step 5: Local or Remote? Build Real Relationships Either Way
With full-time employees, retention matters. With freelancers, retention and “share of work” matter. The top freelancers keep full calendars and often balance several clients at once. How much time they dedicate to you depends on your pay, how challenging your projects are, and how aligned your culture is with what they want to do every day.
The best marketing freelancers have options. The best ones choose their clients just as carefully as you choose your partners. You are not only hiring them, you are also selling your work, your culture, and your style.
That is true whether they live down the street or across the world. Building a strong relationship and giving them a reason to prioritize your work is what keeps them engaged. When you create an environment where they enjoy contributing, you will not have to chase talent—they will make space for your projects on their schedule.
In marketing, it is common to work with nearshore or offshore freelancers. The talent pool is global, and great people can come from anywhere. But even if you never meet in person, it is important to build real, face-to-face interaction whenever possible.
We schedule video calls early and often because tone, body language, and conversation go a long way in creating trust.
The Takeaway
Hiring a marketing freelancer can be one of the smartest decisions you make. You get specialized skills, flexibility, and the ability to scale up or down as needed. But success depends on structure.
Define what you need, choose your platforms carefully, and treat freelancers like teammates instead of vendors. Finding good marketing talent is hard, but with the right approach, your next freelancer might end up being one of your most valuable long-term teammates.