How a Marketing Consultant Can Help Your Business

For many who don’t have any in-house marketing resource, don’t know where to start, or have done very little in the way of any successful marketing historically, a marketing consultant is the best place to start when looking for a marketing provider.

This is purely because a marketing consultant will start with a blank sheet of paper and consider the bigger picture (not just campaigns and communications).  They will create a strategy that is right for your business and focus on generating a return on investment from all your marketing spend.

What Makes a Good Marketing Consultant?

So, you have decided that a marketing consultant is the right route to take, but how do you evaluate who is right for your business? After all, you are no marketing expert – and that’s why you’re bringing them in. Our advice is to look for these skills and traits. If they tick the following boxes, they could be the perfect match for you.

#1 – Experience

When you are engaging with a marketing consultant, in effect you are not buying anything tangible.

Yes, they are likely to have a structured process that they take clients through, but this will only extract the information required.

For a consultant to absorb that data, make sense of it and translate it into a clear marketing strategy, that’s is a specific skill.

And it is not a skill that can be honed overnight.

You may see many consultants who have just completed their training in the field.  They have just learned the theory of marketing at University and launched straight into becoming a marketing consultant.

Although the theory of marketing can be learned relatively quickly (it is not rocket science after all), the commercial reality of marketing can only be experienced first hand “in the field”.

Commercial Experience

Sadly, return on investment (ROI) is still a subject that is barely scratched upon within University Marketing degree courses.

This seems crazy, right? Since that is the sole purpose of what marketing should deliver.

It has become widely recognised, thanks to the research of Malcolm Gladwell, that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become exceptional at something. Taking this concept and applying it to experience in the field of marketing, this would require a minimum of 5 years’ experience (as the consultant’s sole focus). Obviously, the more experience, the better.

However, it is not just about how many years of experience, it is also the variety of experience.

Variety of Experience

For example, one person who has been a marketing manager for 20 years at the same company could merely be repeating 1 year of experience over and over again.

Whereas someone with 10 years’ experience in working across 3 different businesses in 3 different industries will arguably have a much better variety of experience to call upon.

However, with that said, that doesn’t mean you require a consultant to have experience in your sector.

Consultants who have never had experience in your sector will simply start with a blank sheet of paper, rather than a “one size fits all” approach.

#2 – Marketing consultants have the ability to listen and understand the business

One of the primary skills of a good marketing consultant is being able to extract the necessary information from the business in the most efficient manner.

If they seem structured and organised, with a good, logical method of questioning, this is a big plus.

There are typically two types of marketing consultants. Firstly, those who love being a marketing consultant because they love being an expert in something.

These types of characters will talk for England, and mainly about themselves (you have probably met one before).

The other type, and the type you should seek out are those who love being a marketing consultant because they love helping others to succeed and grow. You can easily differentiate between them because these consultants will focus meetings around you and your business.

They will carry out a marketing audit, ask intelligent questions about your company, industry, and will listen intently so that they fully understand your business.

If you’re ever in doubt, just ask them to summarise back to you at the end of a meeting what you are specifically trying to achieve.

A good consultant should be able to relay this back to you, probably without even referencing their notes.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask a consultant to explain their process. If you do choose to work with them, what is going to happen? Understand the stages involved and how much of your involvement is required. You can then evaluate whether it all sounds logical.

#3 – A good, track record

We have already talked about experience – which really focused on a number of years and variety of roles or clients. However, track record is something different. This should look at how successful they have been in those roles. What did they achieve? Was the objective when they started working with company X met, did they meet those targets?

A good marketing consultant should have a suite of good success stories and examples that they can share.  This could be around something specific (such as enquiry levels, conversion rates, customer retention, market share) or general financial growth (sales, customer values, profit).

Be wary of consultants who will not give you specific figures. A good consultant will take great pride in the results they have achieved for their clients and should be open to share these.

#4 – Dynamic (positive attitude and full of energy/ideas)

Remember you are going to have to work with this person, potentially over a sustained period. With this in mind, you want to make sure that they are the right fit for your business. Can you see yourself getting on with them? Do they have a dynamic, positive, can-do attitude? Are they excited about your business and the possibilities of where they could help you take it?

There is a balance here as you want (and need) a level of realism – otherwise, they could over promise and under deliver.

However, if they aren’t displaying an eagerness to work with you and a confidence that they can take you where you want to go – they are probably not quite right for you.

Working Pace

Work out what pace you like to work at and then gauge whether you think the consultant is at a similar sort of level. One way of doing this subtly is to walk them around your business, at your own walking pace. If they are having to noticeably speed up en-route, they are probably displaying their natural pace of working (which is clearly not in sync with yours).

One slight note of caution is not to get sucked in by lots of creative ideas in an initial meeting.

Remember, they do not know enough about you yet, or your situation, marketplace, positioning etc. They have not done any research. It would suggest a lack of thought and understanding if ideas are being thrown out immediately. Anyone can come up with ideas, you want to make sure they are coming up with GOOD ideas, that are right for your business.

#5 – Marketing Consultant with traditional & digital experience

Marketing is one of those disciplines that is constantly changing. 25 years ago, no-one even had a website.

15 years ago, mobile phones focused on making calls and if you wanted to send an email you got a Blackberry, remember them?

10 years ago, social media was “Friends Reunited”, “My Space” and forums.

5 years ago, SEO was purely about link building.

What we are trying to get across is that marketing is a vast area of business that is ever evolving.  It is unlikely that a marketing consultant is going to be an expert in every element – though they should understand all channels.

Ideally, you want a consultant who can demonstrate a track record in both online and offline marketing.

Previous Clients

Ask them about their client base. Have they worked with any customers who were purely an online business? If so, and if they got great results with them, then they must have the necessary digital experience.

However, this pendulum can swing the other way as well. A younger consultant may have only worked with digital media, so it is worth exploring their traditional background as well.  Consider advertising, PR, direct marketing, sales process etc.

Ideally you are after a balance of both, as the boundaries are blurring, and a more well-rounded consultant will be able to suggest different avenues that a more specialised consultant may not have considered.

#6 – Readily available testimonials

We have already touched upon a track record. Any good marketing consultant worth their salt will have a bank of client testimonials. Check them out on LinkedIn and look at their recommendations. Are they from clients or companies, or just people they used to work with (like co-employees or suppliers)?

Do they openly share names of happy customers on their website? Search the consultant out on Google – do they have some 5-star reviews? If not, ask them why not.

Written testimonials are great – but they only tell you what the consultant wanted to publish.

A good marketing consultant would be happy to share client contact details for you to call them and have a quick chat about their experience.

There is no better way of reducing the risk factor of working with a potential consultant than speaking to previous clients and hearing their experience first-hand.

Would you employ someone in your business without checking out their references?

#7 – Values

Now, not all businesses have publicly communicated values out on display, but really someone in the field of marketing should understand the importance of sharing these.

Your values reflect your core principles and convey how you run your business and work with others.

Most marketing consultants, during their process, will speak to you about your company values, so it is only logical that they themselves have some.

If you can’t find any published anywhere, just ask them about it.

Can they can tell you succinctly what their core values are? If so, then they are probably genuine. The chances are if they get flustered or delay answering, they are probably guilty of “cobbler’s shoes”.

Once you find out what their values are – how do they resonate with you? Is it the type of business/person you feel comfortable working with? Be warned, if you don’t clearly identify early on that you have some core shared values, then things can go pear-shaped quickly.

Key roles and responsibilities of a marketing consultant

Marketing consultants come in a variety of shapes and size (and we are not talking about physical dimensions here).

There are several different roles that a marketing consultant can fulfil so it is important to consider first what you need, and whether this is aligned to what the consultant offers.

The starting point for most companies is that they don’t have any in-house marketing expertise, they know they want to grow, but don’t know how to do it. They have probably identified that marketing is a core skill gap in the business and they are looking for someone to plug this gap.

Deciding what level is required

Firstly, give some thought to the level of responsibility this person would have in your business if you were recruiting them. Would they be at director level, manager level, or at an operational level. Once you know this you can evaluate whether the fit is right.

At a director level, it is likely that the marketing consultant will be very strategic. They will evaluate the desired goals of the business and create a marketing strategy around how the business can get there (a roadmap if you like).

At a managerial level, a marketing consultant will take that strategy and turn into an operational marketing plan and oversee the implementation of the activity schedule.

This could involve managing third party operational staff who they are responsible for. Or perhaps simply mentoring someone else who is responsible for managing the actual delivery of the activity. In this instance, fit with the team is also important.

Personal Traits

Are they a people person – will they bring out the best in others? Obviously, a marketing consultant who is very hands-on at the implementation phase is going to cost more than one who solely provides strategic input. But it does guarantee the roll-out of the plan actually happens.

Other marketing consultants may just simply consult. You would buy a chunk of their time and they will consult on how you can improve the marketing effectiveness of your business.

Typically, this may be a couple of hours up to a full day.

So, in summary, you want to know what you need, the role you want them to fill, and your desired output from the relationship. This way you can make sure that the consultant’s offering is perfectly aligned with what your business needs.

Clear signs you’re in dire need of a marketing consultant

So now we know how to identify a good marketing consultant, how do you know whether you need one?

There are a few tell-tale signs that indicate when you need some external marketing support.

#1 – Lack of new enquiries into the business

One issue many businesses have is that they do not really track enquiries. If you fall into this camp, it can be difficult to spot when there has been a barren spell of enquiries. This is particularly true in a larger organisation where the process for dealing with enquiries may be spread across multiple members of staff.

Sometimes awareness can be instinctive, but usually, you get a clear indication when it starts to have an impact on cash flow.

However you have managed to identify the fact, if you have a lack of new enquiries into the business then a marketing consultant can really help you to address this issue.

Different business models

Many businesses grow and thrive on a model of retaining repeat customers. However, even if this is the case, you will also reach a point, due to customer churn, where you will stop growing.

This is why new enquiries into the business are always critical to maintain.

If the new customers value outnumbers the customers lost value (assuming all other things equal) then you should always be moving in a positive direction.

A good marketing consultant should be able to help you with both ends of this sales funnel.

They should be able to advise on strategies to generate more leads at the top and minimise customer churn at the bottom. Also, they should be able to help you with the middle stage as well – your conversion rate. After all you may not have any trouble generating leads, but the issue is converting them into customers!

#2 – You’re spending a lot with little return

There are typically three types of business when it comes to marketing success.

• Those who invest in marketing at a high level within the business and it generates positive returns. Typically, these businesses will already have marketing covered and are unlikely to need the services of a consultant (unless they feel that their return on investment could still be improved).
• Those who have grown organically through word of mouth and have never really invested in any marketing activity other than the basics (i.e. they have a website and brochure). This type of business could really benefit from the input of a marketing consultant to take them to the next level.
• Finally, those who are investing a lot of money into marketing, but the