Marketing Lesson of The Week

► US Freelancers Grow

In the US, freelance workers account for 40% of the US population across skill groups according to research by Upwork and reported by Yahoo. That’s a 5 percentage point increase from pre-pandemic levels.

Pre-pandemic, freelancers were generally unskilled workers or creators.

But not anymore!

A deeper look at the data shows:

• 51% provide knowledge services and labor, often considered white-collar jobs;
• 37% do unskilled labor and other services such as construction, hospitality (mainly restaurants) and home workers.
• 31% are independent salespeople;
• 23% create content for social media and other business needs; and
• 14% are undefined.

These numbers hide the large number of tech and other business employees who have been laid off during the past 6 months and need money for monthly expenses.

While WFH and being independent with no boss may seem like the ideal lifestyle, think before you leave your current job.

Being an independent contractor has some wonderful benefits like no commute, flexible hours and lower clothing costs.

BUT don’t overlook the lack of:

• Health insurance (which can be expensive and cover less);
• No sick leave or vacation time; and
• Insecurity about your next gig.

Actionable Marketing Recommendations

• Before you quit your day job, at least, check your skills and work potential. If you have knowledge gaps, then take courses or volunteer for this type of work at your current job. Also, update your LinkedIn Profile using terms that make sense to the general public, not just internal corporate jargon.
• Build up an emergency fund sufficient to cover 3 to 6 months of routine expenses. This means cash or the equivalent in a bank account where you can access it without a waiting period or income loss. Also, this doesn’t mean the limit on your credit cards! DON’T USE IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE!

Actionable Freelancer Marketing Implication

• Increased difficulty reaching out to prospects and existing customers since they may be working from home or using a different mobile. If these members of your audience have left the company, you no longer have an email or postal address to contact them. Where possible, add personal mobile numbers to your CRM system.

Content Communicates

► What Is The Creator Economy?

Also known as the Gig Economy, the Creator Economy consists of individuals who make money by developing decentralized media across a variety of platforms and content formats. It consists of over 50 million people worldwide who consider themselves creators. Of these people, 46.7 million label themselves amateurs.

Social media has been critical to the growth of the Creator Economy. It supports building an engaged community of fans by sharing ideas and information in different formats across different platforms.

Brands continued to spend their marketing budget on the sector of the Creator Economy known as influencer marketing during 2022. December was the highest-spending month for influencer marketing platform Linqia. Social media platforms continue to cater to creators and many networks are rolling out new products for creators to monetize their audiences.

In 2023, 2 out of 3 marketing and PR professionals worldwide expect to increase their influencer marketing budget according to an Influencer Marketing Hub report. At the same time, more creators will consider launching their own brands and extending their monetization beyond social media. (Source)

Marketers seek to work with Content Creators to accomplish these goals:

• 62% want to generate more engagement;
• 60% look to expand reach to new audiences;
• 53% want to strengthen their social media communities; and
• 42% expect to increase revenue.

Actionable Marketing Tip

• Examine and test whether content creators can improve your use of influencer marketing.

► What Type Of Content Products Do Creators Offer?

Creator product offerings continue to expand. Either creators develop new offerings or their fans or clients want new products. 

Among the options creators offer are:

• Text: Newsletters, Blog posts, eBooks and Literary works;
• Visuals: Infographics, Memes, Photos, Illustrations, Other images, Comics, Cartoons and Slideshows;
• Videos: Videos, Vlogs and Live video;
• Audio: Podcasts and Audiobooks;
• Courses/Learning: How-To guides, Courses and Webinars;
• Tech: Apps and Tools; and
• Other: Games, Wikis and Communities.

Before creating content, realize marketers seek masters of their medium. Further, they want to work with creators who have a strong relationship with their community. (Source):

• 50% seek educational content;
• 43% want creator testimonials
• 42% use product unboxing or reveals;
• 42% offer giveaways or challenges;
• 31% seek to take prospects behind the scenes;
• 28% use trending topic commentary; and
• 24% seek skits or comedy.

Actionable Marketing Tip

• Determine what content products you offer that your audience likes and where you have holes in your offering that creators can help fill.

► Show Me The Content Creator Economy Money!

Content creators make money in a variety of ways. Most frequently creators diversify their income sources to increase their total revenues since many have high hurdles to generating any money.

The Tilt’s Joe Pulizzi recommends starting by focusing on one platform to gain traction before expanding your offering. Further, while offering paid products early shows your ultimate goal, don’t expect to reap rewards until you attract 1,000+ fans.

