The economy has recovered. Thank goodness! For those of us in the AEC world, that means more projects, more work and more revenue. YAY! But for many firms, the hiring budgets may have not caught up just yet. Full-time employees (especially marketing professionals who are often lumped into overhead) are expensive. You've got to pay them a full-time salary, provided competitive health insurance, paid time off and sick leave. Not to mention the red tape you have to go through if... GASP... your new hire doesn't quite live up to your expectations.
Bottom line: It's hard to make the case to hire another full-time person.
Or maybe, you don’t even need another full time marketing team member; you just need just some extra help to get through your current surge in work.
Maybe in one situation, you are down to one marketing coordinator and needed help with a few proposals. Hire a freelancer to help. Or maybe your best marketing coordinator is gone for 12 weeks on maternity leave. Hire a freelancer to help.
That's where outsourcing your marketing help to a qualified marketing professional comes in. There are marketing and graphic freelancers across the country that are experienced in responding to local, state and federal RFPs, developing competitive presentations and helping AEC firms win work that boosts the bottom line.
These consultants work at home or at their office and will usually sign a confidentiality agreement or agreement to be exclusive to your firm for particular pursuits. The trick is finding a good AEC marketing consultant that you can trust in their availability and skills when you need them. Usually, by the time you realize you need help, you're already in a crunch. Having the number of a qualified marketing consultant on demand can be priceless to get you out of the trenches so the final product your clients see reflects the high quality of your brand and technical services.
