It is becoming obvious that, moving forward, successful brands will be built by a dynamic, fluid and diverse workforce.
As the President of PowerPublish, a freelance marketplace connecting marketing entrepreneurs with brand marketers, I have a front-row seat to witnessing this accelerated evolution of workforce architecture. Historically, businesses preferred a salaried workforce that delivered a familiar feedback loop of expertise and institutional knowledge. Roughly four out of five companies today are now turning to the freelance economy instead of hiring full-time employees. The tide has turned. The growing trend of corporations reducing labor costs and outsourcing to experts is undeniable.
Tomorrow’s lean, fast-paced, and chaotic environment will usher in a new workforce paradigm for marketing departments in particular. Marketers must increase their department outsourcing to a brain trust of agile on-demand and hyper-specialized experts. At PowerPublish, we call this new breed of niche writers, strategists and experienced marketing consultants: Subject Matter Entrepreneurs.
The Next Generation Of Marketing Talent
Subject Matter Entrepreneurs are elite, independent marketing experts who have impressive reputations and resumes for their depth of category experience. The typical tenured expert, such as an experienced content writer or marketing strategist, can easily integrate within an established corporate environment.
Onboarding is swift, and their impact on marketing output can be immediate and transformational. Although independent, they have keen navigational skills when working within the confines of a large corporate entity. This subject matter entrepreneur, however, possesses zero interest in a permanent role as they have grown accustomed to their independence.
The coronavirus pandemic certainly accelerated this new class of entrepreneurs. Possibly forced into freelance due to pandemic layoffs, these reluctant entrepreneurs quickly become comfortable with their new reality. Finding clients, obtaining health insurance and dealing with tax matters may have been unfamiliar tasks for these previous corporate employees. After garnering freelance traction, these budding entrepreneurs quickly made peace and migrated away from the so-called security of full-time employment.
At PowerPublish, we’ve spent the last three years refining processes and curating this extraordinary talent. It has been a pleasure to provide modern brands access to this community of fiercely independent marketing experts: writers, editors, marketing strategists and consultants. It is a community bound by hyper-specialization, strict ethical protocols and one that embraces the inevitable but ever-evolving role of AI.
Understanding AI Collaborators
Subject matter entrepreneurs are the ultimate brain trust for navigating an AI-powered world. They understand that modern marketing departments will require the seamless integration of artificial intelligence, human ingenuity and strict oversight.
As brands grapple with the impact of AI, subject matter entrepreneurs are well prepared to share relevant experiences and thoughtful AI perspectives. This brain trust is the ‘human in the loop’ that is so often mentioned as a mandatory component to ensure brand authenticity versus AI pollution. Forgive the Game Of Thrones analogy, but subject matter entrepreneurs are the Jon Snow, the Night’s Watch if you will, for preventing AI from running amok.
PowerPublish: The Home For Subject Matter Entrepreneurs
Our platform has seen firsthand the benefits of connecting businesses with these unique, specialized experts. We’re not just creating a freelance marketplace; we’re creating a movement to develop the next generation of independent content creators, marketing experts and AI consultants.
The marketing department of the future will require an accessible talent pool of category specialists to meet evolving brand needs. To label an independent expert healthcare writer or a brand strategist for a regulated industry with the term freelancer is misleading at best. As AI becomes ubiquitous and brands starve for exceptional talent to unearth unique insights, the nomenclature should read instead: Subject Matter Entrepreneurs.