The Demand for Flexible Marketing Resource
2023 has been a time of consolidation and focus on profitability for many in the UK tech market.
This has unfortunately resulted in a rise in redundancies and a tighter recruitment market than we have seen since Covid. Yet, marketing teams in tech businesses still need to deliver results - without increasing their permanent headcount.
It is unsurprising therefore that we see the recruitment market for marketers showing a trend towards a more flexible resource.
But what does this mean for you? What problems can flexible marketing resource solve for your business and what’s involved? We're here to help you navigate and harness the power of this shift.
What Problems can a Flexible Marketing Resource solve?
Flexible resource encompasses three essential areas:
Fractional Experts: not every company can afford a full-time C-suite executive or senior director. Fractional experts step in to provide strategic guidance and expertise, whether it's for growth strategies, rebranding, repositioning, or pivotal projects.
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT WORKING WITH FRACTIONAL CMO’S
Interim Professionals: sometimes, unforeseen circumstances like staff redundancies or leaves of absence can leave you needing to deliver the work, without the resource. Interim professionals offer a cost-effective solution for maintaining business continuity, whether you have an event, campaign, or urgent deadline to meet.
Specialised Freelancers: for ongoing roles that don't warrant full-time hires, specialised freelancers like copywriters and graphic designers are the perfect solution. They provide intermittent support without the commitment of a permanent employee.
Benefits of Flexible Resource for a marketing team
Choosing a flexible resource offers a myriad of advantages:
Budget Flexibility: It doesn't impact your team's headcount budget; instead, it falls under a different financial category, even if it may be slightly more expensive.
Short-Term Solutions: You can quickly respond to immediate needs without the long-term commitment, making it perfect for project-based or short-term requirements.
Streamlined Processes: Say goodbye to lengthy notice periods, complex employment contracts, and onboarding red tape. Flexible marketing resource can mean less administrative hassle.
Enhanced Agility: With flexible resources, your business gains the agility and responsiveness needed to adapt to rapidly changing market demands.
WHO IN TECH WORKS WITH FLEXIBLE MARKETING RESOURCES?
Flexible resource solutions cater to a wide range of businesses:
Fractional Side: smaller scale-up companies who may be looking to secure investment, or may have just secured investment commonly benefit from senior fractional marketing resource. They are looking for strategic leadership to show them a clear path to help meet their business objectives or deliver large projects.
Mid-Tier and Larger Companies: These businesses often opt for contract and interim solutions to tackle critical projects or bridge staffing gaps. A recent example of an interim market resource we supplied was for a company that needs to deliver a commercially vital Christmas campaign, but has a team member on long-term leave and couldn’t deliver it with the current resource.
NAVIGATING THE HIRING OF FLEXIBLE MARKETING RESOURCE
Sometimes if you are looking into a flexible marketing resource it can seem like a minefield of red tape with IR35, off-payroll rules etc. It can appear much easier to engage someone on a freelance basis – but with inside and outside of IR35 a grey area, you need to be very sure of your position – you don’t want to get tapped on the shoulder by HMRC at a later date. Make sure you are using the HMRC tool CEST [link to tool] to establish whether the role is inside or outside of IR35 and you are in compliance. If the role turns out to be inside IR35, and you ignore this, you can introduce significant risk to your business.
If your role is inside IR35 then you can not engage someone on a freelance basis - they must be payrolled to ensure the correct Tax and National Insurance contributions are paid. However, that does not have to mean they need to be added to your payroll. Engaging someone on an interim basis through a recruitment agency will help to lift the administrative burden as we take care of payroll and much of the other red tape, freeing you up to concentrate on the important things.
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