The responsibilities of a digital marketing consultant vary depending on your goals and needs. For instance, if you’ve already created a digital marketing strategy, you may not need a consultant to craft it again and would like them to focus on making sure everything is optimized for the best results.
Let’s talk about the different ways a consultant can help you achieve your marketing goals cost-effectively. Don’t want to read the whole thing? Here’s a quick table to help you get an idea without going into the details.
Let’s discuss each in a bit more detail.
Strategy Development
Of course, the first thing you need to have in place is a strategy your team can follow. A digital marketing consultant helps with strategy creation and implementation.
Since digital marketing is evolving quickly, you’ll want a consultant to review your previous strategy and optimize it for the latest best practices after every quarter.
Client Meetings
As a digital marketing agency or local business, regular client meetings are often a crucial part of your strategy.
You need an expert who knows how to effectively communicate with your clients and make sure they keep investing in your business.
Performance Analysis
Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) helps you make sure you’re on a consistent growth trajectory. Marketing consultants can effectively set and track your KPIs, allowing you to focus on other parts of your business.
Budget Oversight
Another responsibility of a digital marketing consultant is to oversee budget allocation. They help you invest your budget in all the right places and in the right proportions.
For instance, paid ads might not be the ideal way to go for your business right now. Maybe you need more social proof before you can start investing in paid ads.
Team Leadership
A typical digital marketing strategy includes multiple sub-strategies, including SEO, paid ads, social media organic marketing, and more.
Each area is handled by an expert with relevant experience. A digital marketing consultant oversees everything from a distance, acting as a team leader.
Competitive Analysis
A digital marketing strategy is incomplete without effective competitive anslysis. You have to know what others are doing in your industry to be able to stay competitive and relevant.
Digital marketing consultants reverse-engineer your competitors’ strategies, especially in SEO where you want to outrank competing websites on SERPs.
Proposal and Pitch Development
As a service provider, you need to have a consistent stream of new clients in order to grow and thrive in the market. Therefore, proposal and pitch creation should be an ongoing and core part of your strategy. This is something a consultant can manage for you.
Content Direction
If you have a content marketing strategy, you may need someone to select the right publishing frequency, the type of content, etc. A marketing consultant can offer a direction and strategy that suits your business best. For that, he or she will need to work closely with your content creation team.
Industry Research
Another reason to hire a digital marketing consultant is the fact that the industry is going through a drastic shift. This is mainly because of the inception and growth of AI tools. Keeping up with the latest developments is crucial because you don’t want to miss out on new opportunities, whether it’s related to time-saving or boosting your bottom line.
Reporting
Last but not least, a digital marketing consultant provides an in-depth progress report on how their marketing efforts are helping your business. The report helps you understand the growth trajectory, helping you decide if you want to continue working with them.
Top Skills a Marketing Consultant Should Have
Before hiring a digital marketing consultant, you need to make sure they have the right skills and work ethics in order to be a good business partner.
Let’s talk about the most important ones.
Strong Analytical Abilities
Analysis is an important part of every digital marketing strategy. Without it, how would you know the strategies your competitors are using to generate results?
The ability to analyze market trends and create the best path forward is also a part of a consultant’s job.
Data-Driven Decision Making
No matter how careful and tactical you get, some of your marketing efforts are bound to fail. Data doesn’t lie. It helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t.
For instance, if a particular blog post is getting lots of visitors but those visitors aren’t converting into leads, you need conversion rate optimization.
Marketing consultants help you make informed, data-backed decisions so that you work on strategies that are most likely to work for your business.
Project Management Skills
A marketing consultant needs good project management skills for various reasons, including:
- Resource allocation
- Time management
- Effective goal-setting and tracking
- Communication
Good management skills eventually help them execute a campaign, track KPIs, and adjust them for maximum ROI.
Team Collaboration
Good consultants work with a team of marketing professionals. They provide real-time, timely feedback to ensure consistent growth. This means they should be a team player and get involved in all important marketing workflows.
