Upwork vs. Mayple - The Ultimate Comparison

I get this question all the time - is Mayple like UpWork? And the short answer is not at all. The longer answer is - we are everything UpWork is missing and much more. So, how are we different than UpWork? We offer a unique solution and can scale businesses much more quickly.

Here’s how.

Talent vetting

Upwork has no verification or vetting process

So how are you supposed to find the best marketer for the job? You’re really left on your own on this one.

I remember when back in the day I had to hire a social media marketer. I had to look through a list of 40-50 marketers, send out messages to 10-15 of them, tried out two or three, and finally picked the right one. It took me three weeks to get one small social media project done.

The challenges are:

• You can’t see the data of each freelancer
• Reviews can be faked
• You often can’t see their past work
• It’s very hard to find someone with niche experience

Mayple has an extensive vetting process

Mayple’s model is completely different. We put every marketer through a rigorous vetting process that verifies the quality of their work, looks at their actual data, and sees how they interact with customers and what processes they have in place to make sure the job gets done.

Our vetting process includes:

• 2-3 hour interview (with someone on Mayple’s team or another vetted expert)
• Paid test assignment
• Personality test

We’re then able to better match you with the best digital marketing freelancer or agency for your project.

Talent matching

Speaking of matching, there’s a big difference between Upwork’s basic features and Mayple’s “do it for you” advanced matching algorithm.

Upwork doesn’t actually match you with talent

Let’s face it, UpWork was revolutionary for its time. It allowed businesses to find any freelancer for any task and streamlined the entire process. But in all fairness, it’s a really good job board. It has a few whistles and bells that craigslist doesn’t have. It has reviews, ratings, examples of the freelancer’s work, and a great interface.

But at its core, UpWork merely presents you with a list of freelancers. UpWork doesn’t recommend freelancers based on your niche, target audience, budget, or business goals. It’s not particularly invested in finding you the best freelancer for the project. That’s a task you’re supposed to do yourself.

The challenges are:

• You have to spend hours looking for the right talent
• It could take 3-6 months to find the perfect marketer or agency
• Waste of money and time

Mayple matches you with the perfect marketer

With Mayple, you’re not left to fish talent out of a giant talent pool. We are here to match you with the best talent based on several parameters.

First, we pair you up with a marketer or agency that has a successful track record in the specific marketing channel you’re looking to grow and your specific niche. That means, they’ve achieved above-benchmark results. So if you have an online shoe store and want to improve your email marketing campaigns, we’re going to be able to find you an email marketing expert with a successful track record in apparel and fashion.

Second, we make sure that all of our experts have at least 4 years of experience in the specific marketing discipline that they are vetted for, which helps you avoid any learning curves. We have talent all over the world and can match you with someone in your timezone, with experience managing a similar marketing budget and working with a similar target audience.

Mayple’s advanced matching includes:

• We look at 50+ factors (including communication, personality, and more)
• 4+ years of experience in the particular marketing skill or channel
• Successful track record in your niche (above benchmark results)

Ongoing strategic advice

Upwork doesn’t provide strategic advice

Like most of these marketplaces, UpWork doesn’t provide a dedicated account manager unless you’re an enterprise client. And when they do, that person is not going to necessarily help you with strategy, they may help you find the right freelancers, move tasks forward, and make sure everyone’s on the same page.

If you’re working with several freelancers you’ve hired based on their reviews (without looking at their data and past successes) then you’ll want to check that they’re actually moving the needle and helping you hit your business goals.

To get your account properly evaluated you will have to either have an in-house marketing manager or director or hire a marketing strategy consultant on Upwork. So another service with additional costs, and no guarantee that you’re working with someone who’s an expert in your niche.

Mayple provides an ongoing strategy to help scale your business

With Mayple you get not only a vetted expert that has proven experience in your niche but also a dedicated growth strategist who is a veteran marketer. They’re not some junior customer service rep that prides themselves on their email etiquette. All our growth strategists have 5+ years of experience running paid campaigns and managing marketing channels in various industries.

Our growth strategists offer you:

• Ongoing monitoring of your account
• Analysis of your KPIs
• Strategic advice on new channels and growth opportunities
• Consultations on which experts you should work with

Finding a generalist vs. a niche-specific expert

What most talent marketplaces do today is they can provide you with a marketing generalist. For example, if you need email marketing you could use places like UpWork or Fiverr to find an email marketer with a few years of experience.

Mayple takes this to the next level.

We are able to match you with an expert that has proven experience in your specific niche. So if you sell pet products we will find you an email marketer that has worked in the pet industry before. If you’re a fashion retailer we will get you an email marketer that has run successful email campaigns for several fashion brands.

Short-term marketing fixes vs. a long-term relationship

The quality of the talent pool is just not there for UpWork so most business owners use it to fix holes in their strategy, do basic tasks and help with technical setup issues. It’s not a place that brands go to forge long-lasting relationships with marketers.

With Mayple, brands are easily able to find marketers whose work they can trust. They are experts in the brand’s niche, have executed successful campaigns in the past, and are available to manage projects long-term.

Mayple works with medium-enterprise clients

UpWork has very much remained a place where small businesses go to find marketing talent. At Mayple, we started out by focusing on smaller brands and have expanded to virtually any business. Medium-sized to enterprise brands are increasingly choosing Mayple to help manage and scale their marketing channels.

Mayple’s solution replaces your in-house team

Many of our clients start out with one Mayple expert. Then, as they scale, they assemble an entire team of experts through our platform. Once they see that they can skip the learning curve and hire the best marketing talent on the planet they literally replace their in-house team with Mayple’s marketing experts.

Ready to scale? Get started today!

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