If you haven’t come across websites like Upwork or Fiverr before now, allow us to give you a brief overview. If you require a creative project or task that you wouldn’t normally need on a long-term or regular basis, then you could use websites like Upwork and Fiverr to outsource that task and find a creative person to get the job done. (There are many more out there, but as these are some of the biggest, with the most aggressive marketing campaigns and budgets – we’ll only reference these for today).
Upwork claims to have the largest network of independent professionals to – in short – get things done. Fiverr is very similar, they connect businesses with digital freelancers in 300+ categories. So you get the idea, you need a person, these sites will help you find one.
Sounds simple enough right? Well…not always. On paper, the concept works and is an attractive one. But those aggressive marketing campaigns I previously mentioned, promote competitively low fees, and tight turnarounds. As a business, your budget for the project or campaign may thank you in the short term. But you may find yourself spending double later, fixing rushed or plagiarised work, that you simply can’t use.
At Designated we recruit experts in their fields, our full-time employees and freelancers all have several interviews and project-based tasks to assess whether they would be a fit for our current (and future!) clients. So when our clients come to us with a project, we can assign the right person for the job, based on more than a job title.
A Designated team member is dedicated to the client to work on the project, campaign or long-term assignment. Our team develop strong and lasting relationships, which is why our clients have been so loyal to us over the years and exploring various business solutions support, as and when they need them. It is not uncommon for a client who employees their PA via Designated to come back to us for Marketing, Accountancy or HR requirements further down the line.
Concepts such as Fiverr or Upwork can result in an exploitation of industry professionals, those that have spent many years perfecting their craft. Such low fees for their time and work as well as constant reminders from the platform of the ‘tight turnarounds’, mean that freelancers have very little choice than to submit sub-standard work. Not to mention that the platforms can charge some hefty fees to the freelancers for the privilege of using their services.
There will be some clients out there that seek to take advantage of this cheap labour, but in the long run – their business won’t benefit from it. Unfortunately, multi-million-dollar platforms like these are benefiting from businesses that don’t have an eye for or realise the importance of unique and specialist design.
Many of our clients see us as an extension of their teams and with such strong working relationships, productivity soars. So for us, websites like Fiverr and Upwork would never work to outsource our projects.
At Designated we are committed to our clients and take real ownership over the work we do. If you are looking for some additional support at your company across the areas of PA, Accountancy, Marketing or HR and Recruitment – please do get in touch. 0207 952 1460 or info@designatedgroup.com
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