The following options generate creator revenue:

• Digital content including one-off purchases and subscriptions;
• Advertising revenue including sponsored content and product placement;
• Affiliate marketing;
• Donations including tips;
• Fan or community fees including events; and
• Course payments per course or packaged deals.

Since marketers must show an ROI from these partnerships, the creator’s alignment with the brand’s product matters as well as the longevity of the content they create.

From a creator perspective, cash flow from many social media options requires large audiences to generate the equivalent of a full-time salary.

SproutSocial’s “Average Creator Compensation” chart shows what potential revenues from social media pay.

Further, marketers must show an ROI from these partnerships so the creator’s alignment with the brand’s product matters as well as the longevity of the content.

To get an idea of what potential revenues look like, check SproutSocial’s “Average Creator Compensation” chart. The caveat: This chart focuses on social media where visitors and followers tend not to yield high-quality leads for marketers.

Actionable Marketing Tip

• Determine pricing by analyzing similar products offered by other content entrepreneurs. BUT–Don’t copy their products! Also, take into account the difference in community size.

Voice/AI Notes

► How Do Creators Use AI?

Are you a content creator?

If so, did you realize that AI-assisted tools can help improve your work without it being AI generated?

58.9% of marketers worldwide use AI tools to improve their content. The tools they use include ChatGPT, Anyword, Jasper, Copy.ai, Frase and Quillbot.

Among the top ways marketers use AI to improve their human-created content include:

• Repurpose existing content where AI transforms original content into related content.
• Personalize content where AI uses buyer and customer behavior to segment audiences to better personalized content by location, specific send time and content language.
• Improve search-ranking for content where AI tools research and generate keywords to help it rank better in search. Also, AI identifies new keyword opportunities.
• Test content where AI automates A/B and multivariable testing to improve content conversions. (Source: InsiderIntelligence)

► Marketing AI Tools To Test

With the introduction of GPT-4, many content marketing tools are incorporating new AI technology into their offerings. Here are 4 tools worth testing.

• Google offered its Bard chatbot to select US and UK users. Like its competitors, users give prompts or questions and it generates answers within seconds.
  
  Potential issue: Google’s chatbot-driven search may reduce publisher traffic by disincentivizing users from leaving Google.
   
• Amazon released its AI-driven Bedrock tool. It includes Amazon Web Services’ first-party language models (aka: Titan), AI21 and Anthropic’s language models, and Stability AI’s model. These AI tools can generate content, turn text into images, and deliver search results.
  
  Potential issue: Amazon says it’s “really concerned about” accuracy and ensuring its AI models produce high-quality responses. If Amazon’s AI is more trustworthy, it may gain a competitive edge.
   
• Quora launched Poe, its AI-powered chatbots on February 3. The app offers access to 6 generative AI solutions, including ChatGPT, GPT-4, Claude Plus, Claude Instant, Sage and Dragonfly.
  
  Potential issue: By being chatbot agnostic and offering different solutions rather than just one, Poe is a one-stop shop for users.
   
• Canva offers AI-powered design tools to curate a selection of personalized templates, recommend images and layouts, automatically match video footage to soundtrack, translate design text to 100+ languages, and create content from a prompt.
  
  Potential issue: These tools can help during budget constraints and limited resources. Content creation is one area where AI can help marketers allowing them to focus on human tasks.
   
• Mailchimp is beta testing its Email Content Generator, which uses OpenAI’s GPT to create drag and drop email content. It suggests text based on the industry, campaign purpose, or past marketing materials. It also offers prompts for desired tone and copy.
  
  Potential issue: It helps create more personalized, effective email marketing campaigns to improve audience engagement and retention. (Source: Insider Intelligence)

Marketing Reads

To get a full understanding of the Creator Economy, read Joe Pulizzi’s Content, Inc. Second Edition.

Our AMG Interview with Joe gives you new insights into how to become a Content Entrepreneur.

To celebrate some of our favorite Creative Entrepreneurs, check out their books:

Jay Acunzo	Jay Baer	Roberto Blake	Andy Crestodina	Chris Drucker	Ann Handley	Robert Rose

Plan Ahead: Mark Your Calendar

► Creator Economy Expo – May 1-3 in Cleveland, OH

► CX Connect– June 13–15, Online via Zoom

► The Conversation Design Conference – July 24th - 25th in London, UK
bringing together the leading thinkers and doers in Conversation Design

► Marketing AI Conference – July 26 - 28 in Cleveland, OH

► Voice and AI – September 5th to 7th in Washington, DC

► Content Marketing World 2023 – September 26 - 28 in Washington, DC

► MarketingProfs B2B Forum – October 4 - 6 in Boston, MA

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Heidi

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