This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's newsletter, Raisin Bread — subscribe here.

In April, diversification reigned.

Companies have been spreading their paid digital ad spend beyond the “big three” — Google, Amazon and especially Facebook — since 2021. 

Now, marketing leaders are diversifying further, investing in unpaid channels.

According to MarketerHire’s hiring data, last month:

• Content marketers’ share of total freelance hires rose 24% MoM
• SEO marketers’ share rose 13%
• SMMs’ share rose 3%

Why? We asked our sales team. 

You have to pay for paid

A major factor here: “Paid ads costs are skyrocketing,” said MarketerHire senior growth manager Nick Schonewald.

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• In Q3 2021, Google CPCs had risen YoY across multiple sectors — and were up 41% in the beauty sector, eMarketer reported.
• Facebook CPMs have fallen slightly since 2021, Revealbot show, but ROAS has fallen further — ~30%, anecdotally.

Audiences built around content 

In response to rising costs, companies want to cultivate audiences that have opted into communication. 

Our sales team noted that content marketers often got hired to create…

• Educational blog posts
• Email copy
• Webinars 

Then, their work gets distributed via organic channels: SEO marketers help place it in relevant SERPs, and social media managers repurpose and distribute it via organic social.

Our takeaway? 

As paid digital costs “skyrocket,” MarketerHire’s clients are turning to organic channel experts. If that’s you, let us fill your client pipeline! Apply to join our network of vetted freelance marketers.