Working freelance vs. at a marketing agency

Kerry Anderson originally wanted to be an actress. After initially applying to acting school, she decided to reroute and study marketing and communications, something she quickly fell in love with.

After a decade of working both independently and for various marketing agencies—where she discovered her passion for brand building and developing winning, long-term strategies—she decided to start her own consulting company, Indelible Comms.

In today’s episode Kerry sits down with Shaheen Samavati to discuss the differences between working in-house vs. freelance. She also offers advice for navigating the challenges of keeping brand content consistent and being true to your target audience.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Rapid-fire recs

Productivity hacks:
- Time blocking. “I’m incredibly productive in the morning. I love to block out my mornings and then use the afternoon for meetings.”
- Lists. “It’s not new or innovative but I love a good list. I use Apple Notes. When things pop in my head I’ll just jot them down there and it means I’ll remember it the next day!”

Sources of inspiration:
- Marc Pritchard. “He’s definitely someone who I think is incredible because he’s not only continued to lead from the front when it comes to P&G’s portfolio of brands for nearly four decades, but he’s really challenged the whole industry when it comes to digital marketing and transparency. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should definitely go and check out his speech at the IAB conference a few years back.”
- Steve Jobs. “He’s one of the people I got most excited about at the beginning of my career. He had this incredible ability to get you excited about products, and that’s an ability you just don’t see too often.”

Favorite apps:
- Headspace. “A lot of marketers and creative people get distracted very easily. If I have to work on a big document, I’ll listen to a Headspace soundtrack on repeat for however long it takes me to finish my document. They’ve got lots that just get you in the flow. It keeps me really focused.”
- Slack. “It allows me to have lots of conversations and specific channels with people, share documents and be able to find them again in the future.”

Useful resources:
- LinkedIn. “I curate my feed and connect with people from around the world who share interesting content.”
- Trade focused publications such as Marketing Week and The Drum.
- Everyone Hates Marketers podcast. It’s got some really great people on it and you can learn a lot.”

Recommended reading:
- The Long and the Short of It by Les Binet and Peter Field. “You can’t have short without the long and vice versa. You need both in today’s world and they’re really good at bringing that to life.”
- How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp. “It’s very interesting and worth a read for anyone in the industry.”

Learning resources:
- Mark Ritson’s Marketing Week Mini MBA courses. “I’ve done both the Mini MBA in Marketing and in Brand Management courses and I couldn’t recommend them enough. Mark is an amazing professor and really challenges your thinking (and your sanity!).
- Coursera. “There are some excellent and affordable courses there. I’m currently doing a course in pricing optimization and economics with the University of Virginia, which is really interesting.”

One of the most important skills for marketers today is the ability to listen to consumers and the people around. As a marketer, you’re not the audience. Even if you think you’re the target market, you’re not. Listening to everyone around you is so important.

Connect with Kerry and Shaheen on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge.