Introduction:

Freelancer's Hub is a digital marketing agency that ensures companies' business growth by
providing its presence on all digital platforms. Our team works for small, medium, or big
organizations and helps them in organic SERP and improves an organization's overall web
visibility. To achieve this goal, our team works like any in-house digital marketing team for an
organization in an efficient way and affordable price to increase the organic traffic and leads.

Our workforce mainly revolves around Bangladesh. We have 40 employees in this country.
However, there are also more than 30 team members working from Germany, Australia, and
Finland. Recently, the leadership of Freelancer's Hub has set a vision to be amongst the top
digital marketing agency in Bangladesh by 2025. This vision has been communicated throughout
the team. To set up the strategic planning to achieve this vision, we first need to conduct a
SWOT and PESTLE analysis to recognize internal and external strengths and threats.

SWOT Analysis:

First, we will conduct a SWOT Analysis to point out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats for Freelancer's Hub. The strengths and opportunities can be utilized to mitigate the
weaknesses and rule out the agency's threats.

Strengths –

1. Strong business portfolio with 220+ finished projects, 130+ happy clients, 2451+ designs, and
152k+ support.

2. A small, efficient, and highly skilled team with more than 50000 working-hours records.

3. A wide range of services, including Digital Marketing Services like organic SEO, E-
commerce SEO, link building, branding, social media marketing, content marketing, and free
analysis of the trends. We also provide web design and development services like landing page
design, business website development, and e-commerce website development.

4. Vast experience in the sector and good reviews from happy clients.

5. Affordable and competitive price is one of Freelancer's Hub's most significant strengths
compared to the competitors.
Weaknesses –

1. Offline presence is a limitation of Freelancers Hub. As many local clients still prefer offline
discussions regarding the business than online, it can be marked as a weakness.

2. Web design and development services are still minimal. Freelancers Hub needs to focus on
content development and complete website management and digital marketing services among
the top digital marketing companies.

3. Lack of financial analysis experts. As most of the employees of Freelancers Hub have been a
digital marketer freelancer themselves, they have little knowledge about the company
perspectives. The company needs to hire more finance background employees to conduct
complete financial researches and make financial reports.

Opportunities –

1. The rise of online businesses in during COVID-19. COVID-19 has come as a blessing for
digital marketers or overall for people who work online already. Many local and international
online companies started their journey through a Facebook page or a simple website. It can be a
significant customer base for digital marketing agencies.

2. The increasing use of IoT devices has increased the scope for digital marketers as the digital
opportunities increase in B2B brands.

3. The rising number of digital and tech-savvy consumer base opens up new opportunities for
businesses. Digital reviews over the internet affect the buying decisions for more than 50 percent
of the people. It opens up a wholly unique opportunity for Freelancers Hub and also other digital
marketing agencies.

Threats –

1. Poor ROI due to harmful products and low customer services. Among many businesses rising,
many are not providing the right products to customers. Doing the marketing and appealing to
the customers will not give a proper return on investments if the product or service quality is not
good.
2. The equal level playing field can be an opportunity and a threat because of the strong
competitors. Many established digital marketing agencies are already operating big in the
market.

PESTLE Analysis:

We will use the PESTLE framework to analyze Macro Environment Factors that can contribute
to Freelancer's Hub's strategic management process.

Political –

The revenue sources of Freelancer's Hub include both local and international companies. There
are many clients out there in Upwork and other freelancing marketplaces looking for marketers
for their business. So, the political situation will not affect much anyways. However,
Bangladesh's political scenario is now constant as the ruling party is in power for 12 years now
and has been elected three times at a stretch (last in 2019).

Economical –

The fluctuation of the currency rates and the international market fluctuation can be a negative
influence for Freelancers Hub. In the last few years, there is a positive trend in the Bangladesh
economy. Even in these pandemic times, the economy is growing positively, while India is
experiencing its most significant economic history turmoil. Moreover, research shows that global
digital marketing spending will reach $146 billion by 2023, growing at a 9% compound annual
growth rate (Sweeney, 2019). The rapid increase in the IT industry will let many new entrances
out there. However, they must not be considered as competitors but can be taken into account.

Social –

Cultural differences can pose an excellent threat to Freelancers Hub. There is a language barrier
for Bangladeshi freelancers while working for international clients. As most of the business deals
are with English speaking nations like the US and European countries, the agency needs good
English speakers as their employees. Another disadvantage is the lack of skilled human
resources. Most of the youths are running behind jobs even after not having any technical skills.
Finding good marketers and researchers can also be a challenge.

Technological –

Bangladesh is a developing country in the telecommunication sector. 4G is still not available in

all parts of the country. In rural areas, people always do not have access to high-speed internet.
So providing digital service can be a challenge. However, the internet system is still increasing in
Bangladesh. With the Coronavirus pandemic, people are learning to use the internet more and get
acquainted with digital services.

Legal –

The digital marketing agencies of Bangladesh are facing legal issues regularly from the other
mutual competitors and their employees. While working with the international market, it has its
global HR policies. All the IT companies of Bangladesh, including Freelancer's Hub, can
undergo the government's legal bonding, making the employees stick with the long-term
company. It can be complimentary, as well as a negative issue for the company.

Environmental –

The ICT industry environment includes government rules, regulations, cyber-security,

incentives, etc. Proper business procedures and legal procedures are essential in this digital
marketing era to establish a robust ICT industry.
In conclusion, if we can utilize the strengths and opportunities well, we have a better chance to
achieve our vision of 2023. Also, considering the macro-environment factors will help us to
mitigate future risks.

References

Sweeney, E. (2019). Forrester: Digital marketing spend to reach $146B by 2023, but search
landscape is changing. https://www.marketingdive.com/news/forrester-digital-marketing-
spend-to-reach-146b-by-2023-but-search-lands/549285/