You manage a company. You make decisions every day, you manage teams, customers, suppliers and unforeseen events. And somewhere on your to-do list, there's a line that keeps coming up: taking care of digital. The website to update, the search engine optimisation to improve, the social networks to feed, the newsletter to send out.
You know it's important. You also know that you don't do it, or don't do it well, because you simply don't have the time.
Delegating your digital strategy to a freelancer is perhaps the most profitable decision you can make this year. Here's why.
Time is your most precious resource
An SME manager spends an average of 20 % of his or her time on tasks that could be delegated, according to a Harvard Business Review study published in 2017 and still cited as a reference in work on executive management. This figure may seem low. But brought down to a 50-hour working week, it represents 10 hours wasted each week on tasks that someone else could do better and faster than you.
Digital is one of these tasks. Not because it's unimportant - quite the contrary. But because it requires specific skills, constant monitoring and a level of availability that you can't always offer when your core business demands your attention.
Delegating your digital strategy means first and foremost saving time. Time that you can reinvest where your added value is irreplaceable.
Why a freelance rather than an agency or an employee?
It's a legitimate question. You have three options: recruit an employee, use an agency or work with a freelancer. Each has its advantages. But for a manager looking for flexibility, expertise and efficiency without a cumbersome structure, freelancing offers a number of distinct advantages.
An employee specialising in digital strategy in France will cost you between €35,000 and €55,000 gross per year, plus employers' contributions, equipment, ongoing training and management time. A web agency provides a team but also charges for its margins, overheads and intermediaries. You are often paying for an organisation, not just for work done.
A digital strategy freelancer offers you cutting-edge expertise, a direct relationship with no intermediaries, and invoicing tailored to your real needs. You only pay for what you need, when you need it.
According to the Malt and Boston Consulting Group on freelancing in France (2023), 73 % of companies that use freelancers say that the quality of the service is equal to or better than that obtained in-house. This figure rises to 81 % for digital and marketing-related assignments.
Delegating your digital strategy: what it really means
Many managers hesitate because they don't know exactly what they are delegating. Delegating your digital strategy does not mean losing control. It means entrusting the execution and expertise to someone who has made it their business to do so, while retaining the vision and strategic direction.
In concrete terms, a digital strategy freelancer can take charge of redesigning or optimising your website, natural referencing to improve your visibility on Google, creating and managing your content, setting up acquisition campaigns and analysing your online performance.
You define the objectives. He builds and executes the path to reach them.
This model works particularly well for managers who have a clear vision of their business but neither the time nor the technical skills to translate it into coherent digital actions.
Expertise without the fixed cost
Digital evolves quickly. Google's algorithms change several times a year. Best practice in terms of content, design and conversion changes regularly. An employee who has been in post for three years can quickly fall behind if their training is not constantly updated.
Freelancers who make digital their main activity don't have this problem. Their professional survival depends on their ability to stay up to date. They train, they experiment, they observe what works on other projects and bring this cross-disciplinary experience to your company.
You benefit from high-level expertise without the fixed cost of a full-time expert. This is one of the most tangible and least often cited advantages of delegating your digital strategy to a freelancer.
Flexibility as a competitive advantage
Your company has different needs in January and June. Some periods require a high level of intensity: launch of a new service, website redesign, communication campaign. Others are quieter.
Working with a freelancer allows you to adapt the level of investment to the reality of your business. You can increase or reduce the volume of work entrusted to you according to your current priorities, without the constraints of an employment contract.
This flexibility is particularly valuable for SMEs and VSEs that cannot afford high fixed costs but need solid expertise from time to time.
Delegating your digital strategy without losing your bearings
One of the most common fears of managers is losing control of their online image by entrusting their digital to an outsider. This fear is understandable. It is also, in the vast majority of cases, unfounded if the collaboration is well structured from the outset.
A good freelancer works with regular reports, planned follow-up points and measurable objectives. You always know what's being done, why it's being done and what results it's producing. Digital reporting tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics or dashboards SEO give you real-time visibility of performance, even if you are not the author of the actions.
Delegating does not mean giving up. It means putting your trust in someone who is competent, while keeping your eye on the indicators that matter to your business.
What managers who delegate really say
Beyond the figures, there is a more personal reality that few articles dare to mention. Executives who have taken the step of delegating their digital strategy often describe a sense of relief. Not just an improvement in their online performance. Relief.
That of no longer having this task weighing heavily on their conscience. To see their digital presence grow without having to spend evenings on it. The chance to work with someone who speaks their language and understands what's at stake in a company without having to explain everything again at every meeting.
This relief has a value. It doesn't show up on any scorecard. But it can be felt in the quality of the decisions taken when the mind is freed from the tasks that clutter it.
Where to start delegating your digital strategy
If you are reading this article and you recognise yourself in this portrait of the overwhelmed manager who puts off digital for a while, the first step is simple: take stock.
Identify the three digital actions that you've been putting off for the longest. These are precisely the ones you should entrust first. They are often the most important and the most time-consuming.
Then meet a freelancer. Not to sign immediately, but to test the quality of their listening skills, their understanding of your sector and the clarity of their proposals. An initial audit of your digital presence, often offered free of charge or at a low cost, is a practical way of getting started without any major commitment.
Delegating your digital strategy is as much an act of management as it is an act of business. It means recognising that your time is worth more than tasks that others can do better. And that your company deserves an online presence that matches what you build every day.