Here’s a list of all the qualities you want to look for while hiring a consultant:
- Strong Analytical Abilities
- Proficiency in SEO and SEM Tools
- Excellent Communication Skills
- Creativity and Innovation
- Social Media Expertise
- Project Management Skills
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Team Collaboration
- Technical Skills in Web Analytics
- Understanding of Content Management Systems
- Customer-Centric Approach
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Attention to Detail
- Time Management Abilities
- Graphic Design Skills
- Experience with Email Marketing
- Knowledge of Paid Advertising Strategies
- Familiarity with CRM Tools
- Strategic Thinking
Benefits of a Custom Digital Marketing Strategy
Every business is unique and needs a customized digital marketing strategy to stand out and build a sustainable, long-term client attractions system. Here’s why you need a custom strategy:
- Enhanced Brand Awareness: Creating a personalized marketing strategy helps to build a unique brand presence that resonates with your target audience.
- Improved Customer Engagement: By focusing on your ideal customer personas, you can develop content and campaigns that speak directly to their needs and interests.
- Higher Conversion Rates: Targeted strategies ensure that the right message reaches the right audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
- Optimized Marketing Spend: By identifying the most effective channels and tactics for reaching your audience, you can allocate your budget more effectively and reduce waste.
- Increased Return on Investment (ROI): Tailored strategies are designed to maximize results, delivering higher ROI compared to generic approaches.
- Competitive Advantage: A strategy derived from your unique brand values and customer insights can differentiate you from competitors in the market.
- Scalable and Flexible: Custom strategies allow for scalability and flexibility, adapting to changes in market conditions or your business objectives.
- Data-Driven Insights: By analyzing performance metrics specific to your brand and customers, you gain insights that can inform future campaigns and decisions.
Customer Loyalty: Engaging with your audience in a personalized way fosters stronger relationships, increasing customer retention and loyalty. - Expedited Goal Achievement: Focusing efforts on precise goals that align with your brand vision expedites achieving both short-term and long-term business objectives.
Digital Marketing Agency Organizational Chart
In addition to a digital marketing consultant, a digital marketing agency consists of the following roles:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
- Oversee all operations and business activities
- Develop high-quality business strategies and plans
- Ensure company vision and mission are communicated
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
- Direct marketing strategies and initiatives
- Manage marketing budgets and forecasts
- Lead brand development and promotional activities
- Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- Oversee daily operations of the company
- Manage operational policies and procedures
- Ensure efficient workflows and productivity
- Account Manager
- Serve as the main point of contact for clients
- Build and maintain client relationships
- Ensure client needs are met and exceeded
- Creative Director
- Lead creative projects and campaigns
- Manage creative teams and resources
- Ensure brand consistency across all creative outputs
- Content Strategist
- Develop content strategies aligned with marketing goals
- Plan and coordinate content calendars
- Ensure content is optimized for SEO and audience engagement
- Social Media Manager
- Develop social media strategies and content
- Manage social media channels
- Analyze social media metrics and performance
- SEO Specialist
- Optimize website content for search engines
- Conduct keyword research and develop SEO strategies
- Monitor website analytics and site performance
- PPC Specialist
- Manage pay-per-click advertising campaigns
- Optimize ad copy and landing pages
- Analyze PPC metrics and adjust campaigns accordingly
- Graphic Designer
- Create visual content and graphics
- Collaborate with creative teams to produce designs
- Ensure all designs align with brand guidelines
- Copywriter
- Write and edit marketing content and materials
- Develop engaging copy for various platforms
- Ensure content tone and style match the brand voice
- Marketing Analyst
- Analyze market trends and consumer data
- Develop reports on marketing performance
- Provide data-driven insights and recommendations
Benefits of Hiring a Consultant
There are several reasons why business owners and digital marketing agencies hire or should hire a consultant. Here are a couple of prominent ones:
Expertise
Probably the most obvious reason to hire a consultant is that they’re the experts. They know how to come up with new growth ideas and implement them in your existing marketing workflows.
Even if you have a marketing team for every workflow, you need someone who can point everyone in one direction and keep your team streamlined.
Time-Saving
Strategizing takes time. Smooth implementation takes time. Overseeing team activities takes time. You can save all that time by hiring a consultant who can ensure seamless execution of your digital marketing strategy from start to finish.
How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Consultant
If you’ve read this far, you’d know why a good digital marketing consultant can be a great business partner. But, the real challenge is hiring someone who you can rely on for the long term. Here are the qualities you should look out for during the hiring process.
Check Their Past Wins and Results
An obvious thing to look for is their past successes. See if they have helped other businesses with their consultation services.
Start with their website. Check to see if they have added any positive client testimonials there. Even if they have, double-check their authenticity by asking for their past successes.
However, remember that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) prevent them from sharing client projects. If you don’t find anything concrete, client testimonials can tell you a lot, especially detailed ones.
Evaluate Their Communication
Effective communication is the cornerstone of every business relationship. You need a business partner who is responsive and gives priority to clear communication.
Analyzing someone’s communication skills is easy; you can look at their initial interaction with you. Plus, you can look at their past client testimonials and look for any information related to their communication skills.
Assess Their Industry Expertise
One of the first things you need to dig deep into while creating a marketing strategy for a brand is their industry. Every industry has unique demands.
What this means is that hiring a marketing consultant who has some experience in your industry is a plus. They already know the path that led similar businesses in the industry to success. All they need to do is understand your goals and create a custom strategy tailored to those goals.
For instance, let’s say someone has worked with multiple roofers to help get more leads through social media marketing. Now, if you’re helping roofers, you’d want to partner up with that consultant to apply their experience to your clients’ businesses.
Who Needs a Digital Marketing Consultant
Every business or someone who’s helping a business owner grow online (E.g., a digital marketing agency) can benefit by hiring a consultant. This can include:
- Local businesses
- Startups
- Marketing agencies
- E-commerce stores
- Freelancers
- Entrepreneurs
- Non-profits
- And more
Therefore, the total addressable market from a digital marketing consultant’s point of view is pretty broad.
What Does a Digital Marketing Consultant Do: FAQs
Q: What is the role of a digital marketing consultant?
A: A digital marketing consultant serves as a strategic partner for businesses aiming to amplify their online presence. They craft strategies that align with business objectives, focusing on enhancing online traffic, lead generation, and brand awareness through various digital channels.
Q: How does a digital marketing consultant improve a business’s online presence?
A: Consultants work on developing tailored strategies that involve market research, content creation, SEO, and managing digital campaigns. Their aim is to ensure that a brand’s messaging resonates with target audiences, ultimately improving visibility and engagement.
Q: What specific tasks does a digital marketing consultant handle?
A: Beyond strategic planning, a digital marketing consultant manages advertising campaigns, optimizes content for search engines, oversees social media accounts, and tracks key performance metrics. Their role is comprehensive, blending strategic insights with tactical execution to achieve a business’s digital goals.
Q: Why is partnering with a digital marketing consultant beneficial for long-term business growth?
A: Partnering with a digital marketing consultant equips businesses with expert guidance in navigating the ever-evolving digital landscape. They provide insights, innovative approaches, and strategic direction, ensuring digital marketing efforts are effective and competitive, ultimately driving long-term growth and success.
The Key Take-Away
A digital marketing consultant helps business owners achieve their marketing goals cost-effectively. Marketing agencies also hire consultants to get professional help for their client work.
What they essentially do is identify the best way forward for your business or company and work with relevant team members to help them achieve the target ROIs.
This can include strategy development, client meetings, pitch development, competitive analysis, reporting, and more depending on your goal.
While hiring a digital marketing consultant, it’s crucial to analyze their skills and look at past client successes. Some important qualities they should have are effective communication, project management, and analytical skills.
Businesses of all types and sizes hire digital marketing consultants to help them stay on the right track. By hiring someone who understands your industry and the digital marketing landscape, you maximize your business’s potential to generate consistent, high-quality leads.
