The future of your marketing organization includes a new role: a flexible talent resource lead.
In 2020, we’ve already seen that a new position will help define a new era and the future of marketing. And judging by the inbound leads we’ve received over the past week at We Are Rosie, the timeline and adoption rate show no signs of slowing down.
This new role — a flexible talent lead — comes on the heels of a seismic shift in marketing strategies and work in general. So let’s take it back to the beginning: How did we arrive at the need for flexible talent solutions?
I’m glad you asked.
A new era of marketing: why every marketing organization needs a flexible talent strategy
Major demand for inclusive talent in the last few years explains the need for a role like this: People are seeking project-based marketing, and, of course, we’re seeing a wave of in-house agencies cropping up inside venture-backed and Fortune 500 brands. These trends — combined with the growing number of talent migrating to independent work — have converged, presenting the opportunity (and necessity) for a change in the way we work.
Consider this: In the U.S. alone, 57 million people operated as independent contractors in 2019; that’s roughly 35% of the American workforce.
So it’s no surprise that brands and agencies are aggressively tapping into the massive selection of independent experts. This empowers marketers who crave diverse thought, project-based agility, and the ability to do more with a dream team at their fingertips. In many instances, this team will consist of solopreneurs, independent talent, small business owners, and others pursuing a new life in the passion economy.
Luckily, flexible talent leads offer up yet another benefit: They can also handle project-based consulting work in a way that shows distinct improvements over outdated yet common consulting and staffing models. These experts’ niche knowledge and agility mean they’ll provide an entirely different experience.
Traditionally, a large brand accessed flexible talent through a large (often global) staffing company. Generally, these companies focus on breadth over depth, volume over quality, speed over efficacy, and transactions over relationships. In other words, they are the antithesis of a move to purpose-driven workplaces. For chief marketing officers, these staffing companies simply aren’t able to provide the tailor-made service, quality, expertise, or care needed in a talent provider.
So what’s a CMO to do?
The future of marketing: executing flexible talent solutions
At We Are Rosie, many of our clients work with us to incorporate a dedicated flexible talent resource lead into their organizations. This person’s primary responsibility involves becoming embedded in his or her organization to act as a single point of contact for flexible talent to forecast all project-based needs.
The lead not only works with marketing leads, but also with departments like HR; IT; and diversity, equity, and inclusion to develop onboarding and offboarding procedures for flexible talent. He or she ensures a company is maximizing the impact it can have, setting itself up for success, and capturing the opportunity to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
As the timeline to operationalize remote teams increases — and marketers seek new ways to develop their own in-house capabilities — the flexible talent resource lead will play an integral role in the future of marketing. The future is a responsive organization, and by operationalizing how your organization taps into freelance talent, you’re gaining a competitive edge that will set your organization up for unprecedented success.
