What can a marketing consultant bring to your business?

What can you use a freelance marketing consultant for?

A marketing consultant is a freelance or outsourced resource you can use for your business as and when you require.  Most marketing consultants work remotely, but they can be based on site if required.  They can work on a temporary, project or ongoing basis dependent upon the requirements.

What is a typical job description?

There is no set job description.

A marketing consultant may have a particular specialism. For example, in digital marketing or work exclusively across one sector. Be sure to ask them before engaging their services.

An experienced marketing consultant is usually employed for creating marketing strategy for a business. They may be required to identify a target market, develop a message that resonates and recommend the right channels to use and the budget required. This being said, sometimes a business may need help executing the work, so the marketing consultant may need to be a doer as well. This is an important consideration when hiring a consultant – do you need them to be a thinker or doer or both? It may be cheaper to recruit someone more junior on an interim basis for any implementation.

A consultant can also be used to set up a marketing function within a business. This may include recruiting staff, identifying the marketing systems and processes required, well as developing any collateral requirements.

What is the difference between a marketing manager and a marketing consultant?

A marketing manager is a permanent resource that is employed by a business. A marketing consultant is freelance or external trained professional that is used to review, develop and implement marketing strategy.

How much does it cost?

Rates vary depending upon their expertise, where they are based and the sector they operate in, but may range from £300 to £2,000 a day.

As a rule of thumb, consultant rates will be up to triple the actual wage of the position being covered but you won’t be paying for overhead costs.

The benefits of a marketing consultant

1. Free up your time

Running a business is time consuming enough, without the extra burden of marketing as well. A marketing consultant will free up your time, allowing you to focus on the areas that you are good at and enjoy.  They should be able to work autonomously and be good problem solvers that are full of initiative.

2. Flexibility

A core advantage of using a freelancer is the flexibility.  You can switch on and off the resource when required. Although you'll pay a higher rate for their service, you’ll only pay for the services you use and of course won’t have expensive staff overheads to worry about.

3. Quality

A high level of quality and professionalism should be brought to the table with the use of any marketing consultant. Plus, you should have peace of mind that the job is being done to the highest standard with rigour and impact, whilst taking into account the bigger picture and your business objectives.

4. Impartiality

A consultant shouldn’t have any preconceived ideas. Sometimes it’s  easier for an outside person to ask questions that staff may be reluctant to ask.  It’s advisable they should obtain honest feedback from core stakeholders and even customers to get a well rounded and up to date perspective.

5. Accountability

Sometimes you need someone to hold you accountable – to pin you down on the numbers, processes and deadlines. There is no point engaging a marketing consultant if you’re not able to offer this support or access back.   They are likely to ask tough questions and will need your time and insight to glean this valuable data.

6. A mentor for your staff

You may have a member of the team that is responsible for marketing and they would benefit from  some hand holding and guidance.  A marketing consultant can ensure they have someone impartial to speak to, ensure they’re on the right track and give feedback and direction to allow them to grow and flourish.  There is also the option of hiring a fractional CMO on a more semi permanent basis.

7. Access to specialists

A consultant should be well connected and have a myriad of the best people to use for specialist marketing tasks and disciplines.  This could fast track much of the time consuming tendering and procurement process for you whether it be for search engine marketing and website development  or social media or email marketing.

But won’t it take a long time for them to get up to speed?

A good marketing consultant should be able to learn about your business quickly. They should be used to working with different businesses, so they know the right questions to ask to get under the skin of your business.  Onboarding should be relatively straight forward and quick providing they are given access to the right information and people.

What should you look for?

Ideally a marketing consultant should have at least 10 years experience across a mix of businesses. This will ensure they can add value to your business as they’ve worked across a range of organisations and have learnings they can leverage. They should have a multitude of experience from marketing strategy and business planning, to Search Engine Optimisation to social media.

A good tip is to look at their LinkedIn profile and look at their career history to see if their previous roles and responsibilities match your requirements. Get a sense of their personal brand and what they are about and see if it aligns with you. Plus do read their reviews and ensure there are a mix of businesses over a regular period that have given positive feedback.

If you think you want to work with a marketing consultant on a project or ongoing basis, then please do get in touch.  I offer a 30 minute free consultation to all businesses